Flyers vs Bruins

NHL Playoff action Flyers vs Bruins

(7) PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (0-1) AT (6) BOSTON BRUINS (1-0), 7 P.M.

Marc Savard and the Boston Bruins will try to build off the
momentum from a thrilling overtime victory when they host the Philadelphia
Flyers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at TD Garden.

Savard, playing for the first time since suffering a concussion on March 7,
scored the game-winner 13:52 into overtime, leading the sixth-seeded Bruins to
a 5-4 victory in the opener of this best-of-seven series on Saturday.

Boston earned the home victory despite blowing a 4-2 lead in the third period,
and tonight, the Bruins will try to take a 2-0 lead before the series shifts
to Philadelphia for Games 3 and 4.

The seventh-seeded Flyers, meanwhile, will attempt to bounce back and earn a
split in Beantown. Philadelphia, which will host Game 3 on Wednesday, is now
2-2 on the road in the postseason after going 17-21-3 as the away club during
the regular season.

Boston was 18-17-6 as the host during the season and has a perfect 4-0 record
at home so far in the playoffs. The Bruins won all three home games while
eliminating Buffalo in six games during the opening round.

On Saturday, Savard took a rolling puck in the right circle after Philadelphia
was unable to clear and rocketed a slapshot above Brian Boucher's glove into
the top right corner.

Patrice Bergeron and Miroslav Satan each recorded a goal and an assist for the
Bruins, who are 37-18 all-time in series when winning the opening game. Steve
Begin and David Krejci also scored, while Dennis Wideman had three assists.

"I think (Savard) played great hockey," Krejci said. "I can't remember the
last time he played like that. I'm talking about the overtime. It was huge. A
huge goal, and it's a good win. We have the first one, but the next one is
going to be much harder."

Tuukka Rask stopped 32 shots for his fifth career playoff victory.

Mike Richards tallied a goal and two assists for the Flyers, who have lost
seven of their last eight Game 1s. Philadelphia did take the series opener in
the first round against New Jersey, en route to winning that series in five
games.

Chris Pronger and Danny Briere added a goal and an assist apiece, while Ryan
Parent also scored in defeat.

The Flyers, who were playing their first game since eliminating the Devils on
April 22, fell behind 2-0 in the opening period and were forced to chase
Boston all afternoon. The Bruins went ahead 4-2 on Krejci's goal at 7:25 of
the third period, but Philadelphia received goals by Pronger and Briere in the
final 10 minutes of regulation to force OT.

"It's one game," Briere said. "Obviously, we are not happy about the way we
played in the first period, giving them that 2-0 lead. But that's hockey. It's
one game. Get ready and bounce back. We were about to win one on their ice and
in the first two, and we're still in good shape. That is going to be our goal
for the next game."

Boucher, who kept his club in the extra session with 14 saves, stopped 41-
of-46 shots in all for Philadelphia.

The Bruins did lose forward Marco Sturm for the remainder of the playoffs with
a knee injury suffered in the first period of Saturday's game. Sturm, who
failed to register a point in Boston's first seven playoff games, led the
Bruins with 22 goals this season and added 15 assists for 37 points.

Boston and the Flyers are meeting in the playoffs for the first time since
1978. Each team has won twice in the four all-time playoff series between the
clubs. The Flyers won the most notable matchup, beating Boston in six games to
win the Stanley Cup in 1974. The Bruins have won the last two encounters,
including a five-game series win over Philly the last time clubs met in the
1978 Stanley Cup semifinals.

The Flyers and B's split four games this year in a season series that included
Boston's 2-1 overtime victory in the Winter Classic at Fenway Park. Both the
Bruins and Flyers had 2-1-1 records in the series.


(3) VANCOUVER CANUCKS (1-0) AT (2) CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS (0-1), 9 P.M.

(Sports Network) - The second-seeded Chicago Blackhawks will try to bounce
back from a blowout loss in the opener of the Western Conference semifinals,
when they host the Vancouver Canucks in Game 2 tonight at United Center.

