Gooooooooodddddd Morning!
It is now very possible that we could go into Round Two of the Stanley Cup Playoffs without either Conference Champion in the group of eight. Tampa Bay was punted by Columbus in four-straight on Tuesday night, and last night Colorado threw another 50-plus shots at Calgary’s Mike Smith before a Mikko Rantanen one-timer from the slot found the back of the net at 10:43 of overtime to give the Avalanche a 3-2 win and a commanding 3-1 series lead. Smith was quite straightforward in conveying his dismay over Calgary letting a late-game lead get away.
A demoralizing loss for the Flames – but an uplifting victory for Nathan McKinnon and company:
And if you’re a Calgary fan, there has to be concern over a 37-year-old netminder facing an average of 46 shots a night, and possibly running out of gas for Game 5 tomorrow night at the Saddledome.
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Boston and Dallas both avoided facing a 3-1 series deficit as the Bruins held off Toronto 6-4 while the Stars hammered Nashville 5-1. David Pastrnak, reunited briefly with linemates Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron, scored a pair of second period goals just 1:35 apart to put Boston back in front for good after Toronto had fought back from an early 2-0 hole. And Dallas lit up Pekka Rinne for four goals less than 14 minutes into the game to chase the veteran Preds netminder.
Before last night’s games, the NHL also announced that four time winner, Patrice Bergeron is a finalist for a record eighth straight year for the Selke Award as the NHL’s best Defensive Forward.
Game 5 of the Jets and Blues series goes tonight at 7:30 p.m. And while a home team has yet to win, Winnipeg Captain Blake Wheeler still likes the idea of being at Bell MTS Place after the back to back wins in St. Louis.
Following last night’s three games, home teams are now 19-15 in this year’s playoffs. The Jets would appear to have the edge in momentum following the back to back wins in St. Louis. And as much as the No. 1 line of Scheifele-Wheeler and Connor were the difference on the stats sheet in Tuesday Night’s overtime victory — there was also plenty of recognition for the performance of the shutdown unit of Tanev-Lowry and Copp. And Adam Lowry says that will be their “MO” once again this evening.
Great to see that Veteran Centre Bryan Little has been named the Jets nominee for the King Clancy Award.
The Manitoba Major Junior League’s McKenzie Trophy Final series kicked off with an OT dandy last night- as St. James edged Pembina Valley 4-3 with John McCammon scoring the game winner at 10:55 of sudden death. Game two goes Saturday Night at the St. James Civic Centre.
The civil nature of the CFL contract talks have ended. The Players Association have advised their members to inform their respective teams “they will not be making travel plans” ahead of the scheduled May 19th start of training camps. And the players will effectively go into shutdown mode if there is no deal in place when the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires at 11 p.m. our time on May 18th. This is in response to the league delaying a resumption of contract talks until a week from Monday on April 29th.
Houston’s James Harden put on an M-V-P worthy performance with 32 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in a 118-98 blowout of Utah. And Kyrie Irving had a 37 point night for Boston in a 99-91 win over Indiana, as the Rockets and Celtics now lead those NBA first round playoff series 2-0, as does Milwaukee who dominated Deteoit for the second straight game, 120-99.
The Jays lost 4-1 in Minnesota. A Brett Gardner grand slam homer lifted the Yankees over Boston 5-3. The defending World Series champion Red Sox are now an AL worst 6-13. And Seattle’s 20 game homerun streak to start the season ended in a 1-0 loss to Cleveland.
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