If you were looking for highlights from the NHL’s play-in round, look no further. The first week of NHL play-in action has officially come to a close, and boy does it feel good to have hockey back. As per usual, things didn’t exactly go as expected, with stunning upsets to incredible goals, week one really did have it all.
Connor McDavid – An NHL Highlight Reel
Well if anyone had forgotten, Connor McDavid is still the best player in the world, and it’s not even close.
The more the spotlight is focused on the Edmonton Oilers, the more it becomes apparent that there are few professional sports franchises that rely on one single player for success the way the Oilers lean on No. 97.
I mean, the man looks like he is always playing on easy mode:
This goal was McDavid’s second of a hat trick that would eventually lead his team to a 6-3 game two victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. McDavid is the gift that just keeps on giving, a true NHL highlight reel to say the least.
A Buzzer-Beater for the Books
In his team’s first game of the postseason, Nazem Kadri would score a game-winning goal for the Colorado Avalanche in a Round-Robin game against the St. Louis Blues that was so late in the third period that it took the NHL well over five minutes just to determine if the puck had entered the net before time expired:
An Unfortunate Bounce
The Nashville Predators and Arizona Coyotes kicked off their play-in series Sunday with a goal that we will likely never see again.
It all started with a pass from Taylor Hall to the point where Yotes Captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson tossed a half-baked slap shot at the net. The shot would hit the stick of Preds’ forward Kyle Turris near the top of the circle, before redirecting off the shoulder of Turris’ linemate Matt Duchene at the low circle and over the top of goaltender Juuse Saros:
This would propel a Coyotes team, which was 22nd in regular season scoring, to a 4-3 game one victory over the Predators. The Coyotes would go on to win the series three games to one.
Same Sh*t Different Day
For nearly 15 years Hendrik Lundqvist has been the man in charge between the pipes for the New York Rangers, yet heading into the Blueshirts’ play-in series against the Carolina Hurricanes it was unclear which New York netminder would be chosen to lead the Rangers to a potential playoff birth.
With a last minute undisclosed injury to Igor Shesterkin, Lundqvist was given the start for the series. And after game two against the Canes, a clip of Lundqvist’s pregame ritual got the hockey world buzzing, displaying perfectly how much goaltenders really are creatures of habit:
It is mind-blowing how regimented and superstitious goaltenders can be at times. You’ll often hear about how a goaltender doesn’t like being spoken to on a game day or needs to eat and nap at a certain time before hitting the ice. But rarely do these routines so incredibly display themselves publicly for the hockey world to see.
Two Jets Down
The Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames kicked off their play-in series last Saturday night in Edmonton, and for Winnipeg, the game quickly became a nightmare.
Just minutes into the first period of game one, Jets’ star forward Mark Scheifele would go hard into the boards with Flames’ young stud Matthew Tkachuk. Tkachuk’s skate would come up on the back of Scheifele’s leg, sending the Jets’ center down to the ice in extreme pain:
Due to what I believe to be an entirely horrific, yet incidental and unintentional, sequence of events, Tkachuk was forced to drop the gloves with Jets’ captain Blake Wheeler. It was clear, likely given Tkachuk’s history as an instigator and agitator, that more than a few Winnipeg players didn’t see play as accidental.
To add insult to injury, Jets’ sniper Patrik Laine left the game in the third period with an apparent arm injury.
Scary Moments in Toronto
In the dying minutes of game two between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets, Jake Muzzin would suffer an apparent neck injury after falling awkwardly into the back of Columbus forward Oliver Bjorkstrand’s leg:
Muzzin was eventually stretchered off the ice, but the Maple Leafs would give an update shortly following the game that the Toronto defenseman had function in all of his limbs.
While Muzzin did not rejoin the team for the rest of the series vs. Columbus, though there was some speculation that if Toronto had advanced, that Muzzin would have potentially returned to play.
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David vs. Goliath
The New York Islanders held a convincing two-game lead on the Florida Panthers ahead of third meeting between the two clubs Wednesday afternoon.
With tensions rising, the Panthers were getting desperate for a win, and naturally, scraps began to break out. But one of the most entertaining highlights from the action came when J.G. Pageau, who joined the Isles at the trade deadline, though he might pretend to challenge the 6’6″ Brian Boyle to a fight:
The Panthers lived to see another day, defeating the Islanders by a score of 3-2 in game three. But that victory would be short-lived, as the Panthers eventually lost the series in Game 4 by a score of 5-1.
Play-In Round Heartbreak in NYC
There would be only one sweep in the eight play-in series to kick off the NHL postseason. And if you had asked me ahead of time which series would only last three games, my first choice certainly would not have been the matchup between the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers.
After two starts from Henrik Lundqvist in games one and two, the Rangers would then turn over the crease to their netminder of the future, Igor Shesterkin.
Shesterkin would play well, stopping 27 of 30 shots in an eventual 4-1 elimination, but the 24-year-old Russian was undoubtedly out-dueled by Canes’ goaltender James Reimer, who was given his first start of the series Tuesday in game three.
It wasn’t terribly clear why the Hurricanes decided to start Reimer for game three after Petr Mrazek had a solid two games to begin the series, allowing only three goals on 50 shots in the 120 minutes of play.
However, with game two on a Monday and game three just a day later, giving the Carolina netminder a break on back-to-back games was a somewhat presumptuous move from Rod Brind’Amour and company.
