Two Down, Two to Go

NHL CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

Series’ in Progress

Pittsburgh vs. Washington (WASH leads 3-2): Since 1998, the four major sports teams that play in our Nation’s Capital have gone 0-13 when vying for a bid to make it to the “final four” of their respective sports. The Washington Capitals have the worst record of the four but this season could be different. On Saturday night, Washington used their relentless offense to crawl out of a 3-2 deficit entering the third period and scored four unanswered goals to take a 3-2 series lead. Alex Ovechkin and company know they can’t take their foot off the gas when they match up in Pittsburgh Monday night but that’s a difficult task. Trust the Washington faithful and the team, they know it. The hardest game of the series to win is the fourth. Pittsburgh has been able to do eight times in the last two seasons and finished with rings on their fingers, so they know what it takes to win those games and they know what it takes to force a game seven. Tomorrow night’s game should be a doozy as Washington finally looks to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, albeit potentially without their top center Nicklas Backstrom who left Saturday’s tilt with an undisclosed upper body injury. Win or lose, Washington has two chances to move on, and you bet they want to end it Monday rather than coming back home for a Game Seven against Crosby and Malkin. I like how Washington has played this series and ultimately, I think they win it, but not Monday.

Winnipeg vs. Nashville(WPG leads 3-2): Winnipeg continued their epic Stanley Cup Playoff run on Saturday night by smoking the former Western Conference Champions and current President Trophy winning Nashville Predators, 6-2. Kyle Connor scored his first and second career playoff goals and Connor Hellebuyck finished with 38 saves on the night. This series has been the most entertaining one during the second round with all the back and forth scoring, the hits, highlight reel plays, and saves. Winnipeg is looking to earn their spot in the Western Conference Finals for the first time in their NHL Franchise history. They have the perfect opportunity to do so being at home in their raucous arena. As expected though, Nashville believes both teams are going to be heading back to Nashville for a game seven, despite the fact that Pekka Rinne, who’s an overrated netminder to begin with, got yanked for the third time in these playoffs on Saturday night. I have been a big fan of Winnipeg since the Playoffs started and Saturday night’s game proved my point of how deep of a team they are and how good their defense is to go along with their offense. I believe the Jets win at home Monday night and get some time to rest and recover for the Western Conference Finals.

SERIES’ THAT ARE OVER

Boston vs. Tampa Bay (Tampa won 4-1): The headlines for this series have focused a lot on two things: the officials and the inability to get secondary scoring for the Bruins. Barely any headlines have been about how good of a team this Lightning squad is.  There is a reason they were the best team in the Eastern Conference this season.  At the same time, however, the officials this series have sucked in so many ways it’s not even worth going over.   The lack of secondary scoring for the Bruins also is worth discussing. It feels like the only players that have scored for the Bruins are Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak.  Rick Nash has been nothing since he scored two in Game One, Brad Marchand has created a lot of plays but hasn’t finished much, Jake DeBrusk has been quiet, David Krejci has been extremely quiet, and the same goes for the rest of the forwards. Defensively they haven’t been good either. It has been a lot of sitting around watching Tampa skate circles around them, turning the puck over, and not blocking enough shots. Tuukka Rask, he has been fine. Overall, this matchup is the only series that didn’t enter Game Five where both teams had two wins, which allowed Tampa to have the ability to close out the series Sunday night. The better team won the series. Tampa is moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals and should meet Washington there for an epic offensive bout.

San Jose vs. Vegas(Knights won 4-2): The NHL’s biggest story of the year continues to write chapters and another one is about to start. The Vegas Golden Knights are headed to the Western Conference Finals. This series was nothing short of spectacular between the speed of both teams, the offensive willpower from guys like William Karlsson and Logan Couture, and the huge performances from guys like Alex Tuch and Marcus Sorensen. Vegas started the series with a pounding of the Sharks but since then, San Jose was able to bring Marc-Andre Fleury back to earth and made this best of seven a series. While San Jose didn’t lose back- to-back games during the Playoffs, Sunday night they did all due to Marc Andre-Fleury posting his fifth shut-out of the playoffs. What a remarkable run for the “Golden Misfits!” They are a blast to watch and regardless of who they play in the Conference Finals, they will no doubt give them a run for their money. As the season ends for the Sharks, they have plenty of good to take away from this season. They saw plenty of their young players grow into professionals, Brent Burns is still a beast of a player, they have a solid goaltender in Martin Jones, and Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture have the potential to be superstars in this league. What a run Vegas is on though, let’s see if they can make it to the finish line.

Written by Nick Gendreau