by Larry Leavitt

Anaheim vs. Los Angeles: The Ducks are playing all the right cards right now, they’ve put in this new goaltender John Gibson who gets the shutout in his first game in game four for a 2-0 win and then does really well in his second game in game five with a 4-3 win. The pucks are really bouncing well for the Ducks after being down 2-0 they have come back on the Kings to push them to the brink 3-2.,

Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau is looking really smart with this goalie change, and it has the Ducks Mathieu Perreault saying about Boudreau “(he) makes us believe.” The first game the Kings goalie Jonathan Quick got really lucky in the in the 3-2 OT win and there was a lot of open net and the Ducks weren’t able to bury the puck.

It’s not they didn’t deserve to win but they sure had a lot of lucky bounces against the Ducks in those first two games to win. On any given night any team can beat each other, it’s as simple as that, the talent is there obviously for the Kings. The determination is there it’s the break and the bounce of the puck and it’s not from a lack of trying. Niether of these teams are giving up and who knows this can turn into a seven game series.

Minnesota vs. Chicago: The Wild who were eliminated on Tuesday night by the Blackhawks in the series 4-2 and you have to give the Wild credit the Wild were more gutsy, they played hard. There’s a lot of borderline history with the Wild and Hawks and there is so much history. It’s hard to continually to defend that team and Chicago came out and showed their strength.

Montreal vs. Boston: This is one of the most exciting two teams in the playoffs that were going to see. There is no doubt in my mind, the Bruins fought hard and had a lot of zone time in game six but Montreal really wanted that game and won it on a 4-0 shutout and really hunger and drive put all their effort into it.

There was a lot of chippiness at the end, the Bruins were trying to intimidate the Candadiens and send them a little message “come to our house in Boston, the next game isn’t going to be as easy as you think” the officials are going to call a tighter game and nobody wants to get into penalty trouble in a game seven where one goal can be the difference in your season.

It’s hopeful that calmer heads prevail and they have a good game and that the cheapshots are done with and in game seven it’s going to a clean game and it will be all about the winner of the series. Canadiens goaltender Carey Price got pretty lucky as a couple of shots hit the post and a goalie’s best friend is when the shot goes upwards instead of outwards and doesn’t go in.

NY Rangers vs. Penguins: The Penguins really imploded somewhat in the same way the Sharks did, the Pens had a 3-1 series lead get away and the Rangers won games five, six and seven to win the series. The difference was the Pens captain Sydney Crosby who was totally drawn off his game he was thrown off as far as the punishment he was taking in the shots and he was not handling it well.

Crosby was retailiating and his teammates were retaliating and once they got Crosby and the Pens going they took them out of their game. The Penguins were never back in this series after game four’s loss. The Rangers played a very strong game right around the death of the Rangers Martin St.Louis’ mother around Mother’s day.

The Rangers rallied around St.Louis and they played it for him in the game seven win 2-1 over the Pens. St.Louis was kind of a spark for a team that really didn’t need a spark. It was just a little added attention and it doesn’t surprise that the Rangers that extra push was made for St.Louis and for the series clincher.

Larry Leavitt is covering the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs for http://www.sportsradioservice.com