Down the Frozen River

Tag: NBC

  • 2019 Stanley Cup Final Preview

    After what seems like an eternity has passed (drop the puck already), the 2019 Stanley Cup Final between the Eastern Conference champion, Boston Bruins, and the Western Conference champion, St. Louis Blues, kicks off Monday night at TD Garden.

    Here’s a look at how the best-of-seven series should pan out.

    A2 Boston Bruins (49-24-9, 107 points) vs C3 St. Louis Blues (45-28-9, 99 points)

    Boston is making their third appearance in the Final in the last eight years– winning the Cup against the Vancouver Canucks in seven games in 2011 and losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games in 2013.

    St. Louis is making their first Stanley Cup Final appearance in 49 years– losing in four games to the Bruins in 1970.

    Regardless of the series outcome– history will be made.

    The Bruins outlasted the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the First Round, bested the Columbus Blue Jackets in six games in the Second Round and swept the “Bunch of Jerks” known as the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final.

    The Blues grounded the Winnipeg Jets in six games in the First Round, beat the Dallas Stars in seven games in the Second Round and took a bite out of the San Jose Sharks in six games in the Western Conference Final.

    Both teams have incredible depth scoring, solid defense and out-of-this-world goaltending.

    Only one team can win it all, however.

    Both cities have met in all four major North American professional sports championship games and/or series, with St. Louis last beating Boston in the 1967 World Series as the Cardinals defeated the “Impossible Dream” Red Sox.

    Since then, the B’s beat the Blue Notes in the 1970 Stanley Cup Final as Bobby Orr soared through the air after scoring “The Goal”, the New England Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams (R.I.P.) in Super Bowl XXXVI and the Red Sox beat the Cardinals twice in 2004 and 2013.

    Brad Marchand led his team in scoring in the regular season with 100 points and his 18 points in 17 games played this postseason lead David Pastrnak (15 points), David Krejci (14), Patrice Bergeron (13), Charlie Coyle (12), Torey Krug (12) and the rest of the Bruins.

    Bergeron leads his roster in goals so far in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs with eight, including a postseason leading six power play goals– the most by a Bruin since Cam Neely scoring nine goals on the power play in 1991.

    Marchand is tied with Pastrnak for the second-most goals for Boston, trailing Bergeron with seven goals each, followed by Coyle (six) and Krejci (four).

    The only Bruins without a goal this postseason are Brandon Carlo (a lineup regular), John Moore (primarily a scratch throughout this postseason) and Karson Kuhlman (appeared in six games in the First and Second Round before David Backes took over in each round on the second line right wing).

    There have been 19 different scorers for Boston in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

    General Manager, Don Sweeney, addressed his apparent lack of secondary scoring with the acquisitions on Coyle (6-6–12 totals in 17 games this postseason) and Marcus Johansson (3-6–9 totals in 15 games) leading up to the trade deadline.

    Head coach, Bruce Cassidy, has adjusted his game on-the-fly, mixing up the lines when necessary to rejuvenate the scoring touch of “The Perfection Line” (Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak), while lighting a fire under the annual playoff performer in Krejci and his wingers Jake DeBrusk and Backes.

    Marchand and Krug are tied for the lead in assists with 11, while defender and captain, Zdeno Chara, leads his crew in plus/minus with a plus-11 rating in 16 games played this postseason.

    Chara, 42, missed Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final in Carolina, but is ready and refreshed to try to earn four more wins against St. Louis and join Johnny Bower (42, 1967), Dominik Hasek (43, 2008), Mark Recchi (43, 2011) and Chris Chelios (46, 2008) as the only players to win the Cup at the age of 42 or older.

    The rest of the B’s defenders have played a shutdown style that has led to the Bruins in control of all the important statistical categories at the end of the night– the final score.

    Boston is 11-0 when leading after two periods this postseason and has only trailed in 9.9% of their minutes played since the start of the Second Round.

    They’re also on a seven-game winning streak– their third longest in franchise history in the postseason– behind only runs of 10-0 in 1970 and 9-0 in 1972.

    Both of those years, the Bruins won the Cup.

    Though Chris Wagner (upper body) and Kevan Miller (lower body) are out for the remainder of the playoffs, the next man up mentality has landed Noel Acciari a spot on the fourth line with Joakim Nordstrom and Sean Kuraly in place of Walpole, Massachusetts native Wagner, as well as regular time for Connor Clifton on the blue line in place of Miller.

    Coyle, Wagner and defender, Matt Grzelcyk, are seeking to join Myles Lane as the only Massachusetts-born players to win a Cup with the Bruins. Lane did so in Boston’s first Stanley Cup championship back in 1929.

    Meanwhile, Tuukka Rask (12-5 record, 1.84 goals against average, .942 save percentage in 17 games played this postseason) is having a Conn Smythe worthy performance in the net for the B’s.

    Rask’s stats are better than his 1.88 GAA and .940 SV% in 22 games played in the 2013 Stanley Cup Final and better than Tim Thomas’ 1.98 GAA and .940 SV% in 25 games played en route to the 2011 Stanley Cup championship.

    The B’s have gone ten full days without a game, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for Rask as his workload was reduced with the help of backup goaltender, Jaroslav Halak, in the regular season.

    Sweeney and Cassidy and wanted a dynamic duo of goaltenders that would let their starter in Rask find his groove and work efficiently.

    There’s no better efficiency than the way he’s playing right now.

    With the shutout in Game 4 against the Hurricanes, Rask improved to 8-0 in eight career appearances in the Conference Finals, as well as franchise record holder for most series-clinching shutouts in Bruins history with three (surpassing Gerry Cheevers and Thomas’ previous mark of two series-clinching shutouts).

    Boston held an intra-squad scrimmage last Thursday to keep the game-flow going and charged fans $20 to attend and see their players in action that they might not otherwise be able to afford to see (with Stanley Cup Final tickets on the secondary market going for $1,000).

    Every dollar went to the Boston Bruins Foundation, which redistributes funds to charities throughout New England that help enrich the lives of children in the region.

    The Bruins are facing the St. Louis Blues for the 3rd time in a playoff series (previous, 1972 Semifinals, BOS W, 4-0). Boston also swept St. Louis in the 1970 SCF.

    St. Louis is well-familiar with “The Hub of the Universe”. They were swept by Boston in the 1970 Stanley Cup Final– the Blues third appearance in their first three years of existence as a franchise in the Final.

    Then the two clubs met again in the 1972 Semifinals. Once more, the Blues were swept by the Bruins.

    The team with a blue music note with wings for a crest has yet to win a game in the Stanley Cup Final. 1968, 1969 and 1970 resulted in 12 straight Stanley Cup Final losses to the Montreal Canadiens and Boston.

    A lot of franchise history has passed for St. Louis and names like Wayne Gretzky have even gone through the club (albeit for 31 games in the regular season and playoffs in 1996).

    49 years later, hometown heroes, like Pat Maroon, and adopted hometown heroes, like David Perron (in his third stint with the organization) have led from the back-end of the top-nine group of forwards out.

    Jaden Schwartz leads St. Louis in scoring with 12 goals– the second most in franchise history in a postseason, trailing Brett Hull’s 13 goals in 12 games played in the 1990 Stanley Cup Playoffs– and 16 points in 19 games in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

    Schwartz even has two hat tricks this postseason and is the first NHLer to record two hat tricks in one postseason since Johan Franzen did so with the Detroit Red Wings en route to their 2008 Stanley Cup championship.

    Offseason acquisition, Ryan O’Reilly, has proven General Manager, Doug Armstrong, worthy of being named a finalist for GM of the Year this season, as O’Reilly has 3-11–14 totals in 19 games

    Vladimir Tarasenko– St. Louis’ regular star– has eight goals and five assists (13 points) and is tied for third in scoring on the roster with Perron (6-7–13 totals) and Alex Pietrangelo (2-11–13 totals).

    All of the Blues are in search of their first Stanley Cup championship ring and must face former captain and current Bruin, David Backes. After 10 years with the organization, Backes joined Boston on July 1, 2016. In his 13th career season, he’ll face his former team for the Cup.

    St. Louis has had helping hands on the blue line in Pietrangelo’s 13 points and Colton Parayko’s 11 points this postseason.

    Among their regulars, only Jay Bouwmeester and Carl Gunnarsson have yet to score a goal in this year’s playoffs (Zach Sanford also hasn’t recorded a point in three games played).

    Backes’ storyline isn’t the only familiarity with the Blues, however.

    Rookie goaltender, Jordan Binnington (12-7, 2.37 GAA, .914 SV% in 19 GP) holds the franchise record for most wins in a postseason by a rookie netminder, but spent last season on loan to the Providence Bruins (AHL).

    If there’s team with more internal notes on the goaltender that they’re facing in this year’s Stanley Cup Final– it’s the Boston Bruins.

    But Binnington’s not nervous– he hasn’t been all postseason long, en route to eliminating the Jets, Stars and Sharks.

    He is, however, about to face his biggest challenge yet in the Bruins, unless Craig Berube finds a way to coach his team into taming the bears charging at them down the ice.

    While Robert Thomas is likely good to go in Boston for Game 1, Vince Dun will be out of the lineup and day-to-day.

    That’s no worry for the cool, calm and collected Berube– who’s guided his team from 31st (dead last) in the league on the morning of Jan. 3rd to the Stanley Cup Final after being named interim head coach back in November, replacing Mike Yeo.

    Ten out of the last 13 Cup winners have had the shorter turnaround from the Conference Finals to the Stanley Cup Final, but we’re talking a difference of a few days as opposed to an average of just over a week for the two opponents this year.

    The winner of Game 1– since the best-of-seven series format was adopted for the Final in 1939– has gone on to win the Cup in 61 out of 79 series’ (77.2% success rate).

    Though both teams expect to play sloppy coming out of the gate, it is vital for Cassidy to keep his players on edge at the top of their game.

    Play your game and you control the game. Play the Blues’ game and you’ll fall behind.

    Berube managed to frustrate the Jets and Stars, while St. Louis lucked out against a battered Sharks roster.

    That’s not to say the Blues are any less dangerous this time of year. In fact, they’re quite good. They won the Western Conference.

    However, this time of year is both a sprint and a marathon. How fast can you skate up and down the ice for a full 60-minute (sometimes more) effort and can you maintain that for up to seven games?

    Boston is a team with enough experience to go the distance, but St. Louis is a team with enough history to overcome.

    In the end, the Bruins should be the ones raising the Cup above their heads for what might the be final time in their current core group of players’ careers as Bergeron, Krejci, Chara, Marchand and Rask continue to leave their mark on franchise history– defining careers worthy of recognition in the rafters of TD Garden.

    Time will tell over six games in the series as the events unfold.

