Surprises abound in the first round
The first week of the NHL postseason has been about as unpredictable as anyone could imagine, even in a sport where upsets are the norm, home-ice advantage is often meaningless and a hot goaltender can overshadow everything else that’s happening.
Perennial Stanley Cup favorite Chicago is down three games to none against Nashville and the NHL-leading Washington Capitals trail Toronto 2-1 in their first-round series, but that’s only part of the story. Seven of the first 24 games have featured a blown lead of two goals or more, 11 have gone to overtime and winning goals have come from some of the unlikeliest of sources.
“It’s harder to go to bed, I can tell you that — you want to watch the end of the games, and when they last too long it’s a short night,” Ottawa Senators coach Guy Boucher said.
Hockey fans had a long night Monday as all four games went to OT for only the third time in NHL history and first time since 1985, including the Blackhawks and Capitals blowing two-goal leads.
“Our guys think they’re a good hockey team, and they’re playing a good hockey team,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. “But I think you gain respect for yourself in the process, and you start believing that maybe you can do this.”
The Blackhawks’ core has three Stanley Cups in the past seven years and a lot experience to lean on. Washington has only playoff disappointments in the rearview mirror, and panic is starting to set in about another early exit.
The Capitals were heavy favorites to beat the young Maple Leafs, but it hasn’t looked like it as all three games so far have gone to overtime.
Defending champion Pittsburgh against Columbus looked like a close matchup but hasn’t been as the Penguins are up 3-0 and Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, the favorite to win the Vezina Trophy, has a 3.49 goalsagainst average and leagueworst .897 save percentage after finishing first in the regular season (2.06, .931).
Some of the biggest goals around the playoffs so far have come from surprising players, too, including Zack Kassian scoring two game-winning goals for the Edmonton Oilers to put them up 2-1 against the San Jose Sharks and Tanner Glass having a game-winner for the New York Rangers.
Tonight the Capitals won’t have shutdown defenseman Karl Alzner, missing his second consecutive game with an upperbody injury, and that is a significant blow to their depth and penalty killing even though Nate Schmidt brings an offensive spark.
The series everyone seems to be forgetting about, Ottawa-Boston, has plenty of late-game drama, including OT game-winners by Dion Phaneuf and Bobby Ryan for Ottawa. Boston’s blue line continues to deal with injuries, and the Senators’ ability to exploit that could be the difference.
St. Louis leads 3-0 in hosting the Wild. This is one of four possible sweeps in this round. There were only four sweeps combined in the first round of the past seven playoffs.
The Wild have a 117-79 advantage in shots on goal, leading all playoff teams in shot differential, and have attempted 228 shots to just 142 for St. Louis. But they have done little to distract Blues goalie Jake Allen, who has stopped 114 of those 117 shots.
Like the Blue Jackets, Wild and Blackhawks, Calgary’s Flames are trying against Anaheim to join the elite company of the four teams that have come back to win a series when trailing 3-0. Calgary blew a 4-1 lead to lose Game 3 in overtime Monday, a potential backbreaker against an experienced Anaheim team that still has Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry around from the 2007 Cup champions.