5 takeaways from night one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs
What a start to the NHL playoffs. With night one in the books, here are five thoughts.
The Senators need to flush the P.K. Subban incident before it flushes their whole team
A few bullet points on the slash, before I get to my big picture thoughts:
It’s possible (if not likely) the Habs tried to target Mark Stone to make the game a little more difficult for him.
The drive-by whack-slash by Subban is one you can get away with fairly regularly - this one just happened to land (intentionally or not) between the rookie’s elbow pad and glove cuff, costing him some pain and Subban the game.
Stone coming back to the game doesn’t mean he wasn’t injured. I’ve received that slash, played on with the adrenaline, then had my tendon sheath become inflamed the next day only to need cortisone shots. “Playing” in the playoffs doesn’t mean “not injured.”
Maybe the call had to be made, as ex-ref Kerry Fraser was tweeting last night, but five and a game (where the Sens scored two powerplay goals), was more than ample punishment for that slash. More than. So, justice was served.
On to the aftermath.
The Ottawa Senators being upset after their loss to the Montreal Canadiens is 100 percent understandable. They were facing a Habs team without Max Pacioretty, and for half the game, without Norris Trophy-winning defenseman P.K. Subban. They scored the game’s first goal. They scored three times on the league’s best goalie. That’s a game you should win - or, more importantly, one you probably can’t afford to lose.
So when it was over, and they found themselves down 1-0 in the series, I think the Subban thing became an outlet for their frustration - a sentiment well-represented by head coach Dave Cameron. They know they missed one.
The point now though, is something I wrote about last week involving emotions and the playoffs. That game is over now. It’s going to do the Sens no good to beg for a suspension for Subban (it wasn’t even close to a suspendable play). It’s not going to do them any good to run out of position in Game 2 chasing the guy around the rink for redemption.
They need to flush it, and focus on hockey. It’s over. Time to turn the page and refocus, and not let one play from Game 1 consume their mental energy.
The Capitals’ effort in Game 1 was abysmal
The New York Islanders went into Washington for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, only it barely felt like a playoff game. As an Isles fan, at first I figured it was because, y’know, the Isles were playing in it, and that’s not a sight I’m used to seeing. But in reality, the Caps just failed to hold up their end of the bargain, playing with all the effervescence of a three-week-old ginger ale left in the sun without a lid.
The Isles took the crowd out of it early by scoring first (good job, good effort there, Braden Holtby), and save for a moment of excitement after the Capitals scored and a half-hearted attempt at a late rally, the game just sort of meandered its way to the final buzzer. If you’re the Islanders, that’s a road-game home run.
In a year that some think the Caps have a shot at the big prize, that was a disappointing start.
That couldn’t have gone worse for the Predators
This year the Nashville Predators finished higher in the standings than the Blackhawks after a great season, but you still know they - like most fans - aren’t fully convinced they’re a better team than Chicago. The Hawks are in the midst of such a long run of success that it’s hard to see them falling to a team who hasn’t had much in the postseason … ever.
But the Predators are a damn good hockey team, and coming out at home and trouncing Chicago would’ve been monumental. Not just to be up 1-0, but to plant the seed in both dressing rooms that, hey: wins in the past don’t mean anything when we’re on the same ice now. This iteration of the Hawks has to beat this year’s Preds, and they simply might not be the better squad.
The Preds go up 3-0, their home barn is absolutely rocking … and the damn resilient postseason warriors in red and black still beat them. There has to be a sinking feeling on the Preds side, like, “If that wasn’t good enough ... I dunno man.”
The Preds aren’t gonna roll over, but for their headspace, Game 1 was less than ideal.
Putting out the Flames is going to be a chore
I remember playing in a high school ball hockey tournament in the 12th grade - I was the captain of the eventual midget provincial champions, and our team played together in this tournament. It should’ve been a walk based on talent alone. But damned if the other side wasn’t a team of the hardest-working humans on earth that made life hell for us. Though less talented, they believed - foolishly, we thought - they could beat us, and acted accordingly. I believe we eventually won by a goal once we put the throttle down and drained ourselves of every ounce of effort, but it was frustrating to have to try that hard. We thought we shouldn’t have had to.
As I’m sure you know by now, I see the Calgary Flames as that team on the other side that should be worse, that should roll over, only they seem to be the only ones too stubborn to acknowledge it. And for fans, how fun is that to root for?
It’s Ferland! It’s Moore! It’s Jooris! … It’s the Flames!
(P.S. one of those names isn’t actually a Calgary Flame - did you even notice?)
Hammond’s amazing run could hamper the Sens
You have to dance with the one who brought you, absolutely. The Senators were right to start Andrew Hammond, no debate. But look - the guy wasn’t great last night. Yes, he stopped 35 of 39 shots, but that number could’ve been a lot different. Pucks got through him and somehow bounced over the net, pucks clipped him and hit the post … he wasn’t solid.
So … what now? I understand the mythology of “The Hamburglar” that's been established, but we don’t actually think a 27-year-old first-year NHL player is going to be an above average ‘tender in the big picture, do we? I certainly don’t, but you know who I think is? Craig Anderson.
So now you’re in a situation where you rode Hammond’s hot streak like a run of great cards in blackjack. You know it can’t continue forever, and you can’t sit there and give all your winnings back, so when do you walk away from the table?
It’s a tough call for Cameron. I say give Hammond one more start - after all, he deserves some leeway after all he’s done, and starting in playoffs in the Bell Centre isn’t exactly easy - and if he’s no good, you flip the keys to the bus back to Anderson.