The Stanley Cup Quarterfinal round reinforced the old adage of what you need to advance in the playoffs, great goaltending and secondary scoring. The great goaltending is obvious. Secondary scoring, you can’t be a one line team. Playoff teams can shut down one line. It’s difficult to beat a team four times with only one line scoring.
A recent trend in winning teams is young legs. Old thinking you want grizzled veterans to eat pucks, take draws and add physicality. New thinking is speed kills and nothing like youthful exuberance.
I was three for four in the last round and of course I picked the Penguins. The Semifinals will be awesome. Three of the four teams have never won the Cup and they’re four wins away from the Final.
EASTERN CONFERENCE-
The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Boston Bruins in five games. The Bruins top line ( Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak) was buzzing in Game One. Rick Nash tossed in two goals. After Game One the top line only scored on special teams. Rick Nash only took stupid penalties. Tampa’s Braydon Point went from a minus 5 in Game One to Tampa’s best player the rest of the series. Ondrej Palat put pucks in the net and bruises on the Bruins. Victor Hedman or Ryan McDonagh controlled the game from the Tampa blueline . Boston’s blueliners Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy both looked their respective ages by series end.
The Washington Capitals finally beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in a playoff series. This year was different for each team. The Penguins usually win the battle in net. Capital’s goaltender Braden Holtby outplayed Penguin’s goaltender Matt Murray. The Penguins usually have superior play at center. Sidney Crosby was his usual greatness but Evgeni Malkin’s was injured. Derick Brassard was a no show. Capital’s center Evgeny Kuznetsov was the superstar Washington has been waiting for. Lars Eller and Jay Beagle played the best hockey of their careers. Crosby and Jake Guentzel scored a ton but it wasn’t enough. The Penguins usually received scoring from unlikely sources. This year the Capitals did. The Capital’s number one defenseman John Carlson was outstanding. The Penguin’s number one defenseman Kris Letang was stunningly awful. Alex Ovechin slayed the dragon.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have too much firepower for the Washington Capitals. Nicklas Backstrom’s injury limits the Capital’s offense. Washington needs all the offense they can get versus Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay has too much talent for Tom Wilson to injure all of them. LIGHTNING in 5
WESTERN CONFERENCE-
The Winnipeg Jets defeated the Nashville Predators in seven games to advance to the Western Conference final. Each team assumed they had an advantage playing at home but each team won only one home game. The Jets Mark Scheifele was the best player in the series. Scheifele is making the jump from star to superstar. Paul Stastny’s anchoring the second line gave the Jets depth. Nashville relied heavily on their top line of Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson and Ryan Johansen. Nashville other forwards did little to nothing. Nashville’s vaunted defense was fine but didn’t standout. Winnipeg’s behemoths Dustin Byfuglien and Tyler Myers did standout. They manhandled Nashville. Connor Hellebuyck was solid for Winnipeg in net. Pekka Rinne who is always shaky in the playoffs was putrid in Game Seven.
The Vegas Golden Knights won their series against the San Jose Sharks in six games. The series was similar to their series versus the Los Angeles Kings. The Knights speed and tenacity overwhelmed each opponent. Unlike the Kings, the Sharks at least tried. Sharks’ forward Tomas Hertl was an offensive threat every time he was on the ice. The Sharks problem was Vegas threatened constantly to score. Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson look like lottery picks not expansion draft picks. Vegas netminder Marc Andre Fleury is the leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy. Fleury was sublime. The Flower wasn’t standing on his head. He was standing on his ear.
Vegas has been an amazing story this playoff season but I don’t think they’ve played a great team yet. The Jets are a great team. The Jets defense is huge. They are mobile and violent. Vegas coach Gerard Gallant played Ryan Reaves in Game Six. Reaves’ size will be needed against Winnipeg. A hot goaltender can steal any series. Fleury is nuclear. The Jets proved they can win on the road. Even in the most hostile environments. JETS in 7
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