Today is Islanders cleanout day, so we’ll get some maddening quotes and other stuff from that.
Bit it’s also the day the NHL playoffs begin, with a first round that should be two weeks of sheer fun. Lots of great matchups, and of course a maximum slate of games each night to keep us entertained even when one or two games are a dud.
Things begin with two Western playoff series:
Winnipeg vs. St. Louis
The President’s Trophy winners take on the upstarts who had a 12-game win streak (ended by these Jets) to resurrect their season. The Blues have improved vastly under Jim Montgomery, but they’re still an 8 seed (sorry, “wild card”) that is missing Dylan Holloway, one of the keys to their resurgence. Of trivial note, the Schenn brothers will face each other in the playoffs for the first time.
How the Jets will win: Talent superiority (despite missing Lars Ehler), attention to detail, and Connor Hellebuyck matching Jordan Binnington “clutch” save for clutch save. This team has been building up for this moment.
How the Blues will win: Past Vezina winner and likely finalist Hellebuyck has a “playoff flop” reputation, though 4 Nations may have chipped away at that. But if he falters, or if the anxiety of the President’s Trophy “curse” or memories of 2019 (when the Blues dumped the Jets on their way to a Cup) become a firestorm after the first bad bounce or bad game, then the Blues have the horses to finish the job.
Colorado vs. Dallas
The Stars and Jim Nill just keep knocking on the door, doing the right things year after year, and this looked like (yet another) year when things might work out for them. Then they drew the Avalanche in the first round, and experienced an end-of-season skid made worse injuries to Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson. It’s really not fair.
But the Stars have Mikko Rantanen, who is ripe for a Revenge Series against the team that wouldn’t make him the highest player in the world, or whatever he was looking for.
Dallas has depth to mitigate those injuries a bit — even Matt Duchene is having a renaissance season like his fellow draftmate who shares a name with an arena football star — meanwhile the Avalanche are pretty healthy, even maybe getting Gabriel Landeskog back for the first time since they lifted the Cup. However, the Stars have experienced playoff gamebreaker Jake Oettinger while the Avalanche are relying on the former Devils law firm tandem of Mackenzie, Blackwood & Wedgewood.
This should be an excellent series, it’s just a shame there are some stars (pun purely coincidental) who will miss it.
Islanders News
- Five questions facing the Isles offseason. [Newsday | Post]
- In a very special Weird Islanders podcast, Dan and Mike talk with a Canucks podcaster about their soap opera season, Pius Suter (once an Isles training camp invitee) and others like Cliff Ronning. [LHH]
- He only played 11 games for the Isles, but that convenient fact means that Scott Perunovich officially was acquired for free. [THN]
Elsewhere
- The Canucks had their cleanout day, and all eyes were on Elias Pettersson after the divorce with J.T. Miller. [Sportsnet]
- Connor Bedard reiterates his “love” for playing in Chicago. Is he Toronto-born? (No.) Why are they giving him the Tavares treatment? [NHL]
- The Oilers are getting healthier almost just in time. [NHL]
- The Leafs are hoping their different approach under Craig Berube means different results in the postseason. [NHL]
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