ESPN 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs Blog

Posted by E.J. Hradek

And just like that, we have three Game 7s! I get the feeling the league would love to bottle this second round. It's been something special. And it's not over yet. Here are five things to consider when thinking about the remaining days of the conference semifinals.

1. In a playoff series, where you and your opponent focus all your efforts against one another, it's a mind game of constant adjustments. For the five-plus periods headed into Game 6 of the Western semifinal between Anaheim and Detroit, the Red Wings took advantage of a favorable adjustment.

On Tuesday night, Ducks coach Randy Carlyle decided his best countermove was to put his top Ducks in a row. Carlyle reunited his big line (C Ryan Getzlaf, LW Bobby Ryan and RW Corey Perry) and placed all-world defensemen Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger behind them on the blue line. That's one heck of a formidable five-man unit. Carlyle used that group to slow down the hot Wings line of C Valtteri Filppula, RW Marian Hossa and LW Johan Franzen. Then, he left his checking unit, led by C Todd Marchant, to deal with a trio featuring Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. In the end, the plan worked just well enough to gain a 2-1 win and force a decisive seventh game in Detroit on Thursday.

Getzlaf, who admittedly has been dealing with flu-like symptoms for the past several days, regained his jump Tuesday. Carlyle rode his big pivot and wasn't disappointed. In 23:25 (the most time among all forwards), Getzlaf scored the game's first goal and assisted on the eventual winner, had three shots, three hits, two blocked shots and absolutely killed in the faceoff circle, winning 16 of 24 draws. That, my friends, is a complete performance. It's near a Mark Messier-like effort.

On the blue line, Niedermayer and Pronger were simply brilliant. I guess that's about as surprising as the sun coming up in the morning. The former Norris Trophy winners walled off the area around their net, and the Wings needed a much more determined effort to get to those dirty areas. The Ducks duo made it difficult and the Wings weren't ready to pay the price. At the final buzzer, Niedermayer put an exclamation point on the win by clubbing Datsyuk in the head with a nasty elbow before engaging him in a fight. Niedermayer's calm public demeanor belies his ultracompetitive nature, which was on full display throughout Game 6.

2. Now, in Game 7, without the home-ice advantage of the last change, Carlyle will have to decide how he wants to deploy his stud defensemen. If he keeps them together, Red Wings coach Mike Babcock can look to gain a matchup advantage against the Ducks' second and third defensive pairs. In a one-game scenario, a bad matchup could be the difference between advancing to the conference finals and going home. In this game, I suggest you look for how the coaches are working their respective benches. It'll be an interesting game within the game.

In the deciding contest, Babcock is going to need a more complete game from the defending champs. They were outworked for long stretches of Game 6. And the coach is going to need some offense from slumping Datsyuk, who has just one goal and three assists in 10 playoff games. The quick and crafty Russian continues to contribute with his strong two-way game. On Thursday, though, he'll have to bring more than that. While I don't have any concrete reason to believe he'll find his way, I have a feeling he will. This guy is just too good to be this cold for this long.

3. In one more flashback to the Wings-Ducks Game 6, I have to give a shout-out to Perry for his all-out effort at both ends of the rink on his eventual game-winning goal. At the start of his late second-period shift, Perry made a diving backcheck to break up a cross-crease pass from Hossa to Filppula. That play protected a slim 1-0 lead. Seconds later, at the other end, he drove to the area just to the right of Wings goalie Chris Osgood, then made a picture-perfect deflection of Getzlaf's point shot. That play pushed the lead to 2-0. Single shifts don't get much better than that.

4. Back East, Bruins LW Milan Lucic had a monster, momentum-changing shift of his own midway into the second period of the club's 4-2 Game 6 win over the Hurricanes at the RBC Center in Raleigh. With the Bruins about ready to blow an early 2-0 lead (the score was 2-1 at the time), Lucic weaved through three Hurricanes (Jussi Jokinen, Tuomo Ruutu and Joni Pitkanen) and mesmerized a fourth (Dennis Seidenberg) before whipping a pass through the slot to center Marc Savard, who scored. The goal re-established the Bruins' two-goal lead (3-1) and seemed to stop the Hurricanes in their tracks.

The Canes didn't really recover until after falling behind 4-1 near the end of second period. The home team cut the lead back to two goals at the 7:20 mark of the third. Immediately after that, the Bruins took back-to-back ill-advised penalties and again opened the door for the super-resilient Canes.

But as he did at various points throughout the evening, Boston goalie Tim Thomas made timely saves to preserve the lead. In the second period, Thomas made a brilliant left-pad save on top sniper Eric Staal. Earlier, he turned back a goal-mouth chance from the same hot stick. In the third period, he made an ugly, lunging stop on a power-play bullet from Joe Corvo.

This is what I believe Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo was missing against Chicago. He just never seemed to make those much-needed timely stops against the Hawks. Thomas, on the other hand, has done just that in the past two games. Those are the saves that separate one really good goalie from another. In Boston, the battling Bruins keeper has led his team back into this series and done it with those timely stops and confident demeanor.

Now, just because the Bruins have forced this unlikely Game 7, it doesn't mean they'll win it. They have to be ready for a team that doesn't quit and a big-game goalie who has never lost a playoff series or Game 7 in his career. Yeah, Cam Ward has been that clutch. Thomas against Ward: one heck of a subplot Thursday night in Beantown.

5. Finally, here are some random thoughts. I wish the league could move one of Thursday's Game 7s to Friday. Just think, a Game 7 on three consecutive days. We could pay close attention to each and every one of them. Instead, we're going to have to work the picture-in-picture Thursday with simultaneous clinchers in Detroit and Boston. Thankfully, there's a one-hour difference between the start times.

If you're a Caps fan looking for good omens, you've probably already taken comfort in Hershey's 3-0 Game 7 AHL playoff-clinching win over Scranton-Wilkes Barre on Tuesday night. In case you don't know, those are the top minor league affiliates of the Caps (Hershey) and the Penguins (Scranton-WB).

If you're a Pens fan seeking some more tangible help, you'll be thrilled to hear top D Sergei Gonchar may be back in the lineup after missing the past two games with a "lower-body injury" (knee?) suffered in the first period of Game 4. It will be a game-time decision.

Penguins coach Dan Bylsma could reinsert Gonchar into Alex Goligoski's spot, staying with a seven-defenseman look. That way, Bylsma could spot Gonchar, using him on the power play and select situations. With one fewer forward, the coach can continue to double-shift star centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on the fourth line. It all makes sense to me ... if Gonchar is healthy enough to play.