Four games on tap again today, as the Jets look to rebound from an ass-kicking, the Devils aim to tie their series with Carolina, the Habs will try and show that Friday's win was no fluke, and the Kings try to forget that Game Three disaster against the Oilers.
All of us here at Nucks Misconduct are shocked and saddened by the horrific events last night at the Lapu Lapu Day Festival in East Vancouver. Please keep the families and friends of those affected in your thoughts today and going forward, as the community tries to come to terms with this senseless tragedy.
LAST NIGHT'S ACTION
ABBOTSFORD CANUCKS 5 TUCSON ROADRUNNERS 0 (Canucks win series 2-1)
Coming off a rough performance in Game Two, I wondered whether Coach Manny Malhotra would switch things up in goal. He didn't, and Arturs Silovs rewarded that trust with a 21 save shutout, as the Abbotsford Canucks punched their ticket to the Pacific Division semifinals with a 5-0 last night at the Abbotsford Centre. Tristan Nielsen's goal late in the first period would hold up as the winner, and also got goals from Chase Wouters, Max Sasson, Sammy Blais (with his third goal of the series) and Phil Di Giuseppe. Arshdeep Bains added two assists to give him four for the series. They'll take on the Coachella Valley Firebirds in a best of five series, with the winner of that playing the winner of the series between the Colorado Eagles and San Jose Barracudas.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING 5 FLORIDA PANTHERS 1 (Florida leads series 2-1)
After getting out played in the first two games of the series, the Bolts responded with an outstanding effort to get their first win of the playoffs. Jake Guentzel had a goal and two assists for Tampa, and was on the end of a pretty scummy Matthew Tkachuk late hit as he set up an Anthony Cirelli empty net goal. I know this will come as a shock, but Tkachuk will not be hearing from DoPS on it.
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4 MINNESOTA WILD 3 OT (Series tied 2-2)
Ivan Barbashev scored at 17:26 of overtime to give Vegas a 4-3 win and tie their series at two games a piece. Tomas Hertl scored his third of the playoffs, while they also got PPG's from Shea Theodore and Nicolas Roy. Marcus Foligno with his 3rd of the postseason, Marco Rossi and Jarrod Spurgeon scored for Minnesota. This series shifts back to Vegas for Game Five Tuesday night.
OTTAWA SENATORS 4 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS 3 OT (Leafs lead series 3-1)
Death, taxes, and the Leafs blowing a series clinching game seem to be the only certainties in life, eh? The first goal of the playoffs from Jake Sanderson was the dagger as the Sens send the series back to Toronto for another do or die game Tuesday night. Tim Stutzle on the power play, and a beauty SHG from Shane Pinto gave the Sens a 2-0 lead in the first before a nice tip in from John Tavares pulled the Leafs within one before the end of the frame. They tied it on a breakaway goal from Matthew Knies in the second period, but David Perron's first of the playoffs would restore the lead for Ottawa. It wasn't to last though, as Oliver Ekman-Larsson's 2nd of the postseason would send it to OT.
COLORADO AVALANCHE 4 DALLAS STARS 0 (Series tied 2-2)
Did you hear a sound similar to a distant explosion last night? That was in Denver, where the roof of the Ball Arena was sent hurtling into space as Gabriel Landeskog scored his first NHL goal in almost 3 years en route to a 4-0 Avs victory. Landeskog added an assist, and they got a shorty from Logan O'Connor, the 4th of the playoffs from Nathan MacKinnon, and some insurance from Samuel Girard. Game 5 goes tomorrow night in Dallas.
TODAY'S ACTION
WINNIPEG JETS (2-1) vs ST LOUIS BLUES (1-2)
ENTERPRISE CENTER, ST LOUIS, MO
10:00 AM PST/ 1:00 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET, CBC
Game Three was ugly, and the Jets are going to need to get Connor Hellebuyck to start showing his regular season form if they want to head back to Winnipeg with a chance to close out the series Wednesday night. I just want to warn you that the next sentence I am going to write will look utterly bizarre, but I assure it is true. The Jets need to find a way to stop Cam Fowler, or they will lose this series to the Blues. I know that the NHL Playoffs can produce some unlikely heroes, but come on, man!! Fowler tied for third in playoff scoring with Connor McDavid and Anze Kopitar??? That seems so fake, but here we are.
