CFHL Playoffs

Two close games came down to the final day, Easter Sunday...

Who Gives a Puck vs. Goon Crew 3-3

Stamkos celebrating one of his two goals!

This was a wild one that took a few turns and came down to one of the final games on Sunday.  Going into Saturday the Goon Crew held a solid 4-2 lead in the match up, but Who Gives a Puck had a huge day getting 5 goals, 6 assists, a whopping +10 vs. Goon Crew's 2 goals, no assists and a -1.  This flipped the score to 4-2 in favor of the Puck.  Stamkos had 2 goals an assist and +2 on Saturday to help the cause.

The Goon Crew would not be counted out however on Sunday.  Holtby and Price both started for the Goon Crew between the pipes and combined to save 59 of 61 shots on goal.  This lifted them to .901 SV% to take that category.  Unfortunately for the Goon Crew, Who Gives a Puck had the tie breaker since they won the season series 1-0-1.

Price and Holby were the reason for the Crew success

McDonagh had 5 assists!

But the Goon Crew still had some fire power left with Hossa and Pietrangelo up against Backes.  Hossa and Pietrangelo would get 2 assists after two periods and would need only one to tie Assists and move the score to 3-2-1, but they could not maintain another assist and the Who Gives a Puck won to make it to their first ever Cherry Cup.

While Stamkos played well for the Puck, Ryan McDonagh had 5 assists and a +3 to help the Puck to victory.



AshBusters vs. Assassins 3-2-1
The AshBusters edged the Assassins thanks to some outstanding net play from their goal tenders Halak and Bishop as they combined for 3 wins and an impressive .949 SV%.  Now wait...shouldn't that have been the stats for two of NHL's top Goalies, Rinne and Fleury from the Assassins?  Nope.  They had no wins and a lame .860 SV% and truly cost the Assassins the game.

Bishop came up big for the AshBusters

Malkin...epic fail!

But talking about costing the Assassins the game, they still had the game won going into Sunday with the game tied 3-3 and the Assassins holding the tie breaker as they beat the AshBusters in the regular season series.  Early on Malkin, who had been hurt earlier in the week got back in the line up and ended up with just a -1 on the day which tied up the +/- with the Assassins.  They would later get a +1 from Shattenkirk but so would Subban from the AshBusters.  They couldn't manage another point after that and fell to the AshBusters.

Their loss would ensure that a different name other than a Cherry would finally grace the Cherry Cup.  Booooo!

Cherry Cup Final:  Who Gives a Puck vs. AshBusters

Centers: Stamkos and Backes, Who Gives a Puck vs. Backstrom and Crosby, AshBusters
While the Puck has goal scorers at Center, the AshBusters have the advantage in assists at the Center position as they have combined for 111 assists.  Stamkos has 42 goals on the season.  Where the big difference is in PIM as Backes has 100 PIM.  Slight advantage to the Puck with the PIM advantage.

Backes leads the way for the Puck

Wings:  This one is close due to Simmonds listed as Day-to-Day.  Both teams have several wingers with over 20 goals.  AshBusters have advantage in assists with two players over 30 assists in Ladd and Kucherov.  AshBusters have more bruisers at the wings with a combined PIM of 202 compared to Who Gives a Pucks' 161.  Doesn't hurt to have Pavelski too with his 37 goals for the AshBusters.  I still give a slight advantage to the AshBusters.

The Kuch!!

Blueline:  This one not so close.  The AshBusters have all 4 D-men with over 10 goals each and and two with 40+ assists (Subban and Letang).  Chara for the Puck hasn't exactly lit it up this year.  Chara will have to step it up and McDonagh hopefully has a week like he had last week.  Advantage goes to the AshBusters,

Goalies:  Dubnyk and Lundqvist for Puck vs. Halak and Bishop for AshBusters.
Lundqvist is starting to get back to form and Dubnyk has really come on as of late.  Halak has struggled some as of late but Bishop is solid.  Advantage goes to Who Gives a Puck.

Dubnyk has been a pleasant surprise for the Puck

Prediction:  It will be a close one but Who Gives a Puck edges out the AshBusters 3-2-1.