The day was bookended with a matinee elimination game in Philadelphia and a late night elimination game in San Jose.  Sandwiched in the middle was Calgary visiting Chicago, looking to break home-ice advantage.

Pittsburgh 5 @ Philadelphia 3 – It was all Philly all the time… For the first 24 minutes. Pittsburgh answered the Flyers 3-0 lead with 5 unanswered goals to win the game and the series. Ruslan Fedotenko scored the Pens’ opening goal and notched an assist while Sidney Crosby scored a pair of goals. Although he didn’t have a busy day, Marc-Andre Fleury was solid when called upon late in the game. We still have to wait on the last two Eastern Conference series to end before we know who Pittsburgh plays, but they will play either Washington (down 3-2 to New York) or New Jersey (up 3-2 over Carolina).
Pittsburgh wins the series 4-2

Calgary 1 @ Chicago 5 – Momentum can be a fickle mistress. The Flames had all the momentum heading into last night’s game in Chicago but you couldn’t tell. The Blackhawks drubbed the Flames in the worst beating of the series to take the series lead. The Hawks had five different goal scorers on the night, though Martin Havlat kept up his torrid playoff pace with 3 assists. It should be noted that Havlat is a free agent at the end of the season. Overall, this wasn’t a pretty game with Calgary managing 20 shot and Chicago scoring on 5 of its 26 shots. The series remained a homer series with the Chicago win as the home team has won every game of the series. Calgary needs that trend to continue if they want to see game seven.
Chicago leads the series 3-2

Anaheim 2 @ San Jose 3 (OT) – It took until game five for Jumbo Joe Thornton to show up but he did in a big way. Thornton was a force all night long, scoring the first goal of the night and single-handedly creating the game winner in overtime. It wasn’t an easy night for the Sharks as they had to battle all night and coughed up a two goal lead after two Ducks goals in five minutes. Once again, Jonas Hiller was the real hero of the night. He may have taken the loss but it wasn’t for a lack of effort making 45 saves in the losing effort.
Anaheim leads the series 3-2

Three Stars of the Night:
1. Jonas Hiller (Anaheim)
2. Joe Thornton (San Jose)
3. Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh)

Sunday’s Schedule:
Washington at NY Rangers – New York leads the series 3-2
New Jersey at Carolina – New Jersey leads the series 3-2