nhl-playoffs Page 4 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Four Horsemen Of The Second Round
As the second round came to a close I looked upon the remnants of the NHL and beheld the Four Horsemen who delivered judgment upon the match-ups. Famine, Pestilence, War, and Death each sent a team into the next life, which appears mostly to be either Worlds, or a golf course in British Columbia....
The Avalanche Were Sunk By A Bad Rule, Badly Applied
Pretend you don’t know anything about hockey. Take a look at this frozen moment of action. Where is the puck? Where is the play happening, and where is it not? Who is involved in the action, and who still has the potential to affect it? Who is violating the rules? More importantly, who is violating ...
Sharks Do Their Job, Get Some Help, And Eliminate The Avalanche In Game 7
It would have been very on-brand for the perennial choke-artist San Jose Sharks to blow it against the 8th seed in the second-round of what might be the most wide-open NHL playoffs of all-time. But to their credit, San Jose recovered from Gabriel Landeskog’s Game 6 overtime winner and got the win th...
We Demand More Overtimes
The best overtime game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs was the Denver-Portland game Friday night. All glory and honor to Blues-Stars Game 7 Tuesday night, which certainly did its best, combining multiple overtimes with the additional sparkle of not just sudden death but expulsion, but it remains the sil...
Patrick Maroon Did It For St. Louis
Until Patrick Maroon finally, finally beat Ben Bishop 5:50 into the second overtime and put the Blues through to the Western Conference final, no player in the history of the NHL had ever scored a Game 7 overtime winner in his hometown. It’d been close, once, when in 1979 Yvon Lambert, out of Drummo...
The Blues Laid Siege To The Stars Until They Finally Fell In Game 7
The St. Louis Blues should have won Game 7 about four times over before regulation even ended, but finally, in double overtime, they got some reward for an absolutely dominant performance. While an instantly legendary showing from Stars goalie Ben Bishop almost allowed Dallas to survive, the Blues b...
Gabriel Landeskog Had To Get His Hands Dirty
In hockey as in few other sports, things rarely play out like they’re supposed to. (If they did, the Avalanche wouldn’t have made it to this series, let alone be headed for a Game 7 in San Jose after a wild 4-3 OT win on Monday night.) The storyline/scouting report for Avs-Sharks was supposed to be ...
Bruins' Charlie McAvoy Given Minor Penalty After Leveling Josh Anderson With Brutal Illegal Check
Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy lowered his shoulder and plowed it into the jaw of Columbus Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson in the final 20 seconds of the second period of Monday night’s Game 6. For good measure, Anderson’s head recoiled directly into the fist of Zdeno Chára, before he cr...
Blues Drop Stars Goalie Ben Bishop With Puck To The Collarbone, Score Over His Writhing Body
Even with the final score being 4-1, Game 6 between the Blues and Stars on Sunday was not without controversy. With about 12 minutes remaining in the third period, Blues defenseman Colton Parayko slapped a shot on goal. The puck made its way directly onto Stars goalie Ben Bishop’s collarbone, and th...
Well, Here's Another Type Of Call That Needs To Be Reviewable Now
The Boston Bruins can’t be too bent out of shape about it, because they still ended up beating the Blue Jackets 4-1 to even the series at two-all. But they did get their shutout ruined by a goal that shouldn’t have counted, and now we have another video review controversy in the NHL....
A Lover's Guide To The NHL Playoffs
The Stanley Cup Playoffs: they apparently started some time ago. I was not apprised of this, but then no one would have thought to do that because I have been very clear with the people in my life that I do not need to be told about the latest developments in the National Hockey League. It’s often a...
Jordan Binnington Finally Looks Nervous
He’s played in fewer than 50 NHL games, but St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington has already become famous for his unflappability. His call-up from the AHL and run as the starter beginning in January was the spark that completely turned the Blues’ awful season around. The 25-year-old was magic f...
Hurricanes' Justin Faulk Waltzes Out Of Penalty Box And Directly Into All Kinds Of Glory
Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk was hit with a two-minute hooking penalty at the 9:51 mark of the second period of Wednesday’s Game 3 of the Islanders-Hurricanes series, with the score tied a one goal apiece. The Canes successfully killed the ensuing Islanders power play, which functionally ended...
Brad Marchand Has Given Up Being Creatively Annoying And Just Punched A Guy In The Back Of The Head
The truly frustrating thing about Brad Marchand is that he’d be a star without all the bullshit. He’s on the top line of the team with the best odds to win the Cup because he’s really, really good at hockey, not because of the other stuff. It’s just that the other stuff—“pest” feels insufficient to ...
Esa Lindell Kept Diving And Diving And Then Suffered Cosmic Justice
Let us stipulate that diving, or flopping, is not so common in hockey as it is in some other sports we could name, nor is it generally treated with anything but outright contempt. It does exist, and it does, unfortunately often, work, but it’s not regarded with the grudging respect for its value it ...
The Islanders' Best Hope Against The Hurricanes Is A War Of Attrition
A team playing its ninth game in 18 days on Sunday afternoon, the Hurricanes, were struck by disaster in the very first minute of Game 2 against the Islanders. Carolina defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk got checked hard against the boards by New York’s Cal Clutterbuck, knocking him out for the whole ga...
Now The Sharks Want An Apology From The NHL For A Controversial Call
The Sharks watched, amused, as some rough officiating in the first round led to their improbable Game 7 comeback, and as the league quietly apologized to the still-salty Golden Knights. Not that it did Vegas any good; they’re still golfing. (The Sharks’ general reaction to that kerfuffle could be su...
Vladimir Tarasenko Remains The Best Reason To Watch The Blues
Goaltender Jordan Binnington is getting the overwhelming share of attention during this dominant run the Blues have enjoyed since putting him in net halfway through the season, and it’s not hard to see why. The team sucked before he showed up, and now they’re in the second round of the playoffs with...
It's Not Really The Playoffs Until There's A Brad Marchand Controversy
The most irritating man in hockey had returned for the second round of the playoffs after lying relatively dormant in the first, as Bruins forward Brad Marchand is back to inventing petty tricks to get in his opponents’ heads....
Vegas Says NHL Apologized For Game 7's Bad Call, And Those Referees Won't Work The Next Round
The San Jose Sharks are in the second round of the playoffs, and it’s mostly because of a third-period Cody Eakin major penalty. In the Golden Knights–Sharks Game 7 on Tuesday, Eakin crossed-checked Sharks forward Joe Pavelski on a face-off with Vegas leading 3-0 and 10 minutes remaining. Pavelski h...