With the month of April about to be in the books, we’re nearing the end of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Six of the eight series have been incredibly hard fought with either high levels of quality hockey, entertaining hockey, or burning hatred between the two sides.
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The Carolina Hurricanes have been idle for four full days going on five days after completing a sweep of the Ottawa Senators, and while we now know their first round opponent will be the Philadelphia Flyers, we still don’t know much else about who will be in the mix in round two.
Here’s the state of play around the league outside of Carolina’s four-game sweep:
Eastern Conference
Philadelphia Flyers def. Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-2
The Flyers became the third team to advance to the second round on Wednesday night with a 1-0 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, meaning they will be Carolina’s opponent in round two.
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Philadelphia avoided becoming the fifth team in NHL history to blow a 3-0 series lead in the playoffs, as Pittsburgh was just one more goal away from forcing a decisive Game 7 on home ice.
More coming on the Flyers later today, but this sets up an interesting off-season in the Steel City, as Evgeni Malkin is set to be an unrestricted free agent, and while he turned back the clock in the regular season, the tone about extending his career in Pittsburgh has been noncommittal from both sides since training camp.
Kyle Dubas did a good job putting a solid team together this year, but he will have his work cut out for him in his bid to give Sidney Crosby another shut in the playoffs next year.
Buffalo Sabres lead Boston Bruins, 3-2
Speaking of being on the verge of blowing leads, things looked over and done for the Bruins after a humiliating 6-1 loss at home in Game 4 to go down 3-1.
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Then, Jeremy Swayman and David Pastrnak did what they usually do in Game 5 in Buffalo, as Swayman bounced back from Game 4 and Pastrnak delivered a silky smooth overtime winner to quiet the Buffalo crowd and send the series back to Beantown for Game 6 Friday night.
For the Sabres, the season they snapped what was by far the longest playoff drought in the NHL should have felt like house money, but this team was too good all year to accept a first-round exit against an inferior opponent.
Now, the pressure is squarely on for a largely inexperienced group to close the door on a savvy but flawed Bruins squad.
Montreal Canadiens lead Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2
There are a few strong contenders, but for me, this has been the best series of the first round. Three of the five games have been decided in overtime, and the other two were one-goal games that came down to the wire.
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Tampa Bay seemed to grab momentum when Brandon Hagel’s sixth goal of the series late in the third period of Game 4 gave them a win that tied the series, as of course the Vegas-favored and more experienced Lightning finding their footing and heading back home would give them a major edge, right?
Wrong. The Canadiens went to Florida and stunned the Bolts on Wednesday night, as Tampa goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy let in one of the worst game-winners you’ll see all postseason in a 3-2 loss to put his team’s backs against the wall.
For all the talk of Montreal’s top line of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky being elite, it was the team’s forward depth that won them the game Wednesday as Brendan Gallagher, Kirby Dach, and Alexandre Texier came up with the club’s goals.
The fourth one is the hardest to win, and Tampa Bay won’t go down without a fight, but the Canadiens are a very, very dangerous team.
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Western Conference
Colorado Avalanche def. Los Angeles Kings, 4-0
While it may have been a little bit surprising that the Hurricanes swept a Senators team down the stretch, there is absolutely zero surprise that the Avalanche did away with the Kings in four games.
The Presidents’ Trophy winners are the favorites to lift Lord Stanley, and everyone knows it, and Colorado really wasn’t tested here despite delivering a solid all-around performance. Fresh off his first 100-point season, though, former Hurricanes Martin Necas was held without a goal and limited to just two assists. His playoff struggles in Carolina were well-documented, and against tougher teams, the Avs will need him to be a factor in producing offensively.
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On the other side, what a phenomenal career for retiring Kings center Anze Kopitar. It was great to see him get his due respect this season and then in the handshake line after Game 4.
Minnesota Wild lead Dallas Stars, 3-2
Another former Hurricane who has something to do with Martin Necas (can’t quite recall exactly why) and his team are facing elimination here, as Mikko Rantanen and a hobbled Stars team just can not muster a goal at 5-on-5.
Dallas’ power play is keeping them in the series, but Minnesota has brought an all-around game backstopped by the phenomenal play of rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt. Olympic gold medalist Matthew Boldy has been a revelation for the Wild, as has the top pairing of his fellow gold medalists in Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber.
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The Stars had a 2-1 series lead, but an overtime win at home for Minnesota in Game 4 followed by a relatively comfortable 4-2 win on the road in Game 5 have allowed the Wild to flip the script.
This series was always going to be a close one between two teams that deserved better fates than losing in the first round. The Wild have a chance to knock out the Stars on home ice on Thursday for the opportunity to take their shot at the Avalanche.
Vegas Golden Knights lead Utah Mammoth, 3-2
This a series with a clear-cut villain against a squad pretty much everyone wants to see win.
Just like in the last series, a 2-1 lead for one team has been flipped to a 3-2 lead for the other, as the Golden Knights have come up with back-to-back overtime wins to push the Mammoth to the brink.
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Neither team is getting much in the way of quality goaltending, as Carter Hart and Karel Vejmelka have both struggled mightily. Vejmelka and Utah failed to hold on to 4-3 third-period leads in both Games 4 and 5, and it looks like that might cost the Mammoth their season.
Game 6 is slated for Friday night at 10:00 PM EST from Salt Lake City, and if you can stomach the lack of sleep, that promises to be one of the best games of the postseason.
Anaheim Ducks lead Edmonton Oilers, 3-2
This series sort of mirrors the one between Boston and Buffalo, but in this instance, instead of being a just-okay Bruins squad, the team looking to come back is the two-time reigning Western Conference champion Oilers.
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Led by a valiant effort from Connor McDavid in Game 5, the Oilers cut a 3-1 series deficit to 3-2 behind strong play in net from Connor Ingram after looking like a team with nothing left in the tank through four games.
The Ducks are going to be one of the forces of the next decade or so in this league. Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier are a phenomenal one-two offensive punch, and Jackson LaCombe is the new Jaccob Slavin in that he’s this generation’s outstanding defenseman on a smaller market team that the national media is realizing has been overlooked for a bit.
While Anaheim’s future is promising, they could make their present intriguing too if they can find a way to deliver a knockout blow to the Oilers in Orange County on Thursday night.
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