Leafs Melting, Hellebuyck Leaking, and the NHL Playoffs Are a Beautiful Mess

The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are showing their pedigree.

The Toronto Maple Leafs may very well be headed to “what if?” territory yet again.

As the conference semifinals head into Monday’s action, the Panthers are even with the Maple Leafs at 2-2 thanks to a couple of home-ice victories, while all three other series sit at 2-1, with the lower-seeded team ahead in them all.

With key moments dead ahead, here are thoughts on all four series in what continues to be a thrill-a-minute chase for hockey’s Holy Grail.

The Panthers managed to pull themselves from near death in a professional wrestling-style maneuver. After winning the first two games of their series at home, the Maple Leafs were on the verge of taking a 3-0 lead when they held a 3-1 edge in Game 3. Instead, Toronto fell apart in a 5-4 overtime affair and followed it with a dismal performance in Sunday’s 2-0 loss.

The Panthers deserve full marks for making their series a best-of-three as it returns to Toronto, but the Maple Leafs surely are feeling the pressure of falling short again — especially when they had a golden chance to take a stranglehold on the set.

If Toronto regroups and unseats the champs, a huge key will be Auston Matthews finding his offensive flair. Matthews, who has clearly been dealing with an injury all season, has not scored yet in this series.

Staying in the East and on the subject of struggling stars, the Washington Capitals trail 2-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes heading into Monday’s clash in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Alex Ovechkin has been held without a point in all three games.

That the Capitals have struggled against Carolina’s relentless play and high shot volume is no surprise, but Washington — which finished atop the conference — will be dusted in short order if its special-teams issues continue. The Capitals have yet to score a road power-play goal and have been dismal on the penalty kill throughout the playoffs.

Heading west, the Dallas Stars have the regular-season champion Winnipeg Jets in peril, holding a 2-1 series lead thanks to their controversial game-winner in Sunday’s 5-2 victory and heading to Tuesday’s Game 4 clash in Dallas.

Winnipeg is winless on the road this spring, and star goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has surrendered at least five goals in all of those losses. The chants in Dallas of “Otter’s better!” — as Stars fans show their love for goalie Jake Oettinger, who served as Hellebuyck’s backup on Team USA during the 4 Nations Face-Off — are ringing true.

Yet Hellebuyck’s struggles away from Manitoba are not the only stunning statistic. Dallas forward Mikko Rantanen’s offensive run of 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) in the past six games — five of which he has amassed at least three points — is one for the ages.

If Hellebuyck flounders next game and Winnipeg can’t contain Rantanen, it will be a painful crash for the Jets after their record-breaking regular season.

As for the final matchup, the Edmonton Oilers are fortunate to lead their series with the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 — but unlucky not to be up 3-0. Vegas has been the better team in the past two games, but undeservedly lost Game 2 in overtime and won Game 3 with Reilly Smith’s last-second tally after the Oilers once again roared back from a deficit.

The Oilers have the upper hand with Game 4 on Monday at home against a Vegas squad that could be without captain Mark Stone. Then again, with the leaky goaltending we’ve seen from Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner and his Vegas counterpart Adin Hill, this has the makings of a wild, high-scoring series that may come down to the final second of Game 7.