Watson heads Underdogs to Victory in FA Cup final

pic via: the guardian

Ben Watson will forever have his name etched into FA Cup Final folklore as his last minute Cup winning header gave Wigan Athletic their first major trophy in their 81 year club history. Dave Whelan the Wigan Athletic chairman finally got some closure at Wembley too, as the Latics Chairman saw his footballing career end abruptly during the 1960 FA Cup final between Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers . As the Bradford born Whelan had his leg broken in the first half of that year’s final and his Blackburn side went on to lose 3-0. So 53 years after he saw his dreams go up in smoke of lifting the famous cup as a player, he finally lifted it as a Chairman and was the best day of his life.

Pre game talk was Manchester City Manager Roberto Mancini, changing his mind on his team selection that played on the day. As all week he had admitted to the media that he was going to play Costel Pantilimon in goals for the final as he had played in every round of this year`s FA Cup that saw City on route to the final. Mancini though, had decided he would play his First choice goalkeeper in Joe Hart and completely shocked people by his sudden change of hart (no pun intended). When asked if Pantilimon was upset with the decision to pull him at the last minute and be replaced by the England goalie Mancini replied, "He Understand`s the situation, i think he is ok with it but you would have to ask him”

Both teams were lined up in the tunnel and ready to be led out by their managers, but Wigan on this occasion let Dave Whelan led his side out on to the hallow turf of Wembley instead. Manchester City were the overwhelming favourites to win the cup final as Wigan hadn`t beaten City since the 2008 season ,so it seemed like it was just a matter of Manchester City turning up and steamrollering their way past Wigan, However that was far far from what took place. Once everything was ok for the referee Andre Marriner, he blew for the start of the game and the Cup Final was under way.

First action of the game saw Manchester City`s Spanish playmaker David Silva take a weak shot on the Wigan goal, as James McArthur had put a block on the effort and looked like City were going to be in charge of the game early on, as they dominated possession in the opening 10 minutes of the game.

Pic: bbc sports

Attacks were rare early on but City had a free kick about 10 yards outside the penalty area took by Carlos Tevez, his effort was blocked by the Wigan wall with the ball falling to Yaya Toure who took a quick shot on goal and Joel Robles made a save off it in the Latics goal. Wigan then had a great chance to take the lead as Callum McManaman had the ball crossed to him by Kone, and when a first time shot seemed the best option he decided to move it on to his left foot and his attempted curler went just past the far post as it went wide of the City goal much to the relief of the all the Blues fans behind that goal.

City had the ball for long stages but weren`t doing much with it at all, but they managed to get half chance, as a shot on goal by Silva was saved by Joel but he palmed it out in front of goal to an oncoming Pablo Zabeleta steaming in the box and was blocked by Joel, though it wouldn`t have counted as the flag went up for offside on him. City really struggled to unlock the Wigan defence and the passing was all too predictable by them as they played down the middle and the Latics frustrated the blues with their tactics as they knew what to expect from them as they caught on quick. Those in Blue shirts were running out of ideas of what to do with the ball and so when the ball was the feet of Nastasic from nearer the halfway line, the Serbian defender unleashed a shot that seemed more like a drop goal attempt with the height he put on it, as it went harmlessly wide and shown they were clearly frustrated and shown how tactically sound Roberto Martinez had been drumming it into his players prior to the game on defending as a tight unit.

Wigan then began to get a foothold in the game as their confidence was growing by every passing minute in the game. Latics main men were Kone, McManaman and Espinoza, as they were pulling City apart going forward. And the normally solid back line for City seemed to wobble as Espinoza was giving Zabaleta a torrid time down the right flank and McManaman was cutting to ribbons Clichy down the left side and you wondered if he would be taken off or would Mancini have him get some help down that flank, as the defense was left exposed a few times and the Blues had no answer to them.

pic: yahoo sports

However the score remained 0-0 and for the attacking threat they posed on their opponents, Wigan themselves weren`t exactly testing Joe Hart in goals either. Tevez came very close to breaking the deadlock, as play in the Wigan area by Samir Nasri spotted the Argentina striker free and his pass was just too wide to get decent contact on, and the striker did well to get any type of shot away as his attempt was saved by the toe of the keeper boot and went out of play and Joel kept his side in it still.

Hearts were in the collective mouths of the Manchester City fans and players, when Roger Espinoza went down in the area from a coming together between him and Zabeleta near the 5 yard area. However the Wigan striker made no appeal for the penalty and on replays it was touch and go as it could have been given as there was a slight contact with the defenders back leg, but also the player went down too prior to the touch. So City got away with one you could say, Callum McManaman then ran rings around the defense as he dashed into the box and was pulling defenders out of position and had Joe Hart diving around as the Scottish Midfielder feigned to shoot, so when he did finally shoot, it was blocked by the defense and gave a clear signal that this game wasn`t like a few people and pundits predicted it be like before the game.

Kone had a try for Wigan but his effort was very poor as the ball went into the arms of Joe Hart who had nothing to do all game hardly. Gareth Barry then tested out Joel again, as his shot from 14 yards out was collected easily by the goalkeeper. He also produced a stop from a fierce Nasri drive which he calmly stopped too, so both teams went into the break at 0-0 with City thankfully Wigan didn`t take their chances .While Wigan went in thinking they had weathered a few good attacks and were able to get show that they weren`t pushovers and could cause trouble for the Blues too.

