\n| Series Preview:<\/span><\/th>\n | Thunder Bay storms into town to try to clip the Mullets for games 1 & 2<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Game #1:<\/span><\/th>\n | Jagr outshoots Thunder Bay 33-16 but loses 4-1. This is a matchup nightmare for the Mullets, as their opponent blocks a ton of shots and is patient for their offensive opportunities.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Game #2:<\/span><\/th>\n | Second game in a row where Ben Bishop allows two goals in a one minute span. Jagr once again dominates Thunder Bay in shots 47-25, but the visitors get the last laugh and win it 6-3. Reimer is totally outplaying Bishop so far in the series.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| After 2 Games Summary:<\/span><\/th>\n | <\/span>An unmitigated disaster on Jagr home ice. Ben Bishop must have gotten wind of his non-tender status as he lays eggs in back-to-back games. Jagr is ready to go (lineup wise… their psyche is another question) for games 3 and 4 at Thunder Bay.<\/span><\/p>\n After winning two games in Jagr, the Nor’Westers head home to a standing room house and high spirits. Yesterday the team held a closed door meeting for players only. What little has leaked out hinted that veterans Alex Goligoski & Ryan O’Reilly told the team that this series was not over and that anybody who thinks it is – is a FOOL. This game 3 is critical. If we can win at home, it will put us in a great position to move on to the Semi’s, if we loose the series is back to even as Jagr has the home ice for game 7.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Nor’Westers have scored at will against the Mullets defense and Ben Bishop. Winning 4-1 in the opener and following up with a 6-3 win in game two. Thunder Bay has generated 23 scoring chances on just 41 shots, that means they have been getting inside the Jagr defense. Bishop has handled 41 shots on goal, given up 10 scores for a save percentage of less than .800. That is very uncharacteristic for Big Ben. <\/span><\/p>\nThe Nor’Westers goalie James Reimer has faced 70 shots, but only 23 scoring chances and 4 goals. Reimer’s save percentage is over .940. Jagr has had 4 different goal scorers – Pavelski, Smith, Staal & Stralman, while Thunder Bay has 8 different scores including Saad & Jarnkrok with 2 each.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Game #3:<\/span><\/th>\n | <\/span>1st Period:<\/span>The first 10 minutes are typical tight checking back & forth play. The Jagr forwards appear frustrated that they continue to have trouble entering the Thunder Bay offensive zone. Tatar takes a hooking penalty at 10:15, but the PK team does their job. Stralman counters with a hooking penalty at 12:32. Thunder Bay’s Barkov opens the scoring with a Power Play goal assisted by Tataer & Eberle, as the Nor’Westers take a 1-0 lead. Late in the period, Mulletts leader Joe Pavelski, who scored 47 times in the regular season, scores his 2nd goal of the series to knot the score at 1-1. Jagr once again outshoots the Nor’Westers 16 to 8.<\/span><\/p>\n 2nd Period:<\/span><\/p>\nAt 1:43 of the second period Thunder Bay defenseman Adam Larsson is sent off for slashing and the power play pushes Jagr into the lead 2-1. Vlasic scores assisted by Carter and Pavelski. Less than 2 minutes later Big Joe scores his 2nd of the game and 3rd of the series to put the visitors two goals up 3-1. After 40 minutes the Jagr’s have had 25 shots on goal and Thunder Bay has 19.<\/span><\/p>\n3rd Period:<\/span><\/p>\nEarly in the period Nor’Wester winger Gustav Nyquist intercepts an errant pass at center ice and send Brendan Saad off on a breakaway. Saad scores to close the gap to 3-2. 55 seconds later Calle Jarnkrok tips in a blast from the point by rookie Jaccob Slavin to tie the game. That was Jarnkrok’s 3rd goal of the series. At 11:48 Joe Pavelski has to hook Aleksander Barkov sending the Nor’Westers on a power play. 51 seconds into the power play Reilly Smith scores his 1st of the series assisted by Jarnkrok. Thunder Bay is back in the lead 4-3 and the Thunderdome is exploding. Jagr, ever game, rallies getting 3 shots in the next 3 minutes before Kadri interferes with Seth Jones sending the Nor’Westers on another power play. The power play generates no shots and here comes Jagr again and again Kadri is again sent to the penalty box at 17:44. With 1:11 remaining and still shorthanded Jagr calls Bishop to the bench – Going for broke. 