• Leafs pass Bruins for third place in Atlantic
• Islanders keep up in playoff race … barely
• A five-minute power play can last more than five minutes
That was one heck of a playoff game last night.
Wait … it wasn’t?
The Toronto Maple Leafs came out of Wednesday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets with a clutch 5-2 victory that saw them jump over the Boston Bruins and take over third place in the Atlantic Division.
Right from puck drop the game reeked of playoff hockey. Early on, Leafs forward Leo Komarov and Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno fell and slammed into the end boards while battling for the puck. Foligno left the game on the play, returning later in the period while Komarov fired in the game’s first goal from a slick pass by Nazem Kadri.
Not too long later it was Connor Carrick who laid a huge hit on Josh Anderson, which resulted in a little brouhaha, a Leafs power play and Auston Matthews‘ 33rd goal of the season.
In the second period it was the same story but with reversed roles. The Blue Jackets started throwing their bodies around with Boone Jenner and Zach Werenski laying out huge hits to set up two goals to tie the game at the midway point. Even after William Nylander put the Leafs up by one heading to the third, it was anyone’s game (partly due to a very strange powerplay; see below) until Kadri scored a hard-fought goal with under five to go.
That goal gave Kadri his first 30-goal season of his career and helped the Leafs achieve a milestone that they have been unable to reach in over 35 years, something that this team seems to do on a nightly basis.
The most exciting part of it all?
Wednesday’s game could be a preview of a potential playoff matchup come April. Both teams are currently in third place in their respective divisions, but if the Leafs drop the one point lead they have on the Bruins and the Blue Jackets make up the two points they are behind the Washington Capitals, these two teams will be slotted to face each other in the first round.
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Islanders keep up in playoff race … barely
At the close of the Toronto game, the New York Islanders were sitting four points out of the final wild-card spot behind the Bruins and were losing 2-1 to the New York Rangers. Worst of all, they were playing like a team that has been out of the hunt since December (which some even argued they were before Doug Weight took over as head coach).
The lazy performance of the Islanders started with the leadership and trickled down. Captain John Tavares had just two shots on net, a giveaway and three minor penalties.
Luckily for the Islanders, they were able to take advantage ofa Rangers penalty kill that was just 64% over their last eight games. Five minutes into the third, Joshua Ho-Sang tried to centre a pass on the power play and the puck bounced off not one but two teammates’ skates tying the game at two.
Just seven minutes later the Islanders capitalized on yet another power play and scored the eventual game winner. Tavares earned some redemption with an assist on the final goal.
The Islanders’ playoff hopes could very well be determined by Saturday night. The Bruins (up by two points) play the Tampa Bay Lightning (down by three points) on Thursday night during which the Islanders will try to best the Pittsburgh Penguins, and on Saturday New York will host Boston in a virtual must-win game for both teams.
A five-minute power play can last more than five minutes
Sometimes you think you’ve seen everything. Other times you’re proven you haven’t.
During the third period of en extremely competitive game, Roman Polak was issued a match-penalty and the Blue Jackets were given a five-minute power play after he did this:
As Polak headed to the showers the Leafs went to work killing off their only penalty of the game. On the back of a perfect four minutes of short-handed time by defenceman Matt Hunwick, the Leafs watched as the final seconds ticked off their penalty.
But as the clock reached zero, no one came out of the box. This was for a very simple reason: no one was in the penalty box.
The Leafs never put a player in the box to serve Polak’s penalty and therefore were not allowed to put out a fifth man until there was a whistle. Naturally, the Blue Jackets were able to keep the puck in play so that the Leafs had to kill off a (unofficial) 6:54 long power play. Watch the madness below.
Turns out, there’s a rule that few knew about and rarely comes into play.
Basically a team can wait to decide who goes to the box based on how the penalty kill plays out. Strategically you can save an offensive-minded player, who would typically serve those types of penalties, for the possibility of a four-on four if the team can manage to draw a penalty. If they can’t, then there will most likely be a number of whistles to send him to the box to serve the remainder of the penalty.
But that wasn’t the case in this situation.
It was purely a mistake by the coaching staff that head coach Mike Babcock took full responsibility for after the game.
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