Day 8 Round 1 NHL Playoffs 2009

One more team is eliminated and two teams are solidifying their positions in the second round, one by the advantage in the series and the other through a huge momentum shift.

Washington Capitals vs New York Rangers: New York wins 2-1 (New York leads series 3-1)

Chris Drury returned from injury and Henrik Lundqvist made 39 saves in a 2-1 victory over the Capitals to take a 3-1 series lead before game 5 heads back to Washington, where the Rangers went 2-0 this series. Ovechkin scored his first goal of the playoffs and the Capitals outshot the rangers 39 to 21, limiting the rangers to just 5 shots on goal in each of the last two periods of the game. Rookie goaltender Varlamov played well, but despite all of these positives for the Capitals, the Rangers still found a way to win, which puts huge worries on the #2 seed as they try to stave off elimination at home. The key factor in what looks to be the first first round upset of the playoffs: Washington went 0-6 on the power play. They were top 5 in every offensive category throughout the season, so to have the Capitals struggle on the power play is an absolute killer for the favorites. It might go to game 6, but the Rangers should not have the series extended to a seventh.

Boston Bruins vs Montreal Canadiens: Boston wins 4-1 (Boston wins series 4-0)

And the second sweep of the playoffs has the Boston Bruins as the second team making the conference semi-finals. Unlike the Vancouver/St. Louis series, Boston absolutely destroyed Montreal in each of the four games, and the Canadiens didn't put up much of a fight in their 100th year anniversary. At least Komisarek went out with a bang: 20 PIM to be exact. A fight, a cross-check major, and a 10 minute game misconduct that had him miss the last 8 minutes of the third period. Not like he wanted to be on the ice when the Bruins won. With Washington out of the picture and New Jersey having to fight for every win against the Hurricanes, Boston is a huge favorite to come out of the Eastern Conference relatively unscathed.

Chicago Blackhawks vs Calgary Flames: Calgary wins 6-4 (Series tied 2-2)

Bad news for the Blackhawks: every analyst said it was a bad idea to provoke Iginla, and it turned out that everyone was right. The stale offense of the Flames, backed by a relatively poor goaltending performance from Kiprusoff found Calgary down 0-2 in the series. After a gutsy and hard-fought win in game 3, there was a bit of nastiness that seems to have revitalized the Calgary offense. Surprisingly, there were very few power plays in the game. But Jarome Iginla woke up, putting up 2 goals and an assist. Olli Jokinen matched him and took first star awards with 2 goals, an assist, and a +4 rating. Give the Blackhawks credit: they backed their bark with some bite, allowing 4 unanswered goals to Calgary to be down in the game 1-4 before roaring back with 3 goals of their own late in the second to tie it. Khabibulin was less than spectacular, and Kiprusoff played much better than the stat sheet will show, which is very bad news for the Hawks heading forward in this series. Their two home wins had Calgary scoring 2 goals each (Iginla and Jokinen combined for a goal and 2 assists), but the two road losses in Calgary had the Flames scoring 4 goals and 6 goals respectively, and Iginla and Jokinen only had one assist between the two in game 3. Chicago's offense has been giving a steady dose of an average of 3 goals per game. The real question has been the offense of the Flames, and with the superstar and the big trade acquisition suddenly awoken from their slumber, only bad news awaits Chicago in the future.

Despite the history and rivalry and all the build-up, a blowout by Boston could only provide so much interest and intensity in a one-sided series. New York and Washington has also been one of the most mild-mannered match-ups, even with Sean Avery in the mix. All attention should be on Chicago/Calgary, and Carolina/New Jersey. San Joes and Anaheim have the potential to be interesting depending on the result Thursday night in game 4. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh has been the most hard-fought series up to now, but it looks like the Pens will eliminate the Flyers in 5. If it wasn't for Chicago and Calgary, Day 8 would have been one of the most boring playoff days in NHL history.