2 late shots were handled by Reimer and the Thunder Bay Nor’Westers go up 3-0 in the series with a 4-3 home ice win.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Game #4:<\/span><\/th>\n | <\/span>Thunder Bay leads the series 3-0. Thunder Bay seems to be finding ways to get into the good scoring lanes much more often than the Mullets are. Ben Bishop has not played poorly but he has only posted save percentages of .800, .792 and .882 well below his regular season success. The other area really handcuffing Jarg is their Power Play which is now 1 for 10 over the 3 games. Joe Pavelski has done his best to carry the team, but one player is not enough. Jagr has it’s back to the wall here in game 4. They have to penetrate and they have to get their Power Play clicking.<\/span>Thunder Bay is getting good performances from their leaders Saad, Barkov, Goligoski and Reimer have has strong games so far, but the real news is the play of Calle Jarnkrok a defensive specialist who has suddenly found a scoring touch netting 3 goals in 3 games.<\/span><\/p>\n Period 1:<\/span><\/p>\nThunder Bay has opened the game clogging the neutral zone and hitting anything that has the puck. Deep into the 1st period nobody has scored. Jagr has failed on 2 more Power Plays and is now 1-12. At 17:30 Thunder Bay’s top line scores – Barkov picks up a DeKeyser rebound and fires it past Bishop to get the lead 1-0. Shots on goal Jagr 14, Thunder Bay 8<\/span><\/p>\nPeriod 2: <\/span><\/p>\nWith a lead Thunder Bay continues to smother the middle of the ice and they also attempt to manhandle the Jagr players. This aggressive play results in penalties to Nyquist and Jones giving Jagr two more Power Plays – both fail (1-14). The 2nd period ends 1-0 Thunder Bay with Jagr still out shooting the home team 27-14. Reimer has been a Rock.<\/span><\/p>\nPeriod 3:<\/span><\/p>\nThunder Bay lets the draw bridge down by taking 3 back to back penalties 1:04 Barkov\/slashing, the sends Jagr on a 5-3 with Smith\/tripping at 1:27. Dispair starts to roll over the Jagr bench as the Nor’Westers Calle Jarkrok scores while the Jagr’s have the 2 man advantage. At 5:21 Eberle runs Pavelski into the boards and is called for charging. Jagr is now 1-17 on the Power Play for the series. Joe Pavelski scores his 4th goal of the series but it is too little too late. The rest of the period and series runs out as Jagr just cannot get into a rhythm.<\/span><\/p>\nFinal score 2-1<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Series Summary:<\/span><\/th>\n | <\/span>Thunder Bay sweeps the series 4-0.<\/span><\/p>\n Players of the series:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- James Reimer – 4 wins and a .947 save percentage<\/span><\/li>\n
- Calle Jarnkrok – 4 goals, 2 assists, a game winning goal (gm4 shorthanded on a 3-5)<\/span><\/li>\n
- Joe Pavelski – 4 goals, 2 assists and averaging 21.4 minutes per game<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n\n\nNew Jersey Grizzlies @ Hampton Blizzard<\/b><\/span><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Series Preview:<\/span><\/th>\n | The New Jersey Grizzlies travelled to Hampton to open the playoffs after a tough season in which the closely matched teams split their eight games with four wins apiece. The Grizzlies went with Cory Schneider in nets while Hampton countered with Brian Elliott in the best of seven quarter finals.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Game #1:<\/span><\/th>\n | The game started off as a battle for possession of center ice with Hampton winning the fight early when Trocheck sped a pass from Sekera through the Jersey Shore netminders legs for an early 1-0 Hampton lead five minutes into the game on the Blizzard’s second shot. Sekera and Hanzal assisted on the goal.<\/span><\/p>\n Hampton stretched the lead to 2-0 three minutes later when Ekholm blasted a slap shot past “Snooky” Schneider on a nice tic-tac-toe feed from Demers and Hertl.<\/span><\/p>\nHampton’s old nemesis – the “tip-in” – reared its ugly head before the first period came to a close when Salomaki tipped Weber’s slapshot past Elliott to make it 2-1. Draisaitl also picked up an assist on the play.<\/span><\/p>\nThe first period ended with Hampton getting outshot 13-9 by the Grizzlies.