The Blackhawks also hosted Game 1 on Saturday, but were slammed, 5-1, by the
third-seeded Canucks. In its first round series against Nashville, Chicago
lost the opener at home by a 4-1 count before rebounding to win the series in
six games.

This series is a rematch of last year's conference semifinals, which Chicago
won in six games before losing to Detroit in the West finals. The Canucks also
won the opener in last year's matchup when they had home-ice advantage.

Roberto Luongo made 36 saves and Vancouver scored the first five goals of the
game en route to Saturday's easy victory in the Windy City.

Christian Ehrhoff and Mason Raymond each had a goal and an assist while Henrik
Sedin, Michael Grabner and Kyle Wellwood each added a goal for the Canucks,
who eliminated Los Angeles in six games to reach this stage.

Both the Blackhawks and Vancouver had a considerable layoff between the first
and second round of the playoffs. Chicago was playing its first game since
April 26, while the Canucks had been off since April 25.

"I was able to make a few saves early and it got me going," said Luongo. "That
was nice to get in the action right away since we hadn't played since Sunday.
Now we've got to keep it going."

Patrick Kane scored the lone goal while Antti Niemi made 20 saves in the loss
for the Blackhawks. Niemi was pulled after the second period and replaced by
Cristobal Huet, who stopped all three shots he faced.

"Sometimes when you have a long layoff it hurts," said Kane. "But they had the
same thing, though, so there's no excuse for it. Maybe we came in thinking it
was going to be an easy series which obviously it's not."

Niemi, who will get the start again tonight, has surrendered a total of 12
goals on 74 shots over his last three games. Luongo has stopped 90-of-95 shots
over the same span.

The Blackhawks were 29-8-4 as the host during the regular season and is 2-2 at
United Center in the postseason. Vancouver, which will host Game 3 on
Wednesday, was 19-20-2 on the road this year and is 3-1 as the guest in the
playoffs.

This marks the fourth time the clubs have battled in the postseason.
Vancouver's only series victory over Chicago was in the 1982 conference
finals, when the Canucks ousted the Blackhawks in five games before getting
swept by the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Finals.

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Devils host Rangers with first place in reach

The New Jersey Devils will try to take over sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division tonight when they host the rival New York Rangers at Prudential Center.

New Jersey enters tonight one point behind the Penguins for the top spot in the division as well as the second seed in the Eastern Conference. The Devils are currently fourth in the East and seven points ahead of fifth-seeded Ottawa.

The Devils drew even with Pittsburgh thanks to a 6-3 win over Columbus on Tuesday, but the Penguins regained the top spot with a point in Wednesday's shootout loss to Washington.

New Jersey ended a two-game slide with the home win over the Blue Jackets and is 5-2-1 in its last eight games. Zach Parise and Travis Zajac both scored twice to lead the Devils to the easy win.

"We aren't looking at the standings," said Zajac. "We have to start winning games and playing good hockey, and tonight we did that."

Ilya Kovalchuk and Paul Martin also scored for the Devils, who have captured five of their last six home games and will complete a three-game homestand tonight. New Jersey is 25-10-1 overall as the host this year.

Martin Brodeur made 19 saves in the win, which marked the 40th victory of the season for the future Hall of Famer. Brodeur, who already holds the all-time NHL mark for 40-win campaigns by a netminder, now has eight for his career.

"I expect myself to put up these kind of numbers because I play so (often), but it's always nice to get it done," said Brodeur. "It's a big number and there are not many guys in the league who are able to do it, and now I have eight of them in my career."

New Jersey could also clinch a playoff spot tonight with some help from Toronto, which is playing in Atlanta. If the Devils win this evening, then a loss of any kind by the Thrashers would seal up a postseason berth for Jersey. The Devils could also clinch if they get a point against the Rangers and Atlanta loses in regulation.

While the Devils are still in the mix for the division title and one of the top seeds in the East, the Rangers' playoff chances are hanging in the balance.

New York is 10th in the East and is five points behind Boston for the conference's eighth and final playoff spot.

