Chase for the Cup: 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs Round Up

Last night featured a wealth of opportunity: One team could sweep their opposition away while two others could go up 3-0. Who knows? If the second round continues to be this efficient, the finals could start (and maybe finish) before June!

The Night that Was:

Tampa Bay’s surprising post-season surge continued, and now it’s cost the Washington Capitals their shot at redemption. The Caps were ousted prematurely from the playoffs once again as the Lightning never trailed. Tied at one after the first period, Sean Bergenheim scored two goals in the second while John Erskine could only muster one, and that 3-2 lead was expanded to a 5-3 win and a 4-0 series sweep. Dwayne Roloson made 33 saves to oust the Capitals as five Lightning finished with multiple points: Bergenheim, Martin St. Louis, Teddy Purcell, Steve Downie, and Dominic Moore. Tampa Bay becomes the first team to move on to the Conference finals, and they’ll await either Boston or Philadelphia.

Speaking of Boston and Philadelphia, the Bruins are one win away from moving on to face Tampa Bay after a big 5-1 win last night. Boston wasted little time jumping on the scoreboard with two goals before the game was 1:10 old as Zdeno Chara and David Krejci scored. Daniel Paille and Nathan Horton scored in the second, which turned this into a real playoff game, because it’s not a real playoff game unless a Philadelphia goalie gets pulled. Brian Boucher was out after four goals on 20 saves and Sergei Bobrovsky came in. Although Bobrovsky went 7/8 on saves, Tim Thomas never slowed down, making 37 saves. Chara and Krejci finished the evening with three points each while 10 Bruins had points total. Boston holds a 3-0 lead in the series and is looking to avoid a similar collapse as last year. Game Four goes Friday.

Speaking of 3-0 advantages, there’s another one in these playoffs. The Detroit Red Wings erased a 1-0 deficit in the first and a 2-1 deficit in the second, but they also lost a 3-2 lead with just four minutes remaining in the third as Dan Boyle scored to send the game to overtime. In OT Devin Setoguchi played the goat and the hero. He took a penalty just five minutes in that gave Detroit a great chance to win, but two minutes after sitting in the box, Setoguchi redeemed himself, scoring the winner off a beautiful set up by Joe Thornton. The goal was Setoguchi’s fourth of the playoffs, and third that day. That’s right, Devin Setoguchi wrapped up a Game Three win and a 3-0 series lead with a hat-trick, as San Jose moved into the power position in their series. Joe Thornton had three assists; setting up each of Setoguchi’s goals as Antti Niemi made 38 saves. Game Four goes Friday.

The Injury Bug:

-Steve Sullivan will miss Game Four against Vancouver tonight with a lower body injury. He suffered it during Game Three.

-The break for the Tampa Bay Lightning will help Dana Tyrell, Simon Gagne, and Pavel Kubina all get healthy.

-Sami Salo is questionable for Game Four between Vancouver and Nashville tonight.

What’s on Tonight?

Just one game as Nashville looks to tie up their series with the Vancouver Canucks at two games apiece. The game gets underway at 8:30pm Eastern.

News and Rumours Around the League:

-The Atlanta Thrashers are still looking for interested parties to keep them in Atlanta. Local buyers are proving difficult to find, and the ones they have found have had slow discussion periods.

Your Top Playoff Performer of the Night:

Hmm….why not take hat-trick that pushed Detroit to the brink of elimination and a 3-0 hole. Two of Setoguchi’s goals were on the power play and the third was the game winner, scoring on three of his five shots. He also added a plus-one rating and four penalty minutes in 21 minutes of ice time.

You can follow Bryan on Twitter at BryanThiel_88.