NHL Season Wrap Up
The Sharks and Kings competed right down to the wire for the crown in the Pacific and in the end it was the Sharks by a point. Ryan Miller's goaltending and Brent Burns roving play from the blueline led them to the first seed in the west. Their prize is a first round matchup with the Minnesota Wild, who barely eked into the playoffs, edging the Blackhawks out by two points (how about that, the Blackhawks missing the playoffs, Stan Bowman is really feeling the heat these days). The Ducks come into their series with LA on a three game losing streak and missing Cam Fowler, a key cog in their blueline, but they have a strong goaltending tandem, with Freddy Andersen likely taking the post-season crease but Gibson at the ready if he falters. The Canucks finish just a nose ahead of Arizona and so do not finish last in the league, but Trevor Linden is reportedly on the hotseat after a greatly disappointing season.
The Nashville Predators, led by a surprising season by Marek Mazanec, sit perched atop the Central and awaiting the Avalanche in the playoffs. Their offense is driven by Roman Josi from the back end and by Filip Forsberg up front. The Avs will be counting on continued physical play from captain Gabe Landeskog and veteran leadership from veteran Jarome Iginla to turn the tide. The Blues look to have the advantage over the Stars in their matchup on account of better goaltending and defense. Dallas added Kris Russell at the deadline from Vancouver and he has added some depth for them, contributing six points in twelve games while maintaining an even goal differential. They are also hoping to have Goligoski back soon. Oft-injured youngster Mikko Rantanen is hitting his stride, scoring fourteen goals in fifty one games this season, and he could be a wild card for scoring depth on a team that already has Nichushkin, Wheeler and Benn on the wings. St. Louis has a deep blueline but Alex Pietrangelo will still be sorely missed. They will count on veterans Jay Bouwmeester and Ian Cole to step up and play more minutes in his absence. If their defence falters they have Ben Bishop to bail them out, he led the league in shutouts with ten this year.
Boston cruised to a President's Trophy this year, leading the league in goals for and second in goals against. Their 61 wins and 129 points puts the NHL on notice that they are poised to defend their title. The Buffalo Sabres, who squeaked into the postseason on a tiebreaker over Florida, look to be steamrolled by them except for their X-factor, budding superstar and generational talent Connor McDavid. In his sophomore season McDavid finished second in NHL scoring with 93 points. If he continues to develop this may be the last season in a long time that doesn't end with him atop the league scoring race. The Lightning and Canadiens should be an interesting matchup. Tampa is considered by many to be the second best team in the league and perhaps if they weren't in Boston's division their record would look even rosier. They finished just behind the Bruins, second in goals for and third in goals against and also boast the league's best penalty kill and second best powerplay. Never count Montreal out as long as Carey Price patrols the crease though, they are fifth in the NHL in goals against and also have the fourth best powerplay. They will be dearly missing heart and soul winger Brendan Gallagher who is hurt for at least this series if not longer.
The Rangers will face Detroit in their first round series, not the most favourable of matchups. The Red Wings have experience and youth and Jimmy Howard is a playoff veteran between the pipes. Pavel Datsyuk is a two way force as always while the speedy and dynamic Dylan Larkin has established himself as an offensive force to be reckoned with at the tender age of twenty. Larkin led the league in goals and powerplay goals. The Rangers are fighting off controversy with "The King", Henrik Lundqvist, reportedly very disgruntled with being second fiddle to twenty two year old Mackenzie Skapski. Skapski has 43 wins and five shutouts to his credit but if he struggles at all with the added pressure expect Lundqvist to swoop and retake his crease. The Capitals-Penguins rivalry should make for a good first round series, although the Caps are heavy favourites at this point. The Penguins are not their formidable selves without the presence of star defenseman Kris Letang who has missed almost the whole season with a devastating hip injury. If by some miracle he makes it back it won't be until later in these playoffs. The Capitals lead their division in goal differential and with 25 year old "rookie" Artemi Panarin along with superstar Alex Ovechkin they look locked and loaded and ready to roll through whoever stands in their way. They may actually be the strongest team besides Boston and Tampa in the East and it'll be interesting to see if anyone other than the two powerhouses can stop them. The Devils finished last in the East and also had the fewest goals for of any team in the league, they will hope to score big in the draft lottery and reload for next year.
