THE SKINNY
Canadiens at Senators
When: Wednesday, 5 p.m., CBC The series: Canadiens lead 3-0. The skinny: P.K. sucks, P.K. sucks. Etc. etc., blah blah blah. The crowd in Ottawa will have to do better than that, since it didn’t exactly derail the Montreal blueliner during his 33-plus minutes of ice time in Game 3. Instead, it appears they’ll need to try to focus more energy on Dale Weise, a.k.a. the Dutch Wayne Gretzky. Seven Habs scored more goals than Weise’s 10 this season, but the two he scored in Game 3 now lead the team for the series. So that’s three straight games in which the Senators have led, only to be eventually beaten by the Habs’ depth at forward. And, inevitably, the defenceman who “sucks.”
Rangers at Penguins
When: Wednesday, 5 p.m., Sportsnet 360 The series: Rangers lead 2-1. The skinny: The Penguins made themselves quite clear before the series started. They intended to rain somewhere around 35 shots a game on Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Which turned out to be an awfully ambitious, umm, ambition in Game 3, when it took more than 15 minutes for the Penguins to register their first shot — and that one came from the other end of the ice. Which, of course, is how the Rangers beat you. They get a goal, and they shut you down. Or they just shut you down from the get-go. And by the time the Penguins got rolling, in the third period, the Rangers’ two-goal cushion was more than enough for Lundqvist.
Ducks at Jets
When: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., Sportsnet The series: Ducks lead 3-0. The skinny: The results of hockey games often seem unfair, when you think about how the games were played. This could just as easily be a 3-0 series lead for the Jets, considering how well they’ve played. Here’s some evidence: the Ducks led Game 3 for a total of 3:32; they led Game 2 for a total of 39 seconds; and they led Game 1, in the early going, for 49 seconds, and then late for the final 6:39. That hardly seems like a 3-0 series lead, does it? And if you’re a hockey fan, you don’t want it to end. Not when the 15,000 white-clad fans inside the MTS Centre let out a roar for every hit. Not when it makes the playoffs seem like the best time of year. Now, if only Dustin Byfuglien can keep his head on straight.
Blues at Wild
When: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., Sportsnet 360 The series: Wild lead 2-1. The skinny: The Blues clearly need to rethink their approach, since the Central Division champions went into the Xcel Energy Center for Game 3 completely unprepared. The Wild were tenacious, and once the trio of Zach Parise, Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville broke through in the second period — scoring a pair of goals in a shade over two minutes — the result was a foregone conclusion. “We got what we deserved,” said Blues defenceman Jay Bouwmeester. So now St. Louis is facing the real possibility its about to lose their 10th straight road playoff game, and they need to keep their cool. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s Jim Souhan writes: “If these Wild players lose a series to a team this undisciplined, they should be banned from their lake homes and forced to wear Steve Ott jerseys this summer.”