(Opening Disclaimer: As a die-hard hockey fan, many person opinions fill this diary. If you don't like them, tough cookies.)
The greatest time of the sports year in its full throes right now. No, I am not talking about the Triple Crown or the upcoming Indy 500 or even the beginning of baseball season. It's NHL playoffs time. This is the time of year when 16 teams duke it out to win the most coveted trophy in all of sports, The Stanley Cup. In order to claim this glorious chalice, one team must win 16 of the most grueling, hard-hitting, fastest games in sports. Few players on any of the teams competing make out unscathed even if they start out 100% healthy.
Follow me below the unclean ice surface for the rest of the story...
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Like every year, the prognosticators were out in full force to predict who would be vying for a chance to play for the Cup. Going by the rosters on paper, everyone had their own idea as to who would rise and who would fall. Few things make a hockey fan smile more than seeing how many people totally botched their predictions once the games started. Hockey is one of the few sports where the cliché that any team has a chance to win on any given night is somewhat true. A hot or cold goaltender can save or derail a season fairly quickly. Injuries are always plentiful during the season which can throw a seemingly guaranteed playoff team into a downward spiral from which they may never recover. At the same time, unexpected players may step up or team chemistry can create a special magic that carries a team to the postseason.
Out in the Western Conference, predictions ran the gamut with seemingly every team, save Calgary and Columbus, being predicted by at least one person as making the postseason. Not surprisingly, the conference was close most of the season with virtually all teams in the hunt up to the last couple of weeks. Two teams almost universally picked to make the postseason had a huge scare by just sneaking in at the end: the perennial playoff-bound Red Wings and the reconstituted Minnesota Wild.
In the Eastern Conference, seemingly the easier to predict of the two, the prognosticators missed the mark wildly. Nearly all had the perennial playoff bound Flyers and the also reconstituted Hurricanes in their top eight. Some also had the improving Lightning, who looked like their goaltending issues were over; the always competitive Sabres and the, you can never count them out, Devils in the post season. Rounding out most predictors' bottom 5 were two perennial losers in the Islanders and Maple Leafs and one team that after last season seemed to be falling apart, the Canadiens. Wouldn't you know it? The games got played and all three teams predicted to be in the bottom ended up making the playoffs over these supposed powerhouses. Two teams, the Leafs and the Islanders, breaking long-term playoff droughts.
The first round of the playoffs opened with a number of interesting match-ups.
Out in the West, we had the battle of the playoff chokers between the San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks. In recent years, both teams have entered the playoffs to big acclaim with very high expectations only to fail in spectacular fashion. You only have to look to last season when both teams bowed out in round 1 as the number 1 (Vancouver) and number 2 (San Jose) seeds. The series was anything but exciting outside of the continued goalie controversy surrounding the Canucks as the Sharks made quick work of Canucks in 4 games. While many people would likely attribute Vancouver's loss to choking again, Vancouver was a deeply flawed team that got the benefit of winning a very weak Northwest Division.
The other interesting match-up was a repeat of the 2012 WCSF between the defending champ Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues, otherwise known as the battle of goaltending. This series had what every hockey loves about the playoffs, lots physicality and speed, exciting playmaking and, of course, exceptional goaltending. While the series was relatively a low scoring one, each of the games was exciting in its own right. Each game was decided by only one goal and all came down the final seconds or overtime. If you ever wanted to know why hockey fans believe their sport is the most exciting team sport in the world, this was one of the series' that would prove it.
In the East, all of the first round match-ups had an interesting angle to them. One was the Boston Bruins vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs. While both teams are Original Six franchises, they had not met in the playoff since 1974. The Leafs were riding high after having broken a 9 year playoff drought. The Bruins, OTOH, we looking to bounce back from a dismal 2012 playoff first round exit at the hands of the Washington Capitals after winning the Cup in 2011. The series was a back and forth affair and came down to a deciding game 7. After proving the doubters wrong by making the playoffs, The Leafs and their nation of fans looked to continue their obnoxious chest thumping as the team built a 4-1 lead in the third period. Of course as any hockey fan knows, no lead is entirely safe in hockey. After scoring around the 9 minute mark of the third to close the gap to 4-2, the Bruins scored two goals in the final 1:30 of regulation to tie the game and force overtime. In overtime, the worst fears of the Leafs Nation were realized as the Bruins scored the game-winning goal to send the Leafs and merry band of idiot fans spiraling into a depression from which they may never recover.
