What a start to the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs! Here are a handful of thoughts from Monday’s games.
BOS 1 vs CAR 5
This goal from Troch was ridiculous pic.twitter.com/kRYm84zBQW
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) May 3, 2022
Carolina looked good up and down the lineup. Five different goal scorers for the Canes and their defense was physical. How about Antti Raanta stepping in for Andersen! It looks like he’ll be the starter for the remainder of Round 1. Big surprise was how much Marchand was a non-factor. It will be interesting to see if he changes that for game two. And speaking of game two, apparently Boston is going to stick with Ullmark. I don’t know about four goals on 24 shots. Keep in mind that Swayman was at least able to hold Car to 3 goals earlier in the year. Oh and here’s a little stat for ya, Boston has scored only 2 goals against Car this season, ouch!
TB 0 vs TOR 5
TONE TEES IT 🆙 pic.twitter.com/ImAcy5bLBh
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) May 3, 2022
What a crazy start to the game! Seven minutes into the first Period, Toronto is trying to set a physical tone, starting with Simmons laying a big hit forechecking and then Kyle Clifford absolutely cheap shots Ross Colton from behind at center ice trailing the play and not to mention it was also late. Clifford got a game misconduct and was gone for the game. What could have been an opportunity for Tampa Bay to create a lead, ended up allowing Jack Campbell to shutdown a dangerous Lightning Power Play. Campbell’s confidence only grew from that point on in the game. Mitch Marner scored his first playoff goal in 1,000,000 shifts. Matthews is continuing where he left off in the regular season with two goals. Tampa Bay were snake bit time and time again. They had multiple opportunities in the 1st with an early power play and the 5-minute major. Stamkos missed the one timer on the PP which is typically a sure thing. Toronto knows that games like Monday won’t come often and they’ll have to be ready for a veteran crew who’ll want to come out blazing.
STL 4 vs MIN 0
You don’t usually start a recap highlighting a player from the losing team but Kirill the Thrill was absolutely mesmerizing to watch out on the ice. The moves, the speed, the relentless pursuit of the puck and the endurance. What a physical game this was also. It got chippy and just about every whistle had scrums between players. Minnesota’s Foligno, Greenway and even Jared Spurgeon were quite the agitators. Surprisingly enough Deslauriers didn’t mix it up maybe because he was on the ice for only seven total minutes. It will be interesting to see if there is any retaliation against Spurgeon for what looked like an attempt to break Buchnevich’s ankle. And if we’re being honest, Fluery didn’t look comfortable in net all night. I wouldn’t be surprised if they go to Talbot for game two. As for the Blues, I can’t recall seeing a penalty shot given to a team to start the game, that was crazy! St. Louis looked good all night long. They were able to keep their composure and they were patient, they played a Craig Berube style of game. Stat that should be noted, St. Louis has nine 20 goal scorers, and yes Perron is one of them. Second interesting fact, Berube is 13-1-2 vs Minnesota.
LA 4 vs EDM 3
What a strange sequence of events, ending with a @SeanDurzi goal!
We have the lead!#GKG #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/bUxqUNeTda
— x – LA Kings (@LAKings) May 3, 2022
I have to give credit where credit is due… Chewy called this game days in advance. This was another physical game from the start, which doesn’t benefit Edmonton. The highlight of the game, outside of LA winning was McDavid skating through the Kings entire team. I mean come on, this isn’t a video game! And Connor wasn’t the only player out there flying around, Trevor Moore for the Kings can motor! The pace of play was relentless and should have favored the Oilers. There wasn’t much defense being played out there so take the OVERS! And how about the crowd in Edmonton, just about every single fan was wearing an Oilers jersey, talk about a true fan base. Two interesting facts… Quick has played every playoff game for LA for the past 20 years and Leon Draisaitl’s longest goal drought this season is four games.
Final Note:
There were a ton of Power Plays in the Game 1s on Monday:
6 in the BOS/CAR game
11 in the TOR/TB game
12 in the STL/MIN game
8 in the LA/EDM game
Apparently the refs are going to be calling it close. To be fair, they were extremely inconsistent with their calls. We’ll see if they let the guys play a little more Wednesday night.
Game 2 PICKS:
Carolina ML (-120) and Over 5.5 (-120)
*If you’re feeling frisky because Ullmark is back in net, go Car -PL (+215)
St. Louis ML (+110)
*I’ll take them as a dog
LA/Edm Over 6.5 (-105)
*Who needs defense
