This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
Around the Rink
You know what's great about the playoffs? Anything can happen. We say that a bunch, but it's true. If you had the eight starting goaltenders from last night laid out in front of you, who would you have picked to come out of night one with the best save percentage?
Andrew Hammond's had a pretty great run lately. Carey Price is the league's best goaltender this year. Corey Crawford can turn it on in the postseason. Pekka Rinne is pretty much always outstanding. Braden Holtby's had a real breakout season.
The best save percentage last night went to Scott Darling and the next three were Jonas Hiller, Jaroslav Halak, and Eddie Lack. Darling entering the game added one more goaltender this postseason who is making their postseason debut, which is an interesting wrinkle. Hammond, Darling, Lack, Petr Mrazek, Ben Bishop, Devan Dubnyk, Ondrej Pavelec, and Jake Allen are all getting their first taste of postseason action.
Here are last night's nine goaltenders ranked (Crawford was pulled after the first period).
Scott Darling: 1.00 (42 saves)
Jonas Hiller: .967
Jaroslav Halak: .960
Eddie Lack: .933
Carey Price: .909
Pekka Rinne: .905
Andrew Hammond: .897
Braden Holtby: .885
Corey Crawford: .750
What does it all mean? That the playoffs are fun. It's just one game, but the stakes are high. It's worth taking into account when you're setting lineups, but don't overreact. Is Carey Price bound to implode because he posted a .909? No. He could. But I'm not betting on it based on this one game.
Likewise, I'm not betting that Scott Darling has taken Crawford's job from him (though Darling was incredible, it's possible) or that Hiller is going to be the best goaltender this postseason. The only two who should really have you thinking are Holtby, who the Capitals rode very hard this season (though the Habs did the same to Price and I'm not too concerned there), and Hammond, who is largely untested and is in this position because of what amounts to a very hot streak.
Projected Goalie Starters (all times Eastern)
For updates on the projected goalies later in the day, check our Projected Goalies Grid
Pittsburgh Penguins (Marc-Andre Fleury*) at New York Rangers (Henrik Lundqvist*), 7:00 PM
Detroit Red Wings (Petr Mrazek*) at Tampa Bay Lightning (Ben Bishop*), 7:30 PM
Minnesota Wild (Devan Dubnyk*) at St. Louis Blues (Jake Allen*), 9:30 PM
Winnipeg Jets (Ondrej Pavelec) at Anaheim Ducks (Frederik Andersen), 10:30 PM
*confirmed starter
Injury News For Teams Playing Thursday
Pittsburgh Penguins
Christian Ehrhoff, D - (upper body) will not play in Game 1.
Kris Letang, D - not likely to play at all in the postseason.
Derrick Pouliot, D - (upper body) isn't expected to play Thursday.
Olli Maatta, D - (shoulder) is out for the year.
Anton Zlobin, LW - is out for the year.
Pascal Dupuis, RW - (blood cot) is out for the season.
New York Rangers
Rick Nash, LW - (illness) will "be fine" according to the team.
Kevin Klein, D - (arm) remains sidelined in advance of Thursday's playoff opener.
Detroit Red Wings
Erik Cole, RW - (spinal cord contusion) is reportedly done for the season.
Jonas Gustavsson, G - (concussion) should get medical clearance in the near future.
Justin Abdelkader, LW - (hand) appears questionable for Thursday's opener.
Johan Franzen, RW - (concussion) acknowledged Wednesday that he isn't expecting to return to the lineup during the playoffs.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Jason Garrison, D - (upper body) has been ruled out for Game 1.
Michael Blunden, RW - (knee) is done for the year.
Alex Killorn, C - (undisclosed) is expected to return to the lineup Thursday.
Andrej Sustr, D - (upper body) expects to return Thursday.
Braydon Coburn, D - (lower body) should play on Thursday
Minnesota Wild
Matt Cooke, LW - (undisclosed) has been ruled out for Thursday.
