Quick Thoughts on the Post Last Night 4/11/12

Pens vs. Flyers

Blowing a 3-0 lead at home to start does not give you that same warm and fuzzy feeling you had for the Penguins steamrolling into the postseason.  Danny Briere threw the team on his back for a goal or two, and got a team who never said die, back into game that seemed decided pretty early on.  Brayden Schenn had a breakout three-point night, assisting on Briere's goals, and tipping the tying goal home.  You've got to give Bryzgalov a lot of credit, he hung in there when everyone had already written him off.


Preds vs. Wings

This was exactly the type of game you expected it to be, just a constant back and forth, wearing down game, the two teams only capitalizing on each other's mistakes.  Pekka Rinne and Jimmy Howard were great, with the exception of that second goal for the Predators.  Jimmah would like to have that one back I bet.  Weber seemed off his game the whole night, just completely uncomfortable out there.  He saw red after Zetterberg bumped him late in the game, and just went stupid.  Really undisciplined at a point in the game when it shouldn't matter.


Canucks vs. Kings

Talk about uncomfortable, the Canucks looked out of their skin last night, and barely showed any signs of returning to form.  To their credit, the Kings had a game plan, came out flying, and brought it all night long.  Luongo was the only reason the score was as close as it was.  Quick wasn't too shabby either, but we've come to expect that this postseason after a Vezina worthy regular season.  But late in the third, the score was tied at two, if the Canucks had pulled out a win, that would've been a crushing blow to the Kings, having given everything they had and not come out with a win.  But it didn't, and so, it doesn't matter.


All in All...

Welcome to the learning curve of officiating in the postseason, as opposed to the dramatic difference in the regular season.  Thought the officiating, across the board, in all three games, was absolutely horrible.  Some officiating teams were of the mindset to let them play, others called every goddamn thing, and sometimes for one time only.

Nashville was the only team to win at home, once again making us question the difference of home field advantage in the postseason.  And also that seedings don't matter coming out of the gate of the post.