The Stanley Cup Playoffs started yesterday. The Carolina Hurricanes played the New York Islanders in game one of that series yesterday. The only other game from yesterday was the first game of the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs series. Today there are four games. In today’s first game the Florida Panthers take on the Tampa Bay Lightning. In todays second game the New York Rangers take on the Washington Capitals. In Todays third game the Winnipeg Jets take on the Colorado Avalanche. In todays final game the Vancouver Canucks take on the Nashville Predators.
The number two seed Carolina Hurricanes will take on the number seven seed New York Islanders. This was the opening game of the playoffs for both teams. This is a first round rematch from last season. The Hurricanes scored first. They opened the scoring just over two minutes into the game. #92 Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the goal three seconds into the power play. #88 Martin Necas and #76 Brady Skjei got the assists. About half way through the period the Islanders tied the game. The score was 1-1 after a goal from #32 Kyle MAcLean. His goal was assisted by #27 Anders Lee and #28 Alexander Romanov. The first period ended tied at 1-1.
The second period ended without another goal. The score was still tied up 1-1 going into the final period. The Hurricanes took the lead with sixteen minutes left in the game. #23 Stefan Noesen scored the goal. #76 Brady Skjei got his second assist of the game. #92 Evgeny Kuznetsov also got an assist on that goal. With under two minutes to go the Hurricanes took a two goal lead on an empty net goal. The final score was 3-1 Hurricanes. The Hurricanes now have a 1-0 lead in the series.
This was a solid game. It was close. It was physical. The third period decided this one. After this game the series looks like it will be a close one. It is still either teams to win. It does not look like either team is taking a lot of chances yet. I expect the physical play to heat up in game two.
Game two of this series will be on Monday, April 23rd. Puck Drop is set for 4:30 PM. That game will be in Carolina.
In the only original six matchup of the playoffs, the number four seed Boston Bruins played the number five seed Toronto Maple Leafs in game one of their round one series. The Bruins scored the opening goal of the game about three minutes into the game. The goal was scored by #19 John Beecher. It was assisted by #70 Jesper Boqvist and #61 Pat Maroon. The Bruins held onto their lead as the first period ended 1-0 Bruins.
Six minutes into the second period the Bruins took a two goal lead. The goal was scored by #25 Brandon Carlo. The goal was assisted by #74 Jake DeBrusk and #27 Hampus Lindholm. With just under five minutes to go in the second period, the Bruins took a three goal lead. The goal was scored by #74 Jake DeBrusk on the powerplay. It was assisted by #73 Charlie McAvoy and #63 Brad Marchand. The Bruins made it 4-0 with another goal from #74 Jake DeBrusk again on the powerplay. #63 Brad Marchand and #73 Charlie McAvoy both got their second assists on that goal. The score was 4-0 Bruins heading into the final period.
With eighteen minutes left in the game the Maple Leafs got on the board. #64 David Kampf scored the Maple Leafs first goal of the game. It was assisted by #24 Connor Dewar and #75 Ryan Reaves. With just over two minutes left in the game, the Bruins scored again. #11 Trent Frederic scored an empty net goal. #88 David Pastrnak got the assist. The final score was 5-1 Bruins. The Bruins unsurprisingly win game one and take a 1-0 series lead.
The Maple Leafs were not in this game for two periods. Once the Bruins were up by three goals, the Maple Leafs were not coming back. The Maple Leafs have to find a way to score. They outshot the Bruins by twelve shots. All those top offensive players and they could not find a way to score. The power play helped the Bruins a lot in this game. Those two extra power play goals really put the game out of the Maple Leafs reach. The Maple Leafs are still looking for their first win against the Bruins this season. The Bruins have won all five of their meetings so far.
Game tow of this series will be on Monday, April 22nd. Puck drop is set for 4:00 PM. The game will be in Boston.
It is still all game ones. The Florida Panthers are playing the Tampa Bay Lightning as of writing this. I hate these 9:00 AM games. The game is currently tied with it starting to get a little chippy.
The New York Rangers are playing the Washington Capitals in their first game of that series today. That game is at 12:00 PM PST. Will the Rangers play up to expectations? Will they fall under the pressure? Will the curse of the Presidents Trophy ring true? Will the Capitals get the game one upset? Will Alex Ovechkin have what it takes to carry his team to victory?
The Winnipeg Jets take on the Colorado Avalanche at 4:00 PM. That is the first game of that series and the first Western Conference playoff game. Will the Jets win game one after winning all of their regular season meetings and winning 7-0 in their last meeting. Will the Avalanche surprise everyone with a game one upset?
In todays final game the Vancouver Canucks will play the Nashville predators in game one of that series. Will the Canucks continue to win against the Predators after winning all of their regular season meetings? Do the Predators have what it takes for the game one upset?
Zac Electrifly 