Home advantage proved not to be an advantage as the eastern conference second round saw the second round series being decided. And it was the away teams that skated away with the victories. Atlanta continues to surprise people, today they beat Philadelphia 7-4 and will now take on the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Boston Bruins are on a mission after falling out of the playoffs in the first round last season. Now the Bruins are in the conference final looking for a place in the finals.
ATLANTA (7) at. PHILADELPHIA (1) - 7-4 - Atlanta win series 4-3
Philadelphia Flyers must have missed the "a hockey game is 60 minutes", cliché as they played great hockey in 40 minutes and then fell apart in the last 20 minutes. Milan Hejduk (2,3), Miroslav Satan (7) and Martin Gelians (4) scored for the Flyers in the first two periods. Dean McAmmond (2) and Mike Ribeiro (3) had goals for the visitors, but it looked like a safe 4-2 lead for the home team going into the third period.
But in the third period, the Flyers was run over by the Thrashers and the Flyers goaltending dissapeared. Josef Vasicek (2) made it a one goal game after three minutes. Then former Flyer Dan McGillis (1) tied up the game with a powerplay goal, and the fans started booing. At the 9:03 mark, Mike Ribeiro (4) banged home his second and two minutes later he added his third in the game. The Flyers had now given up and Danny Heatley (7) could add a 7th Atlanta goal to complete the upset.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Mike Ribeiro (Atlanta), four points and eight shots on net.
BOSTON (4) at. FLORIDA (3) - 4-3 - Boston win series 4-3
The gap left by Roberto Luongo and Joe Thornton in the Panthers lineup, proved to be tough to fill. Christobal Huet played two solid games, but was unable to win either of the games. Mark Recchi (9) scored a powerplay on the first powerplay in the game. A goal that was the lone goal scored in the first period. In the early goings of the second period, Alexander Mogilny (5) tied up the game. However, Sergei Fedorov (5) and the Bruins re-gained the lead halfway into the same period.
Once again the Panthers tied up the game, as Peter Forsberg (7) scored five minutes into the third. And once again the Bruins re-gained the lead, this time it was former Panther Brad Stuart (1) who found a way to get the puck past Huet. But the trend from earlier in the game continued, as Florida and Alexander Mogilny (6) once again managed to get back on even terms. So with just over eight minutes, the game was a 3-3 tie. But just as the game was looking like it was heading to overtime, Phillip Boucher (2) let go of a slapshot that made its way into the net. And this time, Florida were unable to tie up the game. Insted the Bruins will have a date with Atlanta in the conference finals.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Brad Stuart (Boston), three points against his old team and now Florida are golfing.
TODAYS GAMES
Atlanta at. Philadelphia 7-4 - Atlanta win series 4-3
Boston at. Florida 4-3 - Boston win series 4-3
TOMORROW'S GAMES
Detroit (3) at. Calgary (2) - Series tied 3-3