Go ahead and raise your hand if you had the Penguins and Canucks dropping their first two home games of the playoffs.

I'm not sure it would be a huge upset if either team lost in the opening round, and that includes the Presidents' Trophy winning Canucks (the Kings are that good, you guys), but it is a surprise that both failed to win at least one home game in and have to hit the road already in two-game holes.

Home ice should give you an advantage if for no other reason than it gives you some control over individual matchups during the game, but over the first three days of the postseason it hasn't really mattered as road teams have a 7-4 record. And that includes a perfect 4-0 on Friday night:

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  • The Flyers outscored the Penguins in Pittsburgh (again).
  • The Red Wings evened up their series in Nashville.
  • The Devils used a fast start in Florida to take an early lead in their series.
  • The Kings received a couple of shorthanded goals from Dustin Brown to head back to Los Angeles with a two-game lead over the Canucks.
Goal of the night: The Devils set a franchise record on Friday night for most shots in a period during a playoff game, firing an incredible 26 shots on goal during the first period of their 3-2 win. That sort of offensive zone presence resulted in every goal they scored on the night, including this beauty from Patrik Elias. It gets the honor of being our goal of the night.



Worst play(s) of the night: If you're new to the NHL and the playoffs and wanted to get an understanding of what it's all about, the Penguins-Flyers game would have a been a good one to check out. It was exciting, non-stop back-and-forth hockey. It also provided some brutal defensive play, mostly from the Penguins. Honestly, I haven't seen a Penguins team struggle this much defensively since the first year of the Michel Therrien era. Actually, it might be a good time to jump in the time machine and bring back this gem.

Seems fitting after the way they've played defensively over the past month.



Tweet of the night: If you're on Twitter and follow the official account of one NHL team, it has to be the Los Angeles Kings (@LAKings). They call out their opponents. They're creative. They're funny. After taking some heat for their celebratory Tweet following their Game 1 win in Vancouver, they made sure to apologize in advance on Friday.


Well done, folks.

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