Sunday June 11(Semi finals)

Kings overcome early deficit to advance in final

(7)Kings vs Kraken(4)

The Kings certainly weren’t at their best early on, but managed to escape anyway by eliminating the Kraken on Sunday night. Scoring three goals in the first twenty minutes alone put the Kraken in the drivers seat despite plenty of time left over. The key for them was to try and play in front rather than chasing the game going up against the heavy favourite Kings. It was the type of start required in order to have a chance if you’re the Kraken. But winning a hockey game at this stage of the season entails a lot more than just a strong start. In order to close out a team like the Kings, you need to continue to do all the little things right. Some of those details require defending well, solid goaltending and capitalising on more chances. Unfortunately, some missed opportunities along with some hiccups in their own end of the court came to haunt the Kraken in the end. The Kings were able to calm things down by calling a timeout. At 3-0, they used the pause to regroup, refocus and just go back out there and chip away. That message to calm everything down proved to be the antidote for the Kings to pull off the comeback in their 7-4 win over the Kraken. Something had to change, and it definitely did when J.Cerrone coupled a pair of goals in only three minutes. Eventually, the Kings would level when A.Carelli scored after being awarded a penalty shot. Now that the game was all tied up at four goals a piece, both sides along with the packed crowd felt that the Kings were going to take over. It looked more and more like the Kraken’s offense was stalled like a rusty Ford Pinto. All it took was a couple of minutes after for S.Fabrici to help provide his clubs first lead of the game. The slight 5-4 lead turned into a two goal cushion courtesy of F.Mastrocola, and the Kings would never look back en route to a hard fought victory.

The Allo Mon Coco Ste-Dorothee player of the game goes to Johnny Cerrone of the Kings. When things aren’t going your way by trailing 3-0 early on, sometimes it takes that one tally in order to spark your bench. In the case for the Kings, J.Cerrone did one better by bagging two quick goals to put his club back in it.

Islanders pull through in thrilling high scoring affair versus Blackhawks

(9)Islanders vs Blackhawks(7)

Someone forgot to tell the Islanders and the Blackhawks to bring their defense and goaltending on Sunday night. The two teams had a goal scoring frenzy that lasted throughout the entire game with no one really sure how it was going to end. The contest needed for E.Nardelli to bury his second in an empty cage in order to determine the outcome for the Islanders. You normally expect this in a regular season, but the two sides decided to trade chances since the offense was rolling. No one really led the charge in that department for the two teams. The Islanders saw B.Monette, T.Passarelli and E.Nardelli notch a pair each while G.DeStefano was the only player to score twice for the Blackhawks. Just when the Blackhawks thought they had something going for them when Ari Daghlian levelled by the forty minute mark,the Islanders would immediately respond with two quick goals by T.Passarelli and B.Monette. Still, the game was far-from over despite little time left over. M.Danesi was able to pull the Blackhawks within one after awarded a penalty shot. That goal left over three minutes on the clock, enough time for a shot on net to even the score. The Blackhawks would have no choice to pull their net minder for the extra attacker. In hopes of catching one more break, it was E.Nardelli closing the chapter by feeding the empty net.

The Allo Mon Coco Ste-Dorothee player of the game goes to Tristan Passarelli of the Islanders. The young forward proved that he likes the big moment with so much on the line. His two goals and two assists led all players helping send his team to the final.

With the regular season champs advancing along with the Islanders out lasting the Blackhawks, the stage is now set to see who will take all the marbles. Many will predict the Kings for coming out on top simply because they dropped only one game all season long. That being said, the Islanders want nothing more than to prove that they are the deserving of the two teams. Teams that are under the radar and have gotten this far is because they are doing many things right. The Kings will need to continue and put forth their best hockey in order to take them out. If they play to their identity, and get the necessary goaltending by S.Sauk, then they’ll likely prevail. The Islanders have now one more step to prove everyone wrong, in which they  have the confidence going for them after playing some incredible hockey in recent weeks.