NHL Playoffs: Round One Takeaways

TheOcho.ca’s hockey department chimes in with their major takeaways from Round One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Round One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs has wrapped up. While there were no seven game series, there was plenty of hard fought battles and close games to be had.

TheOcho.ca’s hockey writers couldn’t decide which one of us would be stuck recapping the whole round, so we all got together and contributed our biggest takeaways on what happened in Round One.

Speed Kills.

Nashville got an early leg up on the Blackhawks and the speedy Predators skated their way to a shocking 4–0 series win. A few quiet echoes of hockey insiders had the Predators coming out of this series because of their speed, yet none had them winning it in four. This trend continued. Boston was the league’s top possession team heading into the playoffs, yet the Senators skated their way to an impressive win. Pittsburgh over Columbus, the Rangers over the Habs (who for whatever reason decided to get slower at the deadline) and of course the Oilers over the aged Sharks. Speed kills; speed and skill are a recipe for success. A recipe well worth watching as these Stanley Cup playoffs continue.

– Jacob Messih, TheOcho.ca hockey writer

Can’t Stop the Puck-stoppers.

Over the course of the first round, we saw some excellent goaltending on display. Marc-Andre Fleury backstopped the Penguins to an impressive five game win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Toronto Maple Leafs’ goaltender Frederik Anderson played his heart out, pushing the Presidents’ Trophy winner Washington Capitals to six games.

Thanks to those tremendous performances, the NHL gets another instalment of the legacy battle between Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin in Round Two. This series should be an absolute treat to watch.

– Sean Fevrier, TheOcho.ca multi-sport writer

I can’t beLeaf what I saw.

Round one has been nothing short of historic. With 18 games going to overtime, we were treated to some of the most thrilling, nail biting, and overall entertaining hockey in recent memory. Contributing five of those overtime games were the Toronto Maple Leafs and Washington Capitals. Yes, the president trophy Capitals were able to close out Toronto in six games, but it took all they had to knock off the young guns. In the end, Washington scored only two more goals than a team that finished dead last only a season earlier. What should we take away from round one? These Leafs are good, really good, and they will be for a long time. The Shanaplan is ahead of schedule and this team is poised to be competitive for a long, long time.

– Lino Dixon, TheOcho.ca Maple Leafs writer

Still-mighty Ducks

The Ducks completed a clean sweep over the Calgary Flames who had an excellent February and March before finishing 1–3 in April before the postseason began.

Ducks Captain Getzlaf is tied with Rakell and Theodore with 5 points and he scored a team-high 3 goals. Goaltending shouldn’t be the difference maker this series as there’s a .001 save percentage difference between Talbot and Gibson

– Quentin Young, TheOcho.ca hockey writer

The time for redemption.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs provide players who underachieved during the regular season an opportunity for redemption. No team displayed this more than the Ottawa Senators.

Bobby Ryan has a dreadful regular season, but he’s currently the toast of the town after scoring four goals (including two game winners) in the six game series against Boston. Derick Brassard failed to meet expectation in his first regular season with Ottawa, but he is now sitting at second overall in playoff scoring.

While those stories are great, some people have even tougher things to come back from.

Clarke MacArthur scored the series winning goal after returning from what amounted to two years lost to concussion issues. Craig Anderson turned in a tremendous performance after missing much of the year dealing with the cancer diagnosis of his wife, Nicholle. Those are the stories that any sports fan has to love.

– Riley Nicklaus Evans, TheOcho.ca production editor

Tune in to our latest Stanley Cup Playoff podcast tomorrow on The Ocho’s Facebook page.