April 20, 2014

2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Day 4

I really should have stuck to my guns about the goaltending "trend" that I thought I spotted.  In Day 4, the three winning teams scored four goals.

#facepalm

Anyway, here's the Day 4 recap.

First up, Chicago vs. St. Louis.

On the one hand, I'm tempted to say that St. Louis has merely held serve. On the other hand, I'm tempted to say that Chicago doesn't look good and is flirting with getting swept.

Since I'm a noob at this sport, let's go with the more prosaic route.  Both teams are really good; the first game went to triple OT and yesterday's game went to OT again.  So there's not a whole lot of separation between them, if you look at it that way.

Also, given that Blues' captain David Backes was knocked out of the game, we have something to keep an eye on.  That hit was rough, to be sure, but at least there wasn't a crotch-shot included.

Next, Columbus vs. Pittsburgh.

Obviously, the surprise of the day, as the Penguins went up big in the first and then sputtered into an double OT loss.  Despite years of experience seeing that happen in other sports (including multiple times to teams I follow), I'm still at a loss to explain how it happened.

Sure, the Blue Jackets got more shots on goal over the 2nd and 3rd periods, but there's gotta be more to it than that.  Teams get outshot all the time without looking ridiculously worse than their opponent (most like to point to this year's versions of Anaheim and Colorado as prime examples).

The series goes back to Columbus tied 1-1.  Yeah, it's weird to write that, but I can't say I'm displeased about it.

Finally, Minnesota vs. Colorado.

Just in case scoring twice last game wasn't good enough, Paul Stastny put in another on Saturday and had three assists.  His line matches what Nathan MacKinnon put up.  MacKinnon is getting more pub thanks to an impressive set-up on Landeskog's goal and having a pretty nifty shot himself.  All three guys are playing well though and Colorado is looking pretty dangerous.

Of the goalies that played today, it's easy to say that Varlamov played the best.  He gave up two goals while everyone else gave up three or four.

And it's not like Minnesota isn't putting up a fight, either.  They've led at multiple points in both games and look far better than I figured they would. They've given the Avalanche some trouble, no doubt.  And now we see what they have at home.

Up next on Sunday: Game 2 in New York, Boston, and San Jose.  Plus Game 3 in Montreal.  Should be another excellent day.

No comments:

Post a Comment