Timo Meier & Jonathan Marchessault
 

 

The second round has been a breath of fresh air after the mostly lopsided quarter-final matches. If Boston could pull out a win on home ice Friday night, all four series would be knotted at two games apiece. However, it was the Lightning who jumped out to an early lead after a terrific individual effort by Brayden Point.

 

Unreal individual effort from Brayden Point pic.twitter.com/WkX7mAO3PW

— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) May 4, 2018

 

 

His nine post-season points sit second behind Nikita Kucherov for the team lead. The former third-round selection is facing the oppositions’ top line each night and still managing to create offence out of nothing. He and Ondrej Palat have formed a deadly matchup duo.

 

It’s safe to say we haven’t seen the best out of the 22-year-old just yet. His 66 points this season appear to be just the tip of the iceberg.

 

**

 

Tampa extended their lead to two after Kucherov converted on the power-play midway through the first frame. However, as it’s been so often this spring, the Bruins top line woke up and started causing chaos

 

David Pastrnak converted on the power play with a single to left field. It was his 20^th point in 11 games to sit one behind league-leader, Jake Guentzel.

 

 

 

David Pastrnak. Hand-eye: Second to none. #NHLBruins #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/89VHjGlZu3

— Rob Taub (@RTaub_) May 4, 2018

 

 

The special team’s play continued to be a factor. Patrice Bergeron scored the next two goals – a power-play marker in the second frame and a short-handed tally early in the third period. Bergeron has been the beating heart of this Bruins’ team. He’s riding a five-game point-streak to the tune of six goals and four assists.

 

The Boston top line has now produced 52 points in 11 games. They may be top heavy, but impressively so.

 

 

Speaking of the top line, it was another typical night for Brad Marchand. Two points, two hits and a long, wet lick to Ryan Callahan’s face. Seriously, this was maybe moderately comical the first time it occurred, but it’s long gone too far. How this isn’t an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, I’ll never know.

 

Brad Marchand gives Ryan Callahan a lick pic.twitter.com/b2th9vdOwO

— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) May 5, 2018

 

**

 

Steven Stamkos evened the game at three with seven minutes to play after Kucherov forced a turnover with a clear hold on Charlie McAvoy. The play went uncalled and the TD Garden was silenced. Tampa put the dagger into their heart when Dan Girardi scored three minutes into overtime. The surprise hero snuck down to the blue paint and managed to get a piece of a cross-ice dish from Alex Killorn.

 

 

The Lightning head home for game five with a 3-1 stranglehold on the series.

 

**

 

Torey Krug left the game and did not return after going down awkwardly in the third. We’ll wait to hear the severity but that would be a devastating loss. He leads all defensemen in playoff scoring with 12 points and