Blackhawks Daily: Avalanche Strike Back; Hayes, Soo Eliminated

Now things are starting to get good in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Every matchup has begun and now we are starting to see multiple games played in each series.  A few of the matchups have started to sway in one direction while a few others are still too close to call. It is going to be an epic finish to the first round based on how the first couple of games have gone. 

On Tuesday night, the New York Rangers took care of business against the Washington Capitals with their 4-3 win.  In the Sunshine State, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers found their way to overtime. This was a great goalie duel between Andrei Vasilevskiy and Sergei Bobrovsky but former Lightning forward Carter Verhaeghe scored the OT winner.  The rats hit the ice after the goal as Verhaeghe now has five career overtime goals in the playoffs. To say he is clutch would be an understatement. Despite each game being incredibly close, the Panthers now have a 2-0 series lead. It is far from over with it now shifting to Tampa. 

A lot of folks consider the Colorado Avalanche vs Winnipeg Jets series to be the best one going right now. That continued in the second game of the series as there were tons of goals scored again. 

It wasn’t quite the 7-6 final that the first game gave us but it was still a very entertaining game. Colorado hung on for the 5-2 victory over the Jets in this one.

This game had it all. Amidst the “white out” in Winnipeg, the Jets had a lead multiple different times, and the Avalanche kept tying it, eventually took the lead, then built on a lead to win. Now, the series is all evened up. 

The nightcap between the Vancouver Canuks and Nashville Predators did not go how many thought it would. The Vancouver Canucks, who had a 1-0 series lead after a great comeback win in the first game, allowed the Predators to get the best of them in game two.

Nashville took a 3-0 lead in the game and they were not going to give it up easily. Although Vancouver started to gain some momentum late, they were unable to break through. The final ended up being 4-1 in favor of the Predators. Now, this series is headed to Broadway Street tied at one apiece. 

Blackhawks In Case You Missed It

• Gavin Hayes saw his season come to an end. Could he be coming to Rockford soon?
• The Chicago Blackhawks have a very good player in Connor Murphy. Will be stick around for the long haul or could he be traded as teams were interested before the trade deadline?
• Teuvo Teravainen led the Carolina Hurricanes to a wild comeback. The former Chicago Blackhawks draft pick could win another Stanley Cup if his team keeps playing like this. 

Hockey Now Playoff Focus

• Boston Hockey Now: The Boston Bruins need a big effort if they are going to bounce back now that they’re in Toronto. 
• Detroit Hockey Now: Are the Red Wings ready for higher expectations? Missing the playoffs as they did, they’ll have a critical offseason to gurantee they can make it
• Vegas Hockey Now: The Vegas Golden Knights ended up with a big win. Everybody contributed to the success of the team in game one. 
• New York Islanders Hockey Now: The New York Islanders are in big trouble after their horrible loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. 
• New Jersey Hockey Now: Timo Meier did his best to try and get the New Jersey Devils into the playoffs despite a tough injury. Now, he finally had the surgery needed to repair it.