NHL Playoffs - Round 1

Wednesday Games

Detroit 4 Phoenix 2 - Detroit leads series 1-0

Goals:

DET- Pavel Datsuyk (1), Johan Franzen (1), Brian Rafalski (1), Jiri Hudler (1)
PHO- Kyle Turris (1), Radim Vrbata (1)

Notes:

Detroit and Phoenix played four times during the regular season with all but one match going to overtime. The two sides split the four matches with the Coyotes winning the last one in a shootout following a 4-4 tie at the end of OT... Henrick Zetterberg who led the Wings in points during the regular season (24 goals 56 assists) missed the game with a knee injury and is still questionable for Game 2.


Pittsburgh 3 Tampa Bay 0 - Pittsburgh leads series 1-0

Goals:

PIT- Alexei Kovalev (1), Arron Asham (1), Chris Kunitz (1)
TAM- none

Notes:

The two sides split four regular season meetings with both sides winning their home games. Tampa won by scores of 5-3 and 2-1 in Florida while Pittsburgh had blowout wins of 5-1 and 8-1 in PA... Pittsburgh's captain Sidney Crosby continues to sit as he recovers from a concussion. Crosby has not played since January 5th.


Washington 2 New York Rangers 1, OT - Washington leads series 1-0

Goals:

WAS- Alex Ovechkin (1), Alexander Semin (1)
NYR- Matt Gilroy (1)

Notes:

The Rangers took three of four from Washington during the regular season and outscored them 15-1 over their last games, all Ranger wins... Alexander Semin had gone 14 playoff games without a goal before scoring the game winner in overtime. Semin had 28 goals during the regular season.


Vancouver 2 Chicago 0 - Vancouver leads series 1-0

Goals:

VAN- Christopher Higgins (1), Jannik Hansen (1)
CHI- none

Notes:

The two teams split four regular season games with Chicago winning the first two and Vancouver taking the last two...  This is the third year in a row that Chicago has lost the first game in a playoff series against the Canucks. Chicago lost in 2010 5-1 and in 2011 5-3 but won both series in six games.


Nashville 4 Anaheim 1 - Nashville leads series 1-0

Goals:

NSH- Shea Weber (1), Steve Sullivan (1), Mike Fisher 2 (2)
ANA- Teemu Selanne (1)

Notes:

Nashville took three of four from the Ducks during the regular season scoring at least four goals in all four meetings... Mike Fisher scored 19 goals in 82 games but scored twice in the same game 4 times prior to his 2 goal game yesterday.


Thursday Games

Montreal 2 Boston 0 - Montreal leads series 1-0

Goals:

MON- Brian Gionta 2 (2)
BOS- none

Notes:

Montreal took four of six meeting between these two teams during the regular season but Boston won their last regular season matchup 7-0. Boston actually scored at least 7 goals in both of their wins, also winning 8-6 back on February 9th in a match that featured 45 penalties... Max Pacioretty who was injured by Boston's Zdeno Chara on March 8th will miss the entire series as he continues to recover from a severe concussion and a cracked vertebra.


Buffalo 1 Philaelphia 0 - Buffalo leads series 1-0

Goals:

BUF- Patrick Kaleta (1)
PHI - none

Notes:

Philadelphia and Buffalo split four regular season meetings with Philly taking the first two and Buffalo taking the last two with each team winning on the road once... Ryan Miller had 5 shutouts in 65 starts during the regular season.


San Jose 3 Los Angeles 2, OT - San Jose leads series 1-0

Goals:

SAN- Dany Heatley (1), Logan Couture (1), Joe Pavelski (1)
LOS- Dustin Brown (1), Justin Williams (1)

Notes:

The Sharks and Kings split games during the regular season. Two of the games went to shootouts with Los Angeles winning both. San Jose won the last matchup on April 4th by a score of 6-1... The Kings have won just one playoff series since reaching the Stanley Cup Finals with Wayne Gretzky back in 1993.