<\/span><\/p>\nChiasson tied up the game with Stastny in the box at the five minute mark when he tipped in Byfuglien’s shot through Elliott’s pads. Turris got the A on the play as well.<\/span><\/p>\nThe next shift of the game gave Stastny the chance to make up for his stupid penalty and he did just that ripping a snap shot over Schneider’s shoulder to give Hampton back the lead 3-2. Ekblad and Forsberg drew assists on the goal.<\/span><\/p>\nAs the season went though so did this game and Jersey Shore just kept coming back eventually tying it up again on another power play just a minute before the period ended when Okposo (who seems to make a career scoring against the Blizzard) slipped a pass through the slot past Elliott. Sedin and Arvidsson assisted on the goal.<\/span><\/p>\nThe second period ended with the teams deadlocked 3-3 and New Jersey up 22-20 on shots.<\/span><\/p>\nThe 3rd period featured a Season 2 Jersey Shore meltdown by Snooky Schneider that had his mascara running all over the ice.<\/span><\/p>\nThe meltdown started at the midway point of the period … Burakovsky one-timed a pass from Ekholm to make it 4-3. At 13:26, Nielsen batted home a rebound off Forsberg’s shot with Stastny also drawing an assist. At 15:03, the pouty goalkeeper was beaten top shelf by Forsberg on a 3-on-2 rush on a nice feed from Nielsen. Backlund closed out the scoring at 17:41 slapping a shot from just inside the blue line to give Hampton a 7-3 series-opening win. Demers and Ribeiro assisted on the play.<\/span><\/p>\nNew Jersey outshot Hampton 33-30 in the game with Snooky sobbing uncontrollably and trying to get his shit together for Game 2.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Game #2:<\/span><\/th>\n | Game 2 would be a story of the big swish as the teams smacked each other around pretty good for the whole game with long stretches of dramatic plays ending in pucks whizzing over and by the net but coming nowhere near.<\/span><\/p>\n NJ’s Shattenkirk – the newest resident pain in the ass – broke the scoreless deadlock at 14:32 of the 1st period with Petry off for cross-checking to continue the Grizzlies’ power play dominance in the series. James T. Shattenkirk’s drive from the point beat Elliott with Draisaitl and Hedman getting the helpers.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Grizzlies got good practice on their power play in the opening period with four chances including the entire last six minutes, but it would be Hampton that would score the only other goal on the NJ power play when Weber lost an edge as he tried to set up the power play at the point and three Hampton skaters rushed in on Snooky Schneider with Blizzard defenceman drawing blood by firing it into the Jersey net low to Schneider’s stick side. Forsberg and Hanzal assisted.<\/span><\/p>\nNew Jersey had the edge 10-9 in another closely fought period that ended tied 1-1.<\/span><\/p>\nHampton’s right winger and soon to be free agent McGinn gave the home team the lead on a power play at 11:40 of the 2nd period when he finished a 3-on-2 rush that included Stastny and Ekholm.<\/span><\/p>\nHampton’s power play clicked again four minutes later with Ekblad doing what he seemed to do all season (don’t tell him he is also getting cut loose) slapping in a shot from point blank to make it 3-1 Hampton. Forsberg and Stastny assisted.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Blizzard were victimized by the late period snooze when Byfuglien slammed a great shot past Elliott with 9 seconds left after a cross-ice pass from Weber. The period ended with Hampton clinging to a 3-2 lead and ahead 22-21 in shots.<\/span><\/p>\nHampton looked strong moving through the 3rd period with Elliott stoning the Grizzlies’ shooters (when they found the net), but then on a seemingly innocent play Hedman’s weak shot from the point drifted ever so peacefully through a crowd in front of the net and untouched over the Blizzard keeper’s trapper and into the net. Laughton and Draisaitl drew assists on the game-tying goal.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Blizzard shot themselves in the shorts, freaking out after the goal and drawing a couple of scatter-brained penalties that left the team down two men (Ribeiro and Nielsen) against the surging Grizzlies. Fortunately, NJ managed just two shots and were kept off the board.