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What The Puck?!

Written by Chase Howard

1st Branch Honda

Colorado Avalanche vs. Vegas Golden Knights

The Avalanche is reminding everybody, especially the Golden Knights, of why they won the president's trophy and swept the blues with minimal effort in the first round this year. Game One of this series was a drubbing by the Avalanche, as Nathan Mackinnon and Gabriel Landeskog had two goals apiece, Cale Makar had 4 points; the final score was 7-1 Avalanche. This was all despite the Knights coming off a vigorous 7 game series against the Wild, while the Avalanche have been resting since May 23rd, after the game Landeskog said this time of year rest can be a weapon; see exhibit A. Game Two was different; the Knights came out aggressive, refusing to let the Avalanche control the game. They kept Mackinnon, Landeskog, Makar, and Mikko Rantanen to zero points through three periods, while outshooting the Avs 40-23. The final score was 3-2 Avs after overtime, yes you read that right (feel free to go back) the Avalanche despite the Knights being the better team for large stretches.

Basically, the Knights made the unpleasant discovery that even their best or near it might not be enough to win even when the Avs aren’t on their game. Despite their success in keeping the Avalanche stars contained, generating good shots, and winning battles along the boards, it simply didn't matter. Even when there was trouble Philip Grubauer (Vezina nominee) consistently bailed out his team and when there was an opportunity the Avalanche pounced on it. The game-winning play says it all Vegas took a bad penalty for slashing Rantanen in the offensive zone, then on the penalty kill focuses on keeping Mackinnon away from the puck and out of the lanes (good move as Mr. Mackinnon has 8 goals in the first five playoff games this year), alas it was all for naught as Makar found Mackinnon who made a sweet spin move to find Rantanen for the game-winner (link).

The Golden Knights could be forgiven for being a little scared, hell the whole NHL could; this Avs team is deep, difficult, and downright deadly. Game three featured another important development as Vegas did prove Friday night that even if you need a little magic here and there, the Avalanche are beatable and the Knights are capable of doing it, this series is far from over and plenty of high-quality hockey surely remains.

I think this is the series I’m most excited about would not surprised to see the winner in the finals (the Avalanche/Knights vs Leafs/Hurricanes/Lighting final prediction isn’t looking too bad six months later)

• Original Prediction Avalanche in 6

• Current Series Record 2-0 Avalanche

2nd Branch Discover

Carolina Hurricanes vs Tampa Bay Lightning

This series has been advertised as tight, possession-based, smart hockey, maybe slightly low on goals so far but that only speaks to the quality of play by these teams and their goalies; one has to be damn near perfect to get to the twine. The pressure is on the Hurricanes right now even after winning game three on the road as they are down 2-1 in the series. This might not seem too bad but against the Lightning it could be fatal as the lighting are 2-0 after losing the previous game so far and went 7-0 last year on their way to the chip, furthermore, 2-1 seems to be the Lightning’s number as that was the final score of the first and second game, both Lightning victories (the third was 3-2 Hurricanes).

Carolina has pressure coming from within as well as they are likely to be missing three forwards for game four- Nino Nedierrieter, Vincent Trocheck, and Warren Foegele. These gentlemen combined for 47 goals this regular season. Nino is already confirmed to be out but Trocheck and Foegele apparently have a chance and will at least try to take the ice for the warm-up and go from there. A key element for the Hurricanes they need to slow the Lightning scorching power play if they want to take control of this series, the Lighting is 3-for-8 on the power play in this series and 11-for-28 in nine playoff games (39.3 percent).

• Original Prediction Hurricanes in 7

• Current Series Record 2-1 Lighting

3rd Branch Scotia

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Montreal Canadiens

This series should leave these franchises feeling exactly the opposite. The Canadiens should feel validated that they made aggressive moves this year from their lineup to firing their coach to an active deadline (here's looking at you, Eric Staal). The Maple Leafs meanwhile should feel like they failed cause they did, it's that simple. Say what you want about Tavares or any other uncontrollable issue, there was a litany of problems that the Leafs could have addressed but did not. Even if they do not get past the Jets, the Canadiens can be happy with this season and their direction for the future. For the Leafs they will have a more interesting summer one full of questions. Is a Kerfoot or Hallander move in the works? Will this move the needle or is a bigger name on the block? Marner struggled aggressively in the playoffs (again) and as Tavares contract/leadership, Matthews goal-scoring prowess, and Nylander status as likely the best Maple Leaf player in the series does this mean Marner is the logical choice if they want a major move?

