Yelnats Cup Playoffs: Recap for 04-26-2011.

Game 7! Tonight on (PS3)VERSUS!

Who will it be? New Jersey’s proven commodities or New York’s energetic youth!

Tune in and Find Out!

(Credit for this awesome game preview goes to JMarushin. Thanks Bear! :) )

1st period:

2nd period:

3rd period:

Game over, Patrik Elias put salt in the wound and the final nail on the Isles' casket at 7:09 of the 3rd period, Zajac supplied the salt and nails. 5-0 the final score. Martin Brodeur came up huge in this game, because despite the score, the game could've looked quite different if Brodeur hadn't stepped up like his team needed him to way back when they were trailing the series 3-1

So there you have it. A rather anti-climatic game 7, but the Devils put up a hell of a show in those final 3 games, scoring 11 goals while allowing 5 after scoring 17 goals but allowing 20 in the 4 games prior. That win pretty much saved everyone's bacon in the bracket challenge.

For the Isles, it was a crushing defeat, capping off an epic collapse. They had the Yelnats Cup favorites backed up in a corner, right where they wanted them, but they got sloppy and couldn't finish the job, soiling the franchise's name even further, even if it's a simulation. They still did a lot better than anyone expected though, so we can give them that. Scoring sure wasn't the problem here, except for the final game, but they couldn't capitalize when it counted, as the 2 previous Devils wins were in overtime, meaning the Isles had more than enough opportunities to finish their opponents off...

Score: NJD 5 - 0 NYI 

Total shots: NJD 34 - 39 NYI

Total PIM: NJD 8 - 14 NYI

3 stars:

#1 Martin Brodeur (39 save SO)

#2 Ilya Kovalchuk (2 A)

#3 Travis Zajac (2 A)

 EDIT: Andy Greene will be missing three weeks due to injury.

And so ends the 1st round. The 2nd round will start as soon as the Stanley Cup 2nd round starts, but I'll be doing some posts looking back at the round that was.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

#9 Dallas Stars

EASTERN CONFERENCE

#9 Carolina Hurricanes

#11 New Jersey Devils

Hoooo boy, Minnesota-Calgary... That's going to be interesting! :)

Playoff leaders:

GOALS:

#1 Ilya Kovalchuk, NJD, 7, 7GP

#2 Zach Parise, NJD, 6, 7GP

ASSISTS:

#1 Travis Zajac, NJD, 9, 7GP

#2 Ilya Kovalchuk, NJD, 7, 7GP

#3 John Tavares, NYI, 7, 7GP

POINTS:

#1 Ilya Kovalchuk, NJD, 14, 7GP

#2 Zach Parise, NJD, 11, 7GP

#3 Travis Zajac, NJD, 10, 7GP

#4 John Tavares, NYI, 9, 7GP

#5 Matt Moulson, NYI, 8, 7GP

+/-

#1 Zach Parise, NJD, +8, 7GP

#2 Ilya Kovalchuk, NJD, +7, 7GP

#3 Travis Zajac, NJD, +7, 7GP

WINS

#5 Martin Brodeur, NJD, 4, 7GP

SHUTOUTS

#1 Niklas Backstrom, MIN, 1, 5GP

#2 Miikka Kiprusoff, CGY, 1, 4GP

#3 Martin Brodeur, NJD, 1, 7GP

#4 Craig Anderson, OTT, 0, 4GP

#5 Peter Budaj, COL, 0, 6GP

GAA

#1 Niklas Backstrom, MIN, 1.56, 5GP

#2 Craig Anderson, OTT, 1.85, 4GP

#3 Miikka Kiprusoff, CGY, 2.09, 4GP

#5 Peter Budaj, COL, 2.46, 6GP

SV%

#1 Craig Anderson, OTT, 93.9%, 4GP

#2 Niklas Backstrom, MIN, 93.4%, 5GP

#3 Miikka Kiprusoff, CGY, 93.3%, 4GP

#4 Peter Budaj, COL, 91.3%, 6GP

First round, done. Hope you liked it. Stay tuned for the recap of the first round, and the second round later on.

History will be simulated.