Upstart teams shaking things up
With post-season heavyweights falling, Cup is up for grabs
The Dallas Stars missed the playoffs eight of the previous 10 seasons, and now they have their eye on advancing to the second round.
They defeated the Nashville Predators, 5-3, on Saturday to take a 3-2 series lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are in the second round for the first time in their 19-year history. The Colorado Avalanche won an opening-round series for the first time since 2008.
Last week, the New York Islanders downed the Pittsburgh Penguins to record their first playoff sweep in 46 years.
Welcome to the new National Hockey League, where your past doesn’t matter, and the Stanley Cup is up for grabs.
According to BetOnLine, the Tampa Bay Lightning (2/1), Calgary Flames (8/1), Boston Bruins (9/1), Nashville Predators (12/1) and Washington Capitals (12/1) had the best odds of winning the Stanley Cup.
The Lightning and Flames have already been eliminated, and the Bruins were facing elimination when they played in Toronto on Sunday afternoon. And the defending champion Capitals have had their hands full taking on the wild-card Carolina Hurricanes, who are making their first playoff appearance since 2009. The Capitals lead their best-of-seven series 3-2 and will have to play without key forward T.J. Oshie, who is sidelined with a broken clavicle.
If the ’Canes beat the Capitals and Stars defeat the Predators, then all four wild-card qualifiers will be in the second round.
Lower seeds win, 37.5 per cent of the time on average in the first round, but this year’s results seem to suggest the NHL is experiencing a changing of the guard. Here’s why:
Not much difference between the top and bottom: The Blue Jackets are the No. 8 qualifier in the Eastern Conference, but they were a 98-point team. With more luck, they could have won the Metropolitan Division. The wildcard Dallas Stars ranked No. 2 in the NHL in goals-against. In today’s parity NHL, even wild cards are formidable.
Goaltending is still the great equalizer: Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky is going into the second round with a .932 save percentage. Islanders goalie Robin Lehner is at .956 with a 1.56 goals-against average. Philipp Grubauer was a major factor for the Avalanche in the first round with a 1.89 GAA and .939 save percentage. Dallas goalie Ben Bishop is a Vezina Trophy finalist.
Favourites had flaws: Tampa Bay’s stars couldn’t find their way against Columbus. Johnny Gaudreau didn’t get going for Calgary. Nashville had scoring challenges all season. The Predators seem stale.
Lower teams have elite players: Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon is often as dangerous as Connor McDavid. Mikko Rantanen is also a star. The Stars’ top line of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov is one of the league’s best. They combined for three goals and seven points Saturday. Columbus’s Seth Jones is one of the league’s best two-way defencemen. Carolina boasts several quality young players. The elite talent has been spread around the league more than it has been in the past.