It was a hairy night in the NHL, complete with lost teeth, a way over-the-top reaction in a scrum and other craziness, but there were also some tremendous performances from some of the league’s top — and emerging — stars.
There was a return from a suspension that had a significant impact, a key offensive performance that was overturned by a review, and another emerging star who continues to bounce back from a slow start to the season.
Here is Friday’s look at how some of the league’s star performed in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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TYLER JOHNSON: 2G, 2A
Last season, led by Johnson, Tampa Bay’s ‘Triplets Line’ took the league by storm in both the regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs. Johnson, a 5-foot-8 late-bloomer, had 29 goals and 72 points in the regular season, and then led the Lightning with 23 playoff points as they went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
So the line would be even more of a threat this season, right? Well, it didn’t start off that way. Johnson scored just 16 points in his first 36 games and the Triplets were split up. In the end, Johnson finished with 38 points, so he had a bit of a turnaround, but still wasn’t producing as well as he was a season ago.
But the Triplets, again led by Johnson, are proving themselves as a dangerous playoff line once more. Through just two games against the Red Wings, Johnson now has six points, thanks largely to a huge Game 2, which Tampa Bay won 5-2.
Especially without Steven Stamkos, the Lightning need Johnson and the Triplets to come up in a big way if they are to match, or exceed, what they accomplished in 2015. Jonathan Drouin has been a menace and earned his first playoff point in Game 2, but make no mistake, Johnson’s line will be the one to lead this team.
In fact, he now has more playoff goals as a member of the Lightning than does Steven Stamkos. Johnson would have been a favourite to win the Conn Smythe last year had the Lightning won the Stanley Cup, and he’s after it again.
DUNCAN KEITH: 1G, 1A, 30:59 TOI
Last we saw Chicago’s top defenceman, he was taking a tremendously stupid penalty on Charlie Coyle, leading to a six-game suspension that cut his regular season short, and forced him to start the playoffs late.
The Hawks lost Game 1 without Keith by a 1-0 count, but he played a key role in Game 2’s 3-2 win. While the end of the game was full of controversy surrounding a couple of goal reviews, Keith scored a tying marker and added an assist on the (flukey) game-winner by Artemi Panarin. He also logged a monster amount of minutes. Keith had a huge first game back in the lineup, but you know he’s just getting started.
The only question is, will all his contributions be positive, or will he lose his cool at a costly moment?
VLADIMIR TARASENKO: 1G, almost 2G
As the St. Louis Blues have fallen short of playoff expectations in the past, the most pressing missing ingredient was a game-breaking goal scorer. They now have that in Tarasenko, one of the most electrifying young scorers in hockey. And in Game 2, Tarasenko did score a couple big goals…well, one big goal anyway.
He opened the scoring in the second period and appeared to score a key go-ahead goal in the dying minutes of regulation. Turns out, that one was called back due to an offside by the slimmest of margins.
This series is now tied 1-1 as it heads back to St. Louis, where the Blues will need Tarasenko to keep being that game-breaker they’ve been lacking in years past.
DYLAN LARKIN: 1G, 0A
Maybe Larkin isn’t really a “star” yet, but he’s quickly on the rise. The Red Wings may still be Henrik Zetterberg’s and Pavel Datsyuk’s team for now, but before long it will be Larkin’s.
The Calder Trophy candidate really burst into the mainstream at All-Star Weekend when he broke Mike Gartner’s fastest skater record, but he’s been a key contributor all year for the Red Wings. With 45 points in 80 regular season games, he’s been one of the best Red Wings rookies since Keith Primeau in the early-90s.
But Larkin isn’t being mentioned here just because of this goal. He showed a feistiness to his game that you don’t immediately correlate with him. Larkin is mostly considered a productive speedster, but he answered Jonathan Drouin’s Game 1 edge by getting in his grill early and often in Game 2.
Larkin picked up 14 penalty minutes, almost all of which came in the crazy melee that broke out at the end of the game. Bring on Game 3.
JAMES NEAL: 1G, 9SOG
The funny thing about Nashville is that, historically, they’ve been an underdog playoff team that didn’t have the scoring, but had the tough defence and excellent goaltending. But this year, they seem to have the scoring (13th in the league), but with Pekka Rinne holding a .908 save percentage, you had to wonder if they’d be able to stop the red-hot Ducks attack.
How about Neal in Game 1? He finished second to Filip Forsberg among Predators forwards in the regular season for goals and points, but he’s the more experienced player, which is sometimes a factor in the playoffs. And in the series opener Friday night, which Nashville won 3-2, Neal was a key driver of the offence. The Predators outshot the Ducks 33-28 and Neal got nine of those shots on his own! Just 35 seconds after puck drop, he put the Predators up 1-0.
Because of the concern around Rinne (I mean, how good is he really?) the Predators will need their offence to shine if they are to pull off this upset. Sure, Forsberg is at the centre of that, but Neal got the lion’s share of chances in Game 1. If he keeps getting as many solid looks as he did, odds are he’s going to score a heck of a lot more. Remember, he scored four times in six games last post-season.
