Ducks led 2-0 with under 10 left but they keep taking stupid penalties. Now it's 2-1 and Nashville has a 5 on 3 PP.
this is what the Ducks did in the third with a lead: 8:02 Corey Perry: 2 Minutes for Slashing Ryan Ellis 11:25 Ondrej Kase: 2 Minutes for Tripping Colton Sissons 14:53 Kevin Bieksa: 2 Minutes for High-sticking Filip Forsberg 15:22 Josh Manson: 2 Minutes for Slashing James Neal
This is an interesting move. Clearly Fleury was the #1 reason the Penguins got past the Capitals. He played fantastic, including stopping many Caps onslaughts that eventually got into their heads in a 2-0 Game 7 Shutout win. Fleury then shutout the Senators Game 2 of the ECF in a 1-0 win. The Penguins have scored 3 goals TOTAL in 3 games in the ECF. Hardly the goalie's fault. In fact, you could argue he has been the best goalie in the playoffs thus far but I would probably say Rinne. The move makes sense though as Murray is the Pens' #1 Goalie, is healthy, and is a defending Stanley Cup Champion. Still, goalie has not been the Penguins problem in the playoffs. Far from it.
05/19/2017 5:40:46 PM EST UPDATE: Johansen suffered a left thigh injury during Thursday's Game 4 loss to the Ducks that required emergency surgery to repair. The expected recovery time is two-to-three months, indicating that he will likely miss the remainder of the playoffs.
Losing a top line center is the kiss of death for the predators. They are just not deep enough to overcome that type of injury against a team like the Ducks. I was rooting for the Preds now I believe they will not make the finals. Maybe Anaheim will be the only team that can prevent Pittsburgh from winning back to back Stanley Cups.
Anaheim evens things up by mysteriously scratching Rickard Rakell in the warmups. There was no indication of an injury and like Johansen, he played all of Game 4.
Ducks now on the brink of elimination and missing 2/3 of their top line plus their starting goalie. Gibson injured after making only 10 saves. Bernier finished out the game despite Nashville repeatedly hitting him in an attempt to leave Anaheim without their top two goalies.
Wow, injuries are really taking their toll on these teams. No more predictions for me, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy some pretty decent playoff hockey.
The repeat is on..................sadly. They made it past the Caps, seemed to have weathered the early storm by the Senators, Nashville has lost some key players to injury, that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. Too bad.