Western Conference First Round, Game 4
1 p.m. ET; FDSNMW, MAX, truTV, TBS, SN, TVAS, CBC
Winnipeg leads best-of-7 series 2-1
Kyle Connor -- Mark Scheifele -- Alex Iafallo
Nino Niederreiter -- Vladislav Namestnikov -- Cole Perfetti
Morgan Barron -- Adam Lowry -- Mason Appleton
Brandon Tanev -- David Gustafsson -- Jaret Anderson-Dolan
Josh Morrissey -- Dylan DeMelo
Dylan Samberg -- Neal Pionk
Logan Stanley -- Luke Schenn
Connor Hellebuyck
Eric Comrie
Scratched: Dominic Toninato, Haydn Fleury, Colin Miller, Ville Heinola
Injured: Nikolaj Ehlers (lower body), Gabriel Vilardi (upper body), Rasmus Kupari (concussion)
Pavel Buchnevich -- Robert Thomas -- Jimmy Snuggerud
Jake Neighbours -- Brayden Schenn -- Jordan Kyrou
Mathieu Joseph -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Zack Bolduc
Alexey Toropchenko -- Radek Faksa -- Nathan Walker
Cam Fowler -- Colton Parayko
Philip Broberg -- Justin Faulk
Nick Leddy -- Tyler Tucker
Jordan Binnington
Joel Hofer
Scratched: Alexandre Texier, Ryan Suter, Matthew Kessel
Injured: Dylan Holloway (lower body)
CAROLINA HURRICANES (2-1) vs NEW JERSEY DEVILS (1-2)
PRUDENTIAL CENTER, NEWARK, NJ
12:30 PM PST/ 3:30 PM EST
TV: SN360
The New Jersey Devils will look to build on a massive double OT win Friday night and send this series back to Raleigh tied at two games a piece with a win this afternoon. The Canes meanwhile could have newly signed Alexander Nikishin in their lineup as they weigh some potential line changes to get a win today.
Eastern Conference First Round, Game 4
3:30 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, MAX, truTV, MSGSN, TBS, SN360, TVAS
Carolina leads best-of-7 series 2-1
Hurricanes projected lineup
Seth Jarvis -- Sebastian Aho -- Jackson Blake
Taylor Hall -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Andrei Svechnikov
Jordan Martinook -- Jordan Staal -- Logan Stankoven
William Carrier -- Mark Jankowski -- Eric Robinson
Jaccob Slavin -- Brent Burns
Dmitry Orlov -- Jalen Chatfield
Shayne Gostisbehere -- Sean Walker
Frederik Andersen
Pyotr Kochetkov
Scratched: Jack Roslovic, Tyson Jost, Alexander Nikishin, Riley Stillman, Ruslan Khazheyev
Injured: None
Devils projected lineup
Ondrej Palat -- Nico Hischier -- Timo Meier
Erik Haula -- Dawson Mercer -- Jesper Bratt
Paul Cotter -- Cody Glass -- Stefan Noesen
Tomas Tatar -- Justin Dowling -- Nathan Bastian
Brett Pesce -- Dougie Hamilton
Brian Dumoulin -- Johnathan Kovacevic
Jonas Siegenthaler -- Simon Nemec
Jacob Markstrom
Jake Allen
Scratched: Kurtis MacDermid, Nolan Foote, Curtis Lazar, Daniel Sprong, Dennis Cholowski, Seamus Casey
Injured: Luke Hughes (undisclosed), Brenden Dillon (undisclosed)
WASHINGTON CAPITALS (2-1) vs MONTREAL CANADIENS (1-2)
BELL CENTRE, MONTREAL, PQ
4:00 PM PST/ 7:00 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET, CBC
The Habs made a series of it in Game Three, and the animosity between these teams is building. While it looks like Logan Thompson will be good to go based on seeing him in warmups this morning, but we'll have to see about Sam Montembault closer to game time. He was solid before getting hurt in Game Three, leaving it up to rookie Jakub Dobes, who stopped seven of eight shots coming in for Montembault Friday night. We'll try to update the lineups when we can.
LOS ANGELES KINGS (2-1) vs EDMONTON OILERS (1-2)
ROGERS PLACE, EDMONTON, AB
7:00 PM PST/ 10:00 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET, CBC
While Friday night's loss was not good, there are a number of positives for the Kings to draw from in Game Four. While this was never going to be a goaltender's series, they have the edge over the Oilers and have been the only team to actually get a good night out of one of their net keepers. Continuing to pick apart a weak Oilers penalty kill and hammer shots at whichever goaltender gets the nod tonight for Edmonton can send them back to LA with a 3-1 lead and a chance to eliminate one of the Cup favourites.
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Off his 2001 album 'Terria', this is 'Canada' by Vancouver's own DEVIN TOWNSEND. Vote like our future as Canadians depends on it.
Enjoy the games. Fuck fascists.