Second half got under way and saw Wigan almost take the lead after McManaman had picked out James McCarthy but his effort went harmlessly went wide of Hart goal. City had a good spell of play in a couple of minutes , as first Tevez had found room down the Latics left and his fizzing ball across the penalty area was cut out by Boyce at the near post to stop Sergio Aguero getting a touch. That play gave the fans behind that particular goal dressed in sky blue ,hope that they were coming into the game more now. Vincent Kompany went close from the resulting corner from a David Silva corner, as his header was deflected just over the bar by a black shirt but the referee didn`t notice that and so gave a goal kick. City started to get the ball more again and retained the ball better, but yet again they failed in their efforts to break down Martinez`s men at the back.

Roberto Mancini made his first subsitution as Nasri was replaced by James Milner as Nasri was ineffective in the game. So with Milner coming on that meant the Yorkshire man could use his pace to try and pull the Latics defense out of position as he has hurt many teams doing that at the Etihad Stadium this season.

City thought they should have had a penalty as well, when Carlos Tevez flicked the ball in the area towards Sergio Aguero and the Argentinian looked to be tripped up by Paul Schaner in the area as the Wigan defender seemed to lose his footing and as he fell down accidently clipped the back of Aguero`s heels. Protests coming from the diminutive striker and fans behind that goal fell on deaf ears as Marriner wasn`t interested. 

pic: daily mail

Kone had an effort cut out by Kompany as Wigan were threatening without looking likely to score. McManaman once again was ripping Clichy apart and his cross to the striker was miscontrolled by Kone , as he failed to latch on it and so the ball was cleared away by the Man City captain who was the man of the match for City. City made their 2nd change of the game , as off came Carlos Tevez who was arguably their most attacking player  on the pitch and swapped him for Jack Rodwell. A move which puzzled a few and had Tevez bemused by it too, Rodwell nearly scored soon after as he had a header from a Milner free kick go just over the bar and this game had a feeling of the next goal would win this match. The City defenders were sick of the sight of McManaman now, as he was running the show for Wigan and so when he was on a break up field, Nastasic took him down and in doing so took one for the team as he fouled him near the edge of the penalty area. 

Shaun Maloney took the free kick and his freak effort almost caught Joe Hart out in the nets , As it clipped the top of the bar and went out for a throw in on the far side it was nearly like Ronaldinho`s goal for Brazil v England in the World Cup back in 2002, As it had Hart beat all ends up if it had dropped in. Kompany was switched on at the back for the Blue shirts as he was clearing up his team mate’s mistakes and was was not very happy with Clichy as he was being made to look stupid.

Wigan Athletic then brought on Ben Watson for Jordi Gomez  just to give the Latics a bit more steel in the midfield and push Wigan on a bit in the final stages. City were just casually passing the ball around when Gareth Barry underhit pass across the middle of the pitch, was ran onto by that man McManaman and the Scot looked to be on his way towards goals as he ran at the defense. That was till  Pablo Zabaleta came in with a late tackle just as McManaman had knocked the ball on ahead and in the process brought him down to the deck. So as soon as he made the challenge he knew he was in deep trouble, And so once the Argentinian defender stood up to receive his fate, Referee Andre Marriner held the yellow card up followed by a red card. Zabaleta became only the 2nd player in FA Cup Finals history to be Red Carded, and was the first time in 28 years since Kevin Moran for Manchester United was shown the red against Everton back in 1985. 

Pic :whoateallthepies

Zabaleta was going absolutely ballistic at Barry as he was walking off as his pass led to the play that resulted in his downfall. Wigan had a fantastic chance now with the extra man advantage, so with McManaman dancing round Clichy for the umpteenth time in the game he appealed for a penalty, as he felt he had been impeded by the City man. Time was approaching 90 minutes on the clock and we were heading to extra time, Wigan had a corner and chance to get a winner. The Corner was crossed in and was met by substitute Ben Watson as his header went crashing past Joe Hart and gave Wigan a deserved but equally shock lead right at  the death. The Underdogs had took the lead and the players revelled in the goal as the Wigan coaching staff along with Dave Whelan , who was sat in the executive boxes at Wembley. Wembley went bananas in the Wigan end mainly as it exploded with noise and celebrations as the team was close to producing a shock bigger arguably than Wimbledon beating Liverpool back in 1988. 

Pic: via Metro

Play restarted to the sounds of 3 additional minutes being added on and City made their last change with Gareth Barry coming off for a striker who was well known for his late goals in Edin Dzeko. It was far too late to make any type of impact or recovery on this game and so the referee blew time and Wigan Athletic were FA Challenge cup winners of 2013, and the underdogs had beaten their massive favourites. All that was left to do now was for Wigan to walk the stairs and grab that famous Cup a hold it loft in view of their fans who had travelled down to watch them, and will now play European football for the first time in their history too next season, as they take part in the Europa League.

STANLEY CUP 2013: CONF Quarter finals update

  

We move on to the Conference Semi-Finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs as we had some interesting and great Quarter final match ups in both the Eastern & Western conferences.