<\/span><\/p>\nWith the game looking like it was heading to overtime and the Hampton coach’s mind on whether the playoffs were set up so that there were no shootouts and overtime was 5-on-5 Shattenkirk made it all irrelevant when he raced in and picked up a loose puck and with just 30 seconds left beat Elliott glove side.<\/span><\/p>\nHampton pulled its goalie and looked to tie the game when Hornqvist sped in past Shattenkirk and lifted a shot past Snooky Schneider only to have the Jersey keeper’s glove hand appear from nowhere and snatch the puck (I wonder what it is like to have a goalie who can stop a shot glove-side?). So although Snooky shit the bed in Game One, his lightning glove hand preserved the New Jersey win 4-3.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| After 2 Games Summary:<\/span><\/th>\n | A nice bounce-back come-from-behind win for Jersey sends the two teams down the Atlantic Coast to the Grizzlies’ den tied 1-1 in the series. Did I mention the two teams were evenly-matched?<\/span><\/p>\n After playing in Hampton and coming to New Jersey now with home ice advantage after splitting the games their. “It will be a tough road to climb if you think you can beat this Hampton team but we must be at our best” stated Scott Stevens at practice before game 3.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Game #3:<\/span><\/th>\n | After splitting the games in Hampton, New Jersey looks to utilize the home ice opportunity to try to get a ahead of the best team in the east. New Jersey got on the board with a goal from Kyle Okposo who has been a solid player all season. He was assisted by Dusting Byfuglien and Ryan Johansen. Shortly after it was Martin Hanzal tying the game up and like the series, you could feel the squeeze tighten. After one period we have a tie score with the Blizzard outshooting the Grizzlies 16-9. Midway thru the second we are still tied Dustin Byfuglien came close when he hit the post but otherwise the game is a nail bitter. After 2 periods we are still tied and again the Blizzard has outshot New Jersey 13-7. Off to the 3rd period. In the third looking as if this game is going to overtime it was Martin Hanzal giving the Blizzard the lead 2-1 with his second of the game and the lead in the series 2 games to 1. Game 4 is a must Win for New Jersey.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Game #4:<\/span><\/th>\n | Game 4 has a whole new meaning and feeling. New Jersey is in a must win situation and both the fans and players know it. Hampton is not the team you want to go down 3 games to 1. After penalties and posts by both teams it was again the Blizzard striking late in a period. Vincent Trochek gave the Blizzard the early lead at 1-0. The Grizzlies were clearly the more actively shooting team but the Blizzard had more scoring chances which gave the 1-0 lead after 1. After a early Blizzard penalty which New Jersey could not get a shot, it was a Grizzlies penalty that offered the chance for Hampton to get the pressure. That pressure lead to Brock McGinn scoring and giving Hampton the 2 goal lead. The flood gates have opened and Filip Forsberg scored to make it 3-0 Hampton. After the goal it was Mike Ribiero taking a 5 minute major and Andrew Shaw taking 2 minutes which lead to a 5-3 situation in which New Jersey struggled to score. After all this Valtteri Filppula scored and had that goal called back. Through 2 periods Hampton lead 3-0. In period 3 New Jersey got an early goal by Dustin Byfuglien to try to breathe some hope into The Rock. Well Hampton has clearly showed how strong they are after facing 20 shots in the 3rd and only getting 1 shot they still were able to pull out a decisive win and take the commanding series lead back to Hampton 3-1.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| After 4 Games Summary:<\/span><\/th>\n | Don’t choke, don’t choke, don’t choke … sorry that’s all we could come up with heading into Game 5 as the last thing we wanted to do is bait the bear and send things back to Jersey up by just one game.<\/span><\/p>\n In any case, Hampton hosted New Jersey up 3-1 after a surprise sweep in the Grizzly Den.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n| Game #5:<\/span><\/th>\n | The atmosphere was electric which explains why everyone’s nerves were on edge and the players were jumpy.
