The Colorado Avalanche and Boston Bruins became the first two teams through to the second round on Sunday night, while the Winnipeg Jets pushed the Edmonton Oilers to the brink. On Monday, the Jets look to finish the sweep, the Tampa Bay Lightning have a chance to win the Battle of Florida, and Vegas is at home with an opportunity to knock off the Minnesota Wild.
There is a lot of hockey ahead, but before you know it the first eight teams will be eliminated from the playoffs. We’ve also gotten enough games in to shine a light on some of the best performers so far, the ones who will be starting top shape the Conn Smythe Trophy discussion that will bloom in the weeks ahead.
After each round we’ll rank the top contenders for the Conn Smythe, but with this year’s staggered start, our first look comes about mid-way through Round 1.
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Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
One of the most unstoppable players in the NHL, MacKinnon had his way with the Blues in Round 1, scoring a league-leading nine points in four games. The highlight? A three-goal, four-point Game 2 that held off a comeback attempt from the Blues which, ultimately, was St. Louis’ last real challenge in the series. Colorado won the next two games by a combined 10-3 score and swept the series. If the Avs meet expectations and go the distance, MacKinnon will loom large in the Conn Smythe debate. Not only can he be a one-man offensive machine (sharing a line with two other players who can carry the play in their own right), MacKinnon is a smart player at both ends — he leads the NHL with four even strength playoff goals and Colorado didn’t allow one against when he was on the ice.
Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning have at least one more game in the opening round for Kucherov to pad his early playoff MVP resume. After sitting out the entire regular season, Kucherov returned for Game 1 and hasn’t been held off the score sheet yet. In fact, he’s looked every bit the player who scored 128 points and won the Hart Trophy in 2019. Kucherov is a slick, shifty player who is equally as big a threat with his shots as with his passing. The best example of this came in the very first game of this series. Kucherov had already scored two goals off one-timer shots when he was presented with another, similar opportunity on the power play with the Lightning trailing by one. Everyone was expecting shot, especially goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, but at the last possible moment Kucherov instead one-touched a pass to Brayden Point, who evened it up.
Kucherov was injured in Game 4 and his status for Game 5 is up in the air, though it’s not considered serious.
Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights
The story around Fleury in last year’s playoffs was all about how he wasn’t playing, and the off-ice drama that followed. When Vegas was eliminated, it was thought Fleury’s time with the team may be over. But, due to a combination of factors including his age, cap hit ($7 million), and .905 season save percentage, not a single team chose to target him to help their goaltending. Now, Fleury is coming off a Vezina finalist-type season and the start to his playoffs have been even better.
In four games, Fleury hasn’t allowed three goals in a game yet and has one shutout so far. And while Vegas has done well to control the shots for the series, Fleury has still faced the third-most high danger shots at 5-on-5. When Vegas made its run to the Cup final in 2018, Fleury was having an historic runs through three rounds. Can he do something similar in 2021? His start is a good indication it’s possible, with a GAA below 1.00 and a league-best .966 save percentage.
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
Amazingly, as good as Fleury’s numbers are, he’s not been a runaway best goalie of the early-going. Hellebuyck has started with a .958 save percentage and that’s with Sunday’s Game 3 in which he allowed four goals against, facing 48 shots. Hellebuyck has faced one of the heavier workloads so far and has helped frustrate Edmonton’s top-heavy offence, keeping Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid off the score sheet in Games 1 and 2. With Winnipeg’s weakness its defence, they’ll go as far as Hellebuyck will take them — and it’s been a promising start.
David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
There are a few good early candidates in Boston, including Tuukka Rask, Taylor Hall, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. In the five-game series win over Washington, Pastrnak comes out as Boston’s leader in scoring with two goals and six points. The entire Perfection Line was as advertised, but Pastrnak still stood out: when he was on the ice at 5-on-5, Boston earned over 80 per cent of the expected goals, 75 per cent of the actual goals, and nearly 70 per cent of the shots.
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