 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS    4 -2    NEW YORK ISLANDERS 

  

Well i did mention that if the Long Island men could frustrate and keep to a game plan they could take the Penguins to long series and not the 4 - 0 sweep a lot predicted. Things were looking that way though in GAME 1 as the Penguins thrashed the Islanders 5 - 0 at the Consol Energy Center with Beau Bennett, Pascal Dupuis grabbing 2 goals. While Kris Letang goal and Tanner Glass scored the others for the "Pens" as it looked like it would be an easy series for the men from Pittsburgh 

However in GAME 2 things weren`t so simple at all, Evgeni Malkin opened the scoring after 45 seconds and then Sidney Crosby scored on the power play for a 2 - 1 lead. Matt Moulson scored for the Islanders on their power play before Crosby again netted for a 3-1 lead. Then came the turning point in the game when a clean hit by Matt Niskanen on a Islander was taken exception to by Kyle Okposo and the 2 dropped the gloves and went at it, That seemed to fire up the Islanders as goals by Colin McDonald, Matt Martin tied the game at 3 - 3 .  Marc-Andre Fleury then had a nightmare as a shot was hit to the right of Fleury nets off Okposo shot and the puck took funny bounce off the boards behind the nets and hit Fleury`s skate and went in to give the Isles a 4-3 win.

GAME 3 seen the series move to Long Island where the Isles took a 2 - 0 lead which was cancelled out by two Power play goals by the Penguins along 3rd goal by them from Pascal Dupuis. Murray made it a 4 - 2 Pittsburgh lead in the 2nd period, before goals from Kyle Okposo and John Tavares tied the score at 4 - 4. We then had the series first overtime and the winning goal was dispatched by Chris Kunitz on the power play for the Penguins and gave them a 5 - 4 score line. The aftermath of the goal was a debate on whether it was a Penalty that involved Sidney Crosby who seemed to go down very easily under little pressure and subsequently the PENS scored off it, making it a 2 - 1 series lead.

GAME 4 The Islanders won this high scoring game as the match went back and forth with the Isles take the lead twice in the game before the Penguins then went in front for the first time at the halfway point in the game. Brandon Sutter scored to give Pittsburgh a 3 - 2 lead until Kyle Okposo then tied it up with Dupuis then putting the visitors back ahead once again. Mark Streit, John Tavares and Casey Cizikas then netted for the Isles in the 3rd to give them a 6-4 win and tie the series up at 2 - 2.

GAME 5 moved back to Pittsburgh where the home side shutout the Isles winning it 4 to zip as goals by Tyler Kennedy, Douglas Murray, Sidney Crosby and a power play strike by Kris Letang gave them back the series lead.

GAME 6 saw an aggressive Islanders team at home try to avoid elimination and they made a good start too , as John Tavares scored to give the Islanders the advantage but the lead didn`t last very long, as Sidney Crosby skated up ice on goal but was denied by Evgeni Nabokov save. However the rebound was poked home by Jerome Iginla for the Pens to tie the game. Chris McDonald then restored the lead for New York Islanders and was good for the lead in to the break.

Pascal Dupuis then tied it up midway through the 2nd before Martin Grabner scored to give the Isles back the lead & then with over 5 minutes left Paul Martin struck from the blue line to make it 3 - 3 game and send the game into overtime.

This was played like a game 7 as both sides went for it and a Brent Orpik slap shot broke the hearts of those in the Nassau Coliseum, as the sound of puck hitting pipe reverberated around the arena and sent the Penguins through to round 2 as they won it 4 - 3 in overtime to set up a meeting with the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conf Semi Finals.

OTTAWA SENATORS     4 - 1 MONTREAL CANADIENS   

  

This series between the two Canadian teams will be known as the "TOOTH FAIRY" series, as players were losing teeth at an alarming rate in this series.

GAME 1 saw Craig Anderson lose a tooth when a shot hit his mask and knocked his front tooth out of his mouth and it was Ottawa who drew first "Blood" in the series. As they took game 1 with a 4 - 2 win at the Bell Center in Montreal with Erik Karlsson scoring for Ottawa before 2 goals by Montreal`s Rene Bourque and Brendan Gallagher gave them a 2 - 1 lead. Jakob Silfverberg, Marc Methot and Guillaume Latendresse all netted for the SENS to give them a huge victory away from home.

We also saw Ottawa defenseman Eric Gryba kicked out of the game as a hit by him on Lars Eller at mid ice was deemed to have been a head shot and Eller who was down on the ice for a bit of time, was stretchered off the ice in the 2nd period.

GAME 2 saw the Canadiens bounce back winning 3 - 1 as Ryan White, Brandon Gallagher and Michael Ryder all scored for the home side with only Michalek replying for the Sens. Carey Price then had 2 teeth chipped when his defenseman Jarred Tinordi accidently struck him in the face with a stray skate after Tinordi and a Ottawa player was crashing the net. 

GAME 3 saw an explosion to the series as we went across Canada to Ottawa and the temperatures boiled over, First off though Daniel Alfredsson had given the Ottawa Senators the lead on the power play before Rene Bourque tied it all up for the Canadiens. Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored to give the Sens the 2 - 1 lead and in the process of scoring had a tooth knocked out by Subban stick.

Pageau made it 3 - 1 with his second of the evening as the home side were on top before Kyle Turris made it 4 - 1, then came the line brawl as Montreal put their tough line out and so 47 : 04 in the game tempers frayed as penalties were dish out accordingly.

Montreal had the following handed out-

Francis Bouillion was given 5 for Fighting and a Game Misconduct.

Ryan White was called for Slashing, Fighting and a 10 minute Misconduct. 

Travis Moen was given a Fighting and Game Misconduct, 

Jarred Tinordi was called for Fighting and given a Game Misconduct along with a further 10 minute misconduct penalty.

Colby Armstrong given 5 for Fighting and Game Misconduct

For Ottawa Senators they picked up the following:

Chris Phillips was called for fighting and a Game Misconduct, 

Matt Kassian the same Fighting and Game Misconduct

Zack Smith was given a Fighting major and Game Misconduct and further 10 minute penalty.