Another series was the Montréal Canadiens vs. the Ottawa Senators. These two teams had not met in the NHL playoffs since 1927 but that was a much different time and a wholly different Senators franchise. The Canadiens had come from finishing last in the Eastern Conference in 2012 to winning a tough Northeast division to claim the #2 seed in the East while the Sens, who had been ravaged by injuries to many of their top players including their number 1 goaltender, found ways to overcome all of that to finish in the 7 spot. The series was a rough and tumble affair straight out of the 70's especially game three which saw 210 penalty minutes in the third period alone. Not to mention a number of dirty and dangerous hits, none of which were given supplemental discipline. After an injury to the Canadiens #1 goalie, the Sens won the series 4 games to 1.
A third series was the New York Rangers vs. the Washington Capitals. This series featured two teams that had met in the playoffs in three of the last 4 seasons. The Rangers had made in once again on the back of their world-class goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, (hence the derisive nickname some fans used for them, the New York Lundqvists). The Capitals made it in due to winning the always horrid Southeast division. The series, which was much like watching paint dry, pitted one of the worst offenses in the playoffs (Rangers) against one of the worst defenses (Capitals). After the home team won each of the first 6 games, Washington's goalie fell apart under the team's sieve-like defense and the Capitals were shut out in the final two games.
The final opening round series in the Eastern Conference was, in my opinion, the most interesting of them all. It featured the #1 seed Penguins taking on the #8 seed Islanders. While these two teams have only met 3 times in the postseason prior to 2013, their 3 series are some of the most talked about series in NHL history. All three went the full distance and all saw the Islanders pull off a spectacular comeback to win each series, 2 of which the Islanders were big underdogs. The first meeting, in 1975, saw the Islanders become only the second team in sports history to come back from a 3 games to none series deficit. The second, in 1982, saw the Islanders come back to win overtime after being down 3-1 late in the third period of a deciding game 5 en route to their third straight Cup. The last, in 1993, saw the Islanders knock off the 2-time defending Cup champion Penguins without the Islanders star forward, who had been injured on a dirty hit in the first round.
Going into this series, the Islanders were again massive underdogs with few people outside of Islanders Country predicting the Islanders would win even one game let alone the series. After being embarrassed 5-0 in the opening game, the mostly first-time playoff bound players realized what they needed to do to make the series competitive. For most of the rest of the series, the Islanders played physical, aggressive hockey. They forechecked hard and gave the superstar-studded Penguins more than they could handle many times especially 5-on-5. Their inspired play caught the attention of the entire league and many fans that had no vested interest in either team joined the Islanders bandwagon. In fact, many in the hockey world thought the Islanders were the better team 5-on-5 for most of the series. Ultimately the Isles did lose due to the Pens excellent special teams plays and the fact that, unlike the Pens, the Islanders had no capable back up once their goaltending went south. Through it all, the Isles finally start receiving the respect from the rest of the league they have not had in at least 10 years.
We are now into the second round and there are still many storylines waiting to be written. Will the now battle-tested Penguins get past the now healthy Ottawa Senators? Will the Rangers finally play a complete hockey game or will Lundqvist break down as he has done in each his playoff appearances. Will the Sharks finally make it to the Stanley Cup finals and shed their choking image? Will the Blackhawks cap their magical regular season with a Cup win? Can the Kings become the first team to win back-to-back Cups since the Red Wings did it in 97 & 98? Only time will tell.
I'll leave you with an image of the scene at the Nassau Coliseum during the National Anthem before game 4.
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May 20, 2013
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