Blues, Rangers, Oilers march on; Wild, Canadiens, Sharks done for the year

We now have both Western Conference second-round series ready to roll. The Blues will face the Predators, while the Ducks will face the Oilers.

Magnus Paajarvi was the overtime hero for the Blues, scoring at 9:42 of overtime to power the Blues past the Wild four games to one. That means that the teams that finished third, fourth, and fifth overall in the standings have all been eliminated from the playoffs. (Chicago, Columbus, and Minnesota, if you need to look that one up.) I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: in today’s salary cap era with competition as tight as ever, picking series winners can be a guessing game.

Paul Stastny returned to the Blues’ lineup after missing 14 games with a foot injury, scoring what was at the time an insurance goal for the Blues. Over the regular season he scored 40 points in 66 games, which would have put him on pace for 50 points if fully healthy. That might not be of much consequence as he has averaged only 65 games the past two seasons and has missed at least eight games in each of his three seasons in St. Lou. Yes, he’s a certified Band-Aid Boy.

In spite of allowing three goals in Game 5, Jake Allen allowed only eight goals in the five-game series. I referenced his post-Ken Hitchcock numbers in an earlier Ramblings. You’ll want to keep him on your radar for next season’s drafts, as he could be undervalued.

With their season on the line, the Wild poured it on in the final two periods, combining for 26 shots over those two periods alone. All of the Wild’s goal scorers – Ryan Suter, Mikko Koivu, and Jason Zucker – broke through for their first goal of the series. In spite of the offensive push in Game 5, Mikael Granlund, Eric Staal, and Nino Niederreiter – the Wild’s top three goal scorers during the regular season – were all held without a goal during this series. So if you picked the Wild over the Blackhawks as your Central Division team, you weren’t a whole lot better off.

Niederreiter arguably should have received a goal during the third period, but it was disallowed because of goaltender interference. But if a defender pushes the player into the goalie, should that really be goaltender interference? You decide.

Zucker picked the right time to end his slump, scoring the game-tying goal in the third period. In spite of attaining the first 40-point season of his career, Zucker sputtered during March with an 11-game goalless drought to end the month. A look at his splits shows that 17 of his 22 goals were scored during the middle two quarters of the season. So you’re probably better off not drafting him next season, but adding him to your team only when he’s on a run.

Staal was taken to the hospital with a head injury after crashing into the boards during the second period of Game 5. Here is the play, where he no doubt hits his head hard. Hope he is okay.

The Martin Hanzal gamble did not pay off for the Wild, and now he is set to become a UFA. Other than Hanzal’s potential departure, the Wild’s roster shouldn’t change a whole lot during the offseason. They took a big step this season and should be one of the favorites to win the Central Division in 2017-18.

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So far in these playoffs, I have been very wrong about the Nashville Predators. I have also been wrong about Henrik Lundqvist, who has been better in the playoffs (1.70 GAA, .947 SV%) than in the regular season (2.74 GAA, .910 SV%). I thought the Rangers/Canadiens series would come down to goaltending, and that Carey Price would be better than Lundqvist, referencing my Lundqvist ownership for much of the season.

If King Henrik’s stellar goaltending can carry forward to the next round (and perhaps beyond), it will be interesting to see if his playoff performance will affect his draft position next season. Pete Jensen of NHL.com currently has Lundqvist ranked at 95 among all players in single-season formats, while Dobber has Lundqvist as his 17^th-ranked keeper goalie. I’m thinking that Lundqvist could move up slightly with a strong playoff, but remember that the regular season is a larger body of work.

It’s difficult to win a playoff series without scoring at least one power-play goal. The Rangers finally made that happen in Game 6, as Mats Zuccarello scored one of his two goals on the man advantage.

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For what it’s worth, Price posted a .933 save percentage and 1.47 goals-against average in this series. But numerous Habs’ scorers couldn’t find the back of the net in this series, including Alex Galchenyuk, Phillip Danault, Andrei Markov, and Max Pacioretty.