Chris Neil receive a Fighting major and a Game Misconduct 

But that wasn`t the end of the rough stuff as over a minute later it started again, As Montreal`s Josh Gorges was called for Charging against Kyle Turris who then picked up a Fighting major with Canadiens P.K Subban behind the play as Subban was given a misconduct and Instigator penalty too. 

While the other end Rene Bourque elbowed Cory Conacher in the head and Conacher was called for Roughing all timed at the 48: 31 minute mark. Then at 56: 58 Brendan Gallagher then tried to call out Cory Conacher and was punched by Gallagher who then just grabbed him and both received Fighting majors.

GAME 4  Saw PK Subban and Alex Galchenyuk give the away side a 2 - 0 lead which they held till the last 10 minutes of the 3rd period when Mika Zibanejad scored a deflected goal & Cory Conacher made it 2 - 2 late on with only 23 seconds left in the regulation.

So the teams battled it out in overtime and at 2: 32 into the overtime period Kyle Turris wristed one past Peter Budaj as the Montreal netminder was screened for the OT winner and so Ottawa had a 3 - 1 series lead. Budaj had only just come on for the overtime period which was a strange decision really and one that didn`t work out.

GAME 5 saw the Senators put the nail in the Montreal Canadiens coffin as they blew them away 6 - 1 in front of a stunned and irate Bell Center crowd. Zack Smith and Cory Conacher gave the Sens a 2 - 0 lead before PK Subban gave the home side hope on the power play before a 2nd period strike by Kyle Turris made it 3 - 1 and then 3 successive power play goals by Alfredsson, Conacher and Condra gave the Sens a Crushing 6 -1 win and moved them to the next round of the play offs!

 BOSTON BRUINS   4  -  3  TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

The only "Original Six" clash in these playoffs came in the form of the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs.  

GAME 1 in TD Gardens saw the Leafs take the lead with a Power play goal by James Van Riemsdyk, With the Bruins then coming strongly back with goals by Wade Redden and Nathan Horton giving them Bruins the lead along with David Krejci and Johnny Boychuk adding the extras for a 4 - 1 win.

GAME 2 saw a flip of game 1 as the Bruins took the lead with a Nathan Horton goal opening the game, before 3 straight goals for the Maple Leafs gave them a 3 - 1 advantage thanks to Joffery Lupul grabbing 2 and ex Bruins forward Phil Kessel netting as his goal was met with a chorus of boos by the Boston natives. Johnny Boychuk made it a one goal game when he made it 3 - 2 and when James Van Riemsdyk scored to make it 4 - 2 the game was made safe and the series was tied up at 1-1.

GAME 3 and 4 saw Toronto play the next 2 games in front of their fans at the Air Canada Center and neither was a happy return for them as Boston took both games. Boston took a 2 - 0 lead with goals by Adam McQuaid and Rich Peverley giving the away side the advantage. Toronto then pulled a goal back on the power play thanks to Jake Gardiner and not long after Nathan Horton scored and after a shorthanded effort by Daniel Paille that made it 4 - 1 to the Bruins. Phil Kessel scored for 4 - 2 then Krejci scored an empty net goal to give Boston Bruins a 2 -1 series lead.

In GAME 4 The Maple Leafs threw away a golden chance to tie the series as they went in at the end of the 1st break 2 - 0 up after goals from Lupul and Franson gave them the "Worst lead in hockey" and so it proved to be, As Boston scored 3 unanswered goals as Patrice Bergeron got the first and then 2 goals by David Krejci gave them a 3 - 2 lead. Then Clarke MacArthur tied the scores at 3 - 3 so after 60 minutes we went to overtime and at 13 : 06 in the 1st overtime period David Krejci completed his hat trick and scored the game winner giving Boston the 4 - 3 win and importantly a 3-1 series lead.

GAME 5: Toronto made sure Boston had to come back to Canada one more time as the Leafs beat the Bruins 2 - 1 with Taylor Bozak and Clarke MacArthur scoring to give them a 2 - 0 score line till Zdeno Chara made it  2 - 1 with a wrist shot and made it a nervy 8 minutes for the Leafs.

GAME 6 Boston had a chance to clinch the series in Toronto after they had lost the chance to do it at home in the previous game. It was a hard fought opening two periods with the score still deadlocked as neither side could find the opening.

That was until the early stages of the third period when Dion Phaneuf managed to get a bit on the puck from a Nazem Kadri shot and his goal sent the Air Canada Center into raptures and the place was about to be jumping even more.

As 6 minutes later the man the Bruins fans love to taunt Phil Kessel backhanded the puck high past Tuukka Rask, as James Van Riemsdyk drove to the net and the puck came loose and the Leafs number 81 picked it up and put it home to give the home side a 2 - 0 lead. 

With 24.5 seconds of regulation left Boston scored with the extra Attacker as Milan Lucic tapped home at the back post to give the Bruins hope, but they were too late as the Toronto Maple Leafs won the game and take the series to a game 7 decider in Boston.

GAME 7 Witnessed an incredible finish to the series as it went right down to sudden death overtime. Game 5 & 6 had seen the Maple Leafs win 2 games on the bounce and had momentum heading into this deciding game 7, However it was the hosts that took the lead as Matt Bartkowski wrist shot from the blue line flew in past James Reimer in the Toronto nets for 1 - 0. 

