In last nights Eastern Conference Final game, the Boston Bruins defeated the Carolina Hurricanes by a score of 5-2. Teams traded goals in the first period that was evenly matched. In the second the Hurricanes took control of the game and the score going up 2-1. During the third, the Bruins capitalized on the multiple power plays they had to take the lead that would last until the end of the game. The game was very entertaining and Hurricane fans shouldn’t be too worried if the ‘Canes don’t commit too many penalties in the following games. The Western Conference Finals will start up on Saturday night in San Jose. The Sharks coming of their game 7 win will host the St.Louis Blues (who are also fresh off a game 7 win as well) at 8pm. Following that game on Saturday, Boston will host Carolina again on Sunday at 3pm.

The San Jose Sharks prevailed at home to beat the Colorado Avalanche in Game 7 by a score of 3-2. Early on it looked like the Sharks were to run away with an easy win after jumping to a two goal lead midway through the first period. However, Colorado scored with seven seconds left in the period to cut the deficit to one. The only goal in the second period came from the Sharks, who went into the third period up 3-1. Early on in the third, Avalanche player Tyler Jost scored to bring the Sharks lead to just one. The rest of the period was very intense, but the Sharks were able to hold on for the win and advance to the conference finals. Tonight the Carolina Hurricanes will face the Boston  Bruins in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The game will be played in Boston and puck drop will be at 8 pm. Both teams have been on winning streaks ( ‘Canes 5 straight and Bruins 3). I think that tonight’s game 1 will be a win for the Bruins if goalie Tuukka Rask plays as he did in his last outing. It’ll be interesting to see the the teams play each other with Boston’s high offense and Carolina’s strong defense.

Last nights match-up of the Dallas Stars vs. the St.Louis Blues in game 7 did not disappoint. In the last 5 minutes of the first period both teams scored a goal, no team would score again for the rest of regulation. The game continued into overtime with both teams tied at 1. However, one overtime was not enough and the game continued into a second overtime in St.Louis. It was early on in the second overtime when Blues player Patrick Maroon poked in a goal after a shot from a teammate pass Stars goalie Ben Bishop (who had been stellar all night). It was fitting that Maroon had scored the goal to send the Blues to the conference finals, he had grown up in St.Louis and recently turned down a higher salary to stay with the team. Hockey fans are spoiled again with a game 7 that will take place tonight at 9pm eastern time. The San Jose Sharks will look to defend home ice against the Colorado Avalance to advance to the conference finals. I think that the Sharks will go on to win this game and overall just have more talent then the Avalance. However, Colorado plays good when they are aggressive, and if they out grit the San Jose they have a chance to win.

Last night the Boston Bruins put away the Columbus Blue Jackets winning 3-0 in Columbus to advance to the conference finals. Despite the score the game was very competitive in my eyes and both teams hit the goalpost/crossbar many times early on. The star of the game was Tuukka Rask , the goaltender for the Bruins who stopped all 39 shots he faced and was very calm and collected throughout the game. The Bruins will no go back home to face the Carolina Hurricanes in the best-of-7 game series with the winner advancing to the Stanley Cup finals. In the later game of the night the Colorado Avalance took down the San Jose Sharks in overtime 4-3 to force a game 7. Teams traded goals throughout the game, and Avalance player Gabriel Landeskog scored early in overtime to seal the game at home. Tonight’s lone game winner will advance to the conference final as the St.Louis Blues will host the Dallas Stars in a game 7 at 8pm. My prediction for this game is the St.Louis Blues winning 2-1. I think the Blues are the better team and will have the home crowd backing them up tonight.

Over the weekend, the NHL playoffs continued-and most series look to head into game 6 and 7 going into this week. On Friday night, the Carolina Hurricanes looked powerful in a win against the New York Islanders to move on to the conference finals. For the Islanders (and their fans) its a hard pill to swallow after sweeping the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. Later that night the Dallas Stars beat the St. Louis Blues on the road to take a 3-2 series lead. However, the Stars were unable to wrap up the series Sunday night losing at home 4-1 and will go to St.Louis for a winner take all game 7 on Tuesday night. On Saturday both the Boston Bruins and the San Jose Sharks won in their respective series to take a 3-2 lead over their opponents. Tonight both those teams can wrap up the series, too do so they must win on road. The Bruins will take on the Columbus Blue Jackets in Columbus at 7. Later the Sharks will start playing against the Colorado Avalance at 10 in Denver.