    Regular season outcomes:

    2-1 F/SO STL at Enterprise Center on Feb. 23rd, 5-2 BOS at TD Garden on Jan. 17th

    Schedule:

    5/27- Game 1 STL @ BOS 8 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS

    5/29- Game 2 STL @ BOS 8 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    6/1-Game 3 BOS @ STL 8 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    6/3- Game 4 BOS @ STL 8 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS

    6/6- Game 5 STL @ BOS 8 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS*

    6/9- Game 6 BOS @ STL 8 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS*

    6/12- Game 7 STL @ BOS 8 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS*

    *If necessary

  • Bruins score four in the third, beat Hurricanes, 5-2, in Game 1

    Four unanswered goals in the third period propelled the Boston Bruins over the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2, in Game 1 of the 2019 Eastern Conference Final at TD Garden on Thursday.

    Patrice Bergeron scored the game-winning goal while on the power play in the third period before the B’s added two more goals for good measure as the Bruins jumped out to a 1-0 series lead.

    Tuukka Rask (9-5 record, 2.02 goals against average, .938 save percentage in 14 games played this postseason) made 29 saves on 31 shots against (.935 SV%) in the win for Boston.

    Carolina goaltender, Petr Mrazek (5-4, 2.40 GAA, .907 SV% in 10 games played this postseason) stopped 23 out of 27 shots faced for an .852 SV% in the loss.

    Mrazek was back for the Hurricanes for the first time since leaving Game 2 against the New York Islanders in the Second Round with a lower body injury.

    John Moore (upper body), Kevan Miller (lower body) and Noel Acciari (upper body) missed the action in Game 1 for Boston, while B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, re-inserted Steven Kampfer on his blue line while Charlie McAvoy served his one game suspension for an illegal hit to the head against Josh Anderson in Game 6 at Columbus in the Second Round.

    Cassidy bumped up Connor Clifton to the right side of Zdeno Chara on the first defensive pairing and slid Kampfer in on the right of the third pair with Matt Grzelcyk.

    He made no other changes to his lineup.

    Lee Stempniak, Zachary Senyshyn, Jordan Szwarz, Peter Cehlarik, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, Zane McIntyre, Paul Carey, Ryan Fitzgerald, Jack Studnicka, Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril, Jeremy Lauzon, Anton Blidh, Trent Frederic and Karson Kuhlman made up the long list of healthy scratches for the Bruins.

    Boston is making their eighth appearance in the Eastern Conference Final since the format was introduced in 1982. The B’s last made the Eastern Conference Final in 2013 (also 1983, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 2011). The Bruins swept the Pittsburgh Penguins in four games in 2013.

    Carolina is making their fourth appearance in the Eastern Conference Final and first since 2009 (also 2002, 2006). The Hurricanes were swept by the Penguins in 2009.

    Kicking things off with the first goal of the series was Kampfer (1) in just his second career Stanley Cup Playoff game.

    Kampfer scored his first career Stanley Cup Playoff goal at 2:55 of the first period after Marcus Johansson slipped through the neutral zone with speed and dropped the puck back to Kampfer as the Bruins defender pinched in from the point.

    Johansson (4) had the only assist as Boston jumped out to the, 1-0, lead.

    But the B’s lead was shortlived as Sean Kuraly picked up a roughing minor against Brock McGinn at 3:39 of the first period, yielding the first power play of the series to the Hurricanes.

    Just 47 seconds after Boston took the lead, Carolina tied the game with a tip-in past Rask as Sebastian Aho (5) skated through the low slot– point blank– while Andrei Svechnikov threw the rubber biscuit on goal.

    Svechnikov (2) and Jordan Staal (6) notched the assists on Aho’s goal at 3:42 and the Canes tied the game, 1-1.

    Late in the period, Charlie Coyle hooked Teuvo Teravainen and was sent to the penalty box at 14:37, but the Canes did not convert on the ensuing power play.

    Shortly after killing off Coyle’s minor, Boston found themselves going on the power play after Nino Niederreiter slashed Brad Marchand at 16:55.

    The Bruins did not capitalize on their first skater advantage Thursday night.

    After one period, the score was tied, 1-1, while the Hurricanes led in shots on goal (10-8), giveaways (5-3), hits (9-7) and face-off win percentage (61-39).

    Boston held the advantage in blocked shots (5-4), as well as takeaways (3-2) entering the first intermission.

    Carolina was 1/2 on the power play, while the B’s were 0/1 on the skater advantage heading into the second period.

    Early in the middle frame, Kuraly got a stick up high on Calvin de Haan and went back to the sin bin for his second time of the night at 4:08 of the second period.

    The Canes fired five shots on goal– including an impressive one-timer from Teravainen that was denied by Rask as the Bruins goaltender went from post-to-post– but couldn’t wire the puck into the back of the twine on the skater advantage.

    Nonetheless, moments later, Greg McKegg (2) charged into the offensive zone, crashed the net and scored while bowling into the Boston netminder.

    Carolina led for the first time of the night, 2-1, thanks to McKegg’s goal. Jordan Martinook (4) and Micheal Ferland (1) tallied the assists at 9:18 of the second period.

    Boston had not trailed in a game for a span of 210:42 since Game 3 against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Second Round prior to McKegg’s goal.

    Late in the period, Ferland’s name popped up again on the event sheet– this time for interference against David Krejci— and the Hurricanes forward took a seat in the penalty box with a minor penalty at 16:56.

    Boston’s power play could not convert on the late skater advantage as time dwindled down in the second period.

    Through 40 minutes of play, the Hurricanes led, 2-1, on the scoreboard and in shots on goal, 25-18 (including a, 15-10, advantage in the second period alone).

    Carolina also led in blocked shots (10-8), giveaways (7-6), hits (19-17) and face-off win% (57-43), while both teams had four takeaways each after two periods.

    The Canes were 1/3 on the skater advantage and the Bruins were 0/2 on the power play heading into the third period.

    In the final frame of regulation, Staal boarded Chris Wagner 49 seconds into the third period and yielded a power play for the Bruins.

    Late on the ensuing skater advantage, Marchand unloaded on a shot and generated a rebound for Johansson (3) to settle in the slot and bury the loose puck after elevating it over Mrazek’s pads to tie the game, 2-2, with a power play goal at 2:26 of the third period.

    Marchand (9) and Krejci (7) had the assists on the goal. With the secondary assist on Johansson’s goal, Krejci is now two points away from 100 career Stanley Cup Playoff points.

    Less than a minute after allowing a power play goal against, the Hurricanes took another penalty when former Bruins defender, Dougie Hamilton, roughed former Carolina forward, Joakim Nordstrom, at 2:41.

    Just 13 seconds into the ensuing power play, after winning an offensive zone face-off, Jake DeBrusk worked the puck from the wall to Marchand across the slot, whereby Marchand found Bergeron (6) acting as the bumper in front of the net for the one-timer past Mrazek.

    Marchand (10) and DeBrusk (4) tallied the assists on Bergeron’s power play goal at 2:54 of the third period and the B’s amassed two power play goals in a span of 28 seconds to lead, 3-2, with plenty of time left in the final frame.

    Hurricanes head coach, Rod Brind’Amour used his timeout after Bergeron’s goal to put his players at ease and motivate them to get back on the scoreboard, but the Canes couldn’t muster the confidence– especially after Hamilton went back to the penalty box for interference at 5:29.

    Though the Bruins didn’t score on the resulting power play, they did maintain solid puck possession on the skater advantage.

    As the clock continued to tick away Carolina pulled their goaltender with 2:38 remaining in regulation to try to knot things up.

    Shortly after Mrazek got to the bench, the Bruins cleared the puck from their own blue line as Brandon Carlo got a double deflection off of Niederreiter then his own teammate in Coyle as the puck trickled with enough momentum into the open goal frame for the empty net goal.

    Coyle (6) was credited with the marker as Boston went ahead, 4-2, at 17:47. Carlo (2) and Kuraly (2) had the assists on Coyle’s goal.

    Wagner (1) got a breakaway 11 seconds later, deked and slipped the puck through Mrazek’s five-hole to give the B’s a three-goal lead, 5-2, at 17:58 of the third period.

    The Hurricanes only allowed five goals in four games against the New York Islanders in the Second Round, but they allowed five goals against in Game 1 against Boston as time expired in the series opener.

    The Bruins had won, 5-2, and grabbed the 1-0 series lead on Thursday.

    Carolina finished the night leading in shots on goal (31-28), giveaways (11-7), hits (27-25) and face-off win% (53-48), while Boston led in blocked shots (11-10) after the dust settled.

    Both teams found some success on the power play in Game 1 as the Canes went 1/3 and the B’s went 2/5 on the skater advantage.

    The Bruins lead the series, 1-0, and host Game 2 Sunday afternoon at TD Garden. Puck drop is expected for a little after 3 p.m. ET and viewers in the United States can tune to NBC to catch the action. Fans in Canada can follow along on CBC, SN or TVAS.

  • 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs Western Conference Final Preview

    If you didn’t learn your lesson from the First Round to the Second Round, hopefully you’ve learned it by now, because their is no “Third Chance Bracket”.

    Yes, it’s time for the Conference Finals in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, ladies and gentlemen, and this year in the Western Conference it’s a familiar duo going at it again for the first time in three years.

    P2 San Jose Sharks (46-27-9, 101 points) vs C3 St. Louis Blues (45-28-9, 99 points)

    The San Jose Sharks trailed, 3-0, on home ice in the third period of a Game 7 against the Vegas Golden Knights in the First Round, but everything changed when Joe Pavelski went down with an injury and Cody Eakin was given a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct.

    Sure, maybe the penalty was over the top and should have only been a two-minute minor penalty, but the Golden Knights also shouldn’t have ever allowed four power play goals against in a span of 4:01. San Jose took the lead, 4-3, then Vegas tied it in the final minute of regulation.

    The Sharks became just the 2nd team in Stanley Cup Playoff history to erase a three-goal deficit and win in overtime, 5-4, as they eliminated the Golden Knights in seven games in the First Round.

    Anybody see that coming? No?

    But at the same time, we all had a warning sign when the Golden Knights blew a, 3-0, lead in the first period of Game 2 and the Sharks tied it, 3-3, heading into the first intermission. Though San Jose went on to lose that game, 5-3, it meant Vegas was vulnerable.

    Since then, the Sharks rocketed back-and-forth with the Colorado Avalanche, ultimately coming out on top, 3-2, in Game 7 on Wednesday to advance to the Western Conference Final for the first time since 2016.

    The St. Louis Blues have been riding the back of their rookie goaltender, Jordan Binnington, since a little over four months ago as the hottest team in the league since Jan. 1st.

    As such, the Blues defeated the Winnipeg Jets in six games in the First Round– despite both teams dropping their first two home games in the series.

    St. Louis then faced the best goaltender (statistically speaking) remaining in the postseason, Ben Bishop, and the rest of the Dallas Stars in the Second Round.

    They trailed in the series, 3-2, entering Game 6 in Dallas and stormed out of American Airlines Center faster than a jet with the series tied, 3-3, heading back to home ice for Game 7.