However, the risky play paid off for the Canes, as Reimer led the way in the dismantling of the Rangers’ last-ditch effort for a birth in the 2020 playoffs:
And as if the stellar performance in net wasn’t enough, Sebastian Aho would put the nail in the Rangers’ coffin midway through the third period, taking Tony DeAngelo for a walk to extend his team’s lead to three:
The King’s Future
After a strong string of play prior to the season being put on pause, the Rangers were a sneaky pick to slide into the playoffs, despite being ranked as an 11th seed.
However, the Blueshirts ran into a red-hot Carolina team that strongly feels it has something more to prove after having such a massively successful 2018-19 season.
The future is bright in New York, but this elimination has Rangers’ fans wondering if this is the last time they see Henrik Lundqvist as a member of their club.
The 38-year-old has a year left on his contract at an $8.5mil cap hit. Yet the Rangers have a capable future goaltending tandem with Shesterkin and current third goaltender Alexandar Georgiev.
Lundqvist has long expressed his love for the Rangers and NYC, but it is unclear how the club will proceed with their soon-to-be Hall of Fame goaltender as they begin to think ahead to the 2020-21 season.
Flying Flyers
Out of all of the Eastern Conference teams that qualified for the postseason, no club has played more complete hockey than the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Broadstreet Bullies began their Round-Robin schedule with a convincing 4-1 over the Boston Bruins before taking on the Washington Capitals Thursday.
Perhaps no one player has stood out more for the Flyers than Kevin Hayes, who signed a 7-year, 50 million dollar deal with the club in the summer of 2019.
Hayes has functioned as a playmaker for the majority of his postseason play to this point, factoring in on all three Philadelphia goals en route to a 3-1 win over the Capitals.
Talk about a clinic in passing.
The Flyers would go a perfect 3-0-0 in the play-in round, completing the series with a 4-1 win Saturday over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Philadelphia is set to take on the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs (see more below).
OT Hat-Trick Magic
The play-in series between the Blue Jackets and Maple Leafs had to have been one of the most entertaining of this post season thus far. And Thursday night’s game was no exception.
Toronto jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the game was half over, prompting Columbus head coach John Tortorella to make a goaltending change, swapping Joonas Korpisalo for Elvis Merzlikins.
And as they say, the rest is history. The Blue Jackets would go on to tie the game at three, before Pierre-Luc Dubois won the game in over time with his third of the night:
However, this comeback would mark only the beginning of the drama in this series.
A Monumental Upset
The Montreal Canadiens entered the postseason as the 24th (and last) seed to qualify for the NHL’s Return to Play. Matching up against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who fell just three points short of qualifying for the Round-Robin, was not ideal.
Looking back at it, we’ve seen this story before. A team so heavily favored in a series that the mere thought of them losing seems impossible, yet as we know in the hockey world all too well, these types of upsets have become almost commonplace.
Just ask the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning.
Yet here we are. The Montreal Canadiens disposed of the Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and company in just four games, closing out the play-in round series with a 2-0 shutout from Carey Price.
The series was a win by committee, with the ten Canadiens goals coming from seven different players. And the road ahead remains daunting, as Montreal enters the official start of the playoffs as the bottom seed in the East.
The Habs face off against the Philadelphia Flyers, who went 3-0-0 in their Round Robin play and were by far the best team in the play-in round hands down.
A Comeback for the Ages
When things appeared to be all doom and gloom for the Toronto Maple Leafs down three goals in a play-in round elimination Game 4, the unthinkable happened.
With just 3:57 left in regulation, as hope began to fade on the Maple Leaf bench, William Nylander would cut the Blue Jackets’ lead in the game to two. Cue the comeback:
John Tavares and Zach Hyman would follow Nylander with two more goals late to complete the comeback and tie the game.
In overtime, the Leafs would catch a break when Morgan Reilly stepped on the stick of Nick Foligno, sending the Leafs to the power play.
Just ten seconds into the man-advantage Auston Matthews would sink the game-winner, propelling the Leafs into a do-or-die game five with the Blue Jackets on Sunday.
Not a Cinderella Story
Unfortunately, the historic Maple Leafs comeback from Friday night would be all for naught.
If one thing has proved certain during this play-in round of hockey, its that the Columbus Blue Jackets are one of the most defensively disciplined hockey teams in the NHL.
Coached by the intense and demanding John Tortorella, lead on the blue line by perhaps the best D-man tandem in the league in Seth Jones and Zach Werenski, and backstopped by a 33-save performance by Joonas Korpisalo, the Blue Jackets shut out the Maple Leafs for the second time in the five-game series to advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The victory sets the stage for likely the most anticipated matchup of the first round. After sweeping the Tampa Bay Lightning in four games in the 2018-19 postseason, the Columbus Blue Jackets find themselves head to head with an organization that remembers all too well how that scrappy team from Ohio put such a sudden halt to their record-setting season.
Play-in Round Results
Eastern Conference
PIT vs. MTL – MTL wins 3-1
CAR vs. NYR – CAR wins 3-0
NYI vs. FLA – NYI wins 3-1
TOR vs. CBJ – CBJ wins 3-2
Western Conference
EDM vs. CHI – CHI wins 3-1
NSH vs. ARI – ARI wins 3-1
VAN vs. MIN – VAN wins 3-1
CGY vs. WPG – CGY wins 3-1
Play-In Round
Golden Knights 3-0-0 – 6 points
Avalanche 2-0-1 – 5 points
Stars 1-2-0 – 2 points
Blues 0-2-1 – 1 point
Flyers. 3-0-0 – 6 points
Lightning 2-1-0 – 4 points
Capitals 1-1-1 – 3 points
Bruins 0-3-0 – 0 points
The NHL takes a pause Monday to host the second half of the NHL Draft Lottery. The beginning of the playoffs is set for Tuesday, August 11th.
You can see the full schedule of games here.
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