Cody Franson responded minutes later with a snap shot on the power play to tie the game up and then 5:48 into the second Franson made it a 2 - 1 game as his slapshot beat Tuukka Rask for the go ahead goal.

Things got worse for Boston and their fans when Phil Kessel haunted his former side as he put home for 3 - 1 and  silenced the jeers against him as the Bruins fans were in shock.

And then approaching the final 10 minutes of the 3rd period a breakaway with Kessel and Nazem Kadri gave the chance for the Leafs to extend their lead and extend i they did as Kessel attempt was saved by Rask but Kadri was on hand to fire at huge target and made the game 4 - 1 in Toronto`s favour.

The Bruins then led a comeback as first off Nathan Horton scored with a wrist shot to make it 4 - 2, Then with under 2 minutes to go Milan Lucic scored from a rebound to cut the lead to 1 as the Bruins had pulled the goalie. Boston had the lift they needed and the crowd on their side and with that Patrice Bergeron then shot on net and beat Reimer for a 4 - 4 score line. TD Gardens was jumping for delight now though Boston had the advantage as we went into OT.

Bruins were aggressive in the Leafs zone and when a defenseman cleared it away it came to Bergeron who fired the Bruins into the next round of the playoffs past a deflated James Reimer to give the home side a 5 - 4 OT win.  

NEW YORK RANGERS    4   -   3  WASHINGTONS CAPITALS

CAPS v RANGERS series are normally the most exciting and intense games to watch over the last few seasons, but this year the series hasn`t been the most exciting for me. It took the Rangers took till game 3 to get into the series, as in the first 2 games Washington dominated the play and out muscled, out fought and out played their opponents.

New York got the opening goal of the series through Carl Hagelin but a power play goal by Capital’s main man Alexander Ovechkin made it 1-1. Goals by Marcus Johansson and Jason Chimera all in the second period gave the Caps an opening series lead.

GAME 2 Was a controversial ending as the whole of regulation saw the defences come out on top as they played out a 0 - 0. New York thought and should have had a power play in the last minute as a Caps defenseman played it out over the glass and the referees went upstairs to check the replays and the replays did seem to suggest it went over the plexi without touching the glass and so a penalty should have been called,

However the officials decided it was just a faceoff which infuriated the Rangers Head coach John Tortorella and of course in overtime the same thing happened but against the Rangers and this time it was called by the officials so a Mike Green slapshot beat Lundquvist in Rangers nets for a overtime winner and make a Caps 2 - 0 series lead.

The series then travelled to New York, New York and Madison Square Garden for GAME 3, where the Rangers had a great record against the Capitals. Nicklas Backstrom gave the Caps a 1 - 0 lead before Brian Boyle tied it up at 1 - 1.

Derick Brassard a player brought in before trade deadline from Columbus Blue Jackets scored on the power play to make it 2 - 1 Rangers and another goal by Mike Green made it a tied game at 2 - 2.

Arron Asham then scored to make it 3 - 2 for the blue shirts till Jay Beagle evened the scores again , till Derek Stepan scored with a tip in to give the home side a 4 - 3 lead and one that the Rangers held this time to cut the series lead in half.

GAME 4 Seen the Rangers tie the series up at 2 -2 after the Blue shirts won the second straight game 4-3 after goals from Brad Richards, Carl Hagelin, Dan Girardi and Derek Stepan gave the Rangers the "W" The Caps did manage to claw their way back at one point as Mathieu Perreault and Troy Brouwer made it 2-2 before the Rangers scored 2 unanswered goals and then Karl Alzner made it a goal game.

GAME 5 was back in Washington and saw the Rangers take the lead after 53 seconds when Derick Brassard down by the icing line found Brian Boyle near the net and he tucked it past Brad Holtby in Caps net for a 1-0 lead. Washington then drew level in the second period when a power play goal by Joel Ward tied it up when Johansson found Ward in the slot and Ward buried it.

In the 3rd period it was scoreless and so for the 2nd straight game in Washington we headed to overtime where the game was open and went back and forth till 9: 24 into the overtime period when a Troy Brouwer shot was stopped by Lundqvist, but Mike Ribeiro put home from near the goal line from a loose rebound and made it 3 - 2 in the series to the men in red.

GAME 6 Was the most physical and intense the game of the series as the Rangers looked to extend the series to a game 7. Had it not been for Brad Holtby in the Capital`s nets they would have booked their place sooner in game 7 as the Saskatchewan native kept the Rangers at bay with a goaltending clinic as the Blue shirts couldn`t find a past him. 

That was till nearly midway through the second period when a Derick Brassard goal was deflected in by a Caps defenseman’s glove which eluded Holtby to give the Rangers the lead that they thoroughly deserved. Washington tried to reply but found Henrik Lundqvist in equally miserly mood to give up a goal and so when the horn went for the end of the game and Lundqvist and the Rangers had brought it to a game 7 in Washington.

Both Rangers & Capitals players made themselves better known to them as the officials had to break up a massive line scrum down by the boards with the anticipation of game 7 the next night.

GAME 7 at the Verizon Center in Washington saw an incredible score line as the New York Rangers booked their place in the Eastern conf Semi finals as they thrashed the Caps 5 - 0, though the score line flatters the Rangers. 

Henrik Lundqvist was the man of the moment  as he earned a shut out the night before in Game 6 and in Game 7 he carried on his form as his team mates helped him out instead of carrying the load, As Arron Asham scored for the Rangers after they had to cleared danger from their nets. 

