Favourites? Right now they’re not my favourite. Yes, only seven points separated the team for the Toronto Maple Leafs, owner of the final Wild Card spot, but with a mere 32 wins in regulation and overtime the Flyers came nowhere near matching Toronto’s total for the tiebreaker.
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Capitals: Ranked fourth-best in power play (23.1 per cent); seventh in penalty kill (83.8 per cent); 15th in faceoffs (49.8 per cent); fourth in possession (51.81 per cent). Of the Leafs’ 40 wins this season, only seven were earned by someone other than Andersen. With Ovechkin’s ice time and Braden Holtby’s workload down, the Capitals are well-positioned for a Stanley Cup run.
How the Caps can stop him: Carrick has played relatively safe minutes all season long. That’s not so great.
In 25 games this season, Marincin has tallied one goal, six assists and a plus-3.
After all, they led the National Hockey League with 27 road wins in the regular season.
Brian Sampson is a Canadiens fans, so he’ll be cheering against the Leafs. “Sometimes the eighth seed really isn’t the eighth seed”. Teams change. Teams grow. That young core mixed with some veteran pieces like James van Riemsdyk and Nazem Kadri helped push the Leafs to 3.05 goals per game, good for fifth in the National Hockey League.
I think the Leafs fall into a category similar to the Capitals; there’s not much else to say about this team. That’s the question nobody can answer.
“You’ve seen teams that are as good (as the Capitals), as veteran, as experienced, crumble before”. Toronto, of course, is also Canada’s media hothouse where everything – including media-player snipefests and the absence of stick salutes to fans – is amplified. Maybe one a series.
One game. Game One. Let’s say Toronto’s defensive corps rises to the challenge. “I don’t know 100 percent for sure”, Babcock said.
As proud as Shanahan is of the progress made by the Leafs this season, he is just as proud of the people who work around him.
Goaltender Frederik Andersen returned to practice Tuesday morning, following a worrying collision over the weekend, and was optimistic about starting the opener.
The Chicago Blackhawks have been here so many times before. All of it’s doable and fathomable. This is a “win or bust” playoffs for the Caps, and Toronto won’t get in the way of that mission. On paper, the matchup comes as close to a joke as any in recent Stanley Cup Playoff history. Lose another and the Twitterer-in-Chief might be giving his D.C. neighbours the Meryl Streep treatment.
Nine of the 16 playoff teams have a different coach than the one they began last season with: the Canadiens (Claude Julien), Senators (Guy Boucher), Penguins (Mike Sullivan), Blue Jackets (John Tortorella), Bruins (Bruce Cassidy), Wild (Bruce Boudreau), Blues (Mike Yeo), Ducks (Randy Carlyle) and Flames (Glen Gulutzan).
All that from one game. But after Anaheim’s first-round flop against Nashville last season, the Flames realize they might be facing some sitting Ducks in their quest for a playoff breakthrough.
“The great thing about this medical department is that I don’t deal with that part (the diagnosis), they just tell me (Zaitsev is) not available to go”. That’s “pucker”, as in “to become constricted”, or “to shrivel”. “But that pucker factor is an unbelievable thing”.
“Obviously (Matthews) is a special talent”, Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said.
April 6, 2017; San Jose, CA, USA; Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) watches the puck go into the goal against San Jose Sharks goalie Martin Jones (31) during the second period at SAP Center at San Jose.
The Presidents’ Trophy-winning Vancouver Canucks of 2011-2012 were out-Quicked, with L.A. Kings goalie Jonathan Quick allowing just eight goals against in five games.
So playing the opening two games of their series at the Bell Centre in Montreal is not a big problem. I think everybody has contributed.
“It’s pretty darn simple, we were kicked in the teeth previous year”, Williams told the Capitals media at their practice rink in Arlington, Va., on Tuesday.
The Raptors learned their lesson two seasons ago about hoping for a desired opponent when they got the Washington Wizards and then had their lunch handed to them in four season-ending losses. Kids can visit the mezzanine level at Kettler Capitals Iceplex for face painting and balloon art. Team mascot Slapshot and the Red Rockers also will be there. Sometimes we talk too much about the young guys and we forget about the guys that were here during some very hard times.
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In Marlies news, Brooks Laich is officially done with the Maple Leafs and the Marlies.
