The Stanley Cup Playoffs continued yesterday with four games. The New York Rangers played the Washington Capitals. The Florida Panthers played the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Winnipeg Jets played the Colorado Avalanche. The Vancouver Canucks played the Nashville Predators. There are three games tonight. The Boston Bruins play the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Dallas Stars play the Vegas Golden Knights. The Edmonton Oilers play the Los Angeles Kings.
The New York Rangers played the Washington Capitals in game two of their first round series. The Rangers had a 1-0 series lead after a 4-1 win in game one. The Capitals scored first. #24 Connor McMichael scored and unassisted goal six minutes into the game. Two minutes later the Rangers tied the game with a goal from #16 Vinvent Trocheck. His goal was assisted by #56 Erik Gustafsson. With five minutes left in the first period, the Rangers took the lead with a goal from #93 Mika Zibanejad. His goal was assisted by #16 Vincent Trocheck and #13 Alexis Ladrenière. The first period ended with the Ranger up 2-1.
Five minutes into the second period, #17 Dylan Strome scored for the Capitals to tie the game. His goal was assisted by #43 Tom Wilson and #67 Max Pacioretty. With seven minutes left in the second period, #96 Jack Roslovic scored for the Rangers to take the lead. His goal was assisted by #56 Erik Gustafsson and #13 Alexis Ladrenière. With three minutes to go in the second period, #79 K’Andre Miller scored to give the Rangers a two goal lead. #93 Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider got the assists. The score was 4-2 Rangers going into the third period.
With eight minutes left in the game, #43 Tom Wilson scored for the Capitals to cut the lead down to one goal. #29 Hendrix Lapierre and #74 John Carlson got the assists on that goal. The final score was 4-3 Rangers. The New York Rangers now have a 2-0 series lead as the series heads to Washington.
The Rangers are right where they want to be. All of the pressure is now on the Capitals. While it is still early in the series, this series is playing out like it will be a sweep. The Rangers did not keep the pressure going from game one. They slowed down a little bit. The Capitals did not take advantage of that. If this was another team, the Rangers likely would have lost last night. The Rangers showed signs in that second game that they might be in trouble if they make it to the second round. For the Capitals, this is how I thought it would play out. They did not do well at the end of the regular season. That is continuing into the playoffs. What is Alex Ovechkin doing? he should be carrying the team. Instead it looked like he did not want to be there last night. He did not look like a leader let alone a captain or the superstar player that he is. He wasn’t battling for the puck, he wasn’t present on the ice at all, he was not skating.
Game three of this series will be on Friday, April 26th. Puck Drop is set for 4:00 PM. That game will be in Washington.
The Florida Panthers played the Tampa Bay Lightning in game two of their first round series. The Panthers came into this game with a 1-0 series lead after winning 3-2 in game one. The Panthers scored the games opening goal seven minutes into the game. #9 Sam Bennett scored the goal with #19 Matthew Tkachuk and #23 Carter Verhaeghe getting the assists. #10 Vladimir Tarasenko scored with just under five minutes left in the period to give the Panthers a two goal lead. His goal was assisted by #9 Sam Bennett and #91 Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The Panthers had a 2-0 lead after the first period.
Less than a minute into the second period, the Lightning scored. #21 Brayden Point scored to bring the lead down to one goal. #10 Anthony Duclair and #77 Victor Hedman got the assists. With fourteen minutes left in the second period, #91 Steven Stamkos scored his second goal of the playoffs to tie the game. His goal was assisted by #77 Victor Hedman and #86 Nikita Kucherov. The score was tied up at 2-2 going into the third period.
Neither team scored in the third period. The score was still tied up at 2-2. We would get our first overtime game of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Three minutes into overtime, the Panthers scored. #23 Carter Verharghe scored his second goal of the playoffs to give the Panthers the win. His goal was assisted by #15 Anton Lundell. The final score was 3-2 Panthers. Same scoreline as the first game. The Florida Panthers now have a 2-0 series lead as the series shifts to Tampa Bay.
The Panthers have set themselves up in a good position going into game three. The Lightning fought back in this game and were able to take the game into overtime but they could not find an edge over the Panthers. Game three should be another close one. I think the Lightning will get a game three or game four win. I don’t see them going down without a fight. The big storyline coming out of this game was the huge save made by #72 Sergei Bobrovsky for the Panthers with five minutes left in the second period to keep the score tied. Out of position he turned around to rob an open net shot.