    Tuesday night, the Blues fired 54 shots on goal. Bishop stopped 52 of them, but Binnington only allowed one goal against.

    Hometown hero, Pat Maroon, scored the game-winning, series clinching goal in double overtime to lift St. Louis over Dallas, 2-1, and punched his team’s ticket to the Western Conference Final for the first time since… 2016.

    Sound familiar?

    That’s because San Jose defeated St. Louis in six games in the 2016 Western Conference Final. The Blues had home ice in that series and utilized Jake Allen in the crease until Game 6 when then head coach, Ken Hitchcock, elected to start Brian Elliott facing elimination.

    This time around, the Sharks have home ice and St. Louis appears to have an answer to the Allen wrench– it’s Binnington.

    Can they enact revenge and advance to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1970 or will San Jose make the trip back to the Final for the second time in franchise history– and first since losing in six games to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2016 Stanley Cup Final?

    There’s good and bad news for both teams as Peter DeBoer prepares his Sharks to take on Craig Berube‘s Blues.

    San Jose has made the postseason in 21 out of 27 seasons in their existence and Sharks fans have grown accustomed to usual playoff performers like Logan Couture (9-5–14 totals in 14 games played) on their ice at SAP Center.

    But the Sharks have the added benefit of a three-way tie for the lead in scoring on their roster with Couture, Tomas Hertl (9-5–14 totals) and Brent Burns (5-9–14 totals) all having amassed 14 points through two rounds.

    Not only that, but Hertl is tied with Couture in goals so far this postseason. It’s been a breakout year for the already star player in teal.

    General Manager Doug Wilson landed the offseason’s biggest prize on the blue line via a trade with the Ottawa Senators back in September and his asset is paying off when it really counts.

    Erik Karlsson may trail Burns among all Sharks defenders in points, but he does have 12 assists through 14 games and that’s good enough to lead his entire team in helpers.

    DeBoer’s lineup is pretty deep with Timo Meier contributing three goals and seven assists (10 points) in 14 games and trade deadline acquisition, Gustav Nyquist, chipping in 1-7–8 totals from the top-nine.

    San Jose has also had depth scoring from Kevin Labanc (three goals, three assists in 14 GP), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (three goals, three assists in 12 GP), Joe Thornton (2-4–6 totals in 12 games) and even Joonas Donskoi— who scored a goal for the first time in 35 games (regular season and postseason) against Colorado in Game 7.

    Martin Jones (8-5 record, 2.72 goals against average, .910 save percentage in 14 games played this postseason) is having an old-school Stanley Cup Playoffs performance, whereby it’s not about the numbers, but rather how many games you win (and getting better as you go).

    Backup goaltender, Aaron Dell (0-1, 3.33 GAA, .861 SV% in two games played this postseason) made a couple of relief appearances against Vegas, but was not required to save his team from the Avs.

    St. Louis General Manager, Doug Armstrong, landed Ryan O’Reilly via a trade and important third line center, Tyler Bozak, in free agency last summer and built a roster that looked to be force coming out of the gate.

    Things didn’t go so well from the get-go as then head coach, Mike Yeo, got his team off to a horrendous start and was replaced by the interim head coach (Berube) who has taken the roster from 31st in the league (dead last) as January began to the Western Conference Final as the calendar enters mid-May.

    Jaden Schwartz (8-3–11 totals in 13 GP) is tied with Alex Pietrangelo (2-9–11 totals in 13 GP) in scoring on the Blues roster. While Schwartz is also a team-best plus-seven rating and leads St. Louis in goals with eight, Pietrangelo leads his team– both as the captain and– in assists with nine.

    Selke Trophy finalist, O’Reilly has two goals and seven assists (nine points) through 13 games, but is a minus-five rating.

    Worse, while Vladimir Tarasenko has five goals in 13 games, the usual star at Enterprise Center has yet to pickup an assist and is also a minus-five.

    Maroon, however, has three timely goals and one assist (four points) in 13 games from the bottom-six and has helped solidified St. Louis’ all-around playing style.

    Meanwhile, Binnington (8-5, 2.39 GAA, .915 SV% in 13 GP) has backstopped the Blues when it matters most, or rather, when he needs to since the defense is helping keep his workload relatively low.

    The Stars only managed 30 shots on goal in Game 7– you know, a game that went into double overtime. Credit where credit is due to Pietrangelo, Colton Parayko, Jay Bouwmeester, Joel Edmundson and crew on the blue line in St. Louis.

    The two teams split the season series 1-1-0, but as is a well-known fact of the postseason– it’s almost like an entirely new season altogether. Having home ice is one thing. Defending it is another.

    Though Donskoi hasn’t scored as much, the Sharks have a deeper team than in 2016 and are a younger bunch– what with the lack of Patrick Marleau and Joel Ward on their roster– this time around.

    St. Louis has their best chance to win the Cup in (well, it seems like this is said almost every year with Armstrong as their General Manager, but this year they mean it) years.

    That said, San Jose has a lot of momentum working in their favor from the first two rounds after riding an emotional comeback and with the return of Pavelski to their lineup.

    This series isn’t going to be a short one and the Sharks should pull off another seven-game stunner, cracking the Binnington code and advancing to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in franchise history.

    Except this time around, the Sharks are out for blood.

    Regular season outcomes:

    3-2 F/SO SJS at SAP Center on March 9th, 4-0 STL at Enterprise Center on Nov. 9th

    Schedule:

    5/11- Game 1 STL @ SJS 8 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS

    5/13- Game 2 STL @ SJS 9 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    5/15- Game 3 SJS @ STL 8 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN360, TVAS

    5/17- Game 4 SJS @ STL 8 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, TVAS

    5/19- Game 5 STL @ SJS 3 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS*

    5/21- Game 6 SJS @ STL 8 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, TVAS*

    5/23- Game 7 STL @ SJS 9 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN1, TVAS

    *If necessary

  • 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs Eastern Conference Final Preview

    If you didn’t learn your lesson from the First Round to the Second Round, hopefully you’ve learned it by now, because their is no “Third Chance Bracket”.

    Yes, it’s time for the Conference Finals in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, ladies and gentlemen, and this year in the Eastern Conference it’s an old Adams Division rivalry matchup.

    A2 Boston Bruins (49-24-9, 107 points) vs EWC1 Carolina Hurricanes (46-29-7, 99 points)

    The Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the First Round for the second year in-a-row, then went on to defeat John Tortorella and his pesky Columbus Blue Jackets in six games in the Second Round after turning more than a few heads during the regular season for their resolve during periods of injury.

    The Carolina Hurricanes didn’t beat the Washington Capitals at any point in the regular season, but forced the defending Stanley Cup champions to a decisive Game 7– and won– to punch their ticket to the Second Round, then the Canes swept the New York Islanders.

    Don Cherry labeled the Hurricanes as a “bunch of jerks” for their post-win celebrations in the regular season. People from Massachusetts are sometimes referred to as “Massholes”– especially when they get talking about their sports teams.

    For the first time since 2009, Carolina made the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That same postseason, these two organizations collided in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

    It was just the second time the Hurricanes went head-to-head in the playoffs with Boston since relocating from Hartford, where the Whalers went 0-2 in their postseason series lifetime against the B’s in the days of the Adams Division.

    The Bruins eliminated the Canes in six games in 1999.

    Ten years later, Carolina eliminated the B’s on road ice– in overtime– in a Game 7. Scott Walker scored the infamous goal after sucker punching former Hurricane defender, Aaron Ward earlier in the series.

    Though this will only be the fifth time both clubs have met each other in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, these teams don’t like each other.

    Marcus Johansson suffered a lung contusion after Micheal Ferland delivered a check days after Johansson was acquired by the Bruins at the trade deadline in March.

    If that wasn’t “old time hockey” enough for you, Carolina was wearing their throwback Whalers sweaters at TD Garden that evening.

    The Bruins came back from a two-goal deficit to win in overtime in that game.

    Earlier in the season, the Hurricanes donned their Hartford Whalers throwbacks for “Whalers Night” at PNC Arena on Dec. 23rd and both clubs swapped goals until Carolina came out on top– for once in a Hartford sweater– in a whale’s tale of a regular season battle.

    Though the Bruins hold a 3-1 advantage in all-time series matchups with the Hurricanes (including their two meetings while still in Hartford), this isn’t your father’s Whalers/Hurricanes.

    Rod Brind’Amour is back (remember him?)– this time as the head coach of the team he won the Stanley Cup with in 2006.

    When Brind’Amour makes a lineup change, though it may be rare, it’s deliberate. Hell, Greg McKegg had the series clinching goal in the Second Round.

    Boston head coach, Bruce Cassidy, will have to keep adapting throughout each game– let alone the series– as he traditionally has since taking over behind the bench for the B’s in Feb. 2017.

    Boston has been looking for the right amount of scoring touch for the last few seasons and General Manager, Don Sweeney, made sure to add without subtracting for this season’s deep run.

    Third line center, Charlie Coyle, has proven to fit in just fine with the Bruins’ brass and Johansson even had a goal in Game 6 against Columbus.

    Neither of those players were on the roster at the beginning of February, but by the end of it, Sweeney had dealt Ryan Donato and a draft pick to the Minnesota Wild for Coyle, as well as draft picks to the New Jersey Devils for Johansson to assure himself of some much needed– coveted even– depth in the bottom-six.

    Secondary scoring hasn’t been a problem in this postseason run for the Bruins.

    Coyle is tied for 4th on the roster in points this postseason with 5-3–8 totals in 13 games, while Johansson has chipped in two goals and three assists (five points) in 11 games played.

    Former Hurricane, Joakim Nordstrom, and Dublin, Ohio native, Sean Kuraly, each have a pair of goals in 12 and nine games played, respectively.

    Leading the way in the top-six forwards, Brad Marchand has 5-8–13 totals in 13 games played. His teammate on the first line, David Pastrnak is starting to get his hot hands back and enters the Eastern Conference Final with six goals and five assists (11 points) in 13 games.

    Usual playoff performers, David Krejci (4-6–10 totals in 13 games) and Patrice Bergeron (5-3–8 totals in 13 games) are right where you’d expect them to be at this time of the year.

    Krejci is three points shy of 100 career Stanley Cup Playoff points (all with the Bruins) and had the game-winning, series clinching, goal at Nationwide Arena in Monday’s, 3-0, shutout over the Blue Jackets.

    Speaking of shutouts, Boston goaltender, Tuukka Rask is on fire lately. Rask is 8-5 with a 2.02 goals against average and .938 save percentage in 13 games played this postseason.

    He also just tied Tiny Thompson and Tim Thomas for the 2nd most postseason shutouts in Bruins franchise history with his 6th career Stanley Cup Playoff shutout against Columbus in Game 6.

    Gerry Cheevers holds the franchise record with eight postseason shutouts in his time wearing a black-and-gold sweater.

