The odds are still stacked against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vancouver Canucks winning their respective first round series, but being down 1-3 is less daunting than being down 0-3. A 15% chance is far more appealing than a 5% chance. The Penguins hammered the Flyers 10-3 on Wednesday, and Cory Schneider led the Canucks to a 3-1 victory a few hours later. With Luongo sitting on the bench, Vancouver's future franchise goaltender put on a clinic, including a climactic stop on a crucial penalty shot which could have tied the game. Schneider stopped Dustin Brown, and Vancouver scored their 3rd goal minutes later.
There was a bloodbath in Philadelphia as the Pens dominated and decimated the Flyers. Despite missing 4 regular players due to suspensions/injuries and falling behind early, Pittsburgh settled down and soundly beat the shit out of their opponent. Marc Andre Fleury looked terrible again early, getting beat five hole twice in the first ten minutes. This prompted me to Tweet "To recycle an old Alan Bester joke: Did you hear MA Fleury was hit by a bus? He'll be okay though, it went through his legs." However Pitt settled down, and so did Fleury. The better team was the best team on this night, showing that it was improbable for Philly to have jumped out to a 3-0 series lead.
The TSN expert panel consensus had Pittsburgh Vancouver meeting in the finals. Both fell down 0-3 in the first round, and both won tonight. Stay tuned to find out how this ends.
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