2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs Recap
Round 1:
San Jose sweeps Minnesota
The Sharks cruised to an easy round one win past the overmatched Wild. Ryan Miller only allowed four goals through four games and Hertl, Pavelski and Burns all had four points as the Sharks move on.
Kings handle Ducks in six games
After winning the first two at home LA proceeded to go to Anaheim and score only one goal in two losses to go back home with the series tied. Consecutive 4-1 victories moved them on to round two after a hard fought series. Drew Doughty went down with a wrist injury in game one and did not return in the series but is expected to be back for the second round matchup against San Jose. Kopitar and Toffoli both had six points to lead the Kings. Rakell had six points for the Ducks.
Colorado upsets Predators 4-2
The Avs stole two on the road to start the series and were able to clinch at home after a six game battle. Offensively they were led by Nathan MacKinnon (8 points in six games) and also, surprisingly, by veteran Jarome Iginla who after putting up 30 points in the regular season had four goals and seven points in six games in the first round series. Filip Forsberg did his best to carry his team to victory, with three goals and seven points in six games but it just wasn't enough. Pekka Rinne was given the crease for the series in a much criticized move and Mazanec never played a game.
St. Louis rolls over Dallas in five games
Ben Bishop dominated for St. Louis, dropping only one game in the series and posting a .936 save percentage and a GSAA of 17.32 in only five games. Alex Steen led them in scoring with five points in the series. Klingberg had three goals from the blueline for the Stars, tied with Benn for the team lead, but there was too little from the rest of the supporting cast and Cam Talbot was outmatched, allowing fourteen goals in five games.
Boston dominant in first round sweep over Buffalo
Connor McDavid scored the only three Sabres goals of the series as Rask led Boston to the sweep with a .970 save percentage. Marchand had three goals and six points to lead the Bruins in first round scoring.
Despite Price's efforts, Lightning take out Habs in clean sweep
Carey never allowed more than three goals in a game but he was outgunned by the Lightning and outgoaltended by Vasilevskiy, who surrendered only five all series. Nikita Kucherov showed up to play, scoring four goals and seven points in the four game series. Max Pacioretty, Montreal's leading scorer in the regular season, was held to one goal and was -3 in even strength goal differential as Tampa Bay's forward group was just deeper and better. Doubtless Brendan Gallagher was deeply missed.
Rangers move past Red Wings in only five games
Bruce Cassidy made the call to go with veteran Lundqvist in net to start the series and it paid off. Lundqvist only once allowed more than two goals in a game (the only game they lost, 5-1). There was plenty of offence from the blueline, with Tony DeAngelo leading them in scoring with six points and Kyle Quincey also chipping in four assists. Rookie Brayden Point scored two goals and added an assist to tie him for fourth in team scoring through one series. Detroit had five goals from Dylan Larkin but couldn't back that effort up with enough depth scoring or quality goaltending to compete.
In hard fought series Penguins knock off Capitals in upset that goes the distance
It took seven games. They were down 2-1 then they were up 3-2 then they were facing down a win or go home seventh game but at the end of the roller coaster Sidney Crosby's Penguins came up clutch and move past their rivals into round two. Malkin had two goals in game seven to lift his club to victory. Despite Ovechkin's three goals and ten total points and Tom Wilson's five goals in seven games the Capitals simply couldn't play enough defense and Holtby simply couldn't stop enough pucks to earn their way to the second round. A disappointing result for a team with aspirations of going much deeper. Crosby leads the playoffs in scoring after one round, with four goals and twelve points. David Perron is glad he chose Pittsburgh to ply his trade and he contributed five goals and nine points to the series himself. The Perron-Crosby-Oshie line was a plus seven in even strength goal differential in the series.
Round Two:
In battle of two western heavyweights Los Angeles defeats San Jose in six games
After LA taking game one 4-1 on the road, every game was decided by one goal in a very evenly matched series. Tyler Toffoli had four goals and eight points and Jonathan Quick kept them in every game. Miller was good in net for San Jose but they failed to muster enough offence despite Saad and Burns both having a great series.
Blues roll to five game series win over Colorado
St. Louis eked out a couple of one goal wins in their first two home games before dropping the first game in Colorado. After that the offensive floodgates opened for them and they won 4-3 and then 5-2 to seal the series. After being quiet all playoffs Tarasenko had a three assist night in game four to help lead the Blues to a 3-1 series lead. Colorado's offense dried up for them against Ben Bishop. Nathan MacKinnon was held to one point in five games and Iginla was pointless after dominating in round one.
