Random Thoughts On The Stanley Cup Conference Quarterfinals: Day Twelve

By Mike

Well, there's two more series (and days) left in the quarterfinals. Boston and Chicago advance while Montreal denies Washington with an outstanding effort by their gutsy goalie...

Montreal: 4; Washington: 1
Series is tied 3-3
Jaroslav Halak made 53 saves and Mike Cammalleri had two goals and an assist to propel themselves into Game Seven versus Washington. Joe Corvo rocketed 10 shots on Halak while Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, and Mike Green each registered 6 or more shots. Eric Fehr scored Washington's lone goal. Simeyon Varlamov was not as impressive at his end, allowing 3 goals on 21 shots. Game 7 goes back to Washington but if Montreal keeps it up they could pull a serious upset for the heavily-favored Capitals.

Boston: 4; Buffalo: 3
Boston wins the series 4-2
Man, this was a battle of whomever could be good enough and in the end, Boston mustered an upset to the Sabres despite missing their main setup man Marc Savard. David Krejci put up 2 goals and an assist while both old man Mark Recchi and Miro Satan had a goal and an assist each. Give credit to Buffalo for an outstanding season but those few games without Vanek was apparently too much for them to overcome. Boston's opponent will need to be figured out once the Washington-Montreal series concludes.

Chicago: 5; Nashville: 3
Chicago wins the series 4-2
It sucks for Nashville that they can't seem to escape from the first round. But when you're facing an excellent Blackhawks team, that's kinda expected to happen. Now, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp put forth a valiant effort with a goal and two assists each, but one wonders how the game would have turned out if Marian Hossa, who had three assists, would have been suspended for his hit on Dan Hamhuis Kinda stings. Chicago now goes on to face Vancouver in the Western Conference Semifinals while San Jose awaits the winner of the Phoenix-Detroit series.