    Though the B’s will be without Charlie McAvoy for Game 1 (McAvoy will be serving a one-game suspension for an illegal hit to the head against Josh Anderson in Game 6 against Columbus), Torey Krug (1-7–8 totals) still knows how to move the puck around– especially on Boston’s special teams opportunities.

    In addition, the postseason emergence of workhorse, Brandon Carlo, on the blue line has solidified an already stable, experienced, defense with 42-year-old captain, Zdeno Chara (a plus-nine rating through 13 games) leading from his own zone.

    But Carolina has a workhorse of their own– with more offensive skill than Carlo. Jaccob Slavin has 11 assists from the point this postseason in 11 games.

    No other defenders have had as many assists as Slavin in Whalers/Hurricanes postseason history.

    Slavin also leads his team in scoring, while forwards, Teuvo Teravainen, Warren Foegele, Jordan Staal and Sebastian Aho and are tied for 2nd place on the roster in postseason scoring– each player has nine points through 11 games of Carolina’s 2019 Stanley Cup Playoff run.

    Teravainen leads his team in goals with six so far this postseason, but newcomer Foegele is hot on his tail with five goals and a team-best 31.3 shooting percentage.

    Hurricanes General Manager, Don Waddell, didn’t need to add much during the season, but it certainly helped that he was able to flip Victor Rask for Nino Niederreiter, who’s been a versatile addition up-and-down the lineup when Brind’Amour has called his name.

    Bringing back a little familiarity in July 2017 didn’t hurt either, as “Mr. Game 7” himself and pending-UFA, Justin Williams, not only reached 100 career playoff points in Game 4 against the Islanders, but has helped lift Carolina over their playoff opponents with 3-3–6 totals in 11 games.

    On defense, former Bruin Dougie Hamilton has three goals and four assists (seven points) in 11 games with the Canes this postseason. He leads his fellow defenders in goals, but trails Slavin in points thus far.

    Though Carolina looks to be a top-heavy team on paper, their entire lineup was able to beat the defending Stanley Cup champions in the First Round and limit New York to five goals in four games in the Second Round.

    Nobody prevents goals against as a last resort more than a goaltender and the Hurricanes have gotten everything they’ve needed and more from their goaltending duo of Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney this season.

    Mrazek (5-3, 2.22 GAA, .913 SV% in nine games played this postseason) got the Canes past the Capitals in the First Round and went down with a lower body injury in Game 2 against the Isles last round.

    That’s where McElhinney (3-0, 1.56 GAA, .947 SV% in three games played this postseason) stepped up and got the job done in relief in Game 2 against New York and as the oldest goaltender to make his first career start in Stanley Cup Playoff history at the age of 35 in Game 3 on home ice against the Islanders.

    Brind’Amour doesn’t want to rush Mrazek if he is not 100% and could very well keep going with the upper hand of McElhinney for the time being against Boston to start the series.

    The Bruins led the season series 2-1-0, however, regular season success only means so much for the playoffs. Home ice is a great thing, sure, but the Stanley Cup Playoffs are an entirely different animal when it comes to predictions based on season performance.

    When the Hurricanes beat the Bruins, 5-3, on Dec. 23rd in Carolina, Boston went on to lose to New Jersey on Dec. 27th in regulation.

    The B’s did not lose consecutive games in regulation until they lost three games in-a-row on the road from March 10-14th (4-2 loss to PIT on March 10th, 7-4, loss to CBJ on March 12th and a, 4-3, loss to WPG on March 14th).

    Since Jan. 1st, Boston went 28-10-5 to finish off the regular season, while the Hurricanes went 31-11-2 from Jan. 1st until the dawn of the postseason.

    Both teams have been hot since the turn of the calendar year. There’s no reason why either of them don’t deserve to have made it this far in the Eastern Conference.

    Unfortunately, one of them will have to lose in order for the other to compete for the Stanley Cup.

    Boston is poised to utilize their roster that’s full of playoff experience, while Carolina is certain to try to continue to their underdog story.

    That said, the Bruins are taking the series in six games and heading back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2013.

    Regular season outcomes:

    4-3 F/OT BOS at TD Garden on March 5th, 5-3 CAR at PNC Arena on Dec. 23rd, 3-2 BOS at PNC Arena on Oct. 30th

    Schedule:

    5/9- Game 1 CAR @ BOS 8 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    5/12- Game 2 CAR @ BOS 3 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS

    5/14- Game 3 BOS @ CAR 8 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    5/16- Game 4 BOS @ CAR 8 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    5/18- Game 5 CAR @ BOS 7:15 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS*

    5/20- Game 6 BOS @ CAR 8 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN1, TVAS*

    5/22- Game 7 CAR @ BOS 8 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN360, TVAS*

    *If necessary

  • Bruins win, 4-1, in Columbus, tie series 2-2

    The Boston Bruins forced their way back into the series with a, 4-1, win on Thursday night at Nationwide Arena in Game 4 of their 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round series with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

    As a result of their win, the series is tied, 2-2, heading back to Boston for Game 5 on Saturday.

    Tuukka Rask (6-5 record, 2.11 goals against average, .933 save percentage in 11 games played this postseason) made 39 saves on 40 shots against for the .975 SV% in the win for the B’s.

    Blue Jackets goaltender, Sergei Bobrovsky (6-2, 2.13 GAA, .933 SV% in eight games played this postseason) stopped 42 out of 46 shots faced for a .913 SV% in the loss.

    Bruce Cassidy tweaked his lines from Tuesday night’s, 2-1, loss in Game 3 to Thursday night’s Game 4 action– re-inserting David Backes into the lineup on the second line right wing in place of Karson Kuhlman.

    Cassidy also swapped his first and third line right wings, reuniting David Pastrnak with Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron, as well as Danton Heinen with Marcus Johansson and Charlie Coyle.

    John Moore (upper body) and Kevan Miller (lower body) remain out of the lineup for Boston due to injury, while Chris Wagner, Zane McIntyre, Paul Carey, Steven Kampfer and Kuhlman joined the long list of healthy scratches at this time of the postseason.

    After taking a huge hit from Adam Clendening in the neutral zone, Pastrnak (4) blasted a one-timer past Bobrovsky as Charlie McAvoy setup Pastrnak with a pass cross ice in the attacking zone.

    McAvoy (5) had the only assist on the goal and for the first time this postseason, Columbus trailed on home ice as the Bruins jumped out to the, 1-0, lead at 3:33 of the first period.

    Moments later, Alexandre Texier tripped up Torey Krug in Boston’s defensive zone and was assessed a two-minute minor infraction at 6:38 of the first period.

    While on the power play, the B’s gave up a shorthanded opportunity to Blue Jackets forward, Boone Jenner, who was promptly brought down by a trip from Marchand at 6:52.

    As a result of being tripped while on the breakaway, Jenner received a penalty shot attempt that was denied by Rask.

    Less than a minute later, Bergeron (4) ripped a shot past Bobrovsky’s glove side for the power play goal and gave the Bruins a two-goal lead.

    Bergeron’s goal was assisted by Marchand (6) and Krug (5) at 7:18 of the first period and Boston led, 2-0, 26 seconds after Jenner’s penalty shot.

    About a minute later, after the puck hit the netting above the glass and technically had gone out of play, Columbus capitalized on a missed call by the on-ice officials and pocketed a goal from Artemi Panarin (5) to cut the lead in half, 2-1, at 8:46.

    Not even the official review of every goal in the postseason could overturn an otherwise non-reviewable play as the coach’s challenge only pertains to offside and goaltender interference calls.

    Oliver Bjorkstrand (3) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (3) notched the assists on Panarin’s goal– the second goal to be scored after the puck hit the netting above the glass in Columbus since the last time the Blue Jackets also tabbed a goal in similar fashion on Dec. 27, 2014 against– you guessed it– the Bruins.

    Nine seconds later, Josh Anderson hooked Pastrnak and skated his way over to the penalty box to serve a two-minute minor infraction. Boston did not convert on the ensuing power play.

    The Bruins would fail to score once more on a power play after Dean Kukan elbowed Backes in the face at 12:30 of the opening frame.

    Moments later, while struggling to clear the puck from their own zone, Marchand flung the puck over the glass and out of play for the automatic delay of game minor penalty at 16:00 of the first period.

    Columbus did not score on the resulting skater advantage.

    Through 20 minutes of the action in Game 4, the B’s led, 2-1, on the scoreboard and trailed the Blue Jackets, 15-13, in shots on goal. Columbus also held the advantage in blocked shots (3-2), takeaways (5-1), giveaways (3-2) and hits (20-10), while Boston led in face-off win percentage (63-38).

    The Blue Jackets were 0/1 on the power play entering the first intermission and the Bruins were 1/3.

    Early in the middle frame, Connor Clifton slashed Scott Harrington and was sent to the sin bin with a minor penalty at 6:48 of the second period.

    Columbus did not convert on their second power play opportunity of the night and failed to record a shot on goal on the skater advantage while Clifton was in the box.

    Moments later, Clendening interfered with Backes and was sent to the box with a minor penalty at 12:06. Boston did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

    After killing off the Clendening minor, Anderson cut a rut to the penalty box for interfering with McAvoy at 14:19 of the second period.

    For the fifth time of the night, the Bruins went on the power play, but for the fourth consecutive power play, Boston did not capitalize on the scoreboard.

    Late in the period, Marchand inadvertently tripped up Cam Atkinson in the neutral zone and was charged with a minor penalty at 18:01– leaving one second remaining on the power play for the Blue Jackets entering the third period.

    After two periods of play, the Bruins led, 2-1, on the scoreboard and trailed Columbus, 27-25, in shots on goal– despite splitting shots on goal in the second period, 12-12.

    The Blue Jackets maintained the advantage in blocked shots (7-6), takeaways (8-2) and hits (28-16), while the B’s led in face-off win% (62-38) heading into the second intermission.

    Both teams had five giveaways apiece after 40 minutes of action and Columbus was 0/3 on the skater advantage, while Boston was 1/5 on the power play heading into the third period.

    Midway through the third period, Dublin, Ohio native, Sean Kuraly (2) scored on the intentional carom off the endboards set up by Bruins captain, Zdeno Chara, to give Boston a two-goal lead once again.

    Chara (2) and Backes (2) were credited with the assists on Kuraly’s goal at 8:40 of the third period and the Bruins led, 3-1.

    Past the midpoint of the final frame of regulation, Jake DeBrusk tripped Bjorkstrand and was sent to the box at 12:12.

    Despite firing off four shots on goal on the resulting power play, the Blue Jackets were not able to get one past Rask.

    Shortly after having the skater advantage, Columbus found themselves on the skater disadvantage when Dubois held Brandon Carlo at 15:59 of the third period.

    For the sixth time of the night, Boston went on the power play.

    This time, they capitalized.

    Pastrnak received a pass from Krug and rocketed a shot off of Bobrovsky, yielding just enough of a rebound for Bergeron (5) to pot into the twine from just outside the crease to give the Bruins a, 4-1, lead with his second goal of the night at 17:30.

