Philly and Chicago are that much closer 2 being in the cup finals with wins last night and both have one word reasons for their victories...
For Chicago, it's simple: Niemi, as he came up large for them by stoning the Sharks virtually every time they had a quality scoring chance...
At the other end, Evgeni Nabokov simply couldn't match Niemi save for save....the wrister scored by Sharp was weak and let the Hawks back in
Chicago now puts themselves in a position to not have to come from behind like they do all the time....winning Game 1? What a crazy concept!
In the East, Philly was able 2 make a big statement by dominating the Canadiens...so much for the 8 seed being the prohibitive favourites...
They dominated because of one thing: traffic...the puck was either being shoveled in by someone in the crease or Halak was being screened...
The Habs have 2 take back the crease area from the Flyers forwards by being more physical...this gives Halak a better chance of making stops
Who would have thought a 7 seed would dominate an 8 seed like that? But then again, isn't "unexpected" the one word theme of these playoffs?