To say it has been a wild first week of the NHL playoffs would do little justice to the week of hockey we’ve just witnessed. Overtime games, incredible upsets and stellar play from across the league has marked what is shaping up to be an incredible postseason.
Already, we’ve seen two teams eliminated from the postseason via a four-game sweep. First, and most notably, the Tampa Bay Lightning were eliminated by the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday night.
The Lightning, led by star forwards Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point, won 62 games during the regular season, easily the most in the league, and were the heavy favorite entering the playoffs. After taking a 3-0 lead in the first period of Game One, the Lightning conceded four straight goals in a loss, and never truly recovered. It all came to an end Tuesday night, when Columbus ended the series with a 7-3 victory.
The Pittsburgh Penguins similarly saw their season come to an abrupt finish. After a narrow, 4-3 overtime defeat in Game One against the New York Islanders, the Penguins never scored more than one goal in any of their next three games. This was marked most notably by star Sidney Crosby scoring zero goals and recording only a single assist in the series. The Islanders were led by goalie Robin Lehner, who made 130 saves across four games on their way to victory.
In the Western Conference, many fans are fixed on the Vegas Golden Knights, just as they were last year. After their improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season, the Golden Knights returned to the postseason with a first-round matchup against the San Jose Sharks. After an ugly start to the series, a 5-2 loss in Game One, Vegas has won three straight games, and looks poised to continue its playoff run, and perhaps secure the title they came so close to last June.
The team that topped Vegas last summer, the Washington Capitals, also find themselves back in the playoffs. Their first-round opponent, the Carolina Hurricanes, made waves this season due in part to their post-win celebration during the regular season, The Surge. While retired for the playoffs, the energy of The Surge has carried over with the team.
After losing the first two games, including an overtime loss in Game Two, the Hurricanes responded with a crushing 5-0 victory in their first home game of the playoffs. The Capitals will need more help from their goaltender, former Vezina-Trophy winner Braden Holtby, who had allowed more than three goals per game during the series. If he can’t make more saves, the Capitals might see their chance to repeat as champions end early.
Across the rest of the playoffs, several series have garnered the attention of fans.
The Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, two Original Six teams, are locked in a back-and-forth series which may likely need seven games to decide.
In the West, the Colorado Avalanche have bounced back to take a 2-1 lead in their series against the conference-best Calgary Flames.
The Avalanche have just added forward Cale Makar, who played for UMass in the NCAA National Championship this past Sunday night, and scored his first NHL goal in Colorado’s win on Monday night.
The St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets have played four games thus far, and in none of them has the home team won. The Blues took the first two games of the series in Winnipeg, only to lose the next two games back home. One has to imagine one of these teams will eventually be able to protect their home ice, and with two of the next three games in Winnipeg, they may have the upper hand.
Lastly, the Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars have played each other nearly even, with none of their three games being determined by more than a single goal.
While Nashville holds a 2-1 lead in the series, it feels like neither team is greatly outplaying the other, and much like the Toronto-Boston series, this one could take a while to resolve.