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NHL Playoff Warriors of the Week #2

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Seven NHL teams have been eliminated from the playoffs and hockey fans are already looking towards the second round’s exciting matchups. To get there hockey fans witnessed some awe-inspiring play by gutsy players.


In our second instalment of Playoff Warriors of the Week, we tip our hats to a new goalie in Minnesota playing like a franchise stud, a couple smaller forwards who play with huge amounts of heart, a defenseman-turned-cyborg and more.

1. Devan Dubnyk, Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild slayed the dragons in the St. Louis Blues to advance to the second round of the playoffs for just the second time in franchise history.

The Wild received a total team effort along with some heroic goaltending from Devan Dubnyk, a Vezina trophy finalist. In six games against the Blues, Dubnyk put up a 2.32 GAA and a .913 save percentage. After an embarrassing 6-1 loss in Game 4, the guy who only stepped into the cage in mid-season for the Wild turned aside 66 shots over the next two contests.

2. Tyler Johnson, Tampa Bay Lightning

The small, 5’8″ forward Tyler Johnson simply continues to put up huge performances for his team. With his team down 2-1 in their series against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night, Johnson stepped up to the plate.

Detroit held a 2-0 lead all the way up to the point where just 5:26 remained on the clock. Enter Johnson, who scored a beautiful goal on a solo effort. The he’d set up his linemate Ondrej Palat for the tying goal a minute later. Once overtime came it was the Tyler Johnson show once again.

While Detroit ended up taking Game 5, in Game 6 on Monday night it was Johnson who lit the lamp again, twice, to help his team tie the series up. Game 7 will be played on Wednesday night in Tampa.

3. Dan Girardi, New York Rangers

Dan Girardi seems to play the role of unsung hero all too often for the New York Rangers. The stay-at-home defenseman from Welland, Ontario played a gutsy role in the Rangers’ five-game handling of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Up 2-1 in a critical Game 4 of the series, Girardi blocked a Penguins scoring attempt with just seconds left on the clock, earning him the coveted “Broadway Hat.”

Some fans are now referring to Girardi as a “cyborg” after possibly the best photoshopped picture of the playoffs recently surfaced on Twitter.

4. Brendan Gallagher, Montreal Canadiens

Small, yet effective Brendan Gallagher is a guy that old-school commentators like Don Cherry were born to love. He takes a ridiculous amount of abuse in front of the net, continues to dust his shoulders off and get up, and better yet, he rarely complains to the referees.

In the Canadiens’ recent 4-2 series victory over the Ottawa Senators, Gallagher was all up in the grills of both Andrew Hammond and Craig Anderson. He took tons of punishment from rugged defensemen like Mark Borowiecki and kept coming back for more.

Gallagher was finally rewarded in Game 6 when the Habs put away the Senators in a tight 2-0 game. The forward opened the scoring by batting the puck out of midair and past Anderson.

After the game it became known that a now-legendary Canadiens foe evidently held Gallagher in high-regard:

5. Matt Stajan, Calgary Flames

Matt Stajan knows his role and he’s played it well for the six years he’s been in Calgary. He’s a depth guy with tons of heart and soul, so it only made sense in the wonderful world of hockey that the good guy would score the big goal. In fact, it was his first game-winning-goal in his entire 774-game career.

Of course we’re talking about Stajan’s magical goal in the third period of the sixth game of the Flames and Canucks first-round series. With under five minutes left in the game and with the score tied 4-4, Stajan ripped a shot past Ryan Miller to propel his team to the second round for the first time since 2003-04. That year was the last time the Flames made it to the Stanley Cup Finals as well.

It was also Stajan’s first career playoff goal. He chipped in a pair of assists in Game 6 to go along with the big goal. Fittingly, he received the “Fire Hat” from his teammates.

The Flames will take on the Anaheim Ducks in the second round of the NHL playoffs.


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