It’s about the absence of long runs, a trend the Red Wings can’t ignore as yet another postseason begins. Mrazek started all seven games past year in the playoffs, shutting out the Lightning twice and giving up only one goal in Game 7 that Tampa Bay won 2-0. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article. Instead of extending excellence, it feels more like extending a perfect-attendance mark.
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Everyone wants more, from ownership to management to players to fans.
Noteworthy: The Hawks, despite a late-season blip, have the second-best power play in the league.
The Capitals did sign Justin Williams, who is known as Mr. Game 7, last offseason. “I know they’re going to be super motivated”. They think they do, for precisely the reason they made it here despite their struggles – they’ve defied conventional wisdom for a while now. If they beat two other opponents in the same format, they’ll advance to the Stanley Cup finals where they’ll vie for a chance at the championship. “It’s been proven before they’ve been wrong. We’re looking forward to doing it”.
Plus, there’s always the freshness of the playoffs. No, it’s not the ultimate goal and the Wings aren’t satisfied merely keeping it alive. Hitchcock said the Blues are a lot like the Hawks in that they “can score their way out of problems”.
“St. Louis is a great team, and I know we’re going to have a handful to try to get these guys out”, Hjalmarsson said after the Blackhawks practiced on Monday. Unlike other major American sports leagues, the NHL has just one trophy that rotates every year between the league champions.
The Blues didn’t win the division and now must face their nemesis in the defending Stanley champion Blackhawks.
Quoteworthy: “We’re in a very unique situation, because we have two guys who both can carry the ball, and not many teams can say that”, Ken Hitchcock said. “It’s no different this year”.
Chicago and St. Louis just played each other last Thursday, with the Blues winning 2-1 in overtime.
No doubt this will be a war between the Blues star player Vladimir Tarasenko (40g/34a, 12 PPG, seven game winners) and the Art Ross Trophy victor Chicago’s Patrick Kane (46g/60a, 17 PPG, nine game winners). Any kind of Pittsburgh lead in the series and self-doubt will surely creep in on the Washington side.
Now, another tight series seems likely.
VICTOR HEDMAN, TAMPA BAY: Without the injured Anton Stralman, the pressure is on Hedman to be a rock on defense for the Lightning.
“We know we’re in a tough division”, Joel Quenneville said.
Lately, it has been Pittsburgh and not Washington that has been the best team in the Eastern Conference. “Now we’ve gotten back to that point”. He was a healthy scratch in 20 of 26 playoff games a year ago. Their leading goal scorer is 19-year-old Dylan Larkin. They scored 211 goals, their lowest full-season total in 39 years, and finished minus-13 in goal differential, worst for a playoff team since the Canadiens in 1997. But generally, they haven’t been overmatched against good teams. Blues captain David Backes doesn’t have fond memories of that 2014 series, a competitive set that saw his team win the first two contests in overtime before losing four straight – highlighted by a brutal hit he absorbed at the hands of defenseman Brent Seabrook. For a rookie National Hockey League coach, Jeff Blashill has held this team together despite an aging top end, and now must handle the untimely news from Datsyuk.
Quoteworthy: “I’m ready for whatever’s going to happen”, Hjalmarsson said. At times, it was simply Larkin. Now?
“One of our strengths, and I said this from day one, is character”, Blashill said. I see the Panthers as the odd team out in that round, making this year’s post-season a three-horse race between the Stars, the Ducks, and the Penguins.
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In the National Hockey League playoffs, where the underwhelming suddenly can rise, it’s a short distance between almost-broke and going-for-broke. He may need to maintain those statistics to give his team a chance against the mighty Blackhawks offense.
