Cup winner creates style in a copycat league
Catch-me-if-you-can speed, heavy pressure and frustrating grinding hockey will all collide in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The 16 teams that open the playoffs run the gamut of styles and the one that comes out on top in June will again set a blueprint for the rest of the NHL to follow.
It’s a copycat league that tends to follow the last winner,.
If the Chicago Blackhawks win their fourth Cup in seven years or Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers shock the league to win their first since 1990, speed will continue to be in vogue.
But if someone such as the Boston Bruins or Montreal Canadiens raises the trophy, maybe size and strength is back to being the recipe for winning.
“In playoff hockey it’s about all the little things: It’s battles on the wall, in front of the net,” New York Rangers defenceman Marc Staal said.
“All that stuff becomes magnified and there’s no small plays out there.”
The Pittsburgh Penguins won the Cup last year relying on their depth, but that will be tested in the absence of top defenceman Kris Letang, They beat the bigger but still deep San Jose Sharks, who will try to shake off lateseason struggles to return to the final and break through.
Also trying to break through for the first title in franchise history are the Washington Capitals, who are built a little bit like the 2012 and 2014 Cup champion Los Angeles Kings who forechecked hard and used their size.
The Capitals have skill from Alex Ovechkin on down and speed throughout the lineup to play just about every kind of game out there.
“We have a blend,” Capitals defenceman Matt Niskanen said. “I think our skilled guys are, generally speaking, a little bit bigger. We have good goaltending and without the puck, if we have to, with the system we play, we can lock it down pretty well defensively, but we also have enough creative guys and speed guys that if the game turns into an up-and-down rushes type game, we have guys that can do that, as well.”
On the way to the 2015 Stanley Cup final, the Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning showed that speed and skill can win even though playoff hockey has the reputation as a haven for mucking and grinding.
But even those teams could lock down defensively, something any contender must be able to do.
“The fear of facing a bad matchup is real in the playoffs even for the most talented teams.
The Columbus Blue Jackets play coach John Tortorella’s structured playoff hockey that has bred success for his previous teams, but it’s the Ottawa Senators’ suffocating style that could prove the most frustrating for skilled opponents.
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy called the Senators “not fun” to play against.
Under coach Guy Boucher, they clog up the neutral zone and annoy the daylights out of teams, which winger Bobby Ryan said has “worked all year and it’s driven teams crazy.”
“I think we’re built for playoff hockey,” Ottawa defenceman Mark Borowiecki said. “If I was a team in the Eastern Conference, I don’t think I’d want to be playing us in the first round. When we’re on our game, we’re tight, we don’t give up a lot and we’re tough to play against.”
The Capitals finished atop the standings for the second year in a row by throwing line after line at opponents, and that depth and adaptability makes them the favourite to win the Eastern Conference.
“It starts with a hard-checking game, and from that things start opening up and then our offence takes over,” Washington 30-goal scorer T.J. Oshie said.