Game three of this series will be on Thursday, April 25th. Puck drop is set for 4:00 PM. The game will be in Tampa Bay.
The Winnipeg Jets played the Colorado Avalanche in game two of their first round series. The Jets had a 1-0 series lead coming into the game after a 7-6 win in game one. The Jets opened up the scoring with a goal from #19 David Gustafsson four minutes into the game. His goal was assisted by #5 Brenden Dillon and #4 Neal Pionk. The Jets held onto their lead going into the second period.
Two minutes into the second period, the Avalanche tied the game with a goal from #28 Miles Wood. His goal was assisted by #20 Ross Colton. Halfway through the second period the Jets regained the lead with a goal from #55 Mark Scheifele. It was assisted by #13 Gabriel Vilardi and #81 Kyle Connor. With five minutes to go in the second period, the Avalanche tied the game with a goal from #62 Artturi Lehkonen. #8 Cale Makar and #7 Devon Toews got the assists. With two minutes to go in the period, the Avalanche took the lead with a goal from #9 Zach Parise. #11 Andre Cogliano got the assist on that goal. With seven seconds left in the second period, the Avalanche scored again. #42 Josh Manson scored with #29 Nathan MacKinnon and #62 Artturi Lehkonen getting the assists. The score was 4-2 Avalanche after two periods.
With under a minute left in the game, #13 Valeri Nichushkin scored for the Avalanche. #8 Cale Makar and #96 Mikko Rantanen got the assists. The final score was 5-2 Avalanche. The series is now tied at 1-1 as it heads to Colorado.
This game started off with a slow start compared to game one. after the first period it did not look like it was going to be the offensive showcase game one was. The Avalanche started scoring and the Jets didn’t have an answer. Four unanswered goals to end the game with three of those goals coming in the last five minutes of the second period is not good for the Jets. Colorado continued what they started in game one. They kept their offense rolling. The Jets could not keep up.
Game three of this series will be on Friday, April 26th. Puck Drop is set for 7:00 PM. That game will be in Colorado.
The Vancouver Canucks took on the Nashville Predators for game two of their first round series. The Canucks had a 1-0 series lead after winning game one 4-2. Less than two minutes into the game, the Predators scored. #21 Anthony Beauvillier scored the goal with #9 Filip Forsberg getting the assist. The first period ended with a 1-0 Predators lead.
Seven minutes into the second period #9 Filip Forsberg scored to give the Predators a two goal lead. #14 Gustav Nyquist got the assist. Halfway through the second period, the Predators made it a three goal lead with a goal from #10 Colton Sissons. His goal was assisted by #21 Anthony Beauvillier and #16 Jason Zucker. With under five minutes to go in the second period, the Canucks finally scored. #91 Nikita Zadorov scored the goal. #82 Ian Cole and #34 Phillip Di Giuseppe got the assists. The score was 3-1 Predators going into the third period.
With under two minutes to go in the game #44 Kiefer Sherwood scored an unassisted goal to regain the three goal lead for the Predators. The final score was 4-1 Predators. The series is now tied at 1-1 as it heads to Nashville.
This was a strong response from the Predators after game one. This was a weak followup for the Canucks after game one. The series is now tied. The Predators took over in game two. With momentum on their side the Predators will now have home barn advantage. Do the Canucks have a response for game three?
Game three of this series will be on Friday, April 26th. Puck drop is set for 4:30 PM. The game will be in Nashville.
The Boston Bruins will take on the Toronto Maple Leafs in game three of their first round series. The series is tied after the Maple Leafs won game two. This game will be ini Toronto. Puck drop is set for 4:00 PM. How will the Bruins respond after losing a close game two? Will the Maple Leafs carry over momentum from their game two win?
The Dallas Stars take on the Vegas Golden Knights in game two of their first round series. The Golden Knights lead the series 1-0 after a 4-3 game one win. This game will be in Dallas. Puck drop will be at 6:30 PM. Will the Stars comeback after the game one loss? Will the Golden Knights continue to find a way to win?
The Edmonton Oilers are taking on the Los Angeles Kings in game two of their round one series. The Oilers lead the series 1-0 after a 7-4 game one win. This game will be in Edmonton. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:30 PM. Will we see as much offense in this game as in game one? Will the Oilers overpower the Kings again? What will the Kings response be after losing game one?
Zac Electrifly 
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