Team Stat Leaders:
GF/gm - Boston (3.45), Tampa Bay (3.38), San Jose (3.37), Nashville, Washington (3.12)
GA/gm - San Jose (2.15), Boston (2.17), Tampa Bay (2.20), Anaheim (2.21), Montreal (2.26)
PP - Washington (24.7%), Tampa Bay (22.2%), Nashville (21.1%), Montreal (20.5%), Los Angeles (20.2%)
PK - Tampa Bay (88.0%), San Jose (87.1%), Philadelphia (86.4%), Washington (86.1%), Nashville (85.2%)
Goalie Leaders (min 25gp):
GAA - Rask (BOS) 2.05, Price (MTL) 2.11, Mazanec (NSH), Vasilevskiy (TBL) 2.12, Lehner (OTT), Andersen (ANA) 2.13
Sv Pct - Lehner (OTT) .936, Andersen (ANA) .932, Crawford (PHI) .927, Dubnyk (CGY), Holtby (WSH), Bishop (STL) .926
GSAA - Lehner (OTT) 37.50, Andersen (ANA) 29.95, Dubnyk (CGY) 23.11, Holtby (WSH) 18.37, Forsberg (CBJ) 17.89
SO - Bishop (STL) 10, Price (MTL), Quick (LAK) 9, Bernier (TOR), Dubnyk (CGY), Kuemper (MIN), Luongo (FLA), Varlamov (COL) 8
Rookie Leaders:
Points - Panarin (WSH) 10-33-43, Marner (CAR) 23-18-41, D. Strome (CGY) 13-27-40, Matthews (FLA) 14-23-37, Point (NYR) 13-15-28
Other Stat Leaders:
Takeaways - C. Tanev (VAN) 62, Giordano (CGY) 61, Brodin (MIN), Keith (CHI) 58, SLavin (CAR), Stone (OTT) 57
Hits - Manning (PHI) 407, Borowiecki (SJS) 396, Landeskog (COL) 304, Wilson (WSH) 284, Deslauriers (BUF) 260
Blocked Shots - C. Tanev (VAN) 329, C. Murphy (ARI) 281, E. Karlsson (OTT) 280, Brodin (MIN) 260, Alzner (WSH) 257
PIM - Borowiecki (SJS) 267, Wilson (WSH) 223, Manning (PHI) 215, Deslauriers (BUF) 167, Latta (WSH) 147
FO% - Kopitar (LAK), Tavares (NYI) 60.0, J. Staal (CAR), R. O'Reilly (COL) 58.3, Datsyuk (DET) 57.5
+/- - Carle (TBL) +45, Bergeron (BOS), Eriksson (BOS) +44, Palat (TBL), Pavelski (SJS) +41
Key Injuries:
D Cam Fowler (ANA) OUT 2-3 months (back)
D Torey Krug (BOS) DTD (neck)
F David Pastrnak (BOS) OUT 1-2 months (hand)
D Jeff Petry (BUF) OUT 2-3 weeks (shoulder)
F Mikhail Grigorenko (BUF) OUT 2-3 weeks (shoulder)
D Ryan Suter (MIN) OUT 2-3 months (ankle)
F Anton Rodin (MTL) OUT 2-3 weeks (upper body)
F Brendan Gallagher (MTL) OUT 1-2 months (upper body)
D Ryan McDonagh (NYR) OUT 2-3 weeks (upper body)
F Patric Honqvist (PIT) OUT 3-4 months (calf)
D Kris Letang (PIT) OUT 1-2 months (hip)
D Mark Streit (SJS) OUT 1-2 months (knee)
D Alex Pietrangelo (STL) OUT 1-2 months (ankle)
D Anton Stralman (TBL) OUT 1-2 months (knee)