NHL Match Roundup for Saturday April.9 –Part 2
Most of the action was centered on the Eastern Conference in the last coverage, part 1.
Now continuing the match roundup for Saturday, April 9th, let’s take a look at what went on in the Western Division where teams were pushing for playoff positions rather than securing a postseason berth.
Anaheim Ducks vs. Los Angeles Kings
Ducks did well for themselves on Saturday after it thrashed Los Angeles Kings by 3-1 at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, California.
Just a few days ago, Anaheim could not tell if its winning streak in March would be enough to get them into the playoffs. Closing the season with a final win over Los Angeles gave it that lift into fourth place and a home-ice advantage in the quarterfinals.
With consecutive wins over its state rivals in two days, Ducks gained those much needed four points that saved it from a tie with Dallas at the eighth spot.
It was a miraculous attempt as they won their 10th game in the past 13.
"I don't think anybody picked us to have home-ice advantage at any point", Anaheim’s coach, Randy Carlyle, said. "But it's funny the way things fall into your lap when you win your fair share of games. That's back to our players. They worked extremely hard
and stayed committed, and they've earned this".
Brandon McMillan scored unassisted over halfway into the first period and Saku Koivu notched another in nearly two minutes later during a power-play to give Ducks a 2-0 lead before entering the second period.
Francois Beauchemin extended that lead nearly 9 minutes into the second period while Ryan Smyth put LA on the score board with less than two minutes remaining to pull one back.
Players roughed each other up throughout the match as both teams gave over 26 penalty minutes in the first period alone, and another 30 minutes during the scoreless final.
Sheldon Brookbank, Kyle Clifford, Brad Richardson, and Teemu Selanne all received a five minute major for fighting.
Richardson was criticised by a majority of the players for picking a fight with Selanne, a 40-year-old Hall of Famer.
Nevertheless, both teams have playoffs to look forward to and might face each other later on.
Ducks kicks-off its quarterfinals against Nashville Predators on Wednesday, while Kings face San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
San Jose Sharks vs. Phoenix Coyotes
San Jose achieved what it always wanted to and that was to overtake Detroit Red Wings for the second spot.
Sharks clinched the second Western Conference seed after a 3-1 win over Phoenix, that had defeated Sharks earlier in the season, at the sold-out HP Pavilion Arena in San Jose, California.
Even though both had brilliant shutouts in the first period, away goalie, Ilya Bryzgalov, and Antti Niemi making 34 and 35 saves, respectively, San Jose took over the match in the second phase.
Ian White scored the opening goal, now becoming a regular scorer after not having a single one in Sharks’ first 21 matches.
Joe Pavelski extended the lead to 2-0 after capitalising on a power-play sponsored by Martin Hanzal with less than two minutes remaining in the second period.
Lauri Korpikoski gave Phoenix hope by sliding in the puck through Niemi nearly 9 minutes into the final period, unassisted, but was not able to rebound after that.
The fiery rookie, Logan Couture, notched his 32nd of the season during another power-play to insure the match in Sharks’ favour with 90 seconds remaining in the game.
"You want to play good going into the postseason", Sharks’ captain, Joe Thornton, said. "We had a solid game tonight. And yeah, it's important to get as high as you can with the seed you get”.
The second placed Sharks face the seventh placed Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, while Phoenix plays Detroit on Wednesday, to inaugurate the quarterfinals of the 2011 NHL playoffs.
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