SCORERS TAKE BACK SEAT IN CONN SMYTHE RACE
When it comes to Conn Smythe Trophy voting, the leading scorers are hardly an indication as to who might be named post-season MVP.
After all, the last time San Jose’s Logan Couture played a game was in the conference final. And yet, he still leads the playoffs with 14 goals.
Two of the other top scorers — Boston’s Brad Marchand and St. Louis’s Jaden Schwartz — have been seemingly missing just as long.
While Marchand leads all players with 21 points, he has just two even-strength points in the final. And one of them came when the Blues pulled their goalie. Schwartz, meanwhile, scored all 12 of his goals in the previous three rounds.
With the Stanley Cup final tied 2-2, here are the top players who have been performing at an MVP level in all four rounds:
Tuukka Rask
The Bruins goalie has been the team’s Conn Smythe favourite for most of the playoffs. And looking at his impressive numbers, it’s not difficult to see why.
Rask heads into Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final with a 1.96 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage, having allowed four or more goals just once.
In the process, he has smashed that somewhat silly narrative that he can’t win the big games.
Rask outplayed Toronto’s Frederik Andersen in the first round, Columbus netminder Sergei Bobrovsky in the second round, and gave up just five goals in a four-game sweep of Carolina in the conference final.
In the final, he has frustrated St. Louis shooters to the point where he’s been constantly run over, shoved to the ground and even given a stiff elbow by the opposing Blues goalie.
Nothing has taken him off his rock-solid game.
“He’s playing the best hockey of his career,” Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said the other day.
Vladimir Tarasenko
“The Tank” is how teammates refer to Tarasenko.
It’s a nickname the 220-pound power forward has embraced in these playoffs. He’s not just scoring — he’s using his boulder-like body to roll over and through opposing defenders.
Tarasenko is ranked third in the post-season with 11 goals. But while Schwartz has scored more, Tarasenko has scored far more often. He has 11 points in his past 10 games and six goals in the past eight.
Three of those goals have come against the Bruins, with Tarasenko having fired 18 shots in four games. With a release like his, it’s no surprise so many of them have found the back of the net. But it’s his work ethic — not necessarily his skill — that has been his best asset.
Against the Bruins, most of Tarasenko’s goals have come off rebounds. In Game 2, he followed up a Schwartz shot on net with another attempt on net. It was stopped, but Tarasenko stayed with the puck, even though it meant twisting his big frame around and flipping a backhand for a goal, all while fighting off a check from Chara.
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Torey Krug
Let’s get this out of the way: Krug isn’t the next Bobby Orr. But in these playoffs, he’s been doing a darn good imitation.
Krug is tied for first among defenceman — along with San Jose’s Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson — with 16 points in 21 games. Eleven of those points came on the power play, where Krug has played quarterback for a deadly unit that’s succeeding at a playoff-best 34.8 per cent clip.
“He’s a guy that’s very intelligent up top,” said Blues defenceman Robert Bortuzzo.
“You look at the best power play defenceman in the league, they have a deception to their game where they keep you on your toes.”
And then there’s The Hit. In Game 1, the pint-sized Krug lost his helmet after getting tangled up in front of the Bruins’ net and then sprinted down the ice in a fit of rage and hammered an unsuspecting Robert Thomas with a questionable hit that knocked the Blues rookie out of the playoffs.
Jordan Binnington
When Binnington was pulled after allowing five goals on 19 shots in Game 3, some had the audacity to question whether the rookie had finally crashed back to earth.
Then he stopped 21 of 23 shots in Game 4.
It wasn’t the first time Binnington had rebounded after a spotty performance. Just when you count him out, he plays his best hockey.
After giving up six goals against the Jets in Game 3 of the first round, Binnington gave up two goals in each of the next three games. He did the same against Dallas in the second round, allowing just four goals in three games following a four-goal outing.
But he saved his best bounceback performance for Game 3 of the conference final. After allowing five goals against the Sharks in an overtime loss, Binnington gave up just two goals in the next three games.
As Binnington said in his droll delivery: “Just stay with what you know and do your job. Same old story.”