Normality returns to games
After a long and wild opening night of the NHL playoffs, things were a lot more tame as the other four series began.
No double-overtime games. No four-OT marathons. Just four simple postseason matchups Thursday night and only one particularly close one: the New York Rangers' 4-3 win over the Atlanta Thrashers.
New York led all the way and had to hold on as the Thrashers, in their playoff debut, had a 6-on-4 skating advantage in the final minute.
"I just tried to battle," goalie Henrik Lundqvist said after his first playoff victory. "It was a close game in the end. We battled real hard in front of the net."
The other openers saw Buffalo beat the New York Islanders 4-1; Detroit take Calgary 4-1; and New Jersey over Tampa Bay 5-3.
On Friday night, it will be San Jose at Nashville, Dallas at Vancouver, and Minnesota at Anaheim. The Sharks, Canucks and Ducks lead each series 1-0. San Jose needed double OT to beat the Predators and the Canucks went deep into the fourth overtime before edging Dallas on Wednesday night.
Atlanta's best chance to force overtime came when the Rangers got only their second penalty, a call against Thomas Pock for holding the stick, to set up the Thrashers' late power-play opportunity. Atlanta pulled goalie Kari Lehtonen after the penalty, but was stymied by Lundqvist.
Jaromir Jagr gave New York the early lead. Michael Nylander had a goal and two assists, and Michal Rozsival and Marcel Hossa also scored for the Rangers.
Belanger, Shane Hnidy and Pascal Dupuis scored for Atlanta.
At Buffalo, Chris Drury and Brian Campbell each scored two goals for the league's best offensive team.Better still, Buffalo was sound on defense, limiting the Islanders to 21 shots, including just one in the first period.
At Detroit, the Red Wings got two goals in the first 8Z\x minutes. Valtteri Filppula and Nicklas Lidstrom scored in the first period and they led 4-0 by the middle of the second period on Pavel Datsyuk's and Mathieu Schneider's goals. That gave goalie Dominik Hasek more than enough offense.The Western Conference's top-seeded team set the tone in the opening minutes when Schneider knocked down Matthew Lombardi, landing the first big hit of the game. A few minutes later, Filppula's goal ended a beautiful end-to-end play.
Zach Parise scored his second goal on a give-and-go with Jamie Langenbrunner early in the third period. Scott Gomez set up power-play goals by Patrik Elias and Brian Rafalski, and the clinching goal by Brian Gionta with 1:22 to play for host New Jersey."It was just a preview of what the Devils have with this kid," said Gomez. "He's got the flair for the big time. He just keeps getting better. He's always soaking up information. He's one of the hardest workers and he likes the spotlight. He's a special one."Devils goalie Martin Brodeur, who set a single-season record with 48 wins, looked ordinary in making 23 saves.
