This four ace was completely unexpected and it turned out to be very intriguing.
We are witnessing the most exciting and unpredictable playoff in many years. Games are handled differently, many goaltenders have fallen in battle, and it’s been a very long time since the stars experienced offensive during the spring tournament.
At the start of the season, almost no one would dare believe an Eastern final confrontation with the New York Rangers against the Tampa Bay Lightning or a Western final confrontation by Connor McDavid’s Oilers against Nathan MacKinnon’s Avalanche.
Everything is in place for two series that will showcase conflicting styles.
In the West, it’s a real fireworks preparing.
The Oilers rely on McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the NHL’s top two forwards. And they are both at the top of their game. The two-headed Oilers behemoth is backed by Zach Hyman, a productive power forward, and Evander Kane, who has been working at 50-goal scoring speed since joining the Oilers last winter.
To advance to the semi-finals, the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Nashville Predators and the Saint Louis Blues. Although the offenses of their last two opponents aren’t as fierce as the Oilers ’, Avalanche number one goaltender Darcy Kuemper can’t do better than a .904 save percentage.
How will he deal with the Oilers?
At the same time, the Alberta team is far from being surprising on defense. The Oilers have the highest goal-against average (3.08) of the four remaining teams. And their goaltender Mike Smith, even though he’s in his 40s and a respectable .924, often feels like a time bomb.
The Oilers ’penalty kill unit has done very well since the playoffs began. But the Oilers ’85.4 percent efficiency would be against the second highest powerplay unit in modern NHL history. The Colorado team maintained an impressive 34.5% victory rate in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Because the NHL has more than six teams, including those that made it through the first two rounds of the playoffs, only the 1981 New York Islanders were more successful than the Avalanche with 37.4% power play efficiency.
That said, the Avalanche’s disadvantage unit is trembling. And the Oilers aren’t too bad on massive offense, with more than 28% efficiency.
The Oilers and Avalanche are also the two teams that have scored the most 5-on-5 goals since the start of the playoffs.
There’s an old saying that defense wins championships. But from the start of this surreal spring, the Oilers, like their ancestors in the 1980s, have shown that it is possible to create havoc by filling in conflicting nets and setting records.
The offense will dictate the speed of this matchup, and the Oilers ’offensive quintet (McDavid, Draisaitl, Kane, Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) is higher than MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog and Nazem Kadri.
For all these reasons, the Oilers in six.
The series will be very different between the New York Rangers and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
First, let’s put it like this: the Rangers aren’t really among the semi-finals. Dealing with Penguins and Hurricanes, the Blue Sandos left 0-2 in the first two playoff rounds and won seven games at a time, even facing reserve or American League goaltenders.
Goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin was the factor that tipped the balance in favor of the Rangers at the same time. He faced nearly 50% higher quality scoring opportunities than the masked men of the Penguins and Hurricanes, and he was still able to make a .928 save percentage.
However, this Rangers advantage will be erased from the equation against the Lightning as Tampa Bay are betting on the best goaltender in the NHL in Andrei Vasilevskyi.
Even if the two teams face serious Stanley Cup opponents, Vasilevskyi has a .932 rating. And since Game 7 of the first-round series against the Leafs, he has been literally undefeated, as evidenced by his .978 rating.
The Lightning were just able to beat two of the most formidable attacks in the NHL. The Panthers had their best offensive season in 27 years and, to everyone’s surprise, they folded to four short games in the second round. So it’s very surprising if the Rangers caused a headache in Tampa Bay.
Another interesting detail: the two-time Stanley Cup champion has played just 11 games since the start of the playoffs and enjoyed eight big days off. The Rangers have played 14 games in 27 days and we wish them good luck.
On the other hand, and it should be considered, Lightning is dangerously tied the tongue this spring.
Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman were playing great hockey, but Brayden Point, the offensive heart of the team, was injured and would not start the series. Significant forwards such as Anthony Cirelli, Alex Killorn and Brandon Hagel have made minimal contributions.
It explains that, of the four teams still active, Lightning has scored the fewest goals in 5 against 5 (18) since the tournament began in the spring. And far beyond that. If officials decide to remove their whistle and limit the number of power plays, it could be a problem for them.
Ultimately, this series promises to be an epic duel of guardians.
Statistically, Shesterkin has proven to be the NHL’s most effective goaltender over the past two seasons. However, it is in the series that the legends are born. Also, the Rangers goalkeeper has never faced an opponent of the caliber of Vasilevskyi, who signed one of the best performances in history against the Panthers.
I’ll be with Vasilevskyi, who literally revived the Lightning in the second round.
The Lightning at five.
Source: Radio-Canada
