Second round: Me and my shadow
Some try to irritate. Some get nasty. Yes, matchups can be maddening
Every National Hockey League playoff series has its own character. No two series are ever alike. Unanticipated storylines often unfold. Individual confrontations always play out.
In the 1950s, Detroit fans looked forward to watching Marty Pavelich check Maurice “Rocket” Richard in the playoffs. In the ’60s, Bryan “Bugsy” Watson was always a subplot when he shadowed Bobby Hull.
Remember how Esa Tikkanen used to irritate opponents when he played with the Edmonton Oilers? In the ’80s and ’90s, someone was always trying to figure out how to minimize Claude Lemieux’s post-season value.
Here are the most entertaining matchups we anticipate seeing in the second round:
Edmonton centre Connor McDavid vs. Anaheim centre Ryan Kesler
This matchup essentially pits the NHL’s most electrifying offensive star against one of the top three defensive forwards in the game.
McDavid is the game’s fastest skater with the puck and Kesler can intimidate and play a nasty game. Kesler can skate, hit and play with beastly intent.
But Kesler is also an important offensive contributor. Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle isn’t going to disrupt his team’s overall game plan just to have Kesler checking McDavid.
Kesler vs. McDavid will be a preferred matchup, but the Ducks understand that keeping McDavid under control isn’t a oneman job. It’s a team job.
St. Louis goalie Jake Allen vs. Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne
Goalies like to point out they don’t technically compete against the other goalie because they can’t do anything to affect how he plays.
But that isn’t entirely true. A sharp performance by one goalie puts added pressure on the opposing one to do the same.
The Allen-Rinne matchup is intriguing because both enter the series with eye-catching statistics from the first round. Allen, 26, gave up only eight goals in five games (1.47 goalsagainst average, .956 save percentage) against Minnesota. Rinne, 34, surrendered three goals (0.70, .976) in a four-game sweep against the Chicago Blackhawks.
New York Rangers forecheckers vs. Ottawa defenceman Erik Karlsson
Karlsson skates with another gear, and he’s slippery and elusive.
The Rangers will attempt to slow him by forcing him to work harder to escape his own zone.
Maintaining puck possession is the biggest key to prevent Karlsson from taking over the series. He can’t create offence if the Sens don’t have the puck.
But New York forwards will have the responsibility to keep Karlsson bottled up. When Karlsson is chasing the puck in his own zone, the Rangers have to be aggressive on the forecheck. They have be on him before he reaches full stride with the puck.
The Rangers also have to punish him physically with the hope that the cumulative effect will wear him down.
Under normal circumstances, Karlsson would find ways to combat whatever the Rangers throw at him. But he has been playing with two hairline fractures in his left foot.
Washington centre Nicklas Backstrom vs. Pittsburgh’s top two centres
Even though that result isn’t all on Backstrom, the Capitals need just a little more from him in this series, especially when he is matched up against the Penguins’ top centres.
The Penguins have an advantage in team speed and at centre, where they boast two of the best, but isn’t Backstrom also a topfive centre? Backstrom has long been an underrated player. But he could change that story line with a strong series.