If you’re a hockey fan, you know that from now until the second week of April is the most exciting part of the NHL season.
With fewer than 20 games remaining, teams step it up a notch, get scoring from their big players, get clutch goaltending from their netminders and do everything and anything they can to pick up the all-important two points. Or, at least, the good ones do. Simply put, it is regular-season hockey at its best.
With that in mind, here are eight big questions that loom as the league heads toward the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
8. Will new head coach Randy Carlyle get the Toronto Maple Leafs into the playoffs?
If you are a Leafs fan, then you know that your favourite hockey club has not made the postseason since prior to the lockout.
Since that time, you have seen players, coaches and management come and go, all the while failing to reach the big tournament at the end of the regular season. With that said, things got off to a promising start this year until things started to fall apart after the All-Star break.
Last week, Leafs general manager Brian Burke did something few thought he could do: fire head coach Ron Wilson. Everyone knows Burke and Wilson’s history together and that they were very close friends, but sometimes one must take a look at the big picture in order to get things back on track.
Burke believes he took a step to do that by firing Wilson on Friday and hiring former Anaheim Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. Together, Burke and Carlyle led the Ducks to their only Stanley Cup in franchise history, in 2007.
Can Carlyle get this hockey team to win a bunch games down the stretch to squeeze into the postseason?
7. Does the St. Louis Blues’ offence have what it takes to go deep?
It must be hard to think of why someone would be asking this question considering that the St. Louis Blues are near the top of both the Western Conference and NHL.
With that said, one has to wonder if the team has the scoring depth necessary to make a long playoff run this year. Currently, the highest-scoring player on the Blues roster has 46 points (16 goals and 30 assists), and that is T.J. Oshie.
After Oshie, the offensive production begins to dip. Team captain David Backes is right behind Oshie with 45 points (16 goals and 29 assists). After Backes, the highest-scoring forwards have 30 points; Jason Arnott (15 goals and 15 assists), Patrik Berglund (13 goals and 17 assists) and David Perron (12 goals and 18 assists) have all hit that mark this season.
Come the Stanley Cup playoffs, goal scoring is always at a premium. Which Blues’ forward(s) will step up and provide consistent scoring for the team?
It will be interesting to see if head coach Ken Hitchcock is able to get his offence going on before then.
6. Can Bruce Boudreau get the Anaheim Ducks into the postseason?
When Boudreau took over the head coaching position with the Ducks in early December, things were unbelievably bleak in Anaheim.
The team, one of the worst clubs in the NHL, was not getting production from its top players and was getting inconsistent goaltending from starting netminder Jonas Hiller. That said, it is amazing how fast things can change for a struggling hockey club.
Under Boudreau, the Ducks are 21-16-6 and a mere seven points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the ever-competitive Western Conference. Remember, folks, at one point this team was 20 points behind the eighth-place team in the conference.
Thanks to Boudreau, the team has opened up its offence. Players like Teemu Selanne (21-36-57), Corey Perry (31-21-52), Ryan Getzlaf (9-36-45) and Bobby Ryan (24-17-41) have improved their play, now scoring on a consistent basis.
The strong play of Hiller has also gotten the team back into playoff contention. Hiller is now 25-23-10 with a 2.59 goals against average, a .909 save percentage and three shutouts after struggling mightily in the first half of the season.
Even with all of these positives, the Ducks are still trying to catch up, so it will be interesting to see if their strong effort gets them into the playoffs or has them fall just short of clinching a spot.
5. Do the Flyers have the goaltending necessary for a strong playoff run?
This seems to be a question asked of the Philadelphia Flyers before every single postseason.
It is one that has to be asked given the inconsistent netminding they’ve had this season. Unfortunately, the main culprit has been starting goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, who was signed to a nine-year deal in the offseason.
In 45 games, Bryzgalov is 24-13-6 with a 2.72 GAA, a .901 save percentage and three shutouts. He has not been the same goaltender who starred for the Phoenix Coyotes the past several seasons. Instead, he’s allowed soft goals, early goals and has lost confidence in himself.