\nThe game opened with a volley of shots directed but nowhere near both nets with sticks a-flailin’ everywhere.
\nThe flailin’ sticks got a little out of control a little over a minute into the game when overzealous Miikka Salomaki got hammered into the boards by Andrej Sekera and then cross-checked him to earn a two-minute vacation in the box.
\nSalomaki’s rest was cut short a minute in when Vincent Trocheck slapped the puck low past Cory Scheider from just inside the slot to give the Blizzard an early power play goal and 1-0 lead.
\nViktor Arvidsson got into the act himself getting a two-minute minor midway through the period for dragging down Andrew Shaw (not undeservedly as Shaw had just clipped Marek Zidlicky without a penalty being called). Hampton peppered Snooky with four shots during the man advantage but he was solid and didn’t let anything by him.
\nSchneider’s solid play inspired the Grizzlies and the accursed tip-in reared its ugly head at 13:51 with Henrik Sedin (who has an ugly head of his own) deflected Victor Hedman’s point shot over Brian Elliott’s pads to tie the game 1-1.
\nExactly two minutes later Salomaki’s diving play blocked a shot from Jason Demers and the bouncing puck careened all the way down the ice into the Hampton end where it was picked up by Scott Laughton who made a nice feed to Leon Draisaitl who dropped the puck back to …da da da da (ominous background music enabled) Dustin Byfuglien who ripped the puck past Elliott and gave New Jersey a 2-1 lead. Frig.
\nThe bonehead of penalties … two many men on the ice … then struck the Grizzlies with less than a minute to go and with just seven seconds remaining Trocheck notched his 5th goal of the series and second power play goal of the game when he tipped Andre Burakovsky’s wrist shot past Snooky to even the score.
\nHampton outshot the Grizzlies 15-7 in the period, but just barely entering the 2nd period didn’t give the team a lot of confidence.
\nFor the second period … to quote the Talking Heads, it was “Same as It Ever Was”. Shaw pissed off yet another New Jersey player drawing a cross-checking penalty to Byfuglien. Hampton peppered Snooky with shots again, but had about the same success as you would stealing mascara from Snooky.
\nAbout five minutes into the period with Hampton buzzing all over the Grizzlies as if they’d busted into a hive looking for honey the visitors suffered the ultimate indignity when Shaw tipped Tyler Myers slap shot past Schneider. Mike Ribeiro also assisted on the play that put Hampton up 3-2.
\nMyers followed up the slapper with an unlikely breakaway that ended with a very likely stop by Schneider to keep the game at 3-2.
\nPlay for most of the second period was deep in the New Jersey end, but Hampton had a hard time getting shots through and on net to Snooky until at the 15:11 mark Mikael Backlund levelled Kyle Turris as he tried to exit the Jersey zone and then picked up the loose puck and sent it to Ribeiro who realized his shot sucked and so dished off to Demers who ripped the puck into the Grizzlies’ net for a much more comfortable 4-2 Hampton lead.
\nTurris got the box his next shift when his revenge play on Backlund resulted in a two-minute interference penalty. Hampton whizzed the puck all over the NJ zone but came up empty on the power play.
\nKilling the penalty must have buoyed the troops as the Grizzlies Byfuglien cruised down the ice on a rare 2nd period offensive attack into the Hampton end and feathered a pass over to Draisaitl whose shot caromed off Salomaki’s ass and into the Hampton net to draw the lead down to 4-3 with less than two minutes to play in the 2nd.
\nAnd that was the end of the evening for Mr. Elliott who had allowed three goals on just 11 shots. Enter the Finnish goalie Antti Raanta.
\nThe second ended with Hampton again outshooting New Jersey 14-4 and 29-11 for the game at this point but just one up.
\nNew Jersey opened the 3rd period guns blazing anxious to try out the new Hampton goalie and after Raanta stoned them a couple of times from in close frustration set in and Valterri Fluppula drew two minutes for cross-checking Aaron Ekblad (something I would like to do after his real-life performance this season).