Could a rough playoff series against the Rangers drop Pacioretty’s fantasy value? Seems unlikely, since he reached 30 goals and 60 points for the fourth consecutive season before his late-season slide. But this series was clearly one he’d like to forget.
 

Pacioretty was visibly upset, I thought he may have been on the verge of tears.
He took this to heart.
And knows the critics are coming.

— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) April 23, 2017

Dating back to the regular season, Patches had not scored a goal in ten games, and he was held to just one assist in the six-game series. Pacioretty even took out his frustrations in a first-period fight with Jimmy Vesey.

GM Marc Bergevin is receiving much of the blame for the Habs’ first-round playoff exit, as he chose to add size and toughness instead of scoring at the trade deadline. There’s also the P.K. Subban/Shea Weber trade, which was second-guessed by many. Bergevin is no doubt on the hot seat now, as the Habs have slowed after strong starts for two seasons running. If he remains, then one clear objective will be to find a true number one center for the Habs either through the draft or via trade. It will also be interesting to see what the Habs do with UFA-to-be Alexander Radulov, who turned out to be the gamble that paid off.

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This sums up this season’s playoff pools rather well (so far):
 

This is the kind of playoffs where the winner of the office pool will be the guy who thought PK Subban still plays for the Canadiens.

— randy turner (@randyturner15) April 21, 2017

Or the guy (or gal) who picked random squares in the box pool.

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Was Cam Talbot a Vezina Trophy finalist snub? The playoffs don’t count in the voting, but he was close to recording his third shutout of the first round in Game 6. His regular-season stats provide a strong argument by themselves, as he tied for the league lead in wins (42) and was the only goalie to play 70 games this season. Pete Jensen of NHL.com currently has Talbot ranked at 28 among all players in single-season formats, while Dobber has Talbot as his 3rd-ranked keeper goalie. You knew how big Dobber was on Talbot entering the season. Needless to say, I could be sold on Talbot as a top-5 goalie right now.

Oscar Klefbom did not play in the third period. Since Klefbom is their top-scoring blueliner and top power-play QB, this could be a concern if he is unavailable for the next round.

It’s easy to laud the accomplishments of Connor McDavid and now Leon Draisaitl, but let’s make a note of the secondary scoring in Edmonton.

Mark Letestu scored a power-play goal in Game 5. It may seem strange that Letestu receives first-unit power-play time, but he is their top faceoff guy. As strong as the Oilers’ offense is, the Oilers were dead last in faceoff percentage during the regular season with a 47 percent success rate.

David Desharnais recorded two points in Game 5, including the overtime winner. Those secondary scorers may not mean much now, but if you’re in a playoff pool that allows adds and drops, you’ll want to be on top of grabbing a secondary scorer that goes three or four rounds deep.

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Joonas Donskoi replaced Timo Meier in the Sharks’ lineup for Game 6. Neil has more on Meier, the Sharks’ third-ranked prospect at Dobber Prospects, in Saturday’s Ramblings.

Unlike the other two eliminated teams, you can’t say the Sharks suffered from a lack of scoring in their six-game series. After all, they did score a touchdown on the Oilers in Game 4. But looking away from the stats and toward the TV, this series mirrored the Chicago/Nashville series, where the veteran team simply couldn’t keep up with the younger, faster team. Two seasons from now, I wouldn’t be surprised if Chicago and San Jose are missing the playoffs entirely, which would put them in the same boat as former Western Conference powers that have aged quickly such as Vancouver and Los Angeles and Detroit.  

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Finally, maybe you heard, but Ilya Kovalchuk is reportedly interested in returning to the NHL, according to Elliotte Friedman.
 

Quickie, mini Headlinezzzzzzzzz: LA, BUF, Kovalchuk — https://t.co/B7GXQd81Oh

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) April 23, 2017

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