The Rangers picked up a decisive home win over the rival Islanders on Wednesday, posting a 5-0 victory at Madison Square Garden. Marian Gaborik recorded two goals and an assist, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 shots for his third shutout of the season.

Gaborik's goals came in the first and third periods and he now has 39 tallies on the season. Another goal would give the Slovakian his second 40-goal campaign.

Artem Anisimov, Michael Del Zotto and Dan Girardi also scored for the Rangers.

The Rangers are playing on back-to-back nights for the 11th time this season. New York has a 6-2-2 record in the second game of back-to-backs so far in 2009-10.

Tonight marks the start of a six-game road trip for New York, which is 16-15-3 as the guest this year and has lost three of its last five away from the Big Apple.

The Devils have won three of the five meetings with New York this year and Jersey have taken six of nine overall in the series. The Rangers also have three losses in their last four trips to the Garden State.

NHL Trade Deadline Re-Cap

With quantity going over quality with the trade deadline we have to examine questions such as are 6 hotdogs better than 3? Well Yes, but that does not necessarily mean that quantity is indicative of success.

So lets examine the recent NHL trade deadline. An all time high of 31 trades involving 55 players were completed WOW, having said that not 1 trade made any headlines there wasn't any outrage on VS network or on facebook and twitter. In fact, I would go as far as to say all the trades combined weren't as newsworthy as the handful of deals made before the Winter Olympic break that saw Canada beat the USA in Vancouver.

While the likes of Ilya Kovalchuk, Dion Phaneuf, Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Olli Jokinen were all moved back in late January and early February, the day of March 3, which many NHL enthusiasts have had circled for months now, came and went with a whisper.

"This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper." T.S. Eliot said that.

Now granted, the NHL isn't going to fall to pieces because of a boring trade deadline, but it is one day that many fans who remain middle-of-the-road about the sport actually care enough to check in. With the event superceded by the success of the Gold Medal Game, names like Derek Morris, Wojtek Wolski and Ryan Whitney aren't going to rope in new followers.

There were names out there. Florida's Tomas Vokoun, Dan Hamhuis of Nashville and Ray Whitney of Carolina were all reportedly out there. Even heavy-hitters like Anaheim's Scott Niedermayer and Vincent Lecavalier of Tampa Bay found their way into rumor mills, credible or not.

But in the end, anyone who didn't get a chance to sneak away during the day to check the latest news didn't miss much come dinner time.

The Philadelphia Flyers were one of only a few clubs in a playoff position that didn't make any type of deal, and general manager Paul Holmgren said there just wasn't anything out there that made sense for his club.

"At the end, we explored some of the guys who were mentioned and then we started to focus on depth when it didn't look like anything was going to make sense for us," Holmgren said. "I didn't believe that anything that was made available to us, made us better and then we just started to look at adding just a small piece by a late-round draft pick or something like that, and we weren't able to do that."

Ultimately, the deadline will be evaluated by its impact on the season. Did contenders like Washington, Pittsburgh and Phoenix get better? Probably.

The Coyotes definitely subscribed to the quantity theory, making seven trades and adding five players to their NHL roster, including defensemen Morris and Mathieu Schneider, forwards Wolski, Lee Stempniak and center Petteri Nokelainen.

"We went into it hoping to add a few parts and add to our depth and I think we've addressed those needs today," said Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett, whose club hasn't reached the postseason since 2002 but stands fifth in Western Conference points (79) at the moment.

On the other side of things, bottom-feeders like Carolina, Toronto and Edmonton unloaded talent to better position themselves for the future.

But sex sells, and the lack of big names may have left a bitter taste for some. I don't know about you, but perhaps that sourness can be improved with a mix of beef, sour cream, lettuce and tomato.

Canes aim for longest win streak of the season

Resurgent 'Canes aim for longest win streak of season vs. Devils

Not many people were thinking playoffs for the Hurricanes after the season's first two months, but a possible postseason berth is getting a little closer to Carolina's reach.