\nWith Flipper off, Burakovsky’s great wrist shot from the faceoff circle beat Schneider to give Hampton a 5-3 lead with the bulk of the 3rd period to play. Trocheck and Patric Hornqvist drew assists on the Blizzard’s third power play marker of the game.
\nNew Jersey turned on the heat and kept Hampton on its heels, but had its attack derailed by a series of penalties to Salomaki (hooking at 2:53) and Zidlicky (tripping at 4:53).
\nFrigging Byfuglien dashed in on a give-and-go at 12:52 and fired a great snap shot past Raanta to make it 5-4 and it was “here we go” time on the Hampton bench. It was Dustin’s 4th goal of the series with Salomaki and Weber assisting – Weber’s 7th helper.
\nHampton coach Scotty Bowman figured the best defence was a good offense so rather than scaling back on forecheckers and defence depth, he ramped things up and it paid dividends immediately when within 30 seconds of each other only a goal post and a great glove save by Schneider kept Hampton from blowing things open into a 7-4 lead.
\nInstead, New Jersey returned the favor by pressing the attack and down by just a goal they finally were able to leave their own zone and pull the goalie with 47 seconds left.
\nOf course, Byfuglien was on the ice and with just three seconds left he drilled a shot from the point but it never made it to the net thanks to Mattias Ekholm’s size 27 skates and the rebound bounced harmlessly down the ice and the series was Hampton’s.
\nIn the end, a crazy close game in which New Jersey generated a lot of quality offense when it was not killing penalties but was buried under a huge gap in actual shots (39-17 for Hampton) and in the faceoff circle (Hampton won 70% of the draws). Hampton’s pacifism and under-the-skin play by guys like Andrew Shaw resulted in Hampton scoring on three of its eight power plays while not drawing a single penalty of its own.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\nWausau Lumberjacks @ Minneapolis Deep Freeze<\/b><\/span><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Series Preview:<\/span><\/th>\n | Minneapolis hosts Wausau in a clash of familiar Central division foes. Minneapolis won the division, but Wausau won 6 of the 9 meetings between the two teams.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Game #1:<\/span><\/th>\n | #3 Wausau Lumberjacks (4) @ #2 Minneapolis Deep Freeze (2)
\nSeries: 1-0 Wausau<\/span>Minneapolis strikes first only 3 minutes into the opening period when Doan (1) beat Halak with a beautiful one-timer from Brassard. 3 minutes later, with Odyuya in the box for hooking, Sharp fed Datsyuk (1) in front and he was able to beat Halak up high to extend the Deep Freeze lead to 2-0. Minneapolis has been in full control so far, outshooting the Lumberjacks 8-1 through the first 6 minutes. Minneapolis continues to keep pressure in the Wausau end, ringing 2 more shots off the post before Wausau gets their first big chance of the game. With 8 minutes left in the first period, Brassard goes to the box for 4 minutes for high-sticking Wausau’s Dustin Brown. Wausau keeps the play in the Deep Freeze zone for almost the entire powerplay, and generates 3 shots on goal, but Lundqvist is there to stop them all! Minneapolis gets right back on track, peppering Halak with pucks until the end of the period but can’t beat him again. The score at the end of the period is 2-0 in favor of Minneapolis, with the Deep Freeze holding an 18-8 edge in shots as well.<\/span>The second period gets started with 10 minutes of back-and-forth hockey and a lot of play in the neutral zone, before Wausau got loose for a 3-on-2 and Giroux fed Brown (1) to get the Lumberjacks on the board. The second period ends with little more excitement. The teams managed only 13 combined shots on goal (7-6 for Minneapolis), and Minneapolis leads 2-1.