Everyone looks for home ice advantage in the playoffs if for no other reason than it gives teams the chance to have the last line change and a few other intangibles should a series get to a seventh game. But there are more than a few coaches who will tell you they don't mind starting a series on the road because it helps ease the pressure that comes from trying to put on a show for your fans at the outset.
The theory seemed to make sense on the opening night of the playoffs when three of the four visitors came away with victories, but the pattern was reversed on night two everywhere except in Anaheim where the defending Stanley Cup champion Ducks were destroyed by the Dallas Stars.
Actually, the Ducks did themselves in while losing 4-0. Anaheim won the Cup last season by using muscle and aggressiveness to intimidate teams and the Ducks tried to follow the same formula in the opener, only to see it back fire big time. Anaheim did throw its weight around, but without doing much thinking and the Ducks ended up creating a parade to the penalty box while getting burned for four power play goals.
Still, there was a benefit to being in familiar surroundings elsewhere, most notably in Montreal where the Canadiens fed off the emotion of their home crowd to run over the Bruins by the time the game was two minutes old. Sergei Kostitsyn scored on a big rebound after just 34 seconds and then his brother, Andrei, connected at 2:02. That was enough for the Habs, who have now won 12 games in a row against the Bruins.
Give the Bruins credit though for not folding, but Boston simply doesn't have the speed to keep up with Montreal and never really mounted a serious threat. It didn't help that the Bruins captain and best defenseman Zdeno Chara was a target of a surprisingly physical effort by Montreal or that he seemed rattled by the constant jeering he heard from fans every time he touched the puck.
Fortunately for the San Jose Sharks, they avoided hearing the boo birds they would have had they dropped their second straight in their own building to the Calgary Flames. The Sharks had a much better start in Game 2, delivering several hits and blocking a few shots in the first few minutes to send a message they weren't going to roll over in this series. The turning point however was a remarkable glove save Evgeni Nabokov made on Cory Sarich, who snuck in alone on the weak side midway through the first period and took a pass before firing a one-time at what appeared to be a wide open net.
The first period ended scoreless, but Joe Pavelski and Torrey Mitchell managed to beat a very sharp Miikka Kiprusoff in the second period and that was enough for San Jose's 2-0 win that evened the series at 1-1.
Detroit was the best team in the league at home this season, even it if plays to a lot more empty seats than it has in the past. That's a good thing when you turn in the kind of uneven effort the Red Wings did in their opener against the Nashville Predators, but even when it is not at its best, Detroit has too much talent for the Preds to contain. Still, it took an empty netter by Henrik Zetterberg, his second goal of the night, to seal the victory.
Still a win is a win and when it comes at home, it's obviously that much sweeter.
