We’re at the point in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs where teams can take complete control of a series. Two Canadian clubs will try to do that on Tuesday, while the reigning champions will look to close out their series.
Here are a few storylines we’re watching Tuesday.
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Game 47 p.m. ET, CBC | Canadiens lead series 2-1
The New York Rangers will desperately need to find an offensive solution for Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens. New York was 2:56 away from being shut out in Game 3 and that lone goal was the club’s only marker in their past 143 minutes.
There’s talk the Rangers, who managed just 21 shots on Sunday, could shake up their lineup in the hopes of generating a spark.
“I’m looking at all our options right now,” head coach Alain Vigneault told the New York Post. “There is definitely a lot of credit to be given with how well (the Canadiens) are playing, not only without the puck, but with the puck and the decisions they’re making. Some of our problems have come a lot on our puck management. We need to do a better job.”
The Canadiens did a great job of neutralizing the Rangers’ team speed in Game 3 and head coach Claude Julien wants his club to continue to apply pressure.
“We need to be ready to be at least as good as we were in the last game,” Julien told reporters. “That’s where our focus has to be and not so much about sitting on all the good things we’re talking about. We have to move on.”
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Game 4
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Game 47:30 p.m. ET, SN 360 | Penguins lead series 3-0
If the reigning Cup champs can beat the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, it will accomplish two goals: Get them through to the next round in addition to buying a few days of extra rest, which is always a positive at this time of year. The winner of the Penguins-Blue Jackets matchup will face the victor of Capitals-Maple Leafs, a series that doesn’t look like it’s going to end any time soon.
The Blue Jackets will play Tuesday’s do-or-die at home, where they were 28-12-1 during the regular season.
“We have a chance to go out and play for all that we need to,” said Columbus captain Nick Foligno. “I think that might bode well for us where we really have nothing to lose and I think it’s going to allow us to let our game go.
Columbus will be without rookie defenceman Zach Werenski, who’s out with a facial fracture suffered in Sunday’s game. However, winger Matt Calvert will return to the lineup after serving a one-game suspension for this nasty cross-check to Pittsburgh’s Tom Kuhnhackl.
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Game 4
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Game 410 p.m. ET, Sportsnet | Oilers lead series 2-1
Up 2-1, the Oilers find themselves in the exact same situation as the Canadiens — win Game 4 on the road and take a commanding lead in the series.
Edmonton winger Zack Kassian and goaltender Cam Talbot, who posted shutouts in Games 2 and 3, have pretty much lifted the team to this position in what’s been a low-scoring series thus far.
Edmonton is still waiting on Connor McDavid to join the party. After leading the NHL with 100 points in the regular season, he’s been relatively quiet, tallying just one goal and one assist in the series’ three games.
That’s both a good and bad indication for the San Jose Sharks, as detailed in Mark Spector’s recent story.
“If we’d have mapped out the first three games and said we’d control McDavid and they would take five or six penalties in two of the first three games, I’d have taken that and liked our chances,” said Sharks coach Pete DeBoer. “We didn’t take advantage of that — or we haven’t to date.”
Sharks centre Joe Thornton returned in Game 3 after missing the the final three contests of the regular season and first two of the playoffs. He played 16:27 and hopes to have shaken off the rust so that he can be better in Tuesday’s outing.
“I felt great. I feel healthy and ready to go for Game 4 now,” Thornton said. “We’ve still got another level to go to next game.”
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