Taylor Pyatt made it 2 - 0 for the New Yorkers as a Steve Eminger shot hit his team mate in front of the net in the shape of Dorsett the puck rebounded fell nicely to Pyatt and he tucked home.

Rangers made it 3 - 0 as great passing by the Forwards was laid onto to Del Zotto whose slap shot took a deflection off Troy Brouwer skate and deceived Holtby and the puck went through his legs to give the visitors a 3 goal cushion.

Ryan Callahan the Captain of the New York side picked up a sloppy defensive error and the Captain skated unopposed and backhanded past the Caps Netminder for an unbelievable 4 - 0 lead, the Rangers had struggled all series to find the twine and now in a game 7 they were finding it with ease.

Mats Zuccarello put the exclamation point on this victory as Eminger left it off to Derick Brassard who had space to pick out Zuccarello and he deked Matt Holtby and put it in for a 5 - 0 score line and saw the Caps fans head to the exits, while the Rangers progressed to the next round to face the Bruins. 

   

   

   

SAN JOSE SHARKS 4 - 0 VANCOUVER CANUCKS

  

San Jose dominated this series from the first puck drop to the horn sounding in game 4, In Game 1 Vancouver took the lead with a Kevin Bieksa backhanded goal to give the home side a good start, but the Sharks drew level on the power play with Logan Couture scoring with a wrist shot and then in the third period Dan Boyle and Patrick Marleau scored to give the Sharks a 3 - 1 win and lead in the series.

GAME 2 the Canucks came back from a goal down after Joe Thornton had opened the scoring in the first period, but thanks to an early Power play goal by Ryan Kessler after 59 seconds in the 3rd and then another effort from him gave the hosts a 2 - 1 lead.

Patrick Marleau however then drew the scores level when his wrist shot beat Roberto Luongo in Canucks nets and with the Score remaining tied up we went to overtime and it was Raffi Torres who scored the game winner in the O T to give the Sharks a 2 - 0 series lead to take back to the "SHARK TANK" for games 3 & 4.

GAME 3 the Shark sensed blood as they chewed up the Canucks and led 2 - 0 early on in the 2nd period with Joe Pavelski scoring twice the first by way of a power play goal and his second goal with a tip in.

Alexandre Burrows pulled a goal back for Vancouver and then the opening 5 minutes of the 3rd period, San Jose just took the game away from their opponents as 2 power play goals by Logan Couture was sandwiched in between a Patrick Marleau goal as a well for a 5 - 1 lead and Dan Humhuis scored a consolation goal for a 5 - 2 loss.

GAME 4 saw the Canucks produce a bit of fight in the series as they responded twice to going behind after Brent Burns gave the Sharks the opener only for Mason Raymond to reply back for Vancouver and then a power play goal by Joe Pavelski for the Sharks made it 2 - 1 and looked to have the knocked the stuffing out of the Canucks. A power play effort by Alexandre Burrows made it a 2 - 2 game and minutes later they took a 3 - 2 lead as another Alexandre scored in the shape of Edler who gave them hopes of avoiding a humiliating sweep.

San Jose had other ideas as yet another Power play goal for Pavelski tied the scores once more and we headed to overtime. Vancouver seemed to have the wind taken out of their sails by the tying goal and the Sharks grew stronger and was no surprise when Patrick Marleau score to send the Canucks packing and the Sharks swum on to the next round of the playoffs with a 4 - 3 win and a franchise 1st ever sweep in Stanley cup history.

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS   4 - 1 MINNESOTA WILD

The top seed in the West managed to get through to the next round but it wasn`t all plain sailing for the men from the Windy City, Though saying that it was a horrible series for the Wild in many ways too.

GAME 1 Minnesota Wild got off to a terrible start as their first choice netminder Nicklas Backstrom had stretched awkwardly in warm-up and so back up netminder Josh Harding then stepped up and put on a great show for the Wild with 35 saves in opening game. What made this even more incredible was that Harding had only played 5 regular season games as the netminder has been battling M.S (Multiple Sclerosis) and he had been told 5-10 minutes before opening faceoff that he was in.

The game started and it was the Wild that scored first as Cal Clutterbuck wrist shot beat Corey Crawford to give the lead to Minnesota. Chicago drew level in the 2nd period when Marian Hossa wrist shot beat Harding to tie the game at 1, both sides had chances to win the game but neither could find the final touch so we went into overtime to see who could break the stalemate. Shots on goal were fairly close with 9 - 7 in favour of the Blackhawks in the OT period and it was Bryan Bicknell who slid his effort under Harding in net to give Chicago a 1 - 0 series lead.

GAME 2  Saw Chicago show why they were the number one team in the NHL over the season as they out shot the Wild 48 - 28 with the Hawks taking a 2 goal lead thanks to Michael Frolik grabbing both with his second coming shorthanded.

Minnesota`s Daniel Setoguchi made it 2 - 1 before Patrick Sharp scored a brace of goals himself for a 4 - 1 lead, Marco Scandella scored for the Wild to give them a bit of hope but they ran out of time and Bryan Bickell scored on the backhand to make it 5 - 2 and increase the series lead to 2 - 0 in the Blackhawks favour.

GAME 3 The Wild entertained the Blackhawks as the fans of "Hockey State" welcomed the Stanley Cup Playoffs to Minnesota. Chicago took the lead as a Jay Oduya goal silenced the home fans ,till Pierre-Marc Bouchard tied it up with a back hand for the Wild at 1 - 1.

