The Flyers, Wild and Kings are in some trouble, Evgeni Malkin, Henrik Lundqvist, Tyler Seguin and Marian Gaborik returned to their respective lineups, and the Kings-Sharks series continued to produce more hits than the Beatles in the ‘60s.
Here are five things we learned Saturday in the NHL.
Weird goals happen
Just throw it at the net, right? Even if you’re 100 feet away or you’re behind the net and don’t feel like using your stick.
We saw a pair of truly bizarre goals Saturday that we’ll be talking about for a while.
The first was when Steve Mason of the Philadelphia Flyers had a blunder of epic proportions. Many fans called it the worst goal they’ve ever seen a goalie allow.
“I tried to put it to the corner. I messed up,” Mason told reporters after the game. Can say it over and over again. It’s a bad goal.”
Then, in the Stars-Wild game, Antoine Roussel scored an odd one on Devan Dubnyk. Like, a really odd one. Watch the goal below and read about why it counted.
Lundqvist bounces back after scary eye injury
When Henrik Lundqvist left Game 1 with an eye injury and his status was unknown, it was worrisome for Rangers fans. Thankfully, King Henrik didn’t sustain any serious damage and he was able to start Game 2. Lundqvist kept his team in the game early with a handful of timely saves (13 in the first period) before the Rangers broke out with three second-period goals. He ended up stopping 29 of 31 shots and earned the victory, which moved him up the records books.
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS:
First Round Series Previews | Broadcast Schedule
Stanley Cup Playoffs Fantasy Hockey
Kessel gets his first two playoff goals with the Pens
One of the bright spots for the Penguins Saturday was Phil Kessel. The winger showcased his excellent release as he picked up both Pittsburgh goals.
He has a ways to go to catch up to the Penguins’ all-time leaders in post-season tallies, but two goals in two playoff games with the Pens is a solid start.
Flyers have to find way to solve Holtby
If you’ve watched the first two games of Flyers-Caps then it should come as no surprise Braden Holtby is going to win the Vezina Trophy and possibly take home the Hart as well.
Holtby has allowed just one goal in the post-season so far and if Philadelphia hopes to extend this series beyond four or five games, they’ll have to take a different approach.
Kings in trouble?
Teams that go down 0-2 when losing Games 1 & 2 at home have lost 13 straight series.
The San Jose Sharks jumped out to a 2-0 series lead on the Los Angeles Kings in their best-of-seven series with a 2-1 win Saturday.
The last team to rally from such a deficit were the Bruins over the Canadiens in opening round of 2011 Playoffs.
Of course, there’s always the 2014 playoffs when the Kings became the fourth team in NHL history to erase 3-0 series deficit after dropping the Kings 5-1 in Game 7 of their first-round series. So there’s that historical reference point to note.
