We’re through one round in the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs, and, as we get set for some very intriguing semi-final contests, here are the big talking points from the conference quarter finals.
Washington
For mine, the Caps are the best remaining team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and have launched into what promises to be a titanic struggle with Pittsburgh for a berth in the Eastern Conference Finals. TJ Oshie, who had just one goal coming into Game 1 of the Penguins series scored a hat-trick including the overtime game winner to give Washington an early advantage in a series that is so much more than Ovechkin versus Crosby.
Finally, Washington’s passionate fans have a team that won’t promise so much in the regular season and flame out spectacularly and brutally in the playoffs (see my thoughts on the Anaheim Ducks below for further context). Finally Barry Trotz, long a great coach with a mediocre-at-best roster in Nashville, has a hockey team that can take him all the way.
The Capitals were perhaps guilty of taking their foot off the pedal a little after going up three games against Philadelphia, but managed to right the ship and oust the Flyers, earning themselves a nice break before the Pittsburgh series.
From Braden Holtby in net, through their strong defensive corps (anchored so well by Brooks Orpik and John Carlson) to the big-name forwards like Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, there’s an awful lot to like about the 2015-16 Washington Capitals, and I believe that this might just be their year. Not, however, without a six- or seven-game series against Crosby and the Penguins.
Anaheim
Fresh off a Game Seven loss to Nashville in a series where Anaheim talisman Corey Perry couldn’t find the net to save his life, the Ducks fired Bruce Boudreau despite the former Washington head man having delivered four straight Pacific Division titles in his tenure at the Honda Centre.
That isn’t enough, of course, and Boudreau’s teams in Anaheim resembled his teams in Washington: very good in the regular season, and putrid in the playoffs.
Let’s be honest here: Boudreau deserved to be fired. A team with the likes of Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Cam Fowler and Ryan Kessler should be better than they are. Not to take anything away from Nashville, but the Ducks are too good a team – on paper, at least – to be exiting so often in the early rounds of the playoffs.
Worse is how it happened. The Ducks were up 3-2 in the series and managed to lose the sixth and seventh games. That’s exactly how things went the previous three years, too. In 2013, 2014 and 2015, the Ducks held a 3-2 series lead entering the sixth game, poised to advance, and instead mailed it in, and were bundled out. Coach killing material, that.
So, another coaching change in Anaheim, and a long summer during which the front office will probably make some moves in order to get what is, at it’s core, a team that should be challenging for Stanley Cup championships regularly, out of the first round. Hard to see Boudreau getting a top-flight coaching opportunity anytime soon, either.
Chicago
When Brent Seabrook’s presumptive game leveler bounced off both upright pipes and somehow remained outside the St Louis goal, you knew the Blackhawks weren’t going to win Game Seven and advance.
Finally, the playoff survivors, experts at clawing back from seemingly impossible positions to win games and series, have suffered a first-round exit, and, given the astronomically high expectations in Chicago, 2015-16 will be seen as a failed campaign.
Ultimately, there will be a new Stanley Cup champion this year – which can only be a good thing for the NHL as a whole – and the Blackhawks will have a summer to retool, and it will be interesting to see where the front office decides it needs assistance, and what sort of free agency acquisitions are made to plug those gaps.
I expect the ‘Hawks will be right back among it next year. With the core of Toews, Kane, Hossa, Seabrook, Keith and Crawford returning, you’d be crazy to bet against them.
San Jose
Another team famous for great regular seasons and terrible playoff campaigns looked really good in their comprehensive series win over the Los Angeles Kings. Everyone is playing well, the power play is incredibly lethal at the moment, and there’s a real chance that the Sharks, if things progress the way they did in the first round, will be Western Conference champions.
You know all those guys who get maligned for going missing in playoffs? Thornton, Pavelski, Marleau and co? Well, they’re all producing. The two Joe’s have been immense, and it’s grat to see a good guy in Patrick Marleau finally living up to his regular season form. Brent Burns, the bearded defenceman, had eight goals in five games against the Kings, and suddenly looms as a massive offensive threat from the blue line.
Nashville will be a sturdy test for the Sharks squad, who appear to have bought completely into what head coach Peter DeBoer is selling. One question for me is goaltending: we’ll see whether Martin Jones, who didn’t have much to do against the Kings, can stand up to a sustained playoff run, but signs are good – and I wouldn’t want to be catching the Sharks at the moment.
Pittsburgh
After firing their coach early in the year, the Penguins have stormed back into contention, led by the guys you knew would eventually catch fire – Crosby, Malkin, Kessel – and wasted little time in ousting the New York Rangers, doing so behind two back-up goalies, and managing to chase Henrik Lundqvist from his net three times. That’s basically unheard of in recent times.
The question is whether the Pens can continue this run. Obviously, relying on back-up goalies while Marc-Andre Fleury recovers from concussion issues, is dicey in the playoffs, and their second-round opponents, Washington, aren’t as offensively anaemic as the Rangers were, but, even so, the turnaround from early-season disasters to second-round playoff combatants has been nothing short of impressive.
New York Islanders
John Tavares is officially the (hockey) king of New York City after a scintillating first-round performance against the Florida Panthers. Is there anything the captain of the oft-maligned Islanders franchise can’t do? Not based on the first round series victory – or the Isles’ dominating win over Tampa Bay in the first game of their second-round match-up.
It’s a good time to be an Islander fan. As a Rangers fan, it pains me to say it, but the Isles have a very good team, with depth and talent at all levels, beginning with Thomas Greiss in goals. Their defensive stocks haven’t been this high in a decade, with Johnny Boychuk, Travis Hamonic and Nick Leddy all arguably matching career-best form. And, up front, the Isles have Tavares, Strome and Okposo playing well.
Ominously for Tampa fans, the Islanders have chased goalie Ben Bishop from his net in both of their last two meetings, including the first game of their semi-final series. Bishop let in four goals on thirteen shots in the 5-3 loss, and is 1-3 in four starts against Jack Capuano’s men in 2015-16. With, importantly, a 5.00 goals against average. For whatever reason, the Isles have his number.
I really think we’ll be seeing a Washington/New York Islanders match-up in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Enjoy the second round, hockey fans!
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