Every year in the post-season we see surprises, miracles, and some heartbreak. Teams break the chains of their playoff identities, upsets happen, and phenomenal regular seasons are brought to a screeching halt. Role players become heroes, and superstars crash and burn. We see the bad, the good, and some downright ugly but the road to Lord Stanley’s Mug is always an entertaining one.
Here are some of the best storylines to come out of the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs so far.
John Tavares steps up
Despite his team being quickly eliminated in the second round by an overpowering Tampa Bay team, the Islanders captain established himself as an elite playoff performer in their opening round series against the Panthers.
The Isles upset the top-seeded Florida Panthers in six games to propel the forgotten New York club out of the first round for the first time since 1993. John Tavares was a force, compiling 11 points in as many games. He practically willed the Islanders past the Panthers in their series, scoring both the tying and winning goal in the decisive game six. He finished the series with nine points. Look out Henrik Lundqvist, there’s a new king in New York.
Lightning’s resilience
Most people predicted a deep run again by the Bolts from the start of the season. We know they’re a well-built team; they have one of the most potent offenses in the East, an elite goaltender, and some solid defensive corps. They have an accomplished coach in Jon Cooper and the structure of their game is admirable. However, injuries have been a major issue in recent years and the 2016 campaign was no different.
Their captain Steven Stamkos played in all but one game during their entire playoff run. Their number two defenseman Anton Stralman missed most of the post-season up until their elimination by the Penguins, goaltender Ben Bishop went down with a leg injury in game one of that series just as he was leading all playoff goaltenders in save percentage and goals against average. Tyler Johnson was undoubtedly playing through an injury sustained in game one of the Conference Finals. Surely any team missing three of their top five players would crumble in the playoffs, but not Tampa.
The Lightning stepped up and put themselves within one win of a second straight final appearance, but ultimately fell in seven games.
Penguin resurgence
Speaking of injuries, Pittsburgh is a team that seems almost cursed by the injury bug. They have arguably the best core in the NHL with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Marc-Andre Fleury. However, this core just hasn’t been able to get healthy for the playoffs. This year is different and the Pens are reminding everyone what a deep and talented team they are.
Crosby and Malkin are a lethal one-two punch down the middle, surrounded by the best supporting cast they’ve had in years: Phil Kessel, Chris Kunitz, Carl Hagelin, and Nick Bonino. Letang is healthy and producing like he can and, in the wake of Fleury’s concussion, rookie goaltender Matt Murray has emerged as the rock on the back end sooner than we expected.
With the Penguins rolling three real solid scoring lines, and a fourth that can chip in the odd goal while playing with energy, they are a force to be reckoned with.
They play with incredible support through the middle of the ice and it wouldn’t be surprising if they overcome the San Jose Sharks finally bring the cup back to the Eastern Conference this year.
No crease Stars in Dallas
Two goalie systems in the playoffs don’t work. During the regular season, the carousel worked incredibly well in Dallas with Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi both splitting time. The Stars won the Central Division, which is considered by most to be the toughest in the NHL.
Carried by the best offense in the league (3.18 goals per game), the Stars looked poised to make a deep playoff run. Instead, we saw the both Stars goaltenders struggle and allow 17 goals in six games against a Minnesota squad that had the lowest regular season point total of any team to make the playoffs since they added shootouts to the league.
While the Stars were able to stretch their second-round series against a very competitive Blues team out to seven games, Niemi and Lehtonen were once again the Stars’ Achilles heel. They allowed 25 goals in those seven games, including four or more in each of their four combined losses. Someone should tell Jim Nill that winning games 9-8 hasn’t been done since the 1980s.
Elliot being allowed to play
Every year the St. Louis Blues make the playoffs with a solid regular season record. Every year the St Louis Blues get upset in the first or second round. Every year Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock elects to go with another goaltender besides Brian Elliott.
This year, Elliott finally got his shot and he was stellar, as he carried the Blues past the defending champ Blackhawks in seven games in the first round. He even held his ground against the offensive juggernaut Stars in seven games in round two. Elliott stole game one of the conference finals – a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks. He would falter in games two and three allowing three goals in each while the Blues were shutout in consecutive games. That was all it took for Hitchcock to flip the switch and start Allen the next two games. Ultimately, Elliott would start and lose game six and the series.
