JUNE 18 FINAL
What The Puck?!
Written by Chase Howard
Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
1st Branch
Vegas Golden Knights vs Montreal Canadiens
I'm getting a little worried again, could this really be the third round where Montreal has fooled me into thinking they're overmatched before coming out and showing otherwise. At this point, I'm really not sure what could keep them down. Montreal lost the first game of the series now they are up to two to one. Then their head coach is held out of game three due to covid protocols, yet they come out and play hard never giving up on their way to an OT win. While multiple elements of Montreal's game and multiple players have really been putting in the work and stepping up, there is no one and I mean absolutely no one who means more to this team than Carey Price. In-game three the Golden Knights registered all of the first 12 shots. The shots were 17-3 to conclude the first, and 30 to 8 at the end of the second. As long as Carey is in that net the price is always right. Josh Anderson, who not only scored the game-tying goal with regulation dwindling but also took a beautiful pass from Paul Byron to end the game in overtime, which has got to have this team feeling good. This game was so crazy that going into overtime Connor and I quickly made a side bet on who we thought would win the game, long story short I will be eating Ramen tonight and Connor will dine on Caviar.
Current Record 2-1 Canadiens
Original Prediction Knights in 7
2nd Branch
Tampa Bay Lightning vs NY Islanders
We knew this was a matchup of contrasting styles and there is no shortage of angles. There's the fact this is darn close to running back last year's semi-finals as it can get. There is the angle of perhaps the NHL’s premier offensive team vs premier defensive team. One team is full of well-established stars well the other has multiple guys trying to make name for themselves, points in this series will likely be hard to come by. Speaking of points, Brayden Point has many of them. He scored his playoffs leading 11th goal to win game three for the Lightning, extending his point streak to six games. This makes the Lightning 6-1 on the road so far this postseason and of course, most crucially gives him the advantage in the current series. This may actually be encouraging for the Islanders as so far they have lost game three at home in every series yet come out the winner in the first two. A key element for the Islanders to get back in the series is avoiding the Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman who blocked 21 shots in game three and run a lot deeper than just their headliner in Hedman. Given the record of the two series right now, it might be good to know that the teams that take a 2-1 lead are 57-18 (.760) winning a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff semi-final series.
Current Record 2-1 Lightning
Original Prediction - Lighting in 7
3rd Branch
Awards check-in
Rod Brind'amour head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes was named this year's Jack Adams recipient for coach of the year. Brind'Amour coached the Hurricanes (36-12-8) to the best points percentage (.714) in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history. The Hurricanes finished first in the Discover Central Division, their first division title since 2005-06. The Hurricanes were second in the NHL in power-play percentage (25.6 percent) behind only the Edmonton Oilers, as well as finishing third in penalty-killing percentage (85.2 percent), trailing the Vegas Golden Knights and Boston Bruins. Carolina was the only team to rank in the top three in each category. "This is a great honor to even be thought of in this category," Brind'Amour said. “I'm really proud to be accepting this on behalf of this organization." Congratulations to Mr. Brind’Amour on his deserved award, although I am a bit surprised he didn’t insert himself into the lineup and lace 'em up when the Canes had a spot open in the middle of the year. Rod the Bod was, and still is known as a fierce competitor and a fitness machine.
Let's check in on the remaining awards races.
Selke
Nominees - Aleksander Barkov (Panthers) Patrice Bergeron (Bruins), Mark Stone(Knights)
Prediction - as tough as it is to bet against Bergeron my money is on Barkov, the resident Lady Byng winner added another level to his game particularly in the neutral zone and got both stronger and smarter in the faceoff circle, I think it's time to acknowledge Barkov as one of the games premier two-way forces.
Lady Byng
Nominees -Auston Matthews (Leafs), Jaccob Slavin (Hurricanes), Jared Spurgeon (Wild)
This might be the easiest of the remaining awards to predict, as this is Matthew's award to lose. Matthews led the league in goals (41); averaging over 21 minutes of ice time in 52 games yet received only five minor penalties. If that doesn't scream Lady Byng I don't know what does.
Calder Memorial
Nominees - Kirill Kaprizov (Wild), Alex Nedeljkovic (nips), Jason Robertson (Stars).
Okay, this is the easiest one Kirill the thrill man all the way; this is the easiest Calder race in recent memory.
