Ramblings: Joshua Lifts Canucks; Georgiev Sinks Avalanche; Rangers & Panthers Win Game 1 (Apr 22)

Brennan Des

2024-04-22

Panthers 3, Lightning 2 (Panthers lead series 1-0)

During Sunday's playoff opener, captain Steven Stamkos led the Lightning with a goal and an assist. Stamkos had an outstanding final quarter of the regular season, amassing 30 points in his final 20 appearances to sit top-10 in scoring during that stretch. Early indications suggest he's carried that momentum into the postseason. Remember, the 34-year-old forward is in the final year of his current contract. A strong playoff performance could add a few dollars to his next deal.

Speaking of pending free agents pumping their tires, Sam Reinhart's goal-scoring greatness from the regular season has bled into the playoffs. After finishing second in the league with 57 goals in 82 games, Reinhart scored the opening-goal of this series on a nice tip. A nice tip is also what most restaurants will be expecting from Reinhart going forward as he's set for a handsome payday this summer.

Although Matthew Tkachuk's regular season output wasn't as grand as it had been in recent years, he wasted no time rediscovering his playoff form. With two points in Game One, Matthew Tkachuk now has 33 points in his last 28 postseason appearances.

Aleksander Barkov was a force at both ends of the ice on Sunday. Although many of his strong defensive plays will be forgotten, his offensive impact was palpable as he registered two assists – including one on this beautiful pass to Carter Verhaeghe.

Florida did a good job of suppressing shots during the regular season, allowing just 27.8 shots per game – only Carolina and Philadelphia averaged fewer shots against. The Panthers were at it again on Sunday, limiting the Lightning to just 19 shots – a third of which came in the final 10 minutes of the game.

Back in February, Mikhail Sergachev had surgery to repair broken bones in leg. According to Jon Cooper, it's unlikely that Sergachev gets into the lineup against Florida, but the 25-year-old defenseman may be available should Tampa make it to the second round. There tends to be a bit of gamesmanship with injuries in the playoffs. Teams don't want to share too much information and risk their opponents gaining any sort of upper hand. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Sergachev makes a dramatic return late in this series. Remember, Stamkos had a couple of unexpected playoff returns under Jon Cooper's tenure, so don't put too much stock into the coach's current assessment of the situation. You'll notice Cooper was careful to present his Sergachev update as an opinion, not a fact. His background as a lawyer becomes extra valuable when addressing media during the playoffs.

Rangers 4, Lightning 1 (Rangers lead series 1-0)

Unsurprisingly, the most lopsided matchup of the playoffs yielded a lopsided score. The Rangers, who won a league-leading 55 regular season games, strolled to a 4-1 victory over the 40-win Capitals. New York outshot Washington 31-21. I imagine that will turn into a bit of a trend this series as Washington had trouble putting pucks on net during the regular season, sitting 30th in the league with 26.5 shots per game.

In his NHL playoff debut, 21-year-old tough guy Matt Rempe managed to score the opening goal of the series. Better known for fighting ability than scoring prowess, Rempe racked up 71 penalty minutes through 17 regular-season games, but tallied just one goal. The playoffs are all about unsung heroes and depth players rising to the occasion. At 6'7", I'm not sure how much more room there is for Rempe to rise.

On the topic of depth scoring, Sunday's clash between the Caps and Blueshirts provided a good example of the difference in fantasy strategy between the regular season and playoff pools. Barclay Goodrow and Jimmy Vesey led the Rangers with two points apiece. During the regular season, those two wouldn't be on most fantasy radars. In playoff pools, however, you would have been wise to target depth players on NYR – the team with the best odds of getting past round one.

Alexis Lafrenière was credited with five hits on Sunday, one of which led to New York's second goal of the game. Fantasy enthusiasts are likely aware of his breakout performance this past regular season, where he racked up 57 points. The stage is now set for a more emphatic ascension to elite status now that everyone's watching.

We got a great look at the chemistry between Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider on Sunday as a beautiful pass from the former led to a backhand breakaway goal for the latter. It'll be interesting to see who rides shotgun beside those two next season. Jack Roslovic is currently occupying that seat but he's a free agent after this year and hasn't done a whole lot beside them so far. A strong showing beside Zibanejad and Kreider in the playoffs could go a long way in securing Roslovic a favourable deal next season – although other teams will probably be able to offer him more money than the Rangers will.

