Day 3 of the semifinals put out some very interesting results.
Washington Capitals vs Pittsburgh Penguins: Washington wins 3-2 (Washington leads series 1-0)
The Penguins outshot Washington 36-26, and had a 5-2 power play advantage. Yet Washington won, shutting down Pittsburgh's deadly power play, capitalizing on a 5 on 3 opportunity, and rookie Fleischmann scored his second career playoff goal to give the Capitals the 3-2 win over Pittsburgh in game 1. Varlamov, the rookie goaltender who saved the Capitals in round 1 against the Rangers, looked spectacular again, making 34 saves and not allowing a power play goal. Not a huge surprise in terms of how close the game was, but a fairly surprising result.
Vancouver Canucks vs Chicago Blackhawks: Chicago wins 6-3 (Series tied 1-1)
After a 2-0 lead in the first 7 minutes, Vancouver thought they would hand the young Chicago Blackhawks their 4th road loss of the playoffs. But Patrick Sharp scored two straight goals to start a chain of 5 unanswered for the Blackhawks, and Chicago never allowed Vancouver to tie it again and defeated the Canucks 6-3 in Vancouver. It's hard to say which is more surprising, the Blackhawks winning on the road or Roberto Luongo allowing 6 goals. Not surprisingly, the third period was more of a war than a hockey game, with 62 penalty minutes handed out, including 4 game misconducts; all of them after the 10 minute mark.
Given how close the first game was, I fully expect Pittsburgh to tie the series in game 2, or at least take it into a double overtime. As for Chicago and Vancouver, we'll see how the end-game emotions affect both teams moving forward, but for now it has to be believed that the Blackhawks have all the momentum after tying the series on the road and taking it back to Chicago for 2 home games, where they were undefeated in round 1 against the Calgary Flames.
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