    Bergeron’s power play goal was assisted by Pastrnak (5) and Krug (6) and helped No. 37 in black and gold surpass Bobby Orr for 6th all-time in Bruins franchise history in Stanley Cup Playoff points.

    The longest-tenured assistant captain in the NHL, Bergeron has 36-57–93 totals in 123 career Stanley Cup Playoff games. Orr had 22-66–92 totals in 74 postseason games with Boston.

    At the final horn, Columbus’ cannon was silenced as the Bruins won Game 4 by a score of, 4-1.

    The B’s finished the night leading in shots on goal (46-40) and face-off win% (59-41), while the Blue Jackets exited the building leading in blocked shots (15-13), giveaways (8-6) and hits (30-25).

    Columbus finished Thursday night’s action 0/4 on the skater advantage, while Boston went 2/6 on the power play and improved to 6-0 this postseason when leading after two periods.

    For the first time in the series, a game was decided by more than a one-goal differential.

    Game 5 is back in Boston at TD Garden on Saturday. Puck drop is scheduled for a little after 7:15 p.m. ET and viewers in the United States can tune in on NBC. Canadian fans can catch the action on CBC, SN or TVAS.

  • 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round Preview: Western Conference

    How’s your bracket doing? Not great? Well, you should have taken my advice for the last round (except for Calgary and Tampa). Maybe you’ll nail the Second Chance Bracket the NHL is offering.

    Or maybe you won’t.

    Regardless, the First Round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs is over and the Second Round starts on Thursday. As such, let’s take a look at every matchup like we did for the last round.

    P2 San Jose Sharks (46-27-9, 101 points) vs WWC2 Colorado Avalanche (38-30-14, 90 points)

    San Jose went 3-0-0 in their regular season series against Colorado, but the Avs were 0-2-1 against the Calgary Flames entering their First Round matchup. In short, the regular season doesn’t mean much. Seriously.

    Calgary had home ice advantage and lost two out of their three home games in the First Round to the Avalanche.

    The Sharks trailed, 3-1, in their series against the Vegas Golden Knights, then Tomas Hertl guaranteed things would go seven games and they did.

    Then the Sharks pulled off an improbable comeback in Game 7, overcoming a three-goal deficit in the third period to win in overtime a la the 2013 Boston Bruins in their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs that postseason.

    Colorado’s first line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen is back firing on all cylinders, while Philipp Grubauer (4-1-0 record, 1.89 goals against average, .939 save percentage in five games played this postseason) has locked down the crease in the Mile High City.

    At the other end of the ice, San Jose’s seen the re-emergence of Hertl and Logan Couture, while Barclay Goodrow‘s stock is rising with the game-winning goal in Game 7 against Vegas.

    Martin Jones (4-2-0, 3.20 GAA, .904 SV% in seven games played this postseason) has been all over the place in the crease for the Sharks.

    With Erik Karlsson amassing nine assists in the last series, San Jose’s defense is quite the two-way prowess in the wake of Colorado’s mostly “shut-down” blue line.

    This series is going to come down to whether the Avs can get out to a lead and withhold the inevitable Sharks comeback or if San Jose can limit Colorado’s scoring chances and will the scoreboard to their advantage.

    After six games, expect the Avalanche to come out on top of the mountain and make their first Western Conference Final appearance since 2002 when they lost to the Detroit Red Wings in seven games.

    Regular season outcomes:

    5-2 SJS at SAP Center on April 6th, 4-3 SJS at SAP Center on March 1st, 5-4 SJS at Pepsi Center on Jan. 2nd

    Schedule:

    4/26- Game 1 COL @ SJS 10 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    4/28- Game 2 COL @ SJS 7:30 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    4/30- Game 3 SJS @ COL 10 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    5/2- Game 4 SJS @ COL 10 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    5/4- Game 5 COL @ SJS*

    5/6- Game 6 SJS @ COL*

    5/8- Game 7 COL @ SJS*

    *If necessary

    C3 St. Louis Blues (45-28-9, 99 points) vs WWC1 Dallas Stars (43-32-7, 93 points)

    Despite facing the Stars solely in the second-half of the regular season– whereby the Blues went on an incredible run to the postseason backstopped by rookie sensation, Jordan Binnington (4-2-0, 2.63 GAA, .908 SV% in six games played this posteason)– St. Louis went 1-3-0 against Dallas in 2018-19.

    Of course, as already noted, the regular season series record doesn’t mean much when the Stanley Cup Playoffs start, but is it possible the Stars are the only team that could make Binnington nervous?

    Surely St. Louis’ roster can’t be too nervous, what with Jaden Schwartz notching the natural hat trick in Game 6 against the Winnipeg Jets– almost single handedly eliminating the Jets himself– and the rest of the Blues, like David Perron, overcoming Winnipeg’s speed and skill to get to the Second Round.

    But the sheer fire power of the Stars was hard to contain by one of the best defenses on paper in the Nashville Predators. Alexander Radulov had a two-goal game en route to Dallas heading home to clinch their series against the Preds in six games.

    Then there’s the best goaltending of the Western Conference to consider. The real wild card that could steal the Vezina Trophy this season (as he is a finalist).

    Ben Bishop (4-2-0, 1.89 GAA, .945 SV% in six games this postseason) has been lights out in the regular season and playoffs so far.

    Oh yeah, and those guys that were criticized earlier this season in Dallas (Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn)? They’re chipping in when it matters most. Not that they hadn’t been before now, really.

    There’s no way this series isn’t going seven games. If it falls short, then that’s an abomination on behalf of The Hockey Gods.

    That said, St. Louis has the all-important home ice advantage should it come down to– when it comes down to a Game 7. Because of that, the Blues will meet the Avalanche in the 2019 Western Conference Final.

    Regular season outcomes:

    4-1 DAL at Enterprise Center on March 2nd, 5-2 DAL at American Airlines Center on Feb. 21st, 3-1 STL at American Airlines Center on Jan. 12th, 3-1 DAL at Enterprise Center on Jan. 8th

    Schedule:

    4/25- Game 1 DAL @ STL 9:30 PM ET on NBCSN, SN, TVAS

    4/27- Game 2 DAL @ STL 3 PM ET on NBC, SN, TVAS

    4/29- Game 3 STL @ DAL 8 PM ET on NBCSN, SN, TVAS

    5/1- Game 4 STL @ DAL 9:30 PM ET on NBCSN, SN, TVAS

    5/3- Game 5 DAL @ STL* 9:30 PM ET on NBCSN, TVAS

    5/5- Game 6 STL @ DAL*

    5/7- Game 7 DAL @ STL*

    *If necessary

  • 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round Preview: Eastern Conference

    How’s your bracket doing? Not great? Well, you should have taken my advice for the last round (except for Calgary and Tampa). Maybe you’ll nail the Second Chance Bracket the NHL is offering.

    Or maybe you won’t.

    Regardless, the First Round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs is over and the Second Round starts on Thursday. As such, let’s take a look at every matchup like we did for the last round.

    A2 Boston Bruins (49-24-9, 107 points) vs EWC2 Columbus Blue Jackets (47-31-4, 98 points)

    The Bruins went 2-1-0 against the Blue Jackets in the regular season and matched Columbus’ intensity at times throughout all three games in the season series.

    Boston is coming off a seven game series win over the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second year in a row and is getting more than enough production from their bottom six forwards as of late.

    Charlie Coyle has consistently been the best player on the ice for the B’s– going hard to the corners and dirty areas, carrying the puck and adding 3-1–4 totals (tied for 5th on the roster in scoring).

    As usual, Brad Marchand leads the Bruins this postseason in goals, assists and points with 4-5–9 totals entering the Second Round, while the rest of the first line– Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak— has five and six points, respectively.

    But wait, what’s that? Bruce Cassidy moved Pastrnak to the second line right wing with Jake DeBrusk and David Krejci and promoted Danton Heinen to the first line right wing?

    Yes, short of Krejci and Pastrnak’s performance in the First Round matchup, the B’s are looking to get a little more from DeBrusk (one goal against Toronto) against Columbus.

    Tuukka Rask (4-3-0 record, 2.31 goals against average, .928 save percentage in seven games this postseason) has been solid in his last few starts and looks to maintain momentum as things get going with the Blue Jackets.

    For the first time in franchise history, Columbus advanced past the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

    Not only that, but they rocketed past the Tampa Bay Lightning– sweeping the 2018-19 President’s Trophy winners with the best regular season record of 62-16-4 (tying the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings for the most wins in a season) in just four postseason games.

    Blue Jackets head coach, John Tortorella, is quite familiar with what it takes to knockoff one of the best teams already heading into the Second Round and he has a Stanley Cup championship to his name with the (you guessed it) 2004 Lightning.

    Columbus is led by trade deadline acquisition, Matt Duchene, in scoring with sevens points (three goals, four assists) in four games this postseason.

    Pending-UFA this July, Artemi Panarin, is 2nd on the roster with 2-3–5 totals, followed by a three-way tie for 3rd between Cam Atkinson, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Seth Jones with four points.

    The Blue Jackets have a lot of speed and firepower and they have guys like, former Bruin, Riley Nash on their penalty kill.

    Though he finished the regular season with a career-worst 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in 78 games played (ignoring his nine points in 32 games in the lockout shortened 2012-13 season and previous one point in five games in 2011-12), Nash has reached the back of the twine once already in the playoffs.

    After recording a career-high and league-best nine shutouts in the regular season, Sergei Bobrovsky (4-0-0, 2.01 GAA, .932 SV% in four games this postseason) has the upper hand in goaltending– statistically speaking, of course.

    He is in the midst of his postseason career-best performance, but he has faced the Bruins before in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 2011 as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers. That year, Boston swept Philly and went on to win the Cup, while Bobrovsky suffered two losses in three starts (six games played) and amassed a 3.23 GAA and .877 SV%.

    He was just a rookie, but if anyone’s done their research on how to beat Bobrovsky it might just be the Bruins. In his two starts against Boston this season (March 12th and April 2nd) he allowed four goals in each game.

    Granted, the playoffs are a different breed from the regular season, Boston should still find a way to deal with Tortorella’s all-in crew in six games.

    Regular season outcomes:

    6-2 BOS at Nationwide Arena on April 2nd, 2-1 F/OT BOS at TD Garden on March 16th, 7-4 CBJ at Nationwide Arena on March 12th

    Schedule:

    4/25- Game 1 CBJ @ BOS 7 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    4/27- Game 2 CBJ @ BOS 8 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS

    4/30- Game 3 BOS @ CBJ 7 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    5/2- Game 4 BOS @ CBJ 7:30 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    5/4- Game 5 CBJ @ BOS 7:15 PM ET on NBC, TVAS*

    5/6- Game 6 BOS @ CBJ*

    5/8- Game 7 CBJ @ BOS*

    *If necessary

    M2 New York Islanders (48-27-7, 103 points) vs EWC1 Carolina Hurricanes (46-29-7, 99 points)

    New York went 3-1-0 against Carolina in the regular season, but don’t let that influence anything.

