Last spring was a quiet one in The Great White North, for hockey fans anyway. All seven of Canada’s NHL teams missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 1969-70.
So Wednesday night was a big one as three of this year’s five Canadian qualifiers took to the ice. It was emotional, exciting and, well, devoid of wins. But it was a night to celebrate nonetheless.
Here’s a look at some highlights of the night, from the northern perspective.
THE RETURN OF ONE OF THE BEST RENDITIONS OF O CANADA
The Canadiens-Rangers game got off first, and it started with an excellent “O Canada”. Fans of the Canadiens, and Canadian hockey fans across the country, were over the moon to hear the legendary Ginette Reno belt out the playoff season national anthem. She became a fan favourite in 2014 and 2015 during the playoffs with her stirring rendition…
The Habs didn’t get a goal in the first period, but came out of the gate hot and outshot the Rangers 16-5 in the opening frame. In a series that’s expected to be all about all-star goalie vs. all-star goalie, Henrik Lundqvist was keeping his team in it early on.
THE SENS’ SHUTOUT SECOND PERIOD
The other early Canadian game involved the Ottawa Senators hosting the Boston Bruins and after a scoreless first period, the Senators dominated the second, and took a 1-0 lead on Bobby Ryan’s first goal in almost two months.
And the crowd…went…wild.
Putting the cherry on top that period was the fact the Sens held the Bruins without a shot for the entire second frame, the first time Ottawa had ever done that to an opponent in the playoffs — and the first time the Bruins had that done to them in the post-1967 expansion era.
And the team sent out a cheeky tweet…which they would later come to regret.
One play that stood out for potential supplemental discipline was when Eric Borowiecki connected knee-on-knee against Boston’s Colin Miller. The Bruins defenceman left the game briefly before returning, but he did not come back out for the start of the third period. There’s a small chance the NHL Department of Player Safety considers discipline for this one, but with it being the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the standard has shifted on these things.
If the Bruins have to go on without Miller, that would make three Boston defencemen (Torey Krug and Brandon Carlo are the others) who would be watching from the sidelines.
MANY HITS SET THE TONE FOR PHYSICAL HABS-RANGERS SERIES
During the regular season, the New York Rangers finished with the third-most hits in the league (2,126), while the Canadiens ranked 12th (1,864). Now, that stat may not be the most accurate team stat out there, as some home arenas are more generous than others in how they dole out hits, but if Game 1 was any indication, this will be a hard-hitting series throughout.
One instance in particular was perilously close to causing an injury to one of Montreal’s best players. In the second period, New York’s Mats Zuccarello stepped up on Brendan Gallagher, and as the Canadiens forward tried to get around him, Zuccarello stuck out the knee for a bad hit.
No penalty was called on the play and Gallagher was OK, so we shouldn’t expect any supplemental discipline. But, that wasn’t the only dirty play in the game.
Mild-mannered Habs defenceman Andrei Markov took an inadvertent high stick from Rick Nash and at the end of the game he got a little retribution.
In the last 30 seconds and with play stopped in New York’s end, Markov became entangled with Nash and Shea Weber. With the referee right on top of them, Markov not-so-subtly jabbed Nash in the nether-regions with his stick and earned a misconduct and was removed from the game.
This is the playoffs, though, so don’t expect any supplemental discipline for either play.
In the end, both Montreal and New York earned 31 shots, but the Rangers came away with a 2-0 win. It was Lundqvist’s 10th career post-season shutout, which set a new team record and passed Mike Richter.
SENATORS CAN’T KEEP MOMENTUM, LOSE GAME 1 IN THE THIRD PERIOD
Despite having all the momentum after the dominant second period, Ottawa let it get away from them in the third period, where they were outshot 11-6 and outscored 2-0.
Rubbing salt in the wound was the fact agitator extraordinaire Brad Marchand scored the game-winner, and stuck his tongue out at the Senators’ bench as he skated past in celebration.
The only good thing to come out of the third period for the Senators? This huge hit Mark Stone delivered on Dominic Moore, who tried (and failed) to bail out hard at the last second. If Stone, who was held to two shots and picked up four penalty minutes in Game 1, can wake up and really get going, he might be the X-Factor in this series.
EDMONTON RETURNS WITH A POWER ANTHEM OF ITS OWN
While Reno and the Habs started the night with an anthem we’d seen before, the Oilers returned to the playoffs with an O Canada by and for the fans.
This will give you goosebumps.
EDMONTON’S FIRST GOAL GOES TO…
Eleven years, seven coaches, four first overall picks and one home arena after their last Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance, who was going to score the first goal for the Oilers?
You probably had your money on Connor McDavid — the smart money would be on the guy who was involved in 40.5 per cent of his team’s regular season goals.
But the honour went to none other than…Oscar Klefbom, who was 12 years old the last time Edmonton scored in the post-season.
OILERS FANS PARTY WITH A HUGE 50/50 DRAW
We know Western Canada is big on 50/50s, so Edmonton’s return was bound to bring up a huge number.
And Oilers fans didn’t disappoint, as the number steadily rose all game and was already above $200,000 before the puck even dropped.
HOW DID MCDAVID DO?
The Great Oilers Hope, McDavid entered his first Stanley Cup Playoffs game with great fanfare. Toronto’s Auston Matthews will be the main attraction in his first post-season game on Thursday, but Wednesday was all about McDavid’s debut.
He played just north of 20 minutes in regulation (20:38), and picked up an assist on Milan Lucic’s first period goal, which made it 2-0 Edmonton. McDavid also picked up two shots on goal in regulation.
In overtime, he was shutout, as the Sharks spoiled the game for the home side.
In the end, the three Canadian teams went 0-3 on the night. But it’s not supposed to be easy.
Welcome back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
