With the Blues playing their longest overtime in Franchise history Thursday night, why not have another game in overtime as well.
That’s exactly what the Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild did.
In a back and forth game that was dominated by the Wild early, Paul Stastny put the Avalanche on his back and stormed down the mountain for victory last night.
With just 13.4 seconds left in regulation, Stastny beat Ilya Bryzgalov to tie the game at four.
Leading the Avalanche into overtime, it took seven minutes for Stastny to end the game, beating Bryzgalov and sending the Pepsi Center into celebration. Game two is set for 10:30 (EST) on Saturday Night
The next two games didn’t go to overtime, but were still exciting nevertheless.
Starting with the only Eastern Conference game yesterday, the battle of Broadway vs the Broad Street Bullies.
The Rangers vs Flyers got the series started with a beat down of Philly. The Flyers would score first, through Andrew MacDonald, but that’s all the offense they would get. Mats Zuccarello would let that lead last for roughly three minutes, before the Rangers took over for good.
The second period went on with little fan fare, and would go to the game still tied at one.
The third Period belonged to the Rangers. Scoring two power play goals (Richards/Stepan), and totaling three (Hagelin) on the period, the Rangers would win 4-1.
Philadelphia took too many penalties down the stretch, and you can’t do that at MSG and expect to win in the playoffs. With Steve Mason out, Ray Emery looked lost in the third period. It may be a short series if Mason can’t come back.
They next play Sunday at 1 pm (EST).
The final game of the night out west was never a doubt for the San Jose Sharks.
In a series that was thought to be a toss-up, the Kings never showed up.
The Sharks offense was unstoppable, and Antti Niemi was stellar between the pipes. Kings goalie Jonathan Quick played two periods before being pulled for Martin Jones.
In the first period, it took just three minutes for Joe Thorton to get things going. Then Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleu scored in the final minute of the opening period to make it 3-0.
The Second period was just as dominant for the Sharks as the first, adding a pair of goals, including a power play goal from Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Raffi Torres.
The Kings would try to rally in the third, but there wasn’t enough time. Jake Muzzin, Slava Voynov, and Trevor Lewis all scored for the Kings in the third period. Neimi lost his shutout just two minutes into the final period.
The final tally came on an empty net goal from Brent Burns, making the final 6-3 in this high scoring contest.
The lack of scoring from the Kings top players really hindered their ability to get the road victory.
“I think we weren’t ready to start,” Kings captain Dustin Brown said. “Sloppy play. Turnovers. Bad changes. Odd-man rushes. We probably gave up more odd-man rushes in the first period than we have in the past I don’t know. When you give a team like that opportunities on the odd-man they’re going to make you pay, and that’s what they did. It was more of the same in the second.”
Game two is set for 10 pm (EST) Sunday.
photo credit: getty images gif: so-hockey-eh