    The Islanders split their games against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the regular season, then went on to sweep them in the First Round and the Hurricanes lost every game against the Washington Capitals in the regular season, but defeated the defending Stanley Cup champions in seven games.

    Welcome to the playoffs.

    Barry Trotz is in his first season behind the bench of the Islanders and brought his usual anchor of a defensive style, while General Manager Lou Lamoriello brought some stability to the front office, as well as the roster as New York said “goodbye” to John Tavares last July.

    The Isles led the Metropolitan Division at times this season, but faltered late in February and March to 2nd place in the division standings.

    Yet, this team has almost always performed better when just about everyone is counting them out.

    When Tavares left, many experts didn’t see anything that could make up for the hole in the roster.

    When the puck dropped against the Penguins in the First Round, many thought Pittsburgh’s three Cups in the last ten years would have brought more than enough experience to outperform the defending Stanley Cup champion head coach.

    New York has been led by Jordan Eberle in scoring this postseason as the former Edmonton Oiler has amassed a goal a game and six points (four goals, two assists) in four playoff games this year.

    As for Mathew Barzal? He leads the team in assists with five.

    Josh Bailey and Valtteri Filppula each have four points through four games.

    In goal, Robin Lehner (4-0-0, 1.47 GAA, .956 SV% in four games played this postseason) is blazing through his prior struggles in the crease in his first postseason as a starting goaltender.

    It’s a team effort that’s gotten the Isles this far. But it’s also a team effort that’s let the Hurricanes into the Second Round.

    Making their first postseason appearance since 2009, Carolina entered Game 7 in Washington boasting a 4-0 record in such games since relocating from Hartford.

    The Canes trailed 2-0, and 3-1, but they forced overtime and won the game, 4-3, in double overtime– improving to 5-0, since the Whalers last existed, in Game 7s and knocking off Alex Ovechkin and his pals.

    For the 19th time in the last 20 postseasons, there won’t be a repeat champion.

    Rod Brind’Amour won a Cup with Carolina as player in 2006. He’s in his first season behind the bench as the Hurricanes head coach and joined Dallas Stars head coach, Jim Montgomery, as the only rookie coaches this season to advance to the Second Round.

    Brind’Amour’s lineup has been led from the back-end out with Jaccob Slavin leading in scoring with nine assists in seven postseason games.

    Warren Foegele leads the team in goals with four and is tied for 2nd in scoring with Jordan Staal and Dougie Hamilton on the roster. Each player has six points this postseason.

    The man that scored the series clinching goal against the Caps, Brock McGinn, has 2-3–5 totals, as does Sebastian Aho, in seven games.

    In the crease, Petr Mrazek (4-3-0, 2.53 GAA, .899 SV% in seven games played this postseason) has battened down the hatches for the Canes.

    The last time Carolina won a Game 7 on the road in overtime, they beat the Boston Bruins in the 2009 Eastern Conference Semifinals. There’s no reason not to believe in a team after what we’ve witnessed from that said organization which has promised others to Take Warning all season long.

    It’s ten years in the making, but the Hurricanes will get back to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since they last appeared in that round against the Penguins in 2009 (Pittsburgh swept the series to advance to the Stanley Cup Final).

    Carolina will defeat the Islanders in six games and meet up with the Bruins in the 2019 Eastern Conference Final.

    PNC Arena is louder than Barclays Center– and overall better– and it’s shame the Islanders can’t just keep using the NYCB Live for the Second Round.

    #CanesIn6

    Regular season outcomes:

    4-3 CAR at NYCB Live/Nassau Coliseum on Jan. 8th, 4-1 NYI at Barclays Center on Nov. 24th, 2-1 NYI at PNC Arena on Oct. 28th, 2-1 F/OT NYI at PNC Arena on Oct. 4th

    Schedule:

    4/26- Game 1 CAR @ NYI 7 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    4/28- Game 2 CAR @ NYI 3 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS

    5/1- Game 3 NYI @ CAR 7 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    5/3- Game 4 NYI @ CAR 7 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    5/5- Game 5 CAR @ NYI*

    5/7- Game 6 NYI @ CAR*

    5/8- Game 7 CAR @ NYI*

    *If necessary

  • Leafs can advance in Game 6 after, 2-1, win in Boston

    For the first time since the 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Toronto Maple Leafs can advance to another round of postseason play after their, 2-1, victory on road ice against the Boston Bruins.

    The TD Garden crowd was silenced Friday night after the Leafs took the, 3-2, series lead with them out the “exit” doors.

    Frederik Andersen (3-2-0 record, 2.62 goals against average, .925 save percentage in five games played this postseason) made 28 saves on 29 shots against for a .966 SV% in the win for Toronto.

    Bruins goaltender, Tuukka Rask (2-3-0, 2.65 GAA, .922 SV% in five games played this postseason) stopped 25 out of 27 shots faced (.926 SV%) in the loss.

    Auston Matthews and Kasperi Kapanen had the goals for Toronto, while David Krejci scored the lone goal for the Bruins.

    Connor Clifton (upper body) and Kevan Miller (lower body) remain out of the lineup for the Bruins due to injury, while Sean Kuraly (fractured right hand) was back in action for Boston in Game 5 after missing the last 12 games.

    Kuraly was placed on the fourth line left wing with Noel Acciari at center and Chris Wagner on the opposite wing.

    B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, kept his lines the same otherwise, with Joakim Nordstrom joining Paul Carey, Steven Kampfer, Jakub Zboril, Dan Vladar and Karson Kuhlman as Boston’s healthy scratches on Friday.

    The first period started with a heavy defensive presence from both clubs as the players trailed up and down the ice.

    Toronto dominated the first half of the period, but missed wide of the net more than a few times before Boston started to kick into gear in the latter end of the opening frame.

    Late in the period, Zach Hyman tripped up Charlie McAvoy and sent the Bruins on their first power play of the night at 17:00 of the first period. The B’s did not convert on the resulting skater advantage.

    After one period of play, the score was tied, 0-0, while Toronto led in shots on goal, 7-6. The Maple Leafs also led in takeaways (10-5) and face-off win percentage (64-36), while the Bruins led in blocked shots (8-1), giveaways (5-2) and hits (14-11).

    Entering the first intermission, the Leafs had yet to see any time on the power play and Boston was 0/1.

    Early in the second period, Patrick Marleau hooked Krejci and was assessed a minor penalty at 4:13.

    The Bruins didn’t convert on the ensuing power play, but had another chance on the skater advantage when Mitch Marner sent the puck over the glass for the automatic delay of game penalty at 8:24 of the second period.

    Once again, Boston failed to capitalize on the power play for the third time of the night.

    There was no scoring in the second period, as the second intermission commenced with the score still tied, 0-0.

    Through 40 minutes of play, Toronto maintained the advantage in shots on goal (16-15) and takeaways (14-5), while the B’s led in blocked shots (10-2), giveaways (8-4) and face-off win% (57-43).

    Both teams had 21 hits aside through two periods, while the Maple Leafs had yet to see any time on the skater advantage.

    Boston was 0/3 on the power play entering the third period.

    Almost midway through the third period, the Bruins were caught with too many skaters on the ice and Boston was charged with a bench minor. Marcus Johansson served the penalty at 7:14 of the third period.

    Despite killing off the infraction, the B’s were caught up behind the pace of play and lagging in the aftereffects of the vulnerable minute.

    That’s when Toronto pounced.

    Jake Muzzin sent a pass across the ice to Matthews (4) for the one-timer past Rask at 11:33 of the third period to give the Leafs the lead, 1-0.

    Muzzin (2) and Kapanen (1) tallied the assists on the game’s first goal.

    The Bruins used their coach’s challenge arguing that Hyman had interfered with Rask in the crease prior to the shot on goal, thereby inhibiting Rask’s ability to play the puck and make a save across the crease.

    After review, had the call on the ice been reversed, it likely would’ve been the softest goaltender interference call in the history of the coach’s challenge.

    Regular season? You might get that one.

    In the playoffs? Not a chance. The absolute right call has to be made and it was made.

    As a result of losing the challenge, Boston lost their timeout. That would’ve come in handy later…

    A little over two minutes later, the Maple Leafs caught the Bruins on a rush the other way and waltzed into the attacking zone with the chance to convert on another one-timer– and convert they did.

    Kapanen (1) scored his first goal of the postseason and perhaps the most important goal of the series so far at 13:45 of the third period to give Toronto the two-goal lead.

    Andreas Johnsson (3) and Morgan Rielly (4) notched the assists on and the Leafs led, 2-0.

    Toronto scored two goals in a span of 2:12 and took a stronghold on the eventual outcome.

    With about 2:49 remaining in regulation, the Bruins pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker.

    Boston continued to hold onto the puck for too long trying to set up the “perfect” play, but caught a break after entering the zone and setting up Krejci (2) for a one-timer to cut the lead in half and make it a, 2-1, game.

    David Pastrnak (2) and Torey Krug (3) were credited with the assists on Krejci’s goal at 19:16 of the third period.

    After sending the goal through video review to confirm that the Bruins had not entered the zone offside, Boston pulled Rask again for an extra skater with about 30 seconds left in regulation.

    Hyman iced the puck for the Leads with 13.2 seconds to go.

    Boston couldn’t convert.

    Toronto iced the puck again with 1.2 seconds remaining.

    Boston couldn’t get a next to impossible shot into the back of the twine as time expired.

    At the sound of the final horn, Toronto had won, 2-1, and finished the night trailing in shots on goal, 29-27.

    The B’s finished Friday night with the advantage in blocked shots (13-9), giveaways (13-5), hits (29-26) and face-off win% (65-36), while both clubs failed to record a power play goal.

    Toronto went 0/1 on the skater advantage and Boston went 0/3.

    The Maple Leafs enter Game 6 back on home ice at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday with the chance to eliminate the Bruins and punch their ticket to the Second Round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

    Puck drop is set for 3 p.m. ET and viewers in the United States can tune in on NBC. Canadian residents can catch the action on CBC, SN or TVAS.

  • Maple Leafs jump out to, 1-0, series lead in Boston

    Mitch Marner had a pair of goals in the Toronto Maple Leafs’, 4-1, victory over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden in Game 1 of their 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round matchup on Thursday.

    Frederik Andersen (1-0-0 record, 1.00 goals against average, .974 save percentage in one game played this postseason) made 37 saves on 38 shots against in the win for Maple Leafs.

    Bruins goaltender, Tuukka Rask (0-1-0, 3.05 GAA, .906 SV% in one GP this postseason) stopped 29 out of 32 shots faced in the loss.

    Toronto leads the series, 1-0, and is 1-0 this postseason, while Boston is 0-1.

    The two clubs are meeting in the playoffs for the 3rd time since 2013, Bruins prevailing in seven games in 2013 and 2018 over the Leafs.

