Surprising Night in the NHL

1) The Devils held on to beat the Hurricanes 1-0 at home behind an excellent effort from brodeur (and a strong losing effort from Cam Ward). These two teams really are incredibly even, and not quite on the level of the bruins/caps but probably just below. I am convinced if they played 21 games, one would win the series 11-10. Now Carolina has to hold serve in Game 6, or the Devils advance. (While I always love to see the Devils lose, a thought has popped into my mind. I still believe the penguins go to the next round, and while I'd like to see Carolina go, maybe it would be best for the Rangers if the Devils did? For you tennis fans out there, that used to remember classic agassi/sampras, and the 2002 US Open. Sampras was on his way to his third straight final (the previous two he got killed by Safin and Hewitt, both running him ragged all over the court). Agassi faced Hewitt in the semis, and while I liked Agassi, I was a sampras guy, but I found myself rooting for Agassi because I knew Sampras would beat him, but there was no way Sampras could beat hewitt. Agassi had a different skill set that allowed him to beat hewitt, and he did. Then Sampras won his final and 14th grand slam against Andre in the final. If the Devils win, I think they have a much better chance of beating the penguins then Carolina. With brodeur in net, and a pretty physical front line, the Devils would give the penguins a lot more problems than Carolina. And looking big picture, the Rangers know they can win in Jersey, and have had great success against the Devils in the playoffs, the penguins? Not so much. Melon Arena has been a house of horrors for them lately)

2) Flyers pull a big upset and win in Pittsburgh, sending the game back to Philly for game 6. Could set up a 7th game in pittsburgh, and I am all for Pittsburgh being as tired as possible so someone else can try and knock them off next round. But anyway, very big, shutout win for Biron in Pittsburgh, didn't see that one coming at all. Betts will have to wait to celebrate.

3) The Red Wings advance, finishing off a sweep of the bluejackets.