Winnipeg Jets vs. Montreal Canadiens

Somebody call Ripley's, the Canadians very quickly up 2-0 in their second-round series against the Jets, now having won five straight in the playoffs. Even more convincingly, the wins came after two very different games both of which Montreal controlled. In the first game of the series, Montreal ran out of the gates scoring three goals in the first period to grab a lead they would not lose on their way to a 5-3 win in a game dominated by offense. Game two flipped the script as nobody scored until 1:31 of the second period and it was the only goal needed to get the Canadiens the 1-0 win as Carey Price registered a 30 save shutout. The game was dominated by defense and smart hockey, for a while I was wondering if anybody was gonna score.

Did I mention the only goal was scored by Tyler Toffoli shorthanded? Well the Canadiens are up 2-0 and game three is Sunday in Montreal (game 4 will be Mtl as well) and they have to be happy with where they are now. Meanwhile, the Jets have a steep hill to climb and will be without star Scheifele until game six (if there is one) due to suspension.

• Original Prediction Jets in 7 (gulp)

• Current series record 2-0 Canadiens

4th Branch MassMutual

Boston Bruins vs NY Islanders

These guys are way too fun to watch. They do not fit the expectation of high-flying creative office juggernauts that one expects from the most entertaining teams. However, these two are providing top-notch hockey in a different and dirtier way. Now I don't mean dirty as in trying to hurt people, I mean hard fights along the boards, traffic on the net, and big open-ice hits often on the rush. You would not know by watching these games that these teams finished 3 and 4 in their division. Unsurprisingly this series only seems to get better and more intense as it goes on, look no further than the last two games going to overtime, game two 4-3 Isles, and game three 2-1 Bruins (look at Marchand overtime winner it's quite the shot:

This type of goal is why your coach always yells get pucks to the net. Going forward it is interesting to note that teams that win Game 3 are 366-156 (65.5 percent) winning a best-of-7 NHL playoff series after it is tied 1-1, including 4-2 last season. Game four is going to be huge as we could be basically starting a new best-of-three mini-series or we could have the Islanders fighting for their playoff lives.

• Official prediction Islanders in 7

• Current record 2-1 Bruins

Quick hits

• Evgeni Malkin has gone under the knife now that the Penguins are done for the year. The procedure was on his right knee, which had been bothering him throughout the year. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, who praised “Geno” Malkin for his toughness, remarked, “He fought really hard to get back in the lineup”. It is unknown if Malkin will be back for the start of next season the Penguins said they are hoping to have a time frame by September.

• The NHL draft lottery was done on Wednesday and the Buffalo Sabres came out on top securing the top overall pick in this year's draft. The newly minted Seattle KRAKEN were awarded the second overall pick followed by the Anaheim Ducks with the third pick. The Sabres had the best odds going into the lottery (16.6%) followed by Anaheim and then Seattle/New Jersey tied for third, New Jersey will pick fourth this year. This is Buffalo's fourth 1st overall pick; their last was in 2018 used on Rasmus Dahlin. The remaining picks (16-31) will be determined by the NHL playoffs if you noticed we are one short remember that the Arizona Coyotes must forfeit their 2021 first-rounder due to violating the NHL Combine Testing Policy during the 2019-20 season.

• Was remiss not to delve into this during the third branch as Mark Scheifele hit in game 1 and subsequent suspension will have a large impact on the series. Scheifele was suspended for charging in game one on Jake Evans and despite expressing displeasure and disagreement with the ruling Scheifele has decided not to appeal. Scheifele specifically mentioned he was not expecting the length of the suspension saying “I was pretty shocked”, Jets head coach Paul Maurice also was quick to mention his belief the punishment was “excessive”. Meanwhile, Canadiens Captain Shea Weber said, “We're done talking about the hit. They're missing a player, we're missing a player”. Honestly, I thought the hit was a bit much but not so sure the punishment fits the crime but perhaps it's about deterrence more than anything else. Here is the hit feel free to let me know what you think

• Either way, the fact the Scheifele and his family are apparently receiving online abuse is ridiculous, I love hockey as much if not more than the next guy but come on these guys are real people and if you’re harassing his family right now you need to cease and desist immediately. On a more positive note credit to Scheifele as he said “first and foremost, before we can talk about anything, the No. 1 thing is Jake Evans' health”, great to see a player have that reaction to an opposition player going down; that's how it always should be.