    Boston re-assigned Anton Blidh, Trent Frederic, Jeremy Lauzon and Zach Senyshyn to the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Sunday ahead of their 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round matchup after utilizing the group of forwards to rest their veteran players for the series against the Leafs.

    Sean Kuraly (fractured right hand) and John Moore (upper body) remain day-to-day, but continue to skate on their own after practice. Kevan Miller (lower body) remains unavailable and inactive.

    Bruce Cassidy revealed his lines for the B’s ahead of Thursday’s game, leaving Karson Kuhlman on the second line right wing with Jake DeBrusk and David Krejci, while moving Danton Heinen to the third line with Marcus Johansson and Charlie Coyle.

    Cassidy also kept Joakim Nordstrom, Noel Acciari and Chris Wagner together on his fourth line, while scratching David Backes.

    On defense, with Miller and Moore out of the lineup, Cassidy inserted Connor Clifton on the right side of the third pair with Matt Grzelcyk.

    Steven Kampfer was the only defender that was a healthy scratch for the B’s.

    Midway through the opening frame, William Nylander caught Clifton with a high-stick and was assessed a two-minute minor penalty at 8:55 of the first period.

    Less than a minute into the ensuing power play, Boston worked the puck around the offensive zone as Brad Marchand connected with Patrice Bergeron (1) to give the Bruins the lead, 1-0, at 9:31 of the first period.

    Marchand (1) and Torey Krug (1) collected the assists on Bergeron’s power play goal as Marchand faked a shot and slid a pass across the ice to a wide-open Bergeron, forcing Andersen to play catch up.

    With the goal, the current longest-tenured alternate captain in the NHL (Bergeron) now has four goals and eight assists (12 points) in his last eight playoff games against Toronto.

    Late in the period, Marner (1) tied the game, 1-1, as the Maple Leafs pounced on an erratic face-off in the attacking zone, first tipping the puck off the near post, then banking it off a body in front of the Bruins net and into the twine.

    Jake Muzzin (1) and John Tavares (1) were credited with the primary and secondary assists, respectively, at 16:44.

    After 20 minutes of play, the score was tied, 1-1, with the Maple Leafs leading in shots on goal (10-8), as well as takeaways (7-5), giveaways (6-5), hits (17-14) and face-off win percentage (58-42).

    Boston led in blocked shots (4-2) and was 1/1 on the power play entering the first intermission. Toronto had yet to see any time on the skater advantage heading into the second period.

    Early in the middle frame, Kasperi Kapanen caught DeBrusk with a high-stick and took a trip to the penalty box with a minor penalty at 2:16 of the second period.

    The B’s failed to convert on the resulting skater advantage and allowed a shorthanded breakaway that nearly resulted in a goal for Marner.

    Instead, DeBrusk tripped Marner as the Leafs winger reached the crease and rewarded Marner with a penalty shot at 2:47.

    Marner (2) scored his second goal of the game– a shorthanded penalty shot goal– after getting Rask to commit to the poke check, pulling the puck around the Boston netminder and pocketing it into the mostly open twine.

    No. 16 in blue-and-white became just the 5th player in NHL history to score a shorthanded penalty shot goal in the playoffs and the first Toronto player to convert on the penalty shot since Mats Sundin did so against the Buffalo Sabres in Game 4 of the 1999 Eastern Conference Final on May 29, 1999.

    Late in the period, Nylander (1) scored off the paddle of Rask’s stick and through the Bruins goaltender’s five-hole after receiving a stretch pass from Nazem Kadri and breaking into the zone all alone.

    Kadri (1) and Patrick Marleau (1) notched the assists on Nylander’s goal and the Maple Leafs led, 3-1, at 18:25.

    Through two periods of play, Toronto led, 3-1, on the scoreboard and in blocked shots (8-7), takeaways (12-6), giveaways (9-5) and hits (25-21).

    Boston led in shots on goal (29-24– including a, 21-14, advantage in the second period alone) and face-off win% (52-48) entering the third period.

    The B’s were also 1/2 on the power play after 40 minutes of action.

    Midway through the final frame, Zdeno Chara was penalized for interference against Marleau to the displeasure of the Boston crowd– despite the obvious infraction– at 11:45 of the third period.

    Toronto did not convert on their only power play opportunity of the night.

    With 2:37 remaining in regulation, Cassidy pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker. About a minute later, after a stoppage in play, Cassidy used his timeout to draw up a plan to score at least one goal and cut into Toronto’s two-goal lead.

    Things didn’t go as planned for the Bruins.

    After winning a face-off in the neutral zone, Boston bungled a pass that was quickly intercepted by Tavares (1) as the Leafs center went on to bury the puck in the empty goal frame, icing the win, 4-1, for Toronto at 18:41 of the third period.

    Tavares’ first postseason goal as a Maple Leaf was unassisted.

    At the final horn, Toronto took the, 1-0, series lead with a, 4-1, victory on road ice, despite finishing the night trailing in shots on goal, 38-33.

    The Maple Leafs finished Thursday night leading in blocked shots (14-11), giveaways (12-7) and hits (33-31), while both teams were 50-50 in face-off win%.

    Boston went 1/2 on the power play and Toronto went 0/1 on the skater advantage.

    In their four regular season meetings, the team that scored the game’s first goal went on to win all four games. On Thursday, the team that scored the game’s first goal lost.

    Welcome to the postseason. It’s a whole new [hockey] game.

    Game 2 is Saturday night at TD Garden with puck drop expected shortly after 8 p.m. ET. Viewers can tune into NBC, CBC or TVAS.

  • 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round Preview: Western Conference

    In continuation with Monday’s Eastern Conference preview, here’s the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round preview many of you have been waiting for.

    In the past, Down the Frozen River has covered every game of every series. This year, DtFR is changing things up a bit with a preview of every round and continued excellence in analysis on the DTFR Podcast as well as some Instagram Live sporadic thoughts throughout the playoffs.

    P1 Calgary Flames (50-25-7, 107 points) vs WWC2 Colorado Avalanche (38-30-14, 90 points)

    The Calgary Flames reached the 50-win plateau for the first time since the 1988-89 season (and just the second time in franchise history). For those of you who might be younger than 30-years-old, that’s also the last time the Flames won the Stanley Cup.

    Yes, the Flames won a Cup. Also, it’s been 15 years since Calgary’s appearance in the 2004 Stanley Cup Final or as it’s known to Johnny Gaudreau, “ten years before [his] birth.”

    Only kidding.

    Scotiabank Saddledome is ready to rock again as the Flames are fiery hot this season. So hot, they’re going to wear their throwback sweaters at home to rekindle the 1989 Cup run flame that burns deep inside the heart and soul of the C of Red.

    Anyway, puns aside, Calgary is good. Very good.

    Head coach, Bill Peters, has gotten the most out of his goaltenders, Mike Smith (23-16-2 record, 2.73 goals against average, .898 save percentage in 42 games played) and David Rittich (27-9-5, 2.61 GAA, .911 SV% in 45 GP), as they’ve racked up the wins.

    Led by Gaudreau (36-63–99 totals in 82 games played), Sean Monahan (34-48–82 totals in 78 GP), Elias Lindholm (78 points), Matt Tkachuk (77 points) and potential 2018-19 Norris Trophy finalist, Mark Giordano (74 points), the Flames rose to the top and stayed there, laying claim to home ice all the way through the Western Conference Final– if not Stanley Cup Final, should the Tampa Bay Lightning be eliminated prior to then.

    For Jared Bednar and the Colorado Avalanche, the Avs head coach rode the rollercoaster of injuries, out-of-this-world performances and pedestrian play as Colorado reached the top of the Central Division, fell to 6th place and resurfaced to playoff contention, snagging the 2nd wild card spot in the Western Conference.

    Nathan MacKinnon finished one-point shy of the 100-point plateau with 41 goals and 58 assists (99 points) in 82 games this season, centering captain, Gabriel Landeskog (34-41–75 totals in 73 GP), and Mikko Rantanen (31-56–78 totals in 74 GP) on one of the best lines in hockey throughout the year.

    Rantanen, of course, has been out of commission since March 22nd with an upper body injury, and remains a question mark for Game 1 against Calgary.

    Back to MacKinnon for a moment, the 23-year-old sensation became the third 40-goal scorer since the Quebec Nordiques relocated to Colorado, joining current General Manager, Joe Sakic, and Milan Hejduk as the only players to do so.

    Tyson Barrie led the Avs defenders with 59 points from the blue line.

    In net, Semyon Varlamov (20-19-9, 2.87 GAA, .909 SV% in 49 GP) stole most of the games this season from Philipp Grubauer (18-9-5, 2.64 GAA, .917 SV% in 37 GP), who– despite getting off to a slow start– has really turned his play around as of late, notching three wins in his last five appearances.

    Calgary swept the season series, 3-0-0, but the Avalanche kept every game close.

    Both teams have hot hands and solid defenses, but there’s one common theme for each club– goaltending. Who’s going to get the starts? Who will rise above? And who’s going to flounder in the First Round?

    Because of this, Calgary will likely get stretched to taking the series in six games, with or without a return of Rantanen to Colorado’s lineup.

    Regular season outcomes:

    5-3 CGY at Scotiabank Saddledome on Jan. 9th, 6-5 CGY at Scotiabank Saddledome on Nov. 1st, 3-2 F/OT CGY at Pepsi Center on Oct. 13th

    Schedule:

    4/11- Game 1 COL @ CGY 10 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    4/13- Game 2 COL @ CGY 10:30 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

    4/15- Game 3 CGY @ COL 10 PM ET on CNBC, CBC, TVAS2

    4/17- Game 4 CGY @ COL 10 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, TVAS

    4/19- Game 5 COL @ CGY*

    4/21- Game 6 CGY @ COL*

    4/23- Game 7 COL @ CGY*

    *If necessary

    P2 San Jose Sharks (46-27-9, 101 points) vs P3 Vegas Golden Knights (43-32-7, 93 points)

    The San Jose Sharks quietly lurked the waters working their way diligently to 2nd place in the Pacific Division this season after acquiring Erik Karlsson from the Ottawa Senators and not destroying teams out of the gate as everyone expected.

    Still, San Jose was led by Brent Burns (83 points) in what was yet another Norris Trophy worthy performance this season. The Sharks leading scorer among forwards was 25-year-old Tomas Hertl (35-39–74 totals in 77 GP), while Logan Couture (27-43–70 totals in 81 GP) continued to be a presence in the lineup.

    There’s no question surrounding San Jose’s explosive offense and their world class defense. Rather, the Sharks goaltending seems to be the club’s only weakness.

    Martin Jones (36-19-5, 2.94 GAA, .896 SV% in 62 GP) posted career-worsts in goals against average and save percentage, while backup goaltender, Aaron Dell (10-8-4, 3.17 GAA, .886 SV% in 25 GP) didn’t look so hot either.

