2010 Playoff Nightcap: Scales Of Justice Edition

Nashville: 4 - Chicago: 5 (Blackhawks Lead Series 3-2)

Sometimes there is no justice.  The Predators staged an amazing comeback in the second half of today's game after being down 3-1 to the Hawks to go up 4-3 with less than ten minutes left in the game and even though Chicago was pressing late, it looked like victory was all but assured when Marian Hossa took a five minute boarding major after a rather nasty shove from behind on Nashville's Dan Hamhuis that sent him flying into the boards.  Game over right?  In these playoffs, of course not!  Martin Erat - who had an amazing game with two goals to lead the comeback threw out a very errant pass from behind the Hawks net to the middle of nowhere and picked up and then taken down the ice for a game tying goal by Patrick Kane to force overtime.  Even worse, a little over a minute after he got out of the box for his major Hossa manages to find himself beside the Preds net and pushing in the game winning goal into an open cage.  Now many are asking where the hockey gods were on this one, but lets be honest, Nashville's inability to score on any power play chances this series has been the biggest story and maybe it was the hockey gods way of saying If you guys aren't gonna help yourselves, we won't neither...  Or maybe it's just the hockey gods revenge for booing Mike Modano.  Yeah, I'll go with that reason instead.  Sorry Nashville, but that's what you get for booing America's greatest scorer.

Colorado: 2 - San Jose: 5 (Sharks Win Series 4-2)

Sometimes there is justice.  The Sharks were the better team right from the start of this series and if not for the fantastic play of Craig Anderson, this would have been a sweep.  Back after the Sharks won game four to tie the series in dramatic overtime fashion, I mentioned that this was the kind of series that could really spark a long deep playoff run and I still feel that way.  Joe Pavelski is your early leader for the Conn Smythe trophy - no other player has meant as much to his team's playoff success as "Little Joe" has for his.  Meanwhile for Colorado, as much as it pains me to say it - and I'm not kidding here, I cringe as I type this - no one expected the Avs to even make it this far let alone challenge the #1 seed of the west like they did...  The future is quite bright in Denver.

Pittsburgh: 4 - Ottawa: 3 (OT) (Penguins Win Series 4-2)

Sometimes there is no justice.  The Senators managed to create a 3-0 lead almost half way into the game and were looking very good to force a game seven in Pittsburgh and then Matt Cooke - who would easily win the award for 'most hated player in the league' even with Sean Avery, Steve Ott and Corey Perry in the running with him - scores the first Penguins goal a minute after the Sens had gotten number three and then with less than six minutes left in the game he picked up the game tying goal to send it into overtime.  Pascal Dupuis then finished off the Sens with a laser of a shot that found the top corner.  For all his Sens-killing efforts this series, Sidney Crosby was a non-factor in the game with no points and going a -2 in tonight's game.  An even more interesting stat?  Ottawa becomes the seventh team in NHL history to win a potential elimination game in 3+ OT, then lose next game.  (Glove tap to PhilaDAVEia for that awesome tid bit of info!)