2009 NHL Playoffs: Conference Semi Finals Game 7 Mania

With only Chicago through to the next round after their exciting six game series against Vancouver, all three remaining matchups come down to a seventh game.

Anaheim vs. Detroit

The Red Wings had clinched their last eight playoff series wins with victories on the road and looked to do the dame here, but Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry each had a goal and an assist and Jonas Hiller made 38 saves as the Ducks beat the Red Wings 2-1 last night to force a decisive Game 7 in the Western Conference semifinal series.

Scott Niedermayer and Bobby Ryan added assists for the Ducks, who built a two-goal lead in the second period and managed to shut down the Red Wings until Johan Franzen brought Detroit within a goal with 2:25 to play.

Facing elimination, the Ducks returned to the form that carried the team to a league-best 10-2-1 mark in the final weeks of the season, then through a first-round upset of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning San Jose Sharks.

Can Anaheim advance with a win on the road tomorrow night?

Carolina vs. Boston  

The Boston Bruins earned a winner-take-all game in their home building Thursday with a 4-2 win over Carolina last night.

The league’s top remaining seed led 2-0 barely 5 minutes in and made it stand to win their second straight since falling one loss shy of elimination.

The good news for Hurricane fans – is Carolina has experience playing Game 7s. Each of the Hurricanes’ previous three playoff series dating to the 2006 Stanley Cup run also went the full seven games, and they won all three.

Will they capture their fourth winning in Beantown?

Pittsburgh vs. Washington

Perhaps the most glamorized series of them all ends tonight when superstar Sidney Crosby plays his first game 7 of his young career leading the Penguins against Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals.

The series features the past two NHL MVPs (Ovechkin and Crosby), two of this year’s MVP finalists (Ovechkin and Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin), and the past two league points leaders (Malkin and Ovechkin).

But here’s why it has lived up to its hype as the “Super Series”:

-Five games were won by a single goal, and the other was decided by only two goals.

-Three games went to overtime, including Washington’s 5-4 victory at Pittsburgh in Game 6 on Monday night.

-Both teams led in each game and five times the team that scored first lost.

-Each team has held the series lead, with Washington up 2-0, then Pittsburgh up 3-2.

-Finally the teams have been tied or separated by one goal over 90 percent of the time.

Can Sid the Kid seal the deal with another hat trick or will Alex Ovechkin take his better than two point game average for a home ice win?

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