Third Round Thoughts

Each conference final is well under way, so I figured it's time for an update.

Detroit has a 2-0 lead over Dallas in the West, as they remained unbeaten at home in the postseason. They have been playing their traditional stifling defense and puck possession offense, winning game 1 4-1 and game 2 2-1. Things got chippy at the end of game 2, with Dallas' Steve Ott going after a Detroit player and earning himself a 10 minute misconduct, and then Detroit goalie Chris Osgood caught Stars forward Mike Ribiero with a sneaky butt-end to the face, which prompted Ribiero to turn around and slash Osgood across the chest. Osgood went down like he had been shot and rolled around on the ice. Umm...those chest protectors can take 100mph slapshots Ozzie...you're telling me you had to roll around on the ice for taking a little slash like that? I think he just eliminated any shot he ever had of being a big time actor.

In the East, Pittsburgh is also up 2-0, winning both games on home ice 4-2. The Flyers were in trouble on the blueline without Kimmo Timonen, who is lost for the series with a blood clot in his ankle, and then in the last game Brayden Coburn, their second best defenseman, was lost for the game when he was hit in the face by a slapshot. As a result, Jaroslov Modry, who normally doesn't dress when everyone is healthy, had to play 20 minutes, and Derien Hatcher, who can sometimes be confused for a pylon the way opposing forwards blow past him, had to play almost 30 minutes. This is a lot of ice time for those two guys. Hatcher was in the penalty box when the Pens scored their second goal (it was a weak call but going by what the rules say, the correct call) and was well out of position for the game winner. However, I don't want to hear anymore crying about the refs having it in for the Flyers, because they have had a fair share of calls go their way so far.

Game 3 of the Western series is tonight (Monday) at 8, and game 3 of the Eastern series is tomorrow night at 7:30 in what should be a raucous Wachovia Center. Both games are on Versus.