From the improbable to the electric, from balls on the table to sticks in the crotch, we paint a wild opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the numbers. #CasualStats
1 Boston Bruins goaltender to record a shutout in Detroit – Tuukka Rask in Game 3
9 age of Make-A-Wish goaltender Maddie Santosuosso, who joined Rask on the ice at Bruins practice last month. Her goalie gear was almost identical to that of Rask’s, except for the mask. He ordered one for her:
3 players in NHL history to score five playoff goals their first nine playoff games prior to turning 22 years old; Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher joined Busher Jackson and Steve Shutt in the club
3:01 time remaining in Game 1 when Avalanche coach Patrick Roy pulled Semyon Varlamov, a yank-him-early trend the coach would continue after Colorado’s Paul Statsny tied the game with six skaters
4 games it took a superstitious Ryan Miller to finally wear a new suit to the game, after the Blues’ goalie lost Game 3
6 previous times the Montreal Canadiens have been Canada’s lone representative in the playoffs
6 times the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup under that circumstance, most recently in 1973
1977-78 last season Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton all went without NHL playoff hockey
29 goals surrendered by Jonathan Quick during the Kings’ 2012 Cup run
16 goals surrendered to the Sharks by Quick during the Kings’ first three games Round 1
57 years since the Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins met in the playoffs, ending the second-longest drought of Original Six post-season matchups
5 of the other Original Six teams (i.e., all of them) the Bruins have faced in the past three post-seasons
11 of first 11 Western Conference games won by the home team, a streak snapped by the L.A. Kings’ Game 3 loss at Staples Center
6 times the winning team overcame a two-goal deficit in Round 1, just two fewer than the total for the entire 2013 post-season
7 of the last 9 playoff overtime games that finished 1-0 won by the home team, a trend continued by the Minnesota Wild in Game 3
18 years and 228 days, age of Nathan MacKinnon, the youngest Nordiques/Avalanche player to score a post-season goal:
19 times Montreal’s Daniel Briere has been involved in his team’s playoff-game-winning goal (13 goals, six assists)
30%+ turnover rate of playoff teams as five clubs – Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning — qualified after missing the post-season in 2012-13.
3 games for which Chicago’s Brent Seabrook was suspended for his illegal hit on Blues captain David Backes:
2 times Seabrook’s defence partner, Duncan Keith, taunted the concussed Bakes with the word “wakey” after the hit
2 middle fingers greeting Dan Carcillo after he scored a big goal against his former team:
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2 balls, metaphorical, Roy encouraged his Avalanche to put on the table before Game 5:
3 times Chicago coach Joel Quenneville has been fined during the last five post-seasons
$45,000 total money Coach Q has forfeited for his offences, the most recent being a crotch-grab in Game 1 against the Blues — “a bush-league move,” he admitted
3 times in his seven-year career Milan Lucic estimates he has speared an opponent in the nuts
$5,000 fine Lucic paid for his dirty deed on Detroit’s Danny DeKeyser:
5 players, total — Lucic, Ryan Garbutt, Corey Perry, Mike Richards, Brandon Dubinsky — seen sticking opponents in the jock area, the most disturbing trend since planking
5 of the 6 Pittsburgh-Columbus games that ended in a 4-3 score
6 suspensions, totaling 34 games, for Wild forward Matt Cooke
55 active NHLers who have played fewer games than Cooke has missed due to suspension
11 seasons since three Game 7s were waged in a single night
3,400 Canadian Tim Hortons outlets selling official Stanley Cup Playoffs-themed donuts
270 calories in one of these bad boys:
100:26 length of the longest game in St. Louis Blues history, ended by an Alex Steen goal 26 seconds in triple-overtime of Game 1 against Chicago
2 of the NHL’s 25 top-selling sweaters that belong to players who failed to make the playoffs (Alex Ovechkin and Phil Kessel):
21 years since the Canadiens swept a series, their 4-0 ousting of the Lightning marking the first time since eliminating Buffalo in a second-round series in 1993 en route to their last Stanley Cup.
10 years since living legend Teemu Selanne was a healthy scratch in the playoffs, as he was in Game 4
32 stitches, guesstimate, Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf needed to repair his chin after he face-blocked a Tyler Seguin slapshot
32 career CFL touchdowns by Chris Getzlaf, who tweeted a photo of his brother’s injury:
10 Blue Jackets fans who received free tickets from forward Cam Atkinson, who purchased them for $40 a pop
12 shorthanded goals scored in the opening round, the most shorthanded goals in a single round since 13 were scored in the first round of the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs
65 of the last 65 Stanley Cup celebrations compiled in this awesome YouTube montage by user “lostcanuck”:
2 goals scored by Dallas’s Tyler Seguin in his last 28 playoff games
1 goal and 1 assist, each, scored by Ducks’ Ryan Getzlaf and Red Wings’ Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Kronwall the game immediately following the births of their new children; the Detroit dads assisted on each other’s goal
4 teams, the Kings becoming the latest, in NHL history to rally from a 0-3 series deficit
2 of those teams Mike Richards played Game 7 for; he’s the only player to achieve the feat (teammate Jeff Carter was injured for Philly’s Game 7 in 2010)
132 playoff games played by Joe Thornton, who has never played in a Stanley Cup final
100 percent chance this gif will break your heart:
6-0 New York Rangers’ home record in Game 7s
103 height, in storeys, of the Empire State Building, which illuminated red, white and blue in honour of the Blueshirts’ Game 7 win over Philly:
0 ladies this fan will lure with his extremely creepy Rick Nash haircut:
(thanks to NHL, Elias Sports Bureau and Sportsnet’s crack research team for most of the numbers)