WILL TRADITIONAL PLAYOFF HOCKEY MAKE A RETURN?

With full arenas around North America buzzing for the NHL playoffs for the first time in three years, the first round overflowed with energy that sometimes amounted to blowouts and full penalty boxes.

By the time almost every series reached Game 6 — and five got to Game 7 — signs were already starting to emerge that made it look like a more traditional postseason.

Penalties were on the decline, comebacks and drama on the rise and with the eight teams making up some of the league’s best, the second round and beyond will likely resemble more of the oldschool playoff hockey fans and players are accustomed to this time of year.

“The deeper you go, the more intense it gets,” Colorado defenseman Cale Makar said. “That’s why playoff hockey is a lot of fun.”

It wasn’t a lot of fun early on, when the team that scored first won 26 times out of 32. The first week also had 14 games decided by two or more goals, not counting empty-netters, and there was just one multigoal comeback.

Then there were nine come-from-behind victories in the final 19 games of the first round, including Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida erasing a three-goal deficit against Washington. Four games went to overtime in the final four days — more than the first eight combined.

As games got tighter with bigger momentum swings and series went down to the wire, penalty calls followed suit. It was still the most penalties called in the first round in almost a decade — just over 10 a game, the highest since 2014 and an average of more than two above the regular-season pace.

“The standard is the standard: It’s not a regularseason standard, it’s not a playoff standard,” Commissioner Gary Bettman said at the start of the playoffs. “We continue to reinforce to the officials, ‘We want you to call the NHL standard.’ And that standard is to reinforce speed and skill and the officials are doing that.”

The officiating at times dominated the conversation during and after games because there were more penalties and power plays each night than in the regular season.

“I’ve never seen it like

this,” said Tampa Bay winger Pat Maroon, the only player to win the Stanley Cup each of the past three years. “It’s killed a lot of momentum 5 on 5. It’s been a weird playoff for me. I’ve never seen this amount of penalties before in a playoff. It seems like it’s preseason again with all the calls on both sides.”

Retired defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo said the lack of flow rendered some games “unwatchable.”

“I’ve always been the guy that has encouraged referees to call the obvious because I think that’s why they’re on the ice, but there also has to be an understanding of the intensity that gets played with come playoff time,” Colaiacovo said. “What really people should be proud about (in) the game of hockey is that there is a pride, an intensity and a toughness that is played at this time of year, and it’s just been taken away.”

Notable

The Vegas Golden Knights fired coach Peter DeBoer after they missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. General Manager Kelly McCrimmon says the front office believes a new coach would put the team in the best position to succeed next season. Vegas failed to qualify for the playoffs after a barrage of injuries compounded by salary cap problems wreaked havoc on the lineup.

The New York Islanders hired longtime Barry Trotz assistant and right-hand man Lane Lambert to succeed him as coach. It’s Lambert’s first head coaching job in the NHL. Trotz was fired last week after the Islanders missed the playoffs for the first time in his four seasons behind the bench. Lambert has worked on Trotz’s staff the past 11 years.