This article is part of our From the Press Box series.
Today, from the Pressbox: The NHL is down to eight teams and four series; we break them down here with a progress report.
Eastern Conference
Round 2
Canadiens vs. Lightning
If you know anything about mutual funds, you will always see a disclaimer that says something like "past performance is not indicative of future returns." The same may be true in hockey.
In terms of the early returns from this series, that past performance, a 5-0 regular-season series win by Tampa has held true to form, with two road victories to start Round 2. During the regular season, both clubs could point to a swift group of forwards who used their speed effectively in the transition game. In this series preview, though, I felt that a slow-moving few of Montreal defensemen might be exposed. Well, in the first two games played in Montreal, Tampa's speed was clearly a big factor, as forwards Steven Stamkos and Tyler Johnson used their wheels to produce highlight reel efforts against some slower Canadiens rearguards.
Another key development is the confidence Ben Bishop has shown. He has no doubt been spurred by his regular season success, particularly in going head-to-head with arguably the league's top goalie, Carey Price.
A tense 2-1 double-overtime Game 1 ended when Nikita Kucherov's wrist shot beat Price from the slot area. That goal allowed the Bolts to play with house money as they were already guaranteed the road split of the first two games.
The Canadiens, on the
Today, from the Pressbox: The NHL is down to eight teams and four series; we break them down here with a progress report.
Eastern Conference
Round 2
Canadiens vs. Lightning
If you know anything about mutual funds, you will always see a disclaimer that says something like "past performance is not indicative of future returns." The same may be true in hockey.
In terms of the early returns from this series, that past performance, a 5-0 regular-season series win by Tampa has held true to form, with two road victories to start Round 2. During the regular season, both clubs could point to a swift group of forwards who used their speed effectively in the transition game. In this series preview, though, I felt that a slow-moving few of Montreal defensemen might be exposed. Well, in the first two games played in Montreal, Tampa's speed was clearly a big factor, as forwards Steven Stamkos and Tyler Johnson used their wheels to produce highlight reel efforts against some slower Canadiens rearguards.
Another key development is the confidence Ben Bishop has shown. He has no doubt been spurred by his regular season success, particularly in going head-to-head with arguably the league's top goalie, Carey Price.
A tense 2-1 double-overtime Game 1 ended when Nikita Kucherov's wrist shot beat Price from the slot area. That goal allowed the Bolts to play with house money as they were already guaranteed the road split of the first two games.
The Canadiens, on the other hand, looked tight, almost nervous and those respective energies led to a 6-2 wipeout, when the top two Tampa forward lines clearly outplayed their counterparts. Similarly, Victor Hedman has outclassed P.K. Subban as the most effective top-end defenseman in those two games.
Unless the Canadiens can duplicate Tampa's road heroics, this may turn into a much shorter series than most observers expected.
Rangers vs. Capitals
Even though the Rangers were the top team in the Metropolitan division during the regular season, you had to know they would be wary of the Capitals and some potential for matchup problems. Foremost among those was an edge in physical play, should the game flow go in that direction. Joel Ward, the late-game hero of Game 1 who planted himself at the edge of the crease with 1.5 seconds remaining to jam in the winning tally, exercised that advantage liberally. Jay Beagle, Troy Brouwer and Eric Fehr have joined in the Capitals' hit parade to make life miserable for the faster, yet smaller group of Rangers forwards.
In goal, Braden Holtby has been, at the very least, the equal of his Rangers counterpart, Henrik Lundqvist, a status he underscored by turning aside all 30 shots he faced to make Beagle's tally stand up in the Caps' Game 3 win.
In between these games, the Rangers managed to eke out a 3-2 win in Game 2. One of the Rangers' few big men up front, Chris Kreider, opened the scoring early in that game and allowed the Rangers to better control the tempo despite some flashes of challenge from the Caps, and led to the final 3-2 score.
The Rangers simply need to draw upon their speed to climb back into this series.
In my opinion, the winner of Game 4 will go on to win this series. I don't see the Caps blowing a 3-1 advantage, nor do I see the Rangers losing a two of three set that would follow a Game 4 win.
Western Conference
Ducks vs. Flames
The Ducks entered this series as the heavy favorites and showed that dominance by outscoring the outgunned Flames by a cumulative 9-1 score during a pair of decisive home victories. They used a recipe based on the dynamic duo of Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, along with similar dominance from their second lined, centered by Ryan Kesler.
That latter fact is what makes this version of the Ducks so formidable.
Their goalie tandem of Frederik Andersen (the keeper that they are running with so far in these playoffs) and John Gibson is a solid, if unspectacular one and their defense is deep in two way skills, but it's the offensive depth that will determine just how far they may go.
As far as the Flames are concerned, they are a team that plays with a lot of palpable emotion in their game, with an emphasis on puck movement that is best seen when they are on the power play.
In their 4-3 win during Game 3, viewers saw all of that on display. They got their home crowd engaged with an early goal by Brandon Bollig, scored a late third-period goal on the man advantage (Johnny Gaudreau) and eventually potted the winner on a delayed penalty call as they pulled goalie Karri Ramo, to get the extra man on again, before Mikael Backlund ending the game.
The Flames threw the puck around with confidence in both scenarios and took advantage of a zone-type defense from the Ducks, who should learn from that and pressure the puck carrier more in those circumstances.
The Flames and Ducks are both adept at overturning third-period deficits, and now Calgary has made things interesting as we look ahead to Game 4 in Canada's Cowtown. If they can somehow duplicate their Game 3 result, you have to wonder if past playoff failures might creep into the Anaheim psyche.
The way the Flames' fans have rallied behind their team could be intimidating. I would still maintain that Anaheim is the far superior team and they will survive this most recent challenge.
Blackhawks vs. Wild
Uh–oh, the Hawks mean business in these playoffs, and they have rolled to a commanding 3-0 lead in this series against Minnesota.
In Game 1, they blitzed Devan Dubnyk and the Wild defense for three quick goals in the opening period. To their immense credit, a plucky Minnesota team shocked the Hawks with a trio of tallies to draw even in the middle stanza, but Teuvo Teravainen reestablished a one-goal lead for the Hawks at the end of 40 minutes. Chicago held that advantage with a wide territorial edge (15-8 shots on goal) in the final frame to win the series lid-lifter.
Key performances from that game that have continued throughout came from the usual suspects, as Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane have scored regularly and seem to be oozing confidence.
However, goalie Corey Crawford has found his groove after some unsteadiness in Round 1. He has limited Minnesota to only one goal (60 saves) in the last two games to give the Wild one more decorated playoff performer to think about.
That lone Minnesota goal, from Matt Dumba, only serves to highlight the most glaring deficiency in this series for the Wild: they have seen the veteran Hawks forwards run over them and outplay them badly. Tomas Vanek, Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu all contributed in the close loss during Game 1. Since then, they have gone silent and we have barely noticed Jason Pominville. In goal, Dubnyk's magic elixir seems to have expired, too.
Playing against a motivated Chicago team can have that effect on the opposition.
The 3-0 series deficit spells certain doom for Minnesota, and it seems clear to me that Chicago is on a mission.
Who can stop them?
