NHL Sunday: Ducks remain perfect with shutout win

Andersen’s 1.66 goals against average and .948 save percentage are good enough for second-best in the playoffs, behind only Ottawa’s Craig Anderson, who has started four games. Anaheim’s offense gets the publicity, but its backbone is Andersen and his stellar contributions every night. They will go as far as he takes them, it seems. Right now, it looks like he’s forging a clear path to the Western Conference Finals.

Anaheim Ducks 3, Calgary Flames 0 (ANA leads series, 2-0)

Anaheim has yet to lose a game in the playoffs.

1. It was a forgettable game for Calgary

In the meantime, the Flames need to get a hold of Luigi before he causes any more havok.

Just wait until he starts throwing those flying blue Koopa shells. Imagine the mayhem.

Faulting one defenseman for a team’s loss is foolish, but it’s equally so to ignore the fact he was a big factor. Suter has made glaring mistakes on four of Chicago’s goals in the series so far, including two in Game 2. For a guy who eats up as many big minutes as Suter, the Wild need more from him and he probably knows it.

2. Corey Crawford is back

Crawford’s immediate reaction was alarming, to say the least.

Without context, it looks like he just lost his balance. But considering he just took a large chunk of rubber off his helmet at a blazing speed, that dazed reaction was concerning. Here’s another look:

Thanks to Crawford, the Blackhawks were nursing a 2-0 lead instead of a tie heading into the third period of Game 2.

Naturally, the Lightning captain decided Prust wasn’t going to get it back.

That’s some pretty awesome gamesmanship from Stamkos there. Of course, it was all for the fans, right?

Tampa Bay scored four goals on four consecutive power play shots, putting away the Canadiens for good and eliminating the normally formidable Montreal home crowd advantage.

Kucherov added another in the third off a pass from the ailing Tyler Johnson. Tom Gilbert finally scored Montreal’s second goal of the game shortly afterwards, but it was too little too late as the Lightning held on for a 6-2 win and 2-0 series lead.

That one GIF sums up Montreal’s Game 2 quite nicely. Better luck next time, guys.

The second of those goals was the most impressive. Tampa Bay gained a 4-on-3 power play opportunity and threaded the puck on a beautiful passing sequence to take a 3-1 lead.

Such speedy, almost impossibly accurate passing hasn’t been seen since NHL Hitz’s “easy” mode. For good measure, the Lightning did almost the same thing on their fourth goal just minutes later. Montreal has a few leaks to plug before the end of the game.