The Conference Finals are almost at an end. With Tampa Bay and San Jose both up 3 games to 2 in their respective series, the next two days will either see the Stanley Cup Final solidified or some very exciting Game 7s set up. The silver lining to the Red Wings being eliminated has to be that we fans don’t need to be stressed over the outcome of any of the upcoming games. Small victories, I guess?
LAST GAME’S RECAP
Last night, the Sharks managed to flip the Game 4 script on the St. Louis Blues with their own 6-3 win. Don’t make the mistake of confusing the results with the performance though, as the Sharks only managed to pull away late in this one. After netting the first goal of the night in the first period, San Jose would either be tied or trail for the remainder of the evening until going up 4-3 16 seconds into the 3rd period. Once they got this lead, the Sharks did everything they needed to in order to secure the 3-2 series lead. The Blues were very much in this game with the effort and will to win all night – they just couldn’t get the bounces again. At some point, one has to wonder how much “puck luck” has to do with it versus San Jose just being better and only giving St. Louis crap looks to work with.
TONIGHT’S ACTION
Pittsburgh Penguins at Tampa Bay Lightning (Game 6), 8:00PM EDT – NBCSN
In a series where home ice advantage hasn’t meant much, it continued to mean even less as the Bolts took Game 5 at Pittsburgh in overtime. They now have a chance to clinch this series at home, their first series of the post-season that has gone past 5 games. The Penguins will turn this into a slugfest rather than going down easy, but that’s seemed to fall right into Tampa’s wheelhouse as they’re able to play with skill, grit, or both. Pittsburgh will also be going back to the rookie Matt Murray in net tonight – it hasn’t been announced if there’s been any setback with Marc-Andre Fleury, but Murray has arguably been the better of the two goalies anyway. If the Penguins get warned by the refs while having too many men on the ice, I will probably break my tv.
Why You Care Enough To Watch: No matter who you’re rooting for in this series, you have to admit that it’s impressive that the Lightning are on the verge of playing in their 2nd Stanley Cup Final in as many years without Ben Bishop for most of this series and Steven Stamkos for the entire post-season. This team has been built for success no matter who they’re missing from the line-up. If that’s not worth watching, then at least tune in for the chance to see Sidney Crosby cry.
What will bring you the most joy from tonight’s game?
| Tampa’s kids ending up in a fish-face-fry. | 13 |
| Sidney Crosby’s delicious tears. | 63 |
