By: Adamo Marinelli
Round one:
We have just witnessed an amazing first round of the NHL playoffs! So many amazing upsets and storylines in addition to some incredible, fast-paced, electrifying and gritty hockey.
The Columbus Blue Jackets, who have never won a playoff series in the history of their franchise has finally won their first series. It just so happens that their first series win Blue Jackets swept the President Trophy winning Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round to advance to the second round to play the winner of Toronto or Boston. Columbus's stellar offence absolutely dominated Tampa's over- average defence and Columbus's incredible defence, and goaltending was too much for the best offence in the league, they held the line with Stamkos, Kucherov and Point scoreless for the first three games and only 4 points on series. Sergei Bobrovsky outperformed Andrei Vasilevsky by a long shot.
Also, the New York Islanders swept the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is only the second time since 1983, 36 years, that the Islanders have swept someone in the playoffs and the second time since the 2015-16 season that they advance to the second round. Amazing! The Islanders were much more physical than the Penguins, outhitting them significantly in all four games. The Islanders also outsped the Pens and were just better on offence, defence, goaltending (Robin Lehner shined whereas Matt Murray had a very lacklustre postseason) and the Islanders controlled the puck better than the Penguins, and they were able to use their defence and transition play to generate more offensive chances through the neutral zone than the Pens.
The Colorado Avalanche dominated game five with a score of 5-1 and upset the Calgary Flames, first seed in the western conference, winning the series 4-1. After losing the first game 4-0, Colorado outscored the Flames 30-7 in the next four games and controlled the series from there. Their top line had 25 points in the series whereas Calgary's top line combined for only five points. We all thought Calgary's goaltending would lose the series for them but it Mike Smith played amazing. If it weren't for him, Calgary wouldn't have forced two games into overtime. Philipp Grubauer was better in net for Colorado though.
The St. Louis Blues were dead last in the NHL on January 1st. On April 20th, the Blues won game six on home ice by a score of 3-2 and knocked the red-hot Winnipeg Jets out of the playoffs. The home team was 1-5 in this series but home-ice advantage came in clutch for the Blues in game six. On top of a stellar series from rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington, who put up a .908% save percentage and who played phenomenally all series long, especially in the first two games of the series, when the Jets couldn’t solve him. The Blues played phenomenally on offence and defence, but Binnington was truly the saving grace for St. Louis who will play the winner of Dallas and St. Louis in round two.
The Dallas Stars upset the Nashville Predators, the second seed in the western conference and central division champions, in convincing fashion, winning the series 4-2. The Nashville Predators were clearly the better team (at least in the regular season) and they played pretty well all series long. Goaltender Pekka Rinne even stood on his head. The only problem, however, especially in game six, was Nashville’s power play. It was atrocious, it went 0-14 in the playoffs, and with less than two minutes left in regulation, it had the chance to all but win game six for Nashville, but obviously, they had no luck. And on an odd-man rush counterattack late in overtime, John Klingberg won the game and series for Dallas.
A playoff matchup that was just destined to happen, Toronto vs Boston. Toronto outsped Boston and outbattled them physically, they even outshot the Bruins in 5 of 7 games. They also played very well in Boston winning 2 of the first 3 games and they played well at home. Not to mention, the Leafs had a chance to put them away on home ice in game 6, however, the Boston power play, a top 5 unit in the league this year, took advantage of some bad calls and scored twice, putting the game away. The series was tied 3-3, going back to Boston for another game 7, the third in six years. Doesn’t history just have such a funny way of repeating itself? According to Don Cherry, the Leafs outplayed the Bruins in game 7, by outspeeding, outshooting and out-hitting them. The Leafs were also pretty even in the faceoff circle against the dominant Bruins’ centers. The only difference in the series, was not because the Bruins had more experience, it was because the Bruins had the better power play and were better in the faceoff circle in all 7 games combined. I wonder if the Leafs missed Kadri? And there we have it, the Leafs lose a game 7 to the Bruins in Boston for the 3rd time in 6 years. The curse continues.
Another interesting series happened between the Vegas Golden Knights and the San Jose Sharks. It was a pretty even series and both teams played very well. Las Vegas’s second forward line consisting of Max Pacioretty, Marc Stone and Paul Stastny was too much for the Sharks’ defensive pairings and combined for 21 points in the first round. Their other lines also produced their fair share for their team. This resulted in the underdog Golden Knights taking a 3-1 series lead. After a convincing 5-2 win in game 5 on home ice, Sharks forward Tomas Hertl, promised the Sharks would be back for a game 7 at home. After he scored the overtime winner in game 6, he single-handedly came through and delivered on his promise. In game 7, Vegas took a 3-0 lead and it looked like they’d upset the Sharks and take the series. But after a controversial 5 minute major, after a Sharks’ player was cross-checked in the head (he didn’t even have the puck and blood was drawn, so it should’ve been more than a two minute minor, however, I think it should’ve been only a 4 minute double minor so they can score a maximum of twice), the Sharks’ power play unit torched the Vegas defence and scored 4 times in 5 minutes to take the lead. The Knights tied it at 4 and then lost in overtime. This penalty should convince the NHL to automatically review all major penalties. But penalty or not, you cannot allow a team to score 4 goals on a 5-minute power play. The Sharks and Bruins were the only favourites to win their series.
Another upset! Wow, what a first round of the NHL playoffs we’ve had so far! In a series where Washington was the massive favourite to win, Carolina kept pushing, never gave up and was able to match the high speed and very talented Capitals’ roster with their young and talented roster. After getting blown out 6-0 on the road in game 5, the Hurricanes rallied back in game 6 on home ice with a dominant 6-2 win; by outspeeding, outshooting, out-hitting and dominating the faceoff circle. They won over 60% of the faceoffs. Then in game 7, back in Washington, the Capitals took a quick 2-0 lead 7 minutes into the first period. Carolina cut the lead in half only for Evgeny Kuznetsov to restore the 2 goal lead. It seemed hopeless. But Carolina’s Sebastian Aho cut the lead in half and the Canes only trailed 3-2 after 40 minutes. There was hope! Carolina tied the game 3-3 and forced overtime. With just under 9 minutes left in the second OT, a good forecheck by the Canes caused a turnover in the attacking zone and Brock McGinn deflected a shot from the wrong side of the goalline past Braden Holtby to win the series. Unreal!
With all that being said, the round two matchups are Columbus vs Boston and Carolina vs New York in the East and Dallas vs St. Louis and Colorado vs San Jose in the West. I have New York and Columbus moving on to the East Final and St. Louis vs San Jose going to the West Final. Analysis for round two series will likely be out following the round.
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