Hart
Nominees - Connor McDavid (Oilers), Austin Matthews (Leafs), Nathan Mackinnon, (Avalanche)
I mean as talented as all three of these guys are it has to be McDavid. Matthews and Mackinnon have better and more established teams around them. McDavid outside of Draisaitl still needs help and has a team who struggles to play defence yet he longed 100 points in a 56 game season. McDavid led the NHL with 105 points (33 goals, 72 assists), 21 ahead of Draisaitl, who was second with 84 points. McDavid led the NHL in assists, even-strength points (68; 24 goals, 44 assists), and power-play points (37; nine goals, 28 assists), and was second in goals and game-winning goals (11). McDavid scored at least one point in 45 of 56 games and had 33 multipoint games, including 18 with at least three points; what more can I say. In the interest of saving you time just come back here when you get down to the Lindsay.
Norris
Nominees - Cale Makar(Avalanche), Victor Hedman (Lightning), Adam Fox (Rangers)
This is probably the hardest award to pick. Hedman unsurprisingly has received his fifth nomination in as many years but hasn't won since 17-18 despite continuing the stellar performances he's known for. Makar led defensemen in points per game registering 44 points in 44 games and was the best defensive player for the President’s trophy-winning Avalanche. Fox News wild took the biggest leap forward of maybe any player this entire season finishing only one point behind Tyson Berry for the defensive scoring lead and led all Rangers in ice time; Maintaining a plus 19 rating despite the team's consistent struggles. If I had to pick at this very moment I would go for Fox as I think his drastic leap in play could sway the voters.
Lindsay
Nominees- Sidney Crosby (Penguins), Austin Matthews (Leafs), Connor McDavid
Seriously it has to be McDavid just see the Hart blurb
Vezina
Nominees- Marc-Andre Fleury (Knights), Andrei Vasilevskiy (Lighting), Philip Grubauer (Avalanche)
This was another close race, and despite the fact that Grubauer failed to lose on back-to-back nights all season and Vasilevskiy led the NHL in wins for a fourth straight year, my pick for the front-runner would be Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury finished third in wins and shutouts and along with backup Robin Lehner was awarded the Jennings award for few schools, Fleury who is third all-time in NHL wins is only now getting his first nomination for the Vezina and hopefully his first win.
Quick Hits
Finally a bit of good news for Leafs fans, as Jason Spezza resigned to a one-year, $750,000 contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday. That makes this the third straight season Spezza has signed for the NHL minimum to play for Toronto. The forward turned 38 on Sunday and would have been a UFA this summer. "I know where the team is at with the salary cap and everything, and I'll be honest, all I care about is playing on a good team and just trying to win, so if I could take less, I would," Spezza said. "Anything I can do to help the team acquire better players, that's kind of why I take League minimum and want to move forward. It's been a few years now, so I don't think it's a story anymore." If you recall Spezza was high on our top current players not to have won a cup list; I am hoping he gets off it.
The New York Rangers announced this week that they had finished their coaching, tabbing Gerard Gallant as the man to lead them behind the bench. Gerard replaces David Quinn who was fired after the Rangers finished fifth (27-23-6) in the eight-team MassMutual division, failing to qualify for the playoffs. Gallant last coached in the NHL for the Vegas Golden Knights, starting in their inaugural season in which he led them to the Stanley Cup finals till the end of last season compiling a 118-75-20 record. Gallant coached Canada to a first-place finish at the 2021 IIHF World Championship after it lost the first three games to Latvia, Germany, and the United States. Canada defeated Finland 3-2 on Nick Paul's goal at 6:26 of overtime in the championship game. The Arizona Coyotes and Seattle Kraken are now the only teams without Head Coaches. I am surprised that the Kraken allowed Gallant to slip through their fingers, however, seeing as he led an expansion franchise to a cup final berth within the last 5 years.
The NHLPA conducted a poll surveying almost 500 NHL players. The poll picked Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron as the most complete NHL players. Aleksander Barkov and Connor Mcdavid were third and fourth respectively. Crosby was runner-up to McDavid for a player you would want to win one game. Meanwhile, Auston Matthews beat out Alexander Ovechkin for the best goal scorer. Victor Hedman and Andrei Vasilevskiy were voted best defender and goaltender beating out runners-up Roman Josi and Marc Andre Fleury.
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