To the Stanley Cup | An eventful first day

We had to wait very late before finally knowing the duels of the first round of the NHL playoffs. The League has chosen not to make the supporters wait: it starts on Monday with four clashes. Overview.

Mathias Brunet
The Press

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

The poor Maple Leafs couldn’t afford to lose in the first round against the Canadiens last year. For a rare time in recent years, they didn’t have the power to open the playoffs. After a long and painful rebuild, they were knocked out in the first round by the Washington Capitals in 2017, they lost to the Boston Bruins the following two springs, and here they are against the Stanley Cup champions in the last two. years, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The champions may have lost an entire third line last summer (Gourde, Goodrow and Coleman), but they have enjoyed another 100-plus-point season, thanks in part to the revival of Steven Stamkos, who has just to know at 32 years his best offensive season in career (106 points).

The Lightning rose late in the season and won seven of their last nine games, making sure to send a clear message to the Panthers and Maple Leafs, which they crushed. The Lightning will want to become the first club since the Islanders 40 years ago to win three consecutive Stanley Cups.

Even though they finished ahead of the Lightning in the standings, the pressure will be on the Leafs who, after a long rebuild, have never made it past the second round in five playoff appearances.

The Lightning can boast of having the best goaltender in the National Hockey League, while the Leafs have arguably one of the weakest among clubs that have made the playoffs, Jack Campbell…

Players to follow

Toronto : All eyes will be on Mitch Marner, brilliant in season, but still without the slightest goal during the last two springs.

Tampa Bay : Incredible to think that Victor Hedman has gone under the radar this season despite an 85-point year. He remains the mainstay in Tampa.

Players under the radar

Toronto : At the center of the third line, Alexander Kerfoot has just had his best offensive season in his career, with 51 points. He will not be subject to the same surveillance as Matthews and Tavares.

Tampa : Corey Perry is at his best in high-tension situations. Despite his 36 years, he remains threatening, as evidenced by his 19 goals and 40 points!

Edmonton Oilers v. Los Angeles Kings

The Oilers are not facing a rebuilding club. The leaders of the Kings are called Kopitar, Danault, Brown, Arvidsson and Quick. Los Angeles probably has the best centers to counter McDavid, Draisaitl and company, but they regret the absence of their best defenseman, Drew Doughty, who had wrist surgery in April. The young Kings defensemen, Sean Durzi in the lead, made up for his absence, but they are rather green in the playoffs.

The Oilers, and especially McDavid, are under pressure. They have won only one round of playoffs, in 2017, since the arrival of the Ontario star. If McDavid is to go down in history, he’ll have to contribute to playoff victories. The pressure is clearly on the Oilers’ side, since the Kings, despite an abundance of veterans in important positions, are in principle in “reconstruction”.

Oilers GM Ken Holland didn’t see fit to acquire a goalie by the trade deadline. We therefore rely on good old Mike Smith, 40 years old. Smith is capable of stopping a puck, but the team’s therapists know his body by heart.

The Oilers’ top defenseman, Darnell Nurse, missed the last week of action with a lower-body injury, but it’s hoped he will be fit for the start of the series. Veteran Duncan Keith will bring his vast experience if he still has legs at this point in the season.

Players to follow

Edmonton : Connor McDavid has amassed 697 points in just 487 games this season, but 22 points in 21 playoff games. What more can be said ?

Los Angeles : Goalkeeper Jonathan Quick, 36, has relaunched his career after two difficult seasons. He will have to be at the top of his game.

Players under the radar

Edmonton: Evander Kane has 39 points, including 22 goals, since his controversial signing in Edmonton. He has appeared in just two career series. It’s up to him to shine.

Los Angeles : Matt Roy, 27, a modest seventh-round pick in 2015, is the most used player after Doughty. He will often have McDavid and Draisaitl in front of him…

Minnesota Wild v. St. Louis Blues

Expectations weren’t high for either team heading into the season, yet the Wild amassed 113 points and the Blues 109 to both finish among the top 10 in the overall NHL standings.

The Wild have a formidable first line in Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello and Ryan Hartman. The Blues’ attack is better spread and most of their players know tobacco as they won the Cup just a few years ago.

With the emergence of young Robert Thomas, 77 points in 72 games at just 22 years old, St. Louis has the luxury of putting Brayden Schenn on a third line. Without fanfare or trumpet, they have seven scorers of 24 or more goals: Tarasenko, Buchnevich, Kyrou, Barbashev, Schenn, Perron and Saad.

But the Blues’ new number one goalie, Ville Husso, is entering uncharted territory: he’s never played in the playoffs. Jordan Binnington can always take over when needed, but he’s been atrocious this winter.

The Wild does not have this problem. Cam Talbot had a great second half of the season and we acquired Marc-André Fleury without emptying his bank of hopes or choices. Very difficult, however, to predict the winner of this series, although we must give the advantage to the Wild in terms of defense and goaltenders.

Players to follow

Minnesota : Kirill Kaprizov is coming off a 108-point season. He will want to forget his production of three points in seven playoff games last year.

St. Louis : Vladimir Tarasenko reached the 80-point mark for the first time in his career at the age of 30, after having been mortgaged by shoulder injuries for the past two years.

Players under the radar

Minnesota : Rookie Matt Boldy, drafted a few spots before Cole Caufield in 2019, is a power forward who has amassed 39 points in 47 games since his arrival and the type of player made for the playoffs.

St. Louis : Acquired from the Canadiens in 2020 for second- and fourth-round picks, Montreal’s Marco Scandella plays in the first pair of defense with Colton Parayko and should face the big trio of the Wild.

Carolina Hurricanes v. Boston Bruins

The Hurricanes have a club on the rise, but they’ve been stopped twice by the Bruins in the playoffs, in 2019 and 2020, and last year by eventual champions Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Hurricanes finished third overall with 116 points, 9 ahead of their first-round rivals, but they’ll have to watch out for the Bruins. Boston, indeed, took off in the second half of the season. As of March 3, the Bruins are 19-8-1.

The Hurricanes will also have to manage without their number one goalkeeper, Frederik Andersen, injured. They will probably defer to Antti Raanta. On the other hand, the Bruins goaltenders are hardly more experienced in the playoffs, with the young Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark, in this post Tuukka Rask era.

Boston has taken off since coach Bruce Cassidy separated his top line and sent David Pastrnak to the second unit with Erik Haula and Taylor Hall, and replaced Pastrnak with Jake DeBrusk with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.

The Bruins’ defense was bolstered by the arrival of Hampus Lindholm, acquired for a first-round pick, two second-round picks and a prospect. He forms a whole first pair with Charlie McAvoy.

The Hurricanes have four balanced lines, the luxury of counting on young Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Martin Necas on the fourth unit, and an underestimated defense. They are first in terms of efficiency in shorthandedness. This is one of two first-round clashes between clubs in the top 10 in the general classification, the other opposes Minnesota to St. Louis.

Players to follow

Boston : Captain Patrice Bergeron remains the great leader of this formation, and it is still not known if it is about his last playoffs in this uniform.

carolina : Sebastian Aho was already strong when the Canadian made him a qualifying offer a few years ago, he is even better today. He is coming off a season of 37 goals and 81 points.

Players under the radar

Boston : The acquisition of Charlie Coyle from the Wild a few years ago is still worth its weight in gold. Coyle will be at the center of the third line with Craig Smith and Trent Frederic.

Carolina: Despite modest productivity in the season, Kotkaniemi is effective in the playoffs. He already has 9 goals in 29 career playoff games and he won’t have to face the Bruins’ top lines.