Sens lead 1-0, Wings/Ducks start tonight.

On Thursday night, the Senators took a 1-0 series lead over the Sabres with a 5-2 victory in Buffalo. They have, in effect, stolen the "home ice" advantage by winning game one on the road. If Buffalo should win game two (and I think they will), Ottawa will have three of the remaining five games in their building.

Due to a long-standing Thursday ritual, I didn't watch the game. This ritual has only been broken a few times. Namely, when the Hurricanes were in the playoffs last season and an occasional home game in the regular season this year.

From my conversations with my Sabres friends, I've gathered that the home team didn't play very well. Their special teams, which have been under criticism all playoff season, stunk. Apparently, their effort was lacking or completely absent in the closing stanza.

For a more qualified opinion on the matter, I highly recommend BFLOBLOG, as I always do. Mark has his detailed analysis here, and the always on-point Kevin has a very terse review here.

For Sens opinion, I suggest Hockey Will Tear Us Apart. As of the moment, "AQuietGirl" hasn't posted a game review, but she had some excellent series preview stuff.

Finally, here's the play of the game, Mike Fisher's shorthanded breakaway goal in the first period:



Wings and Ducks start tonight. I'll predict the Ducks in game one.

Also, the United States lost to Finland and was eliminated from IHWC play on Thursday. Meanwhile, Canada soldiers on.