Yes, everyone remembers when Brian Boucher and Michael Leighton led the Flyers to the Stanley Cup final in 2010, which shows that even mediocre goaltending to get teams far in the postseason as long as the netminder makes the big save when needed to.
Will Bryzgalov be able to do that this postseason?
4. Is this 1994 all over again for the New York Rangers?
If you are a New York Rangers fan, 1994 will always be a year that you will look back on fondly.
It was in 1994 that the team won the Presidents’ Trophy as the league’s best team, the Prince of Wales Trophy and, of course, the Stanley Cup. The Cup win snapped a 54-year drought for the Blueshirts.
This season, it appears that the Rangers are writing a similar script. The team is first in the Atlantic Divison, first in the Eastern Conference and first in the entire NHL.
To make a long postseason run, New York will need balanced scoring, strong defence and excellent goaltending. Looking at that, it is easy to say that the Blueshirts have all of that right now.
The team has arguably the best goaltender in the league in Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist, who is making a strong case for both the Vezina and Hart trophies this season, has been stellar in having a 31-12-5 record, a 1.82 GAA, a .938 save percentage and eight shutouts.
If Lundqvist carries his regular-season play into the playoffs and the Rangers get the right amount of scoring and solid defensive play, there could be a parade down Broadway in June.
3. Will the Vancouver Canucks get the goaltending they need to win the Stanley Cup?
Last season ended painfully for the Vancouver Canucks as the team lost in the Stanley Cup final to the Boston Bruins in a hard-fought seven-game series.
With the way the Canucks are playing right now, it looks like they are doing everything they can to get a crack at hockey’s Holy Grail. The team is currently first in the Western Conference and has balanced out its lineup by adding some more physical players.
The Canucks have a high-scoring team, play a solid defensive system and are getting quality goaltending from both starting netminder Roberto Luongo and stellar backup Cory Schneider. The two netminders have combined for five shutouts this season and both have solid goals-against averages and save percentages of 92 or higher.
That said, it will be interesting to see how Luongo responds this postseason. His struggles against the Bruins in the Cup final last season are well-chronicled as he was absolutely shell-shocked in Games 3, 4 and 6 in Beantown.
Should the Canucks carry their regular-season momentum to the final again, which Luongo will the Canucks have between their pipes?
2. Will the Washington Capitals fail to make the postseason for the first time since 2006-07?
The Washington Capitals have had an up-and-down 2011-12 NHL campaign to say the least.
The team jumped to a 7-0 start, then struggled so much that general manager George McPhee fired coach Bruce Boudreau and replaced him with former Capitals great Dale Hunter, then got back on track, then struggled again.
The Capitals currently find themselves out of the playoff picture, which is surprising considering the amount of talent the team has. However, an inconsistent Alex Ovechkin, injured Nicklas Backstrom (concussion) and Mike Green, and wildly inconsistent goaltending have led the team to this point.
The club is battling for the Southeast Division lead with both the Florida Panthers and Winnipeg Jets. At the start of the season, no one could have guessed this. The Capitals’ disappointing play this season has been a nightmare for fans.
Do the Capitals have what it takes to turn things around in time to get into the playoffs, or will it be a long offseason for owner Ted Leonsis and his franchise?
1. Will Crosby play another shift this season?
Not only does the entire Pittsburgh Penguins organization want to know the answer, but the entire hockey world does as well.
There is no doubt that when Penguins team captain and superstar Sidney Crosby is healthy, he is arguably the best hockey player in the world. He can set people up, he can put the puck in the net, he can lead by example, and he makes the already-strong Penguins even better when he is in the lineup.
Crosby tried giving it a go back in December and up until he got hurt again, he was producing on a consistent basis. In eight games, Crosby recorded 12 points and looked like he never missed a beat.
Should the Penguins, one of the top teams in the NHL this season, get Crosby back in time for the playoffs, no team will want to face them.
