Sunday’s Game 7 between the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets puts an end to the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which did not see any shocking upsets, but did see clubs like Los Angeles and Tampa Bay, who had home-ice advantage, go down to division foes Edmonton and Florida. A number of former Buffalo Sabres moved on to the second round, which will open with the Panthers taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.
Here are the ex-Sabres who survived the first round:
Carolina
Eric Robinson GP – 5, G – 0, A – 1, PTS – 1, +/- -1
Taylor Hall GP – 5, G – 1, A – 2, PTS – 3, +/- -1
William Carrier GP – 5, G – 0, A – 0, PTS – 0, +/- +1
The Canes took care of the New Jersey Devils in five games, who went into the series without top center Jack Hughes and lost a sizable chunk of their blueline to injury.
Dallas
Ilya Lyubushkin GP – 7, G – 0, A – 2, PTS – 2, +/- -5
Lyubushkin went -5 in the Game 6 loss in Denver, but the Stars rallied in the third period of Game 7, with former Av Mikko Rantanen scoring a hat trick in a 4-2 victory.
Edmonton
Evander Kane GP – 5, G – 2, A – 1, PTS – 3, +/- -1
Jeff Skinner GP – 1, G – 0, A – 1, PTS – 1, +/- -2
Skinner never got back in the lineup after a poor Oilers performance in Game 1. Kane returned after missing the entire regular season and was a difference-maker with his physicality and key goals, as Edmonton rallied from being down 2-0 and defeating the LA Kings in six games.
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Florida
Sam Reinhart GP – 5, G – 2, A – 4, PTS – 6, +/- +2
Dmitri Kulikov GP – 5, G – 0, A – 2, PTS – 2, +/- 0
Evan Rodrigues GP – 5, G – 0, A – 1, PTS – 1, +/- 0
The Panthers surprisingly dominated Tampa Bay and eliminated the Lightning in five games, playing the prototypical Florida rough and dirty style. Reinhart led them in scoring with six points.
Toronto
Jake McCabe GP – 6, G – 0, A – 1, PTS – 1, +/- +1
The Leafs were given a scare by Ottawa, who rallied from down 3-0 to make the series close before Toronto won Game 6 on Thursday. McCabe was an important part of the Leafs success, as part of their shutdown pairing with Chris Tanev.
Vegas
Jack Eichel GP – 6, G – 1, A – 4, PTS – 5, +/- -4
Brayden McNabb GP – 6, G – 0, A – 3, PTS – 3, +/- 0
Victor Olofsson GP – 4, G – 0, A – 1, PTS – 1, +/- -2
The Golden Knights had a tougher time than expected with the Minnesota Wild, topping them in six games. Eichel struggled defensively early in the series, but made up for it by tying for the club scoring lead with five points.
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