We are now twenty one days into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. There was three games yesterday. In the Eastern Conference the Carolina Hurricanes played the New Jersey Devils. The Toronto Maple Leafs played the Florida Panthers in the other Eastern Conference game. In the Western Conference the Dallas Stars played the Seattle Kraken. There is only only game tonight. It is the Western Conference matchup between the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers.
Going into game three of the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils series the Hurricanes led the series 2-0. The Hurricanes won game one 5-1 and game two 6-1. New Jersey scored the first goal of game three. Timo Meier scored the games opening goal. Jack Hughes added to that lead. Michael McLeod scored short handed to put the Devils up by three. The score after the first period was 3-0 Devils.
Nico Hischier scored early in the second period for the Devils. Sebastian Aho scored to get the Hurricanes on the board. Damon Severson scored for the Devils. Jordan Martinook scored a short handed goal for the Hurricanes. The score was 5-2 Devils going into the third period.
Miles Wood scored for the Devils. Jack Hughes scored again for the Devils. Stephan Noesen (Hurricanes) and Erik Haula (Devils) dropped the gloves not too long after the Devils scored their seventh goal. Erik Haula kept messing with his hair during the fight. Stephan Noesen just dominated the fight. According to hockeyfights.com Stephan Noesen of the Carolina Hurricanes won the fight. Jordan Staal scored shortly after that. His shorthanded goal got the Hurricanes closer to the Devils. Seth Jarvis scored short handed for the Hurricanes. Ondrej Palat scored on the powerplay for the Devils to put them back up by four goals. The final score was 8-4 Devils. The Carolina Hurricanes still lead the series 2-1.
Every game in this series has been a blowout. The Hurricanes had a weak first period and just couldn’t catch up. This series will be going to a game five. Can the Hurricanes get back to their winning ways? Can the Devils keep the offense going?
Game four will be on Tuesday, May 9th 2023. Puck drop is set for 4:00pm PST.
The Florida Panthers came into game three of their series with the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 2-0 series lead. The Panthers won both of the first two games in Toronto. They won game one 4-2 and they won game two 3-2. Game three started off with an early goal for the Maple Leafs. Sam Lafferty scored under three minutes into the game. The score after the first period was 1-0 Maple Leafs.
Anthony Duclair scored early in the second period on the powerplay to tie the game. The Maple Leafs took the lead again with a goal from Erik Gustafsson. The Panthers tied the game again with a goal from Carter Verhaeghe. The score was tied at 2-2 after two periods.
Neither team scored in the third period. The game would remain tied at 2-2 after regulation time. The game went into overtime.
Sam Reinhart scored 3′ minutes into overtime. His goal gave the Panthers the win. The final score was 3-2 Panthers. The Florida Panthers now have a 3-0 series lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Florida can now sweep Toronto with a game four win. Toronto have their backs against the wall. This isn’t what a lot of people thought would happen. Like I said before the Panthers beat a much tougher opponent in round one. They have been able to carry that momentum throughout this series. Toronto isn’t looking like they have what it takes to take out the Florida. The Toronto Maple Leafs were the first ever team to come back after trailing 0-3 in a series back in 1942. Only for teams have ever come backk from down 0-3 in series though. The latest team to do it was the 2014 Los Angeles Kings who went on to win the Stanley Cup. There has been over 200 series in NHL history where one team has gone up 3-0 in the series. The Panthers now have over a 90% chance of winning the series. Will the Panthers complete the sweep at home in game three? Will the Maple Leafs be able to win a single game in round two? If the Maple Leafs are unable to win a game in round two they will still not have won a game in round two since 2004.
Game four will be on Wednesday, May 10th 2023. Puck drop is set for 4:00pm PST.
The Dallas Stars and Seattle Kraken were tied going into game three. The Kraken won game one 5-4 in overtime. The Stars won game two 4-2. Game three of this series would start off with a scoreless first period. The score was tied at 0-0 going into period two.
Jordan Eberle scored early in the second period. His goal was the first goal of the game and it gave the Kraken the lead. Just over a minute later Alex Wennberg scored to give the Kraken a two goal lead. Carson Sourcy scored for the Kraken. Matty Beniers scored for the Kraken. Mason Marchment scored to finally get the Stars on the board. Eeli Tolvanen scored late in the period for the Kraken. The score was 5-1 going into the third period.
The Kraken added to their lead early in the third period with a short hand goal from Yanni Gourde. Jani Hakanpaa score to give the Stars another goal. Justin Schultz scored on the powerplay to further add to the Kraken lead. The final score was 7-2 Kraken. The Seattle Kraken now have a 2-1 series lead over the Dallas Stars.
Dallas didn’t show up. Seattle dominated. It was a scoring fest for Seattle. It was a total break down for Dallas. Dallas did nothing to stop Seattle or anything to send a message going forward. It was all Seattle and Dallas didn’t do anything. Dallas can’t move forward like this. They outshot Seattle and still gave up seven goals. It was a nightmare for Dallas and it puts them in a bad situation. For Seattle this is exactly what you want. What will the Stars response be? Will the Kraken be able to maintain this level of play moving forward. It has happened a lot in these playoffs were one team dominates but they do not continue to play at that level.
Game four will be on Tuesday, May 9th 2023. Puck drop is set for 6:30pm PST.
The Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers game three is the only game today. The series is tied at one game a piece. The last game was one of the best games in the playoffs so far. Will the Oilers continue to score at the rate they did in game two? What can the Golden Knights do to stop the Oilers scoring? Will the Golden Knights continue to up their aggressiveness?
The Vegas Golden Knights, Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, Seattle Kraken, and New Jersey Devils have advanced to round two. The Winnipeg Jets, New York Islanders, Minnesota Wild, Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche, and New York Rangers have been eliminated.
The Vegas Golden Knights will play the Edmonton Oilers in round two. The Carolina Hurricanes will play the New Jersey Devils in round two. The Dallas Stars will play the Seattle Kraken in round two. The Toronto Maple Leafs will play the Florida Panthers in round two.
Zac Electrifly 