Zach Parise scored on the backhand to give the Wild a 2 - 1 lead until towards the end of the period when a rocket by Duncan Keith beat Harding and sent us to yet another overtime period. This time though it would be the Wild that came out on top as Matt Cullen looked to have been tripped and play seemed to stop apart from Jason Zucker who scored from a tight angle to give them the win in OT.

GAME 4 Was to see the Blackhawks shutdown and shut out the Wild on home ice as the visitors scored in each of the three period`s to give Chicago a 3 - 0 win and 3-1 series lead. As 2 Patrick Sharp goals and a Bryan Bickell goal gave them the win and stunned the home crowd who seemed to think that they weren`t going to see their guys again for this season at home.

GAME 5  Saw the Blackhawks seal the series in front of their home fans as they beat the Wild 5 - 1, With Chicago taking a 3 - 0 lead almost halfway through the second period, as two goals by Marian Hossa and Marcus Kruger goal gave them the lead with Torrey Mitchell getting a goal back for the Wild, before Andrew Shaw slap shot made it 4 - 1 and to round off the scoring Patrick Sharp made it 5 - 1 on the power play and send them through to meet the Detroit Red Wings.

LOS ANGELES KINGS     4 - 2    ST LOUIS BLUES

This was a very physical match up and felt like a good old throw back to the old time hockey days, both sides gave as good as they got and the roughness was upped a lot.

GAME 1 St Louis took the opening game of the series as it was a tough hard fought contest between the two as St.Louis was on a revenge mission after they were swept by the LA Kings last season in the playoffs. Alexandre Steen got the Blues off to a great start when his Power play goal gave them a 1 - 0 lead and held it till 32 second from the end of the game when Justin Williams scored to tie the game up and send us into overtime.

The winner was a colossal error by Jonathon Quick in the Kings nets gave Blues Victory as the puck was played round the boards, Quick stopped it behind his net and waited for help but was dispossessed by the oncoming Steen who This was a very physical match up and felt like a good old throw back to the old time hockey days, both sides gave as good as they got and the roughness was upped a lot.

GAME 1 St Louis took the opening game of the series as it was a tough hard fought contest between the two as St.Louis was on a revenge mission after they were swept by the LA Kings last season in the playoffs. Alexandre Steen got the Blues off to a great start when his Power play goal gave them a 1 - 0 lead and held it till 32 second from the end of the game when Justin Williams scored to tie the game up and send us into overtime.

The winner was a colossal error by Jonathon Quick in the Kings nets gave Blues Victory as the puck was played round the boards, Quick stopped it behind his net and waited for help but was dispossessed by the oncoming Steen who scored shorthanded and gave them the 2 - 1 OT win.

GAME 2 LA Kings hoped to make it a square series and were going the right way about it as Dustin Brown`s Power play goal made it 1 - 0 Kings as it deflected in.

LA had out shot the home side in the first 2 periods of play but in the 3rd the Blues responded as Patrik Berglund tipped in from a Alex Pietrangelo shot and went past Quick in goals and in the last minute Barrett Jackman wrist shot went high over Quick to win it and give St Louis a 2 - 0 series lead.

GAME 3 Carried on the hard hitting physical style between these two Western Conference rivals as they both played a defensive game, with neither the Kings nor Blues able to beat either goalie until early in the 2nd period. As when a mad scramble in front of the Blues nets had nearly every player around it fighting for the puck the puck found its way to Slava Voynov took control of it and fired it through traffic to give the Kings the lead. 

St Louis pushed for the goal to tie but couldn`t find the elusive goal as they outshot the Kings 10 - 2 in the third but LA held on to cut the series lead to 1.

GAME 4 Witnessed a comeback from the LA Kings to level the series as David Backes opened the scoring for the Blues after 72 seconds and they increased that lead when T.J Oshie tipped in on the power play to give the Blues a good early lead in this game.

The Kings struck back with 2 goals by Jeff Carter and Dustin Penner to go into the first intermission at 2 - 2.  ST Louis regained the lead with a TJ Oshie wrist shot early in the 2nd period and then in the 3rd period Los Angeles scored twice in a minute and fifteen seconds, as first Anze Kopitar tipped in from Dustin Brown shot and then Justin Williams scored as well with a tip in to give the Kings the win and tie the series at 2 - 2.

GAME 5 Moved back to St Louis at the Scottrade Center, and after a first period that was goalless it took just 14 seconds in the 2nd period for Jeff Carter to score, as his wrist shot beat Brian Elliott in goals to give the Kings a 1 - 0 lead. Minutes later however Alexandre Steen equalized for the home side as his effort beat Quick to draw level and in the 3rd period Jeff Carter scored his 2nd of the game as his quick shot on the Power play gave them a 2 - 1 score line.

Just as it seemed to be heading for a Kings win, Alex Pietrangelo had other ideas as his wrist shot with 45 seconds to go tied the game at 2 - 2. So after 60 minutes the sides would go to overtime to decide who would take the lead in this series and dead on 8 minutes into the overtime period Slava Voynov scored to give LA the Series lead for the first time.

GAME 6  Moved to Staples Center in LA and saw the series come to an end as Drew Doughty opened the scoring with a quick shot for the lead only for then in the second period Chris Porter to score for the Blues with a deflection making it 1 - 1.