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Jets 7, Avalanche 6 (Jets lead series 1-0)

Has your goalie been in absolutely frigid form leading up to the playoffs? No problem! Simply don't let your opponent get a shot on net! That strategy seemed viable early as Colorado got off to an 11-1 lead in shots and a 1-0 lead in the game. Unfortunately, the Avs couldn't protect Alexandar Georgiev forever. Winnipeg finished the period with three goals on eight shots, and the game with seven goals on 23. Considering the Avs put twice as many pucks on net, it's hard to dispute that Georgiev cost Colorado its playoff opener. A game like this surely accelerates Justus Annunen's playoff debut, right? Georgiev isn't playing with the confidence you need from your starting goalie in the playoffs, and he's lacked that confidence for some time. Let's compare each netminder's final 10 starts of the regular season. Georgiev: a 4.00 GAA and .875 SV%. Annunen: 1.93 GAA and .936 SV%. An illness rendered Annunen unavailable on Sunday, which explains Georgiev wasn't pulled. Arvid Holm was acting as backup and this was a tough situation to give to a 25-year-old netminder with no NHL experience.

Cale Makar led Colorado with three points on Sunday, while Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon each had two. Dating back to the 2020 playoffs, those three sit sixth, third and second in postseason scoring, respectively. There's no doubt that Colorado has the offense to succeed in the playoffs, but they'll need a few more saves if they're going to beat the Jets.

Down by three goals early in the third, the Avalanche cut their deficit to one after going two-for-two with the man advantage. During the regular season, Colorado's power-play ranked 5th in the league, while Winnipeg's penalty kill sat 21st overall. Discipline will be a key to Winnipeg winning this series, because if you give Colorado an inch, they'll take a mile. There's a mile-high city joke in there somewhere…

After a number of bleak years in Buffalo, Casey Mittelstadt finally got his first taste of playoff action and celebrated with his first career playoff goal. He'll be a restricted free agent in the summer, so this playoff performance could help Colorado determine whether Mittelstadt is part of its future. The 25-year-old forward has flirted with a 60-point pace in back-to-back regular seasons.

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Winnipeg's top line led the Jets to victory as Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi  combined for eight points. Vilardi quietly had a strong regular season, tallying 22 goals and 14 assists through 47 games. That translates to 63 points over 82 games. Since he was sidelined for so much of the season, his impressive performance had flown under the radar, but his offensive chemistry with Connor and Scheifele was on full display Sunday. How about this pass to Scheifele?

Jets' Captain Adam Lowry chipped in two goals, one of which barely crossed the goal line and hit the post three times in the process. Lowry has an underrated impact at both ends of the ice and is the kind of player you want in your fantasy pool if you think the Jets are going to go far this year. He has eight goals in his last 10 playoff appearances.  

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Canucks 4, Predators 2 (Canucks lead series 1-0)

Playing their first playoff home game since 2015, the Canucks treated fans to a 4-2 victory. With Vancouver's win, home teams are now 6-0 in this year's playoffs. Which away team will be the first to get a W?

Vancouver and Nashville seemed to think that whoever was more physical would be awarded the win as both teams were more focused on racking up hits than they were scoring. The final hit tally read 39-32 for Vancouver while the final shot tally read 22-21 for Nashville.

Elias Lindholm's underwhelming output during the regular season was well documented, but he did finish with five points in his final six appearances. It seems that momentum carried into the postseason as he scored Vancouver's opening goal of the 2024 playoffs and had a strong forecheck on the game-winning tally. Lindholm paced for just 48 points this past regular season, marking the first time in six years that he's fallen below a 60-point pace. He's a free agent this summer, so a strong playoff performance could help his case when it comes time to sign a new deal.

Down 2-1 in the third, the Canucks scored two goals in 12 seconds to flip the script and take a 3-2 lead. Quinn Hughes led the charge with a bullet from the point that was redirected by Pius Suter, then Conor Garland and Dakota Joshua combined for a nice go-ahead goal. Joshua proceeded to seal the deal with an empty netter.

This offense from Joshua didn't come out of nowhere as he had six goals in his final 11 appearances of the regular season. He'd benefitted from an expanded role this year after being underutilized in the past. Joshua saw nearly 18 minutes of action in Game 1 and should continue to be a major factor as his size allows him to thrive in a physical playoff environment. If the Canucks make a deep run this year, I expect he'll be one of the team's unsung heroes. Keep an eye on him in fantasy formats next year, especially those that track hits.

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We don't usually hear about injury details during the postseason, so this was refreshingly informative from Evander Kane.

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Thanks for reading! If you ever have any fantasy hockey questions, follow me on Twitter @BrennanDeSouza and shoot me a message!

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