Boston defeats Tampa in seven
The Bruins dropped the first two games at home, 1-0 and 4-1, and it looked like they were on the ropes. The President's Trophy winners came storming back though, taking both games in Tampa Bay, 2-1 and 5-4. Game 5 back in Boston was an 8-3 blowout by the Lightning but in Game 6 the Bruins evened the series up on th road with a 1-0 shutout victory. Going to Boston for Game 7, neither team had won a home game the entire series. Boston set out to change that, getting early goals from unlikely candidates Patrick Maroon and Zach Redmond. Kucherov and Stamkos would have things evened up for Tampa by the third period, but Brad Marchand put the Bruins up halfway through the third with his eighth of the playoffs. With six minutes to go and Krejci in the box for tripping Victor Hedman would tie it up with a howitzer on the powerplay. Overtime was a tightly contested affair and lasted almost the entire 20 minutes but with two minutes to play in the first overtime it was big Zdeno Chara playing the hero with his first goal of the playoffs in the most critical of times. Boston wins a thriller and goes on to the conference finals. Torey Krug returned from injury for this series and put up six assists in seven games to tie Brad Marchand for the series lead in scoring for the Bruins. Hedman had two goals and eight assists in the seven game series as he tried to will his team to victory. Vasilevkiy ended his playoffs with very respectable numbers, a 1.81 GAA, a .934 save percentage and two shutouts.
Pittsburgh wins four straight to knock out Rangers in five
After losing 3-1 in Game 1 the Penguins went on an absolute roll, outscoring the Rangers 22-7 in the next four games to take the series. Bruce Cassidy stuck with King Henrik through almost all four losses before throwing Skapski in for the final five minutes of Game 5 once Lundqvist allowed seven. Is this the end for the iconic Lundqvist in New York? Crosby had four goals and six assists in five games as he now leads the playoffs in scoring with 22 points through two rounds. David Perron scored six goals in five games. There had been some hope that if the Pens miraculously pushed through to the Conference Finals maybe Letang would be close to returning but it seems he hasn't made much progress and it sounds like he is still a month away. However Pittsburgh has surprised everyone with how successful their postseason has been after a very mediocre regular season and without their number one defenseman. They will face their most difficult test in the upcoming Conference Finals against the defending champion Bruins.
Round Three:
Blues continue their unexpected run with five game series win over Kings
Still missing injured number one defenseman Pietrangelo the Blues went up against the second best regular season team in the West and carried on their tradition of five game series wins. Not many have been taking the Blues that seriously but attention will have to be paid now as they are en route to the Stanley Cup Finals. Bishop had one off game where he allowed six goals in a loss but otherwise he allowed only six goals in the other four wins. Tarasenko had three goals and five points in the series. Ekman-Larsson had a goal and six assists in five games as he stepped up offensively in a big way.
Bruins roll on past Penguins in five
Torey Krug had two goals and seven points in the five game series and Brad Marchand continued to carry the Bruins offensively with five goals and two assists as their dominance continues and leads them to a second straight Finals appearance. The Bruins defense came to play and held playoff leading scorer Sidney Crosby to four points in the five games while David Perron was held goalless after scoring eleven in his first twelve postseason games.
Round Four:
St. Louis claims Stanley Cup in six games over defending champion Boston
Without veteran Ian Cole (suspension) for Game 1 the Blues lost 3-0 in Boston but they rallied in Game 2 to win 3-2. With two straight home wins 3-1 and 4-0 they went to Boston for Game 5 with a chance to take the Cup home but the President's Trophy winners were not going down without a fight and won a hard-fought 2-1 overtime victory at home with Patrice Bergeron netting the winner. Game 6 in St. Louis saw the Blues gain a 3-0 lead through two periods with goals from Tarasenko, Reaves and Backes. The Bruins pushed hard in the third to avoid elimination and got goals from Marchand and the recently returned from injury Pastrnak but ultimately they fell short and Bishop held for the Blues as he consistently has all playoffs. St. Louis skated away with the Cup on home ice, their first Cup win as a franchise. [Editor's note - two years earlier than in real life and in a timeline without Ryan O'Reilly to boot]. Regular season shutout king Ben Bishop carried his success into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, finishing with three shutouts, a .941 save percentage and a 1.89 goals against average with sixteen wins en route to the Stanley Cup. Captain David Backes was credited with the game winning goal in the Cup winning game. The Blues relied on team defense and stellar goaltending, their scoring leader after twenty one games was defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson with sixteen points. Tarasenko's six goals were the most on the team but the Blues had eleven players with three or more goals in their run. Veterans Bouwmeester and Cole were solid in increased blueline minutes, finishing with a team leading +12 and +11 respectively. Brad Marchand finished with a playoff leading fifteen goals but was limited to two goals and an assist in the critical series. Even missing Alex Pietrangelo on the blueline St. Louis comes through and their depth eventually overwhelmed the haughty Bruins.