THE UNDERDOGS ARE ON THE HUNT THIS POST-SEASON
The Leafs, Predators and Blues are leading because they’re outplaying favoured foes
I don’t know what’s more surprising: that the Chicago Blackhawks are down 3-0 in a firstround series to the Nashville Predators, or that they ended up this way after blowing a 2-0 lead in the third period of Game 3.
Both are uncharacteristic of a team that has won three Stanley Cups in the last seven years, a team that this writer — and many others — predicted would win their fourth Stanley Cup since 2010 this year.
But as the Washington Capitals and Minnesota Wild have also quickly realized, words like dynasty, favourite and expected have little to no meaning in a post-season where upsets are the new norm. Because of that and because of all the overtime periods — a whopping 11 games had gone to extra time after all four did on Monday night — it’s shaping up to be the best first round in recent memory.
Normally, having three of the top five teams (Chicago, Columbus and Minnesota) on the brink of elimination would be a downer. And maybe things would be different if Pittsburgh, and not Columbus, was down 3-0. But this year, it’s quite possibly the best thing to happen to the NHL.
While upsets can be brutal when a lesser team is winning because of hot goaltending, bad officiating or just plain good luck, that’s not what’s happening here. The teams that are winning deserve to be winning.
This isn’t Mike Tyson underestimating Buster Douglas and getting rocked by a knockout punch he should have seen coming. Nor is this Canada firing 49 pucks at Martin Gerber, but still coming out with a 2-0 loss to Switzerland at the 2006 Winter Olympics. The Leafs, Predators and Blues aren’t minnows.
The Capitals, Blackhawks and Wild are playing good hockey, but their opponents are simply playing better. It’s somewhat surprising, and yet it really shouldn’t be. In this league, you can go from picking first in the draft to making the playoffs. Parity is why we’re seeing so many overtimes, so few blowouts and so many 3-0 series that could be 0-3 had the puck taken a different bounce.
In Washington, it’s not a matter of the stars not showing up. Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Justin Williams and Evgeny Kuznetsov have combined for seven goals, while T.J. Oshie is tied for the playoff lead with four assists.
But the Leafs, who are younger and might be faster and hungrier, are getting even more production from their stars.
As Capitals head coach Barry Trotz said of the Leafs following a 4-3 overtime loss on Monday, “It’s not David and Goliath. They’re a good hockey team.”
Nashville is also a good hockey team. Sure, Pekka Rinne has been ridiculous, shutting out Chicago in games 1 and 2. But in Game 3, the Predators outshot the Blackhawks 49-36 and deserved everything that came to them — even if it was unusual to see the Blackhawks fritter away a two-goal lead.
“It’s not easy,” Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews told reporters. “It’s a good team and they want it. They’re pushing themselves to the limit.”
In the series no one is watching — St. Louis-Minnesota — it’s been a case of one team peaking too early and the other peaking at exactly the right time. The Wild were one of the best teams in the NHL during the first half of the season, going 33-11-5. But from March on, the team won just eight of 21 games. The Blues are the opposite. They were fading out of a playoff spot when they fired Ken Hitchcock and replaced him with Mike Yeo at the start of February. Since then, they have lost just eight of 32 games in regulation.
It was only a few years ago that the Los Angeles Kings were down 3-0 to the San Jose Sharks and went on to win that series and then the Stanley Cup. In 2012-13, the Blackhawks reversed a 3-1 deficit in the second round. Of course, that seems like ages ago.
“We have a couple days here to regroup,” Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville told reporters, “maybe slow it down a little bit here to catch our breath, to get excited about just trying to win one game and get back to Chicago.”
It’s the kind of talk you don’t normally hear from a team that’s as close as you’ll get to a dynasty. Then again, nothing has been normal in these playoffs.