MADhouse on Madison

The men of the Madhouse on Madison aren't faring too well with their playoff matchups. It can't come as a surprise to Bulls fans that they're down 2-0 heading to Chicago, but the Blackhawks have got to be scratching their heads. The goaltending of Pekka Rinne has been nothing short of spectacular, although Niemi has been holding his own as well. Game 1 was the Preds' first road playoff win in franchise history, but the Blackhawks rebounded nicely for a 2-0 shutout winner giving Niemi his first career playoff no-no. Game 3 last night proved to be a tough task as there were 16,000 strong welcoming the Predators back home. Rinne's early save on a Versteeg breakaway set the tone as the Preds skated to a 4-1 victory. Goals by Shea Weber and David Legwand broke the 1-1 tie and that was all Nashville would need. In addition to his tiebreaking goal, Shea Weber added five hits, two blocks and a plus two on the night. This game 3 loss doesn't have the Hawks down and out, but it may have them reassessing some of their strategies.



The other team that plays on Madison are coming home finding themselves backed into a corner down 2-0 to the Cleveland Cavaliers. After a glimmer of hope for a Bulls win in game two, Lebron went lights out and put up 40 big points including 16 for 23 shooting, eight rebounds and eight assists. Jamario Moon added four three pointers as well. Joakim Noah's play backed up his mouth with the center putting up 25 points and snaring 13 rebounds. If anything positive can be taken away from this, it has to be the Bulls bench play. The bench put up fifty-six points against a Cleveland team that only allowed thirty-six a game in the regular season. The game was tied at 77 at the end of the third, but the Cavs went on an 8-3 run to start the fourth. The Cavs shot 56% from the field compared to the Bulls 44. Vinny del Negro put it best in his post-game interview. "We played well enought to steal a game. But they earned it by making plays. And that's what it comes down to-making plays." We'll see what Thursday brings as the Blackhawks and Bulls try to salvage both of their respective series. Hopefully we will have some good news to report during Last Call Sports from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com.