Hockey Rambling

On May the 4th (be with you), Game 2 of the second round was played in two of the four NHL playoff series.   Panthers 3, Maple Leafs 2 (Panthers lead series 2-0) The difference in this game turned out to be Florida scoring the game-tying and eventual game-winning goals within a minute of each [...]

It was a fairly easy Game 1 for Carolina as they cruised to a 5-1 win over New Jersey on Wednesday night. That score doesn’t even really do the game justice as the Hurricanes held the Devils to just one shot on goal through the first 24 minutes of the game. Nathan Bastian would score [...]

Feeling almost back to normal this week, and the endorphins from the Leafs winning certainly helped. Unfortunately for Canada, only two of their three playoff teams made it to the second round, with Winnipeg being the odd team out. Aside from the rooting interest in Toronto, the series I am most looking forward to this [...]

After falling behind 2-0 in the series, the New Jersey Devils won four of the next five games, including their 4-0 shutout of the New York Rangers Monday night in Game 7. Credit to Akira Schmid, who saved all 31 shots faced in this game to secure the win, his second blank sheet in his [...]

GROUND has been broken on the 2023 Fantasy Prospects Report! This week I will make next year’s offerings available in the shop for pre-order (not there yet). The Prospects Report will be released June 1. Follow me on Twitter for the announcement regarding when the products become available in the shop for presale. * First [...]

Maple Leafs 2, Lightning 1 OT (Leafs win series 4-2) “They’ve finally caught Lightning in a bottle!” That was the call from Chris Cuthbert, one that he had no doubt saved for the occasion of the Toronto Maple Leafs finally lifting their playoff curse. It was bound to happen sooner or later with this group [...]

Hurricanes 2, Islanders 1 OT (Hurricanes win series 4-2) Paul Stastny scored the series-clinching overtime winner at exactly 6:00 of overtime to send the Canes to the second round. The goal was the 37-year-old Stastny’s third career playoff overtime winner, also giving him goals in back-to-back games. https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1652132291055943680 Anytime I can post a stat like [...]

Injuries are the part of every postseason for every team, but the way Carolina has endured theirs is something else. The team got five games from Max Pacioretty before he was re-injured and shelved for the season while Andrei Svechnikov blew out his knee out a week after the Trade Deadline. Add in the recent [...]

They didn’t play on Wednesday night, so Tampa Bay had a practice instead. At that practice, the team ran the same third line they’ve been running their last few games with Nick Paul centering Tanner Jeannot and Ross Colton. This is being done because Michael Eyssimont was injured in Game 1 and Jeannot, returning from [...]

I’ve been down and out with covid the last few days, so I haven’t had the time or energy to dive in or research anything foundational. It also means I haven’t been catching any of the late games recently. Regardless, I’m going to give a couple thoughts I have on each series so far. Leafs [...]