Ramblings: Panthers and Stars Advance to Conference Final, Bruins and Avalanche Seasons End (May 18)
Ian Gooding
2024-05-18
In Friday's playoff pucks, two more teams advanced to the conference final, which leaves just one spot remaining.
Panthers 2, Bruins 1 (Panthers win series 4-2)
Gustav Forsling scored the game-winning goal with just 1:33 remaining in regulation to win both Game 6 and the series for Florida. The Panthers will now face the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final. Game 1 starts on Wednesday.
In addition to the game-winning goal, Forsling took five shots and logged 25 minutes, which were both team highs. He entered this game without a point in his previous two games, but he is having a decent playoff scoring-wise with seven points in 11 games. In the regular season, Forsling led the NHL with a plus-55 ranking, so he is establishing himself as a reliable minute-munching defenseman after being claimed off waivers by the Panthers in January 2021.
Anton Lundell scored the Panthers' other goal while also assisting on Forsling's goal. Lundell had a strong game with a plus-2 and four shots. After producing at a 0.45 PTS/GP pace for the second consecutive season, Lundell has upped his production in the playoffs with nine points in 11 games.
Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 22 of 23 shots to pick up his third consecutive quality start.
Pavel Zacha scored the Bruins' lone goal, which was his first career playoff goal in 25 playoff games.
Brad Marchand returned for Game 6 after missing the past two games with an upper-body injury, although he was held off the scoresheet.
The Bruins took a too many men on the ice penalty in the second period. That penalty set the record for the most too many men penalties in a single playoff season (7).
Jeremy Swayman saved 26 of 28 shots he faced. He certainly can't be blamed for the Bruins' exit from the playoffs, as he finishes the playoffs with a 2.15 GAA, .933 SV%, and 83.3 quality start percentage. Given the fact that he played in 12 of the Bruins' 13 games in the playoffs, Swayman appears to be the goalie of the future for the Bruins, who should now view Linus Ullmark as a trade chip. Having two high-caliber goalies is a luxury for a team facing the salary cap, and the Bruins could use help at other positions. In addition, goaltending prospect Brandon Bussi appears to be ready for a full-time NHL role next season after two strong seasons in the AHL.
The Bruins may not receive a true #1 center for Ullmark, but acquiring any top-6 forward could help the Bruins tremendously. David Pastrnak, Marchand, Charlie Coyle, and Pavel Zacha were the only Bruins forwards to exceed 40 points this season. Morgan Geekie and Matt Poitras could develop into top-6 forwards for the Bruins. However, a lack of scoring depth was apparent in this series against the Panthers, where the Bruins averaged just over two goals per game.
The Bruins don't have too much in the way of UFAs coming off the books, with Jake DeBrusk the most prominent name. They project to have over $20 million in cap space, so they could make a notable addition or two. Swayman will be an RFA, so he will need to be compensated well, particularly if he is the starter. Ullmark will be on the final year of his contract with a $5 million cap hit if he is not moved.
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Stars 2, Avalanche 1, 2 OT (Stars win series 4-2)
The second time was a charm for Matt Duchene on Friday night. Duchene ended Game 6 and his former team's season with a goal in double overtime.
It wasn't the first overtime "goal" that Duchene was involved in, though. Do you think this should have been a goal?
Most of the people on X seemed to think it was a goal. You have a goalie playing outside of the paint, and a defenseman who pushes the opponent into the goalies. The referees called it no goal on the ice and stuck with their decision after video review, though. The irony that Duchene scored the actual winner after being involved in this play shows that real life can occasionally be stranger than fiction.
Jamie Benn scored the other goal for Dallas, while Mikko Rantanen scored for Colorado.
The final total in this shot game was 38 shots for Dallas and 30 shots for Colorado. That seems a bit low for a double-overtime game, particularly for Colorado. That being said, I'm noticing lower shot totals overall in playoff games this season compared to regular season games.
Roope Hintz was out of the Stars' lineup for the second consecutive game with an upper-body injury. Peter DeBoer is hopeful Hintz will be able to play in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final.
The Stars now await the winner of the Vancouver/Edmonton series. The Canucks lead the series 3-2 with Game 6 to be played on Saturday night in Edmonton.
Alexandar Georgiev was thought to be the weak link for the Avalanche heading into the playoffs. His playoff numbers turned out to be relatively average (2.77 GAA, .897 SV%, 54.5 quality start %), showing that he wasn't a complete disaster while playing well at times. Georgiev has one more year left on his contract, so it will be interesting to see whether the Avalanche try to re-sign him or decide to go a different direction in next after next season.
Maybe this series would have turned out differently had Valeri Nichushkin been available for the entire series. Nichushkin had suddenly been placed back into the Player Assistance Program prior to Game 4, meaning that he will be suspended for a minimum of six months. Nichushkin had been valuable for the Avs, producing at a point-per-game pace (53 PTS in 54 games). In addition, Nichushkin had scored a career-high 28 goals, which included 16 power-play goals. Colorado simply couldn't replace that kind of production. The earliest Nichushkin will be able to return to the lineup would be mid-November, so he shouldn't be considered anything more than a late-round pick in single-season fantasy drafts next season. Keep in mind that the Avs can't terminate his contract while he's in the Player Assistance Program.
The Avalanche's core players are under contract for next season, but they still have many other roster spots to fill with just over $15 million in cap space. One player they should make a serious effort at re-signing is Jonathan Drouin. The idea of reuniting Drouin with former junior teammate Nathan MacKinnon wasn't just a good idea on paper. Drouin rebounded from some rough, injury-riddled seasons with the Habs with a career-high 56 points while staying healthy for nearly all of the season. The absence of Nichushkin for at least the first month of the season and possibly longer means that the Avs could use a scoring winger like Drouin.
Some potential good news for Colorado is that Gabriel Landeskog is working toward a return, although Jared Bednar admitted after Game 6 that Landeskog still wasn't close to returning during the playoffs. It sounds like Landeskog could be ready for next season, but we'll have to wait for further updates. Landeskog has missed two whole seasons, so he's very much a wild card production-wise.
Game 6 was the last NHL game for Zach Parise, who signed with the Avalanche in early February and announced he would retire after the season. Parise finishes a solid career with over 1200 games and nearly 900 points, including a career-high 45 goals and 94 points with New Jersey in 2008-09.
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The Leafs made the rumored Craig Berube hiring official today. Read the Fantasy Take here.
The Devils signed Kurtis MacDermid to a three-year, $3.45 million contract. MacDermid provides the Devils with toughness, but I'm not sure why they felt the need to sign a part-time player to a three-year contract. I'll leave it at that.
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Follow me on X @Ian_Gooding and Threads.
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