Keith Ballard, D - (concussion) is out for the year.
Darcy Kuemper, G - (illness) missed Wednesday's practice, but wasn't slated to start anyhow.
St. Louis Blues
No injuries.
Winnipeg Jets
Mathieu Perreault, C - (lower body) will be a game-time decision.
Grant Clitsome, D - (back) will not return.
Paul Postma, D - (undisclosed) will miss Thursday's game.
Anaheim Ducks
John Gibson, G - (upper body) is close to a return, but is unlikely to be available for Game 1.
Nate Thompson, C - (upper body) didn't practice Wednesday.
Hot
Thomas Vanek, LW, MIN -- Vanek might not be the hottest player in the league entering the playoffs, but he's been playing very well and his season stats are a bit deceiving. Down on the the Wild's third line with Charlie Coyle and Justin Fontaine, Vanek has posted eight goals and five assists over the last 16 games of the season. A slow start to the season has his stats looking a little worse than he's actually been since scoring just one goal in the first 21 games of the season. The risk is that he had a very patchy postseason last year with Montreal, with a couple very dry stretches before he finished with five goals and five assists in 17 games. Will that Vanek return or will he be looking to rewrite that story?
Pavel Datsyuk, C, DET -- You might have heard that Datsyuk is pretty good. You heard right. But just how good he's been in the season's second hasn't been discussed a whole lot. He ended strong with two goals and three assists in the last three games of the season. However, you can basically grab any timeframe in the season's second half and he looks great. Four goals and nine assists in the last 11 games. Nine goals and 13 assists in the last 18 games. 14 goals and 28 assists in the last 41 games. You get the idea... Plus, over the last eight postseasons he has 93 points in 103 games. He's a pretty good bet.
Cold
David Perron, LW, PIT -- The Penguins struggled mightily down the stretch. Perron's stretch run echoed those struggles. He was an excellent fantasy pick-up when he was traded to the Penguins from the Oilers. But that production disappeared late in the season. Over the last 12 games of the season Perron had no goals, one assist, and a minus-8 rating. However, he did manage to average a solid 2.5 shots per game. The process seemed to be there, but not the results. That coupled with the fact that he's going to have stellar linemates and usage that will give him a chance to rebound, means that you should keep an eye on his production, but I'm not rostering him until I see the results start to come against a stalwart Rangers defense.
Ryan Kesler, C, ANA -- While I'm skeptical of picking up Perron, I'm less worried about picking up Kesler off a cold streak. Kesler has a lot more playoff experience and is on a team that has been clicking offensively, even if part of that offensive push has been driven by a higher than expected shooting percentage. Over the last eight games Kesler had two goals, no assists, and a minus-2 rating. The only reason for concern with Kesler could be usage. In their home games, expect the Ducks to be giving Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf's top line as much space as possible, while using Kesler's second line in a more defensive role.
Recommended Value Pick
Jason Zucker, LW, MIN -- Zucker might be one of the most overlooked forwards of the 2014-15 season. He was injured for a part of it, missing 27 games from February 9 to April 7, but still managed to rack up 21 goals and five assists in 51 games. That's even more impressive when you realize that he gets penalty kill time and very, very limited power play time. How good are those numbers? His goals per 60 minutes of even strength play (G/60) is only bested by Rick Nash. Yeah, he had a better scoring rate at even strength that Vladimir Tarasenko, Tyler Seguin, Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane, Steven Stamkos.... Make that G/60 all situations (something that helps big power play guys like Ovi and hurts Zucker doubly because of his limited power play time and that he plays far more time on the penalty kill than guys of his scoring ilk) and he ranks fifth in the NHL. Zucker has been slept on this season. He's not posting a ton of assists, but he's making the case that he could be an elite scorer that no one knows about yet. At a minimum, he's going to come cheap in daily games with a good chance of scoring. He's posted three goals and an average of 2.67 shots per game in the three games since he returned from injury.
