The best thing is it ends, going with an old saying that applies to everyone, but often seems inspired by the harsh reality of the sport.
In the past two years, the Tampa Bay Lightning has won two Stanley Cups under very difficult pandemic conditions. And Saturday night, in front of a bewildered crowd in Toronto, the champions once again found a way to remove a rabbit from their hats to send the Maple Leafs on vacation in the first round.
The Lightning won their ninth consecutive playoff series, which was a huge victory in a league where athlete compensation is limited by the salary cap. And this is all the more fascinating in the context where such a ceiling has been frozen for three years due to economic losses incurred at the start of the pandemic.
Saturday night, the Maple Leafs also achieved a massive victory by losing for the ninth straight time in a playoff game where they had a chance to eliminate an opponent.
For the fifth consecutive year, the Leafs also lost the last game of a series. Such defeat at crucial moments has never happened in NHL history or in MLB and NBA.
In this sense, Maple Leafs invents another saying by being the undeniable proof that there is also a very good thing that never happens. Or that killer instinct is innate and just can’t be learned.
But hey, not justifying the enormous hopes their supporters have placed on them, the Maple Leafs clearly made us understand one thing: the champions are tired. Exhausted. They are like a team at the end of their brains.
In fact, if not for the heroism of their goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy in overtime in Game 6 on Thursday, the Lightning players are on vacation today. And both from a sporting and human perspective, it’s worth it.
In a previous column, I told you that three out of four members of the 2021 summer four will soon be excluded from the playoffs and this is a great first in the NHL.
And I hypothesized that the very short off-season didn’t leave enough time for players to recharge their batteries or to heal the wounds of the insane schedule for the 2020-21 season.
In the same column, physical trainer Stéphane Dubé is roughly described as miracle the fact that Lightning has carved out a spot in this year’s playoffs.
In a sense, the first elimination round proved Stéphane Dubé right. Facing the Leafs, Tampa Bay runs on gasoline fumes. It was thanks to their pride, their knowledge gained over the past few years, and two goals from Nick Paul (!) That the Lightning players were able to beat Toronto in the seventh game.
Brayden Point, the heart of the Lightning, is by far the most threatening forward on his team. But his level of play was not that in the last series. In addition, Point was seriously injured on Saturday against the Leafs.
Additionally, I have a lot of respect for Nick Paul, but it’s abnormal that this forward who got to the trade deadline has more chances to score against the Maple Leafs than Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Anthony Cirelli, Alex Killorn and Ondrej Palat. We’re talking about five of the team’s six highest paid forwards, most of whom spend a lot of time in power play.
At the beginning of this text, I mentioned Andrei Vasilevskiy’s extraordinary performances at an important moment of the series. But heading into Game 7, the big Russian goaltender averaged .885. Like many of his teammates, Vasilevskiy has not been able to offer the same level of play as in the last two playoff tournaments.
And there may be a good reason for that. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, Vasilevskiy has played 212 games (!), Including 55 in the playoffs. Like others, he doesn’t have the necessary time to recover between each season. The other two busiest goalies in the league this season, Jakob Markstrom and Connor Hellebuyck, have played 42 and 31 games less than him.
The Tampa Bay Lightning players survived.
Their first-round streak, it should be noted, is the equivalent of a Stanley Cup final. They face a battered, highly threatening team that has just enjoyed a 54-win season.
And now the same game will start again on Tuesday, this time against the Florida Panthers. Presidents ’Trophy winners, the Panthers have had a 58-win season and are hoping for the best offense in the past 27 years.
Before last week, the Panthers were in the same situation as the Maple Leafs. They haven’t won a series since 1996. However, that psychological barrier has been broken. And not against anyone. Capitals is strong and has an experienced opponent in the first round. And incredibly, the Panthers were able to remove the band from Ovechkin without scoring a goal in power play.
I give you: the Panthers ’defense isn’t the toughest and their goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky doesn’t walk on water.
But the Panthers are betting on five scorers of 30 or more goals and three scorers of 20 or more goals. They are healthy and they are hungry.
For all of these reasons, and since the best things are supposed to end, I predict the Panthers will win six games.
If Lightning survives this series, the players in this group will no longer be called survivors. They will fall into the category of miracles.
My predictions for the other series:
New York Rangers v. Carolina Hurricanes
The numbers say the two best defenses in the NHL are against each other. But as seen in the first round, Igor Shesterkin erases many of the mistakes of his Rangers teammates. Ang Blue Sandos allowed twice as many scoring chances than they got against the Penguins.
Even without their number one goaltender, the Hurricanes are superior.
carolina at 6.
Edmonton Oilers v. Calgary Flames
We are entitled to a good old battle of Alberta. This will be the sixth in history. In the first round, the Oilers needed seven games to beat the Los Angeles Kings, who relied on limited offense. The Flames, who are among the best balanced teams in the NHL, also need all of their spare modifications to beat the Dallas Stars.
The Flames defense, although beaten, deserves a champion team. And they have scored more goals than the Oilers this season.
Calgary at 6.
St. Louis Blues c. avalanche of Colorado
Many people are predicting a Finals appearance for the Avalanche, which will face a test against the Blues. Stanley Cup champions in 2019, the Blues have an offensive strike force and a defense comparable to the Avalanche.
The winning team of this series will have to bet on the most inspired goalkeeper at the moment. I chose Jordan Binnington over Darcy Kuemper.
Saint Louis at 7.
Source: Radio-Canada
