Day 4 Round 2 NHL Playoffs 2009

A couple of upsets on the road evened out two supposedly mismatched series.

Detroit Red Wings vs Anaheim Ducks: Anaheim wins 4-3 (Series tied 1-1)

It took 3 overtimes and 59 saves, but Jonas Hiller held off an onslaught of shots from the Red Wings since the third period, allowing 1 goal on 34 shots, and Todd Marchant scored the game winning goal 1:15 into the third overtime to tie the series 1-1 before it went to Anaheim for games 3 and 4. The Ducks needed all the keys of pulling off their second major upset in the playoffs in this one game, getting 3 points from Getzlaf, two power play goals, and superstar goaltending from Hiller. Detroit will obviously be hurting more from the triple overtime since they lost, but one has to wonder how long Anaheim can keep this level of play up (and Detroit nearly won as well).

Boston Bruins vs Carolina Hurricanes: Carolina wins 3-0 (Series tied 1-1)

After a no-show in game 1, Eric Staal once again found his offensive game, putting up a goal and an assist to help Cam Ward shutout the dangerous Bruins in Boston, as the Hurricanes won 3-0 to tie the series heading into Carolina. The key for the victory was the Hurricanes killing off 4 Boston power plays, much of which was due to the work of Cam Ward. Heading forward, Carolina would like to be more disciplined, as they can't give the Bruins offense too many chances if they want to somehow pull off the upset. They also know that they won't be getting too many pucks past Tim Thomas, so being able to win 3-0 (with one goal coming from an empty-netter) should be very encouraging to Carolina heading forward.

I still say Boston should blow out Carolina in this series, but the two games played in Detroit so far has me and a lot of people wondering if Anaheim can actually go the distance. Detroit was hanging by a thread in both games, as it took a last minute goal to win game 1, and they ended up looking like the San Jose Sharks, putting puck after puck at Hiller but not being able to find any sort of daylight in game 2. And of course, the biggest problem for Detroit was their penalty kill, and they allowed 2 power play goals in their overtime loss.