If you went to sleep midway through either of the Western Conference NHL playoff games the past two nights, there's a good chance you woke up to a different winner than you thought.
On Tuesday night, Dallas led Colorado 3-0 after the first period and in overtime. Roughly 24 hours later, Edmonton was up 4-1 on Vancouver late in the second and in regulation.
Up a goal, up three goals, no lead is safe in post-season this spring.
鈥淥nce you get to this time of the year, it鈥檚 so close, and you鈥檙e not going to see teams pack it in," former player-turned-TNT analyst Anson Carter said Thursday. 鈥淚 think you鈥檙e seeing a lot of guys bearing down because it鈥檚 the playoffs.鈥�
Carter was at Game 2 of the Boston-Florida series Wednesday night in which the Bruins scored to make it 1-0, . Entering Thursday, teams allowing the first goal have won 19 of 50 games this playoffs, the highest winning percentage in that department since 1999.
and Oilers blowing three-goal leads in their respective second round-opening losses to the Avalanche and Canucks also made some history. It's just the third time there were three-goal comebacks on consecutive days, though Edmonton was on the right side of the rally when it last happened a year ago.
鈥淭he teams that win and have success this time of year are the teams that are able to recognize when they have momentum and try to keep it and when they don鈥檛 have it, try to get it back as quickly as possible,鈥� Carter said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if there鈥檚 so much more that teams can do. I think teams are playing pretty good hockey now. It鈥檚 just that this time of the year sometimes you get the bounces and sometimes you don鈥檛.鈥�
Bad bounces certainly factored into the Oilers' stunning defeat, but so did timing. Had they gotten through to the second intermission up three goals and not allowed Elias Lindholm to score with 2:59 on the clock, they might have been able to weather the storm as they did last round against Los Angeles.
Reigning MVP and captain drew that comparison talking to reporters in Vancouver afterward, saying sometimes the script flips on a team trying to protect a lead.
鈥淭hat happens in the playoffs,鈥� McDavid said. 鈥淵ou try to hold on to leads and sometimes you鈥檙e a little bit, maybe, too passive.鈥�
In that vein his coach, , would have liked to see Edmonton push more offensively and make Vancouver defend. But the Canucks aren't the comeback kids of this post-season for no reason, after in the final three minutes of regulation in Game 4 against Nashville to help get to this point.
Dallas got to the second round by knocking off defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas despite playing short on the blue line: missing injured defenceman Jani Hakanp盲盲 and playing Nils Lundkvist just over 4 1/2 minutes a game. MVP front-runner , Norris Trophy finalist and Cale Makar and waves of talent at the Stars, who rotated five defencemen for nearly half the game after Lundkvist skated his final shift a little over midway through.
鈥淭hat puts a lot of stress on your team,鈥� Carter said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e playing undermanned. They鈥檙e literally playing against Colorado with five defencemen. It鈥檚 tough to play against them with six defencemen.鈥�
Coach Peter DeBoer wasn't happy with how his team handled the game tilting in the Avalanche's favour but is glad the tough lesson to learn came in Game 1 and not Dallas facing elimination. Veteran Joe Pavelski, who has been through many a playoff grind, understands he and his teammates have to better handle momentum shifts moving forward.
鈥淵ou just can鈥檛 take your foot off the gas," Pavelski said. "You鈥檝e just got to be better.鈥�
___
AP Sports Writers Tim Reynolds in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Stephen Hawkins in Dallas contributed.
___
AP NHL playoffs: and
Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press