The Carolina Hurricanes dominated at home last night in a 5-2 win over the New York Islanders in Raleigh, N.C. . They are my current favorite to win the cup as they have a young team, but have some key veterans including their captain Justin Williams, who scored the game winning goal for the the ‘Canes last night. Carolina now has a 3-0 series lead on the Islanders and can wrap the series up with a win on Friday night. The other game last night was between the St.Louis Blues and the Dallas Stars. Like I had mentioned in my post yesterday, the Stars came out and won a must-win game 4-2 in Dallas to even the series at two games apiece. Tonight there will be two game four’s in action. The first will take place at 7:30pm between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Boston Bruins. The game will be in Columbus (where the Blue Jackets have not lost at this playoffs) before going back to Boston for game 5. The second game tonight will be in Colorado, with puck drop at 10pm. The Avalance will have a chance to even up the series at two before play heads back to San Jose for game 5.

As we enter the first day of May, the chase for the Stanley Cup begins to get more real for the teams still in the playoffs. Yesterday, the Columbus Blue Jackets held on for a win at home, feeding of the intensity of the home crowd to beat the Boston Bruins 2-1. The San Jose Sharks went on the road to beat the Colorado Avalance 4-2 with the help of Sharks player Logan Couture who had a hat-trick. Tonight two pivotal games will take place as the Carolina Hurricanes take on the New York Islanders in Raleigh, N.C at 7pm. After getting the best of the Islanders at home, I believe that the Hurricanes (and their fans) will be excited for game 3 at home. However, the Hurricanes have been battling with some injuries to key players, and if goalie Petr Mrazek doesn’t start for the ‘Canes it could give the Islander’s a chance to win a game on the road. The second game of the night will be played between the Dallas Stars and St.Louis. If St.Lois were to win they would go back home for game 5 up 3-1 in the series. I think that Dallas will play hard and win at home to try to keep this series close.

Last night, the St.Louis Blues defeated the Dallas Stars by a score of 4-3 on the road. The game was close, with the Blues leading 2-1 after the second period. The 3rd period featured a lot of action with 4 goals traded between teams in the last 7 minutes of play. With a little after a minute left to go the game looked destined for overtime as both teams were tied at 3, that’s when Blues player Patrick Maroon went top shelf on Dallas goalie Ben Bishop to take the lead. St.Louis was able to hold on for the remaining minute and take 2-1 series lead. Looking forward to tonight’s match-ups that feature two series tied at one game a piece. The Boston Bruins will face-off against the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight at 7pm in Columbus. I think that the Blue Jackets will win this game, playing well in front of their home crowd for the first time since they ended Tampa Bay’s season on April 16th. The later game will feature the Colorado Avalance vs. the San Jose Sharks at 10pm in Colorado. Since the game will be in Colorado, I’m sure that the Avalance will have a lot of momentum after winning the last game in San Jose, however I’m not counting the Sharks out as I believe they are one of the more talented teams left in the playoffs.

Last night the Carolina Hurricanes took a surprising 2-0 series lead beating the New York islanders in Brooklyn, NY by a score of 2-1. With the Hurricanes returning to Carolina for games 3 and 4, they seem to be in good shape to win this series. The Colorado Avalance tied things up in their series with the San Jose Sharks winning last night, winning 4-3 in San Jose. With that series tied at one apiece, the games will switch to being played in Colorado for game 3 on Tuesday night. Tonight’s lone game will be the St.Louis Blues taking on the Dallas Stars at 8pm. The series is tied at 1 game apiece and with this game 3 being played in Dallas, I think the Stars will find a way to win this one.

Last night the Boston Bruins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets by a score of 3-2 in overtime. Boston jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the the first period, and then no goals were scored again until the third. The Blue Jackets then scored back to back goals within 13 seconds to take a 2-1 lead. Bruins player Charlie Coyle scored with under 4 minutes to play to send the game into overtime. Coyle scored again about 5 minutes into overtime off a beautiful pass from Marcus Johansson to secure Boston a win in Game 1. In the later game of the night the St.Louis Blues beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 to take game 1 of that series. Tonight will be the start of the Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Islanders as well as the Colorado Avalance vs. San Jose Sharks series. I believe that the Islander will win the first of this intriguing series as they have gotten plenty of rest after sweeping Pittsburgh in the first round. As far as the Colorado vs San Jose series I think that San Jose is the better team, but will have to play hard to beat Colorado.