    For the Vegas Golden Knights, a slow start and a lot of injuries almost decimated their inaugural season success, but in true Golden Knights fashion, the comeback got rolling and Vegas stormed into a divisional spot for the postseason.

    Granted, it doesn’t come with home ice, but still.

    Vegas didn’t have a 40-goal scorer like last season, but Jonathan Marchessault still led the way with 59 points (25 goals, 34 assists), while his teammate, William Karlsson amassed 24-32–56 totals in 82 GP.

    Reilly Smith put up 53 points in a “down” season, but Alex Tuch (20-32–52 totals) had a breakout year, so everything evens out in the end.

    In the crease, Marc-Andre Fleury (35-21-5, 2.51 GAA, .913 SV% in 61 GP) remained in control of the Golden Knights starting job, but fell victim to the increased scoring around the league– notching his worst GAA and SV% in a season where he was the starting goaltender since his 2.65 GAA and .905 SV% in 67 games played with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009-10.

    For Malcolm Subban (8-10-2, 2.93 GAA, .902 SV% in 21 GP) it was a season to forget for the backup goalie. The sophomore slump is real.

    The Sharks lost to the Golden Knights in the Second Round last year and it’s not hard to imagine Vegas pulling out another improbable postseason run.

    But this time around feels different.

    San Jose split the season series, 2-2-0, but was outscored by Vegas, 18-10, in that span. Though the Sharks should be able to batten down the hatches and outlast the Golden Knights in what’s sure to be quite the entertaining matchup in the First Round, there’s no way it won’t go seven games.

    Regular season outcomes:

    4-3 F/OT SJS at SAP Center on March 30th, 7-3 VGK at SAP Center on March 18th, 3-2 SJS at T-Mobile Arena on Jan. 10th, 6-0 VGK at T-Mobile Arena on Nov. 24th

    Schedule:

    4/10- Game 1 VGK @ SJS 10:30 PM ET on NBCSN, SN, TVAS2

    4/12- Game 2 VGK @ SJS 10:30 PM ET on NBCSN, SN360, TVAS2

    4/14- Game 3 SJS @ VGK 10 PM ET on NBCSN, SN, SN360, TVAS

    4/16- Game 4 SJS @ VGK 10:30 PM ET on NBCSN, SN360, TVAS2

    4/18- Game 5 VGK @ SJS*

    4/21- Game 6 SJS @ VGK*

    4/23- Game 7 VGK @ SJS*

    *If necessary

    C1 Nashville Predators (47-29-6, 100 points) vs WWC1 Dallas Stars (43-32-7, 93 points)

    A year removed from winning the President’s Trophy, the Nashville Predators entered the final day of the regular season with the chance to grab the 1st seed in the Central Division. The Preds did just that, of course, and will promptly hold a banner ceremony worthy of AFC Finalists.

    It’s fine for the local fan base to take pride in their team. It’s also fine for others in the league to poke a little fun at other organization’s unique quirks.

    For Nashville, it’s catfish (see, this classic moment from Puck Soup animated— fair warning, language) and banners (see, “Regular Season Western Conference Champions 2017-18”).

    Anyway, real talk, the Preds are a legitimate team.

    Their defense is still a colossal stronghold with Roman Josi (2nd in points on the roster, 15-41–56 totals in 82 GP), Mattias Ekholm (44 points and a team leading, plus-27 rating), Ryan Ellis and P.K. Subban.

    Their offense was led by Ryan Johansen (14-50–64 totals in 80 GP) this season with Filip Forsberg chipping in 50 points and Viktor Arvidsson reaching the 30-goal plateau (he finished with 34).

    Their goaltending… oh. Is this when Juuse Saros (17-10-2, 2.62 GAA, .915 SV% in 31 GP) takes over for Pekka Rinne (30-19-4, 2.42 GAA, .918 SV% in 56 GP) as the regular starter?

    Oh. Again. Never mind.

    While Rinne has had the better year, statistically speaking, his goals against average and save percentage rank 10th and 13th, respectively, among goaltenders who played at least 20 games this season.

    In the same respect, there were only eight goaltenders with a goals against average below 2.40.

    Saros ranked 21st in GAA (among goalies with 20 GP) and 20th in SV%.

    This is only relevant in the head-to-head aspect with the Dallas Stars, which, let’s take a look at their organizational depth this season, shall we?

    Dallas’s forwards went from being “f—ing horse—-” to… well, at least Tyler Seguin reached the 80-point plateau this season with 33 goals and 47 assists. Alexander Radulov still had 72 points and Jamie Benn ranked third on the team with 27-26–53 totals.

    On the blue line, John Klingberg and Miro Heiskanen made a case for Sergei Zubov to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and reached 10-35–45 and 12-21–33 totals, respectively as Klingberg continued to emerge as a veteran and Heiskanen made quite an impression in his rookie season.

    Not to be outdone, Esa Lindell notched 32 points from the backend this season.

    But in the crease, the Stars had two quality stars.

    Starting goaltender, Ben Bishop (27-15-2, 1.98 GAA, .934 SV% in 46 GP) put up a career-best season while fighting a lower body injury at times and backup goaltender, Anton Khudobin (16-17-5, 2.57 GAA, .923 SV% in 41 GP) split time with Bishop– taking on more time while the starter was injured– and had almost a mirror image in wins (16) and goals against average from last season.

    As long as Bishop (1st in the league in SV% and 2nd in GAA among goaltenders who played at least 20 games) is healthy, yeah, the Stars take home that advantage. Big time.

    Nashville has never won the Cup. Dallas won it 20 years ago.

    Both franchises have a thirst to quench for their respective markets. Both clubs split the series with two wins and two losses– never winning or losing by more than two goals.

    It’s anybody’s guess, but the Stars should upset the Predators in a seven-game stunner.

    Regular season outcomes:

    5-3 NSH at American Airlines Center on Feb. 19th, 3-2 F/OT NSH at Bridgestone Arena on Feb. 7th, 3-1 DAL at Bridgestone Arena on Feb. 2nd, 2-0 DAL at Bridgestone Arena on Dec. 27th

    Schedule:

    4/10- Game 1 DAL @ NSH 9:30 PM ET on USA, SN1, TVAS

    4/13- Game 2 DAL @ NSH 6 PM ET on CNBC, SN, TVAS2

    4/15- Game 3 NSH @ DAL 9:30 PM ET on NBCSN, SN, TVAS

    4/17- Game 4 NSH @ DAL 8 PM ET on USA, SN, TVAS2

    4/20- Game 5 DAL @ NSH*

    4/22- Game 6 NSH @ DAL*

    4/24- Game 7 DAL @ NSH*

    *If necessary

    C2 Winnipeg Jets (47-30-5, 99 points) vs C3 St. Louis Blues (45-28-9, 99 points)

    After a surprising run to the Western Conference Final last season, the Winnipeg Jets struggled at times to find scoring from their top-six forwards, as well as the mythical runway that let their goaltending soar beyond expectations.

    This season, the Jets had their ups and downs, while coming back to Earth in other areas.

    Blake Wheeler (20-71–91 totals) led Winnipeg in scoring and established a franchise record– dating back to their days as the Atlanta Thrashers– for most assists in a season, while Mark Scheifele (84 points) and Kyle Connor (66 points) rounded out the top-three scorers.

    Despite a stretch of games without a goal, Patrik Laine still reached the 30-goal plateau and had 50 points on the season in 82 games played.

    On defense, Jacob Trouba picked up the slack with 8-42–50 totals from the blue line while Dustin Byfuglien was limited to 42 games and 31 points due to injury.

    In goal, Connor Hellebuyck (34-23-3, 2.90 GAA, .913 SV% in 63 GP) posted a career-worst goals against average (2.90) topping his previous worst 2.89 GAA in 2016-17 (56 GP).

    Hellebuyck had his 2nd worst save percentage since his .907 SV% in 2016-17 as well.

    Laurent Brossoit (13-6-2, 2.52 GAA, .925 SV% in 21 GP) posted decent numbers as a backup goaltender in his first season with the Jets, since joining the organization in free agency last July.

    Winnipeg missed a major part of their defense for most of the season in Byfuglien and to some respects, that’s hampered their goaltending as a result. Tending the net is never solely about one person tending the crease, but rather a team keeping the puck out of their own zone.

    However, Hellebuyck has shown signs of a “good year, bad year, good year, bad year” pattern in the past and might have just been victim to a bad year– statistically speaking.

    The St. Louis Blues missed the playoffs last year, losing the final game of the regular season to the Colorado Avalanche and the last wild card spot in the process.

    This year, the Blues redeemed themselves after almost completely embarrassing themselves. St. Louis was last in the Central Division, then they fired Mike Yeo and hired Craig Berube as interim head coach.

    Berube began to right the ship, then Jordan Binnington (24-5-1, 1.89 GAA, .927 SV% in 32 GP) came along.

    Binnington lifted the Blues to a franchise record 12-game winning streak and established the franchise record for most wins by a rookie goaltender (24)– surpassing the previous mark (22 wins) set by teammate and presumably the backup goaltender in the postseason, Jake Allen (19-17-8, 2.83 GAA, .905 SV% in 46 GP).

    Don’t try to mess with what’s working.

    Ryan O’Reilly led St. Louis in scoring with 28-49–77 totals in 82 games played. Meanwhile, Vladimir Tarasenko (68 points) and Brayden Schenn (54 points) compiled respectable totals in 76 and 72 games played, respectively.

    Captain, Alex Pietrangelo, provided more than just leadership from the defensive zone. He added 13 goals and 28 assists (41 points) from the point to help guide St. Louis to a divisional playoff berth.

    For the first time in franchise history, Winnipeg is making consecutive playoff appearances. Though they tied in points (99) in the standings, the Jets had the advantage in the regulation-plus-overtime wins tiebreaker, leading the Blues, 45-42, in that department.

    Winnipeg won the season series 3-1-0, but is facing a Blues team that has completely shifted gears in the second half of the season. For that reason alone, it’s not impossible to predict St. Louis will be the series winner in five games as Binnington cements his status as a goaltender in the NHL– if not a Calder Memorial Trophy candidate at least.

    Regular season outcomes:

    1-0 STL at Bell MTS Place on Dec. 7th, 8-4 WPG at Enterprise Center on Nov. 24th, 5-4 F/OT WPG at Bell MTS Place on Oct. 22nd, 5-1 WPG at Enterprise Center on Oct. 4th

    Schedule:

    4/10- Game 1 STL @ WPG 8 PM ET on NHL Network, SN, TVAS3

    4/12- Game 2 STL @ WPG 9:30 PM ET on CNBC, SN, TVAS

    4/14- Game 3 WPG @ STL 7:30 PM ET on CNBC, CBC, SN, TVAS2

    4/16- Game 4 WPG @ STL 9:30 PM ET on CNBC, SN, TVAS

    4/18- Game 5 STL @ WPG*

    4/20- Game 6 WPG @ STL*

    4/22- Game 7 STL @ WPG*

    *If necessary