On the third night of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, we saw three teams even up the score as the Tampa Bay Lightning, Minnesota Wild and Edmonton Oilers all rebounded from lacklustre series openers to level the playing field and open what is now essentially a best-of-five series.
Four more teams will attempt to do the same Thursday night, with the spotlight in most markets firmly fixed on the blue paint.
Can Domingue steal the show again?
We say it every year, and it’s true every year: The Stanley Cup Playoffs are a marathon, not a sprint.
The same can be said for Game 1 of the first-round series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers, which required three overtimes to settle. The biggest story of the night was the goaltending – Igor Shesterkin’s historic 79-save performance, a controversial goalie interference call against the Rangers late in regulation, a sudden injury situation for Casey DeSmith in double overtime that thrust backup Louis Domingue into the action.
And now, as we look ahead to Game 2, goaltending figures to be front-and-centre once again, with early signs pointing to Pittsburgh’s unlikely series-opening hero getting his first career playoff start with an opportunity to go up 2-0 against the Rangers.
What was initially thought to be cramping for Penguins backup-turned-starter DeSmith is now reported to be a groin issue. With regular-season starter Tristan Jarry still out with a lower-body injury, Domingue will get his first career playoff start.
Stick tap to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan for asking the important questions and setting up this gem of a post-game response from Domingue Tuesday night that probably has half of Pittsburgh prepping their takeout orders ahead of Thursday’s contest.
(Spicy pork and broccoli solidarity, because it’s the Cup.)
Capitals without Wilson in Game 2
The Washington Capitals pulled off the series-opening upset against the Presidents’ Trophy winners Tuesday night, cracking the code and locking up the neutral zone to nullify Florida’s powerful offence.
In the third period, they took a page out the Panthers’ book by rallying for a comeback to steal the game 4-2.
Now, if they are to put a repeat performance, they’ll need to do so without help from Tom Wilson. Wilson left the first period of Tuesday’s Game 1 with an injury, which appeared to stem from a hit by Panthers defenceman MacKenzie Weegar. Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette didn’t share many details during his media appearance Wednesday but did indicate the forward would be receiving treatment for the issue. He was originally listed as a game-time decision ahead of Thursday’s Game 2 but didn’t participate in the morning skate, and a midday media appearance saw him officially ruled out.
Wilson opened the scoring Tuesday with a power-play goal about three minutes into the game, and we all know the immense impact he can have both on the score sheet and in the minds and under the skin of his opponents.
What’s next for Predators in net?
The Predators realized their worst nightmare Tuesday night when they were forced to face off against the Colorado Avalanche without their game-saving star netminder, Juuse Saros. Saros suffered a lower-body injury last month and was ruled out for at least the first two games of Round 1.
With David Rittich in net and struggling right from the start, Game 1 was over before it really began – Colorado put five pucks past him on 13 shots before Nashville made a goalie change just 15 minutes into the match. Third-stringer Connor Ingram fared much better, stopping 30 of 32 shots in the eventual 7-2 loss, but this matchup was never remotely close.
Ingram was called up from AHL Milwaukee when Saros went down, and he’ll be in the spotlight Thursday night as the expected starter for Game 2 – if he’s in, it’ll be his first career playoff start.
Meanwhile, Wednesday brought a welcome sight: Saros skating after practice. He wasn’t in his usual goalie gear but rather a tracksuit and ballcap as he took to the ice. No further updates have been announced about his status, but head coach John Hynes said he’s readying himself as best he can, should he be given the all-clear for Game 3 and beyond.
“He’s doing his rehab, he’s working, he’s getting better,” Hynes said. “He’s preparing himself mentally to make sure that when and if he’s ready, then he’s going to be ready to go.”
If Stars have a shot, they need to resurrect power play
Heading into Game 1 of the series between the Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars, we knew we’d be in for some rough stuff – and we know Matthew Tkachuk would be at the centre of it, early and often. What we didn’t anticipate is that the biggest beef of the night would involve two skilled defencemen.
At the end of the first period, as officials broke up a scuffle between Tkachuk and Michael Raffl, John Klingberg and Rasmus Andersson broke off into fisticuffs. Both were issued game misconducts due to it being a secondary fight, leaving each team with a five-defender rotation for most of the night.
Considering Klingberg’s words post-game … this grievance isn’t going away anytime soon:
“I’m not saying I’m a tough guy, but he’s acting tougher than he is,” Klingberg said after the Flames’ 1-0 win. “I feel like he’s the one guy there in the scrum who doesn’t have a guy. I’m standing there with (Blake) Coleman and he’s standing and shaking his gloves to me like, ‘You want to go against me.’ Probably the least fighter on our team on the ice there. I’m skating over to him and dropping my gloves and I want to go, but he’s just standing there two seconds and then all of a sudden he drops the gloves.
“He’s acting a little tougher than he is and we’re going to go after him.”
And even with both sides forced to play 40 minutes without one of their top-four D-men, the game’s 1-0 Calgary win yielded a very defensive affair. Jacob Markstrom’s second career post-season shutout was impressive, but overall the Flames netminder wasn’t tested much Tuesday night as the Stars managed to fire just 16 shots his way.
Overall, this one was a classic grind-it-out battle, with Calgary putting on a masterclass on how to shut down Dallas’s dynamic top line of Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski. The trio managed just two shots, with Pavelski held shotless. And in a game as rough as this one, with the promise of plenty more scuffles – and thus, penalties – to come, the difference could ultimately come down to special teams.
This was most glaring mismatch Tuesday night – Dallas went 0-for-5 with the man advantage Tuesday night after finishing the season with the league’s 11th-ranked power play (just behind Calgary).
“We put up a good fight,” Stars head coach Rick Bowness told reporters after the game. “Clearly the power play has got to get clicking. That’s a big issue for us. Getting more pucks on the net, big issue. But the compete was there, the work ethic, everything was good.”
Should the Stars rebound offensively, they’ll need to start there.
