Sunday April 9

Islanders use their speed to upend the Sabres

(4)Sabres vs Islanders(10)

Sometimes it takes one area of your game in order to get an edge over your opponent. For the Islanders, being first on the ball ultimately made the big difference in this contest. The Sabres struggled to regroup every time they would lose the ball which generated too many chances toward their own net. Many odd man rushes turned into obvious scoring chances, and with that, the Islanders peppered M.Tzouvadakis on a bundle of shots. F.Vitoratos had all the time and space in the world to cash in five times while T.Sauk took care of the other end of the court making all the necessary saves to keeping a gap. Its not like the Sabres didn’t have some decent control trying to generate their opportunities. The problem for them was that the Islanders committed to come back and pick up their man which wasn’t the case for the Sabres when they lost the ball. Just some fundamental principles along with the will to compete harder favoured the Islanders on this particular night.

The Allo Mon Coco Ste-Dorothee player of the game goes to Frank Vitoratos of the Islanders. The Sabres defense and goaltender just didn’t have an answer for the forward who pretty much had his way bagging five of his clubs ten goals.

M.Braun’s late surge powers Predators past Canadiens

(8)Predators vs Canadiens(6)

M.Braun produced a game winning performance against the Canadiens on Sunday evening, turning a tied game into a comfortable lead with little time left over. This contest had its fair share of twists and turns before it was over. The Canadiens took command being up 3-1 just before the thirty minute mark. Then, the Predators went on a wild spree striking four times in only three minutes before the Canadiens had finally a response by netting two to even the score. Neither side had a gauge on where this thing was headed. The mind set was to just look ahead, and search for that next goal. That’s when M.Braun decided to turn it up by taking matters into his own hands. The sniper broke the tie before adding two more tallies to finish with an incredible four goal performance. Talk about heating up at the right time during a game. Maybe if the Canadiens were more aware of his threat, they could have contained him and keep the game within reach. Instead, goal scorers know how to open up and create their own space which is why M.Braun had a field day in the latter part of the contest.

The Allo Mon Coco Ste-Dorothee player of the game goes to Mike Braun of the Predators. In a game that had its fair share of momentum swings, M.Braun had the final word on an incredible finish by posting four straight goals.

M.Lang rescues Flyers after a late blunder

(6)Bruins vs Flyers(7) O.T

It looked like the Flyers were well on their way to closing out the game after a strong finish in regulation time. After all, they scored three straight times to turn a two goal deficit into a 6-5 lead. Such a huge momentum swing with barley any time left over normally suggests that you’ll close out the deal. That wasn’t case for the Flyers as a late blunder saw J.Wong tie the game with just three little seconds left over. It was just an unfortunate set of circumstances that shouldn’t have happened. Still, the game wasn’t officially over, and the Flyers had a shot at redemption. All it took was to win the coin toss battle of getting there first in the sudden death frame. Luckily enough for the Flyers, M.Lang came to rescue his side with his second to secure the win. The Bruins will need to look back at this one and figure out what went wrong. Throughout forty minutes, they played a sound game playing in front while keeping the Flyers offense in check. Then, it all fell apart in a very short span. You know that a team will get desperate and push the pace like the Flyers did. If the Bruins could have applied a different mind set after being up 5-3, maybe things could have turned out differently. That being said, credit to the Flyers for never giving up and pulling the rug-from their opponents feet.

The Allo Mon Coco Ste-Dorothee player of the game goes to Mike Lang of the Flyers. While many of the Flyers players had an input on this win, M.Lang was the one to secure it posting his second on a big overtime goal.

Kraken were no match for Blackhawks

(4)Kraken vs Blackhawks(8)

The Kraken suffered a lopsided defeat to the Blackhawks on Sunday night. It was a game thoroughly dominated by one team which had the Kraken often on its heels. Although it was the Kraken who got on board early courtesy of N.Gikas, the rest went all in favour of the Blackhawks. They built a multi goal advantage and found themselves ahead at one point 7-2.Ari Daghlian put up some nice numbers rattling off three goals  while B.Freitas-Pereira was just as influential scoring twice along with an assist. The Karaken didn’t care that they were down by five goals when pulling out their net minder for the extra attacker. In doing so, they actually scored twice to try make the score look a little more respectable. The problem was that it didn’t do much in the end with the Blackhawks netting a pair of empty net markers by M.Barone and M.Papadakis.

The Allo Mon Coco Ste-Dorothee player of the game goes to Ari Daghlian of the Blackhawks. His three goals in the first thirty five minutes helped set the pace for the Blackhawks deserving win over the Kraken.

Wild collapse after decent start with the Red Wings

(4)Wild vs Red Wings(11)

Just when the Wild thought they had something going, the Red Wings left them in the dust. Scoring three straight times to even the score is a good indicator that you’ll be in fine shape throughout the game . Not in this case however as it wasn’t even close with the Red Wings piling up the score. The real turning point occurred as soon as Z.St-Martin snapped the 3-3 tie. From-there, it was all Red Wings with barely any resistance unless you count C.Roberts second goal for the Wild.  Other than that, the Red wings struck eight more times that saw their offense spread out. J.Musi led the charge in the goals department sparking a hat trick while Z.St-Martin and M.St-Martin potted a pair each. For a good portion things looked ugly for the Wild as they were unable to stop the bleeding . It got to the point that the final buzzer was their only saving grace.  Its not like the Wild don’t have the elements. Sometimes it takes a few adjustments to get things in order. With P.Santullo guiding the ship, the Wild know they’ll  be fine as the season continues to roll along.

The Allo Mon Coco Ste-Dorothee player of the game goes to Joe Musi of the Red Wings. No doubt J.Musi had his hand in this win. His three goals and two assists helped provide some good offense for a team that was looking in fine shape the entire time.