All summer long, NHL Network will be replaying the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs -- from every jaw-dropping goal to every highlight-reel save to every crushing defeat.
Each game of the postseason -- spanning the more than two-month period from the opening round to Boston's Game 7 clincher of the Stanley Cup Final -- will be shown on the Network throughout the offseason.
Fans can tune in at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET nightly for a different game -- and different chance to re-live history. A complete program schedule can be found on NHLNetwork.com.
The Nashville Predators and Anaheim Ducks had opened the 2010-11 regular season against each other, so it was only fitting that they would also start up the NHL's "second season" going head to head. The Preds had made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in six of their last seven seasons, but still had not managed to escape the first round in their 12-year history as an NHL franchise. Meanwhile, the Ducks were coming off a scorching month in which their offensive leader Corey Perry notched 30 points in his last 16 games and reached the 50-goal plateau to earn his first Maurice Richard Trophy.
Game 1 would go to the Predators off the strength of their stellar defense and crafty goaltending by eventual 2010-11 Vezina candidate Pekka Rinne. The Nashville blueliners did a fine job of shutting down one of the NHL's most offensively potent lines as Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan were kept very quiet, save for a Getzlaf assist midway through the third period. Mike Fisher, who was acquired by the Preds in a trade-deadline deal with the Ottawa Senators, tallied 2 goals and Rinne turned aside 27 shots to lead Nashville to the 4-1 series-opening win at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
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