The First Night

Just a few quick hits for you from the first night of the 2010 postseason...

Crosby's behind the back pass from Gretzky's office on Goligoski's goal was all sorts of awesome. He put that shit right in his wheelhouse, the least GoGo could do was put it away.

Ottawa jumped on Pittsburgh and kept applying the pressure. I don't know if they'll have that element of surprise for the rest of the series, but it showed that it'll no doubt be a battle.

Fleury was not good. Shaky at best, he'll obviously need to be better for the Pens to go anywhere.

Philly had the most surprising win of the games last night. I expected them to be spent, but they were beating the Devils at their own game. A 2-1 affair involving the Devils is usually won they win.

You cannot deny the atmosphere in Glendale, it was playoff hockey, and the people were there, and busting out of the building. Winning that game against Detroit was just icing on the cake, and a big statement that this Coyote team is legitimate, and not smoke and mirrors from shootout victories.

Phoenix power play was 3 for 4 on the night. Detroit's penalty kill prior to that, something like 92%. Holy schnikies.

Throwing the Snake was not as successful as it could/should have been. One snake on the ice after Yandle's goal was a little weak, but the linesman delivered some bad juju to the Wings by throwing it in their bench. That was almost more of a statement. But the fact that it happened at all was great, and hopefully it will pick up steam. Maybe Coyote fans were "feeling" out the security measures so to speak, and didn't want to chance an ejection.

There was two or three minutes after the Coyotes third goal, where they just had the Wings back on their heels. The crowd was chanting, and the place was just going crazy. You tellin' me these people don't know hockey?

Sharks are off to their usual clumsy start, taking a punch to the gut from a deflection off Blake's skate. The mantra "throw pucks to the net" was never more true. But they shouldn't have been in that position in the first place, the offensive firepower of San Jose should be knocking the wheels off that Colorado team. But Andy was good too, not great, he didn't even need to be great.

A buddy of mine up in NorCal tipped me off to Sharks playoff broadcasts being shown at his local sleepy town movie theatre on the big screen. The best part, its free to get in. The even better part, they serve beer and wine, and pretty good food from the restaurant next door. If the Sharks can get past the first round, I just might have to drag my ass up there to check it out. But that's a big 'if.'

And for all you married hockey fans out there, if your better half isn't as commited as you are to the game, then you've got to check out these letters about playoff hockey etiquette between man and wife posted at On Frozen Blog. Great stuff.