The 'Canes shoot for a season-high fifth straight win and sixth in a row on home ice tonight versus the New Jersey Devils at RBC Center.

Carolina seemed buried in the standings at the end of November thanks to a 5-17-5 start. However, the Hurricanes are 18-13-2 since the start of December and are now within 10 points of a playoff spot. The club has netted 15 goals over its second four-game win streak of the season, giving it a win in eight of its last 10 games following Thursday's 4-3 overtime win versus Buffalo.

The Hurricanes fell behind by two goals in the first period, but Brandon Sutter and Ray Whitney both scored on the power play, with Whitney lighting the lamp with just two seconds left in the frame. Sutter later capped off his first career three-point night by notching his second assist of the game on Sergei Samsonov's game-winner 1:47 into overtime.

"Before we scored the power play goals and Sutter's line goes out and [Tuomo] Ruutu throws a couple hits and we draw a penalty and end up drawing another one, that for me was a turning point because we weren't really skating the way we were going to need to," said 'Canes head coach Paul Maurice.

Manny Legace ended with 30 saves and he has started three of the four games since Cam Ward was sidelined with a back injury. Legace has allowed seven goals over his personal three-game win streak.

Jussi Jokinen added an assist to give him six goals and three helpers over an eight-game point streak. He'll try to keep that run going tonight in the finale of a three-game homestand for Carolina, which will play four of its first five games after the Olympic break on the road.

The Hurricanes made a trade on Friday to bolster their blueline, sending center Matt Cullen to Ottawa for Alexandre Picard and a 2010 second-round draft pick. Cullen, who was on Carolina's Stanley Cup-winning club in 2006, had 12 goals and 28 assists in 60 games this year with the 'Canes, while Picard notched four goals and 11 assists in 45 games with the Senators.

Meanwhile, New Jersey comes to town having snapped a three-game slide with last night's 5-2 victory over Nashville. The win improved the Devils to just 5-9-2 over their last 16 games, but they did up their lead over the second- place Penguins to two points in the Atlantic Division after Pittsburgh lost in overtime to the Rangers Friday night.

Skating in his fifth game since being acquired a little over a week ago from Atlanta, Ilya Kovalchuk had the go-ahead goal in the third period. He also added an assist after going pointless in his previous three games.

Jamie Langenbrunner had a goal and two assists for the Devils, while Zach Parise, Travis Zajac and Patrik Elias all had a goal and an assist. Martin Brodeur made 19 saves in the victory.

Tonight marks the first meeting this season between the Devils and Hurricanes in Carolina. New Jersey took the first two matchups at home, giving them a three-game win streak in the series, but it has lost three in a row at RBC Center.

The Devils have also lost five straight on the road overall.

NHL to open 2010-11 season in three European cities

NHL to open 2010-11 season in three European cities

New York, NY (Sports Network) - The NHL will continue its recent trend of playing season-openers in Europe, announcing Tuesday that six teams will play in three cities to start the 2010-11 campaign.

The Carolina Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild will play a pair of games in Helsinki, Finland on October 7 and October 8. The Columbus Blue Jackets and San Jose Sharks will square off for two games in Stockholm, Sweden on October 8 and October 9, while the Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes will take the ice for two games in Prague, Czech Republic on October 9 and October 10.

It will mark the fourth consecutive year that NHL teams will travel overseas to begin the season.

"The Premiere Games are a highly anticipated part of our season launch, and we are extremely pleased that six teams -- more than ever -- will open their season in Europe," said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. "With these games, nearly half of our clubs will have participated in Premiere -- a testament to how excited our teams are to be playing before our outstanding fans in Europe."

Detroit and St. Louis opened this season with two games in Stockholm while Chicago and Florida met for a pair of games in Helsinki. Prague hosted the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning for two games to start the 2008-09 season, while Ottawa and Pittsburgh also opened that season with a two-game set in Stockholm.

The NHL also began the 2007-08 season in London, as the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings met for a pair of games. For more great news and information check out our friends at: bet on sports com