<\/span>The third period gets off to an exciting start with chances at each end but the goalies standing tall. Minneapolis gets into some trouble 7 minutes in when Markov and Orpik each take penalties 25 seconds apart to give Wausau a generous 5-on-3 advantage. Right when it looked like the Deep Freeze might escape from the penalties unscathed, Perry (1) beat Lundqvist with a shot from the point right as the first penalty was due to expire to tie the game at 2. That would be Wausau’s only shot on goal during the powerplays. A few minutes later with just over 7 minutes left to play, Minneapolis takes another ill-advised penalty. Coach Larry Murphy is not happy with how undisciplined his team is playing. With 10 seconds left in the powerplay, Giroux (1) would make them pay with a blast from the point to give Wausau the 3-2 lead with 5:10 left to play. Right off of the ensuing faceoff, Schenn takes a 2 minute penalty for hooking to really hurt the Deep Freeze chances of a comeback. Coach Murphy would call Lundqvist to the bench with 1:40 left to play, and the Deep Freeze generated a couple chances but were unable to score. Holland (1) would add some insurance on the empty net for the Lumberjacks with 39 seconds left.<\/span>Minneapolis got the early lead with 2 goals in the first 6 minutes, but Halak would shut them down after that and Wausau comes back to win the playoff opener 4-2 on the road.<\/span>Star 1: WLJ Giroux 1 G, 2 Pts<\/span>
\n Star 2: WLJ Keith 3 A<\/span>
\n Star 3: WLJ Halak 33 saves<\/span>GWG: Claude Giroux<\/span>Notables: WLJ Halak 33 saves, Keith 3 assists<\/span>
\n MIN Markov 6 blocks<\/span>WLJ MIN<\/span>
\n SOG 29 35<\/span>
\n FOW 27 25<\/span>
\n FO% 51.9 48.1<\/span>
\n Hits 31 30<\/span>
\n Blocks 9 18<\/span>
\n Missed Net 15 18<\/span>
\n Shot Attempts 62 62<\/span>
\n Scoring Chances 10 21<\/span>
\n PIM 6 12<\/span>
\n PP 2-6 1-3<\/span>
\n TOA 3:27 5:19<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Game #2:<\/span><\/th>\n | #3 Wausau Lumberjacks () @ #2 Minneapolis Deep Freeze ()
\nSeries: 2-0 Wausau<\/span>Minneapolis gets on the board first again, this time on a perfectly timed tip from Doan (2) on Markov’s shot from the point. The Lumberjack defense left him wide open on the side of the net for that one, and Minneapolis leads 1-0 with 12:39 left in the first period. Minneapolis would get 3 more powerplay chances before the end of the period but failed to capitalize on the opportunities. Minneapolis outshoots Wausau 10-4, plus 8 blocked shots by the Lumberjacks, en route to a 1-0 lead at the end of the first.<\/span>After Wausau took 4 penalties in the first period, Minneapolis decides to join the party with one of their own only 30 seconds into the 2nd period. The Deep Freeze would manage to kill off the penalty, but Kopitar (1) would even the score for Wausau with a 4-on-3 PP goal on a deflection from Palat. After killing off a couple more Minneapolis powerplays, Wausau takes the lead on Perry’s 2nd goal of the series with 3 minutes left in the period. Wausau leads 2-1 at the end of the second. Minneapolis is 0-6 so far on the powerplay, and needs to find a way to crack the Wausau netminders.<\/span>Wausau opens the third period by extending their lead to 3-1 with Palat’s (1) deflection from Kopitar. Minneapolis would finally score a goal outside of the 1st period when Eriksson (1) brings Minneapolis within 1 on a one-timer from Datsyuk. With just 1 minute left to play, Eriksson fed Datsyuk a one-timer in the slot that Datsyuk sailed just wide of the net. Close, but no cigar.<\/span>Star 1: WLJ Palat 1 G, 2 Pts<\/span>
\n Star 2: WLJ Kopitar 1 G, 2 Pts<\/span>
\n Star 3: WLJ Perry 1 G<\/span>GWG: Ondrej Palat<\/span>Notables: WLJ None<\/span>
\n MIN Datsyuk 16-11 on faceoffs<\/span>WLJ MIN<\/span>
\n SOG 25 29<\/span>
\n FOW 25 34<\/span>
\n FO% 42.4 57.6<\/span>
\n Hits 32 26<\/span>
