Not a bad debut

Before I begin, I just want to point out how easy it is to to get ahead of ourselves after the first playoff game. People start jumping on bandwagons like no tomorrow and off others just as quickly. That's not to say that winning game one isn't important. According to The Hockey News, the game one winner has a .689 chance of winning the series - based on playoff history. Team's have a .868 winning percentage after going up 2-0. We can say this: there's a lot of pressure on Minnesota, Ottawa, San Jose and New Jersey to win game 2.

Let's start out in Pittsburgh, where the Pens cruised over the Senators. There weren't many surprises here. Pittsburgh jumps out to an early lead, courtesy of Senator killer Gary Roberts and never look back. Ottawa didn't seem to recover, as they had their chances to score. Marc-Andre Fleury didn't have to make any miraculous but was solid earning a shutout. Ottawa had two extended 5 on 3's but couldn't generate much. They are in a serious funk right now and without Daniel Alfredsson, it's unlikely they will break out of it.

The Rangers offense produced better than expected and although they won 4-1 the final score is a bit flattering as the game was much tighter than it indicates. New York added their 3rd with under 3 minutes to go (courtesy of the league's biggest pest Sean Avery) and their 4th was an empty netter. The Rangers second goal came courtesy of a Martin Brodeur mistake in which he was unable to cover the puck in the crease and Ryan Callahan jumped on the opportunity. All the Brodeur doubters out there will surely jump on the chance to criticize Marty, but he will come back ready for game 2. As I stated in my preview, this will be a long series.

The best game of the night belonged to the Wild and Avalance - the matchup of the Western Conference's non-pluralized nickname teams. A penalty shot, late in the 3rd of a tie game? Pretty high tension to say the least. This series won't end anytime soon, but Minnesota can't go back to Colorado down 2-0. The Avs were 27-12-2 at home this season and like all Denver based teams, love playing at home because they use the thin air to their advantage. Jose Theodore was very good last night. It might be a bit of a stretch to say he stole the game, but Theodore held the fort while Minnesota was making their comeback.

Certainly the biggest surprise of the night was Calgary's win over San Jose. The Flames out muscled the Sharks in a very physical game and were as quick out of the gates as a thoroughbred. They caught San Jose by surprise and Mikka Kiprusoff was his old self making 37 saves. The Sharks are talking about getting more traffic in front of Kipper, but when he's on his game he seems unfazed by everything. Kiprusoff doesn't seem like a question mark anymore.

What an effort by Jarome Iginla on the game winning goal. After stealing the puck off Brian Campbell, he charges down the ice with reckless abandon and Campbell right on his back. He gets to the net and Stephane Yelle (Stephane Yelle of all people) puts it in. The goal was all Iggy and vintage Iggy at that. This team might, just might have a chance if their stars (Iginla, Kiprusoff and Dion Phaneuf) can keep this up and they dominate physically. My guess is Calgary will be tired after playing such a physical game last night and San Jose comes out guns a blazing. This might be the motivation the Sharks need to take it to the next level or the beginning of a collapse. That definitely is getting ahead of ourselves. Either way, we will find out tonight!