But with the last play of the second period Dustin Penner with time ticking down took aim and fired past Elliott with 0.3 left on the timer as he hit a real buzzer beater to give the Kings a 2-1 lead into the break. That goal proved to be a decisive winner as the Blues couldn`t find another goal and so went out of the playoffs two years running to the LA Kings. LA now has a tough match up against Californian rivals San Jose Sharks in the Semis.

 DETROIT RED WINGS   4 - 3 ANAHEIM DUCKS        

GAME 1 Of the series saw Anaheim host the Red Wings and it was Nick Bonino for the Ducks who got the series opening goal as his shot was deflected in beating Jimmy Howard in the Red Wings net for 1 - 0 on the power play. Dan Cleary then replied for Detroit with a power play goal of his own to draw level.

Anaheim were the stronger side of the two and it took 1: 29 in the 3rd period for the Ducks to make their play count, as a Teemu Selanne slap shot on the power play made it 2 - 1 game before Francois Beauchemin made it 3 - 1 with the empty net goal and gave the Ducks the lead in this series.

GAME 2 The Red Wings lost a 3 goal lead twice as Justin Abdelkader scored after 48 seconds with Damien Brunner doubling the lead for the Red Wings ,then 64 seconds into the second period Johan Franzen made it a 3 - 0 score line and had home crowd  completely stunned at what they were watching. Saku Koivu scored on the power play for 3 - 1 and when Franzen struck he made it 4 - 1 for Red Wings coming on the power play.

Anaheim then struck 3 times to bring the scores level as a Ryan Getzlaf back hander went in for 4 - 2, Kyle Palmieri scored for 4 - 3 and then Bobby Ryan tipped in to make it 4 - 4 that meant we went to overtime and it was at 1: 21 into the extra period of play that Gustav Nyquist put home from close range high past Jonas Hiller for the OT winner.

GAME 3 Anaheim blitzed the Red Wings, but only after a incident in the 2nd Period when Justin Abdelkader launched himself at Toni Lydman who made contact with the Duck players head and was given a Charging penalty along with a Game penalty too which was later upgraded to 2 games.

Anaheim got revenge as they struck on the Power play via Nick Bonino 18 seconds later. The Ducks took over in the 3rd as Ryan Getzlaf scored Shorthanded and a couple minutes later Emerson Etem made it 3 - 0 and over 6 minutes left in the game Matt Beleskey tipped in on the power play to hand the Red Wings their first shutout on home ice since 2007 when it was against the Ducks.

GAME 4 Detroit bounced back to tie the series as they shook off the shut out defeat by the Duck in game 3 as won 3 - 2 in overtime.

It was the Ducks that led through a Matt Beleskey wrist shot that beat Howard in nets; 1: 18 into the third period the Wings finally broke through as Brendan Smith made it a tied game when David Steckel then gave Anaheim the lead back again. 

Pavel Datsyuk got the Red Wings back level at 2 - 2 and then in Overtime it was Damien Brunner who got the game winner for Detroit to tie the series.

GAME 5 Anaheim came from behind twice to win this game as there was a lot of shots raining in after the 1st period, but those that counted was a Power play goal by Johan Franzen with a tip in the early stages and towards the end of the period Kyle Palmieri scored for the Ducks for a 1 - 1 game. 

Halfway into the 2nd period Mikael Samuelsson made it a 2 - 1 game as his shot beat Hiller to re take the lead for Detroit and once again towards the end of the period Ryan Getzlaf effort made it all square at 2 - 2, and as no one could find a winner in the 3rd period. In overtime Nick Bonino scored the OT winner when the puck was played across the crease and Bonino put home to give the Ducks a 3 - 2 series lead.

GAME 6 Had the Detroit Red Wings needing to win to avoid being knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. Detroit took the lead when Pavel Datsyuk jumped on a pass to him by the boards and after he made space he let loose a beautiful bank handed finish to give the home side the lead. 

Kyle Palmieri was credited with the goal to tie the game as his effort struck the crossbar and bounced right off the incoming Smith who was helpless to stop the puck going in.

Detroit then scored 2 unanswered goals as a Power play goal by Henrik Zetterberg and a Dan Cleary effort made it a 3 - 1 game till Emerson Etem and Bobby Ryan scored to bring the game level. Though the Ryan goal had a look of a Trip by Corey Perry in the build up to the goal. 

Overtime came and was ended when that man Zetterberg notched his 2nd goal of the game as his slap shot beat Hiller to take us to an exciting game 7 in California.

GAME 7 of this enthralling series was played at the Honda Center in California, and this big game had a big game player open the scoring in the form of Henrik Zetterberg who put home the puck to give the Red Wings the early lead after 1: 49 in the game after Valtteri Filppula had knocked it on to him to finish.

Emerson Etem tied the game when he skated from his own zone over the Red Wings blue line and fired past Howard to put the Ducks on the board. Justin Abdelkader then put the Wings back in front as he blocked a cross ice pass on Wings blue line while killing a Power play and Abdelkader was off up ice and finished it off slipping it under Jonas Hiller for the lead.

Filppula then made it 3 - 1 in the second stanza as play by Zetterberg and Cleary fed the Red Wings Center and he quickly back handed past Hiller for 2 goal cushion. The Ducks were in trouble but they managed to get a goal back with 3 : 17 left in the game, as Francois Beauchemin threw puck across the Detroit crease and it went in off Jimmy Howard skate for a 3 - 2 game to set up a tense finale. 

Anaheim tried to find the goal to take the game into OT but they couldn`t do it and so the Red Wings clinched the series in 7 and move on to play their near Rival Chicago in a best of 7 and will be a very interesting series at that.