\n Blocks 22 10<\/span>
\n Missed Net 8 10<\/span>
\n Shot Attempts 43 61<\/span>
\n Scoring Chances 6 8<\/span>
\n PIM 16 12<\/span>
\n PP 1-4 0-6<\/span>
\n TOA 3:14 6:15<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| After 2 Games Summary:<\/span><\/th>\n | Minneapolis drops two at home to their division rival, and will have to win something on the road to bring the series back to The Pond.<\/span><\/p>\n The series moves back to Wausau. Wausau comes home with a surprising 2-0 lead over the Deep Freeze.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Game #3:<\/span><\/th>\n | Menzner Area was rocking after the Lumberjack come home to host their first playoff game ever. And the home team didn’t disappoint the fans. As the reel off 4 first period goals. Perry get two of the goals. With Niskanen and Keith each getting 1 goal. With the score 4-0 after the first period. Lundqvist takes over for Neuvirth in goal. With 5 minutes into the second period Boyle get a goal back for the Deep Freeze . Fisher get that goal back for the Lumberjacks later in the period. And this closes out scoring 5-1.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Game #4:<\/span><\/th>\n | As it was with game #1 the Lumberjacks score early and often in Game #2. Brown scores the first goal of the game on a nice pass from Giroux. minutes later Grigorenko steals the puck on beats Neuvirth to his glove side making it 2-0. Wausau adds a goal in the each of the remaining periods making the final score 4-0. As the Deep Freeze never solve Mike Smith.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Series Summary:<\/span><\/th>\n | The final two games in the series came down to the goalies. Halak and Smith gave up 1 goal in two games to a very talented Deep Freeze team. The Lumberjacks get a surprising sweep in the series. Congratulations to the Deep Freeze on a great season.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\nLansing Capitals @ California Regulators<\/b><\/span><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Series Preview:<\/span><\/th>\n | #1 seed California hosts the first game of the playoffs against #4 seed Lansing.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Game #1:<\/span><\/th>\n | California 5, Lansing 1
\nOvechkin has a career game with 4 goals for Washington<\/span>1 2 3 F<\/span>
\n 2016-17 Lansing 0-1-0-0 1 0 0 1<\/span>
\n 2016-17 California 1-0-0-0 1 2 2 5<\/span>Scoring Summary<\/span>
\n Per Time Str Team<\/span>
\n 1 4:51 PP LAN Rakell (1), assisted by Steen (1) and Backstrom (1)<\/span>
\n 1 12:53 PP CAL Ovechkin (1), assisted by Zibanejad (1)<\/span>
\n 2 16:00 EV CAL Ovechkin (2), assisted by Spurgeon (1) and Gaudreau (1)<\/span>
\n 2 19:57 SH CAL Nelson (1), unassisted<\/span>
\n 3 8:02 PP CAL Ovechkin (3), assisted by Zibanejad (2) and Gaudreau (2)<\/span>
\n 3 19:45 EV CAL Ovechkin (4), assisted by Fowler (1)<\/span>Star 1: CAL Ovechkin 4 G<\/span>
\n Star 2: CAL Holtby 42 saves<\/span>
\n Star 3: CAL Nelson 1 G<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Game #2:<\/span><\/th>\n | Game 2 of the series between California and Lansing. California leads 1-0 behind the big first game by Ovechkin who put 4 goals on the board.<\/span><\/p>\n Lansing 3, California 2<\/span>
\n Lansing bounces back and steals one on the road. Lansing throws the puck at the net numerous times and the tactic works. <\/span><\/p>\n 1 2 3 F<\/span>
\n 2016-17 Lansing 1-1-0-0 2 0 1 3<\/span>
\n 2016-17 California 1-1-0-0 0 1 1 2<\/span><\/p>\n Scoring Summary<\/span>
\n Per Time Str Team<\/span>
\n 1 6:05 PP LAN Little (1), assisted by Hudler (1)<\/span> | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
![\"16-17-Playoff](\"http:\/\/www.straybaseball.com\/mwhl\/wp-content\/gallery\/playoffs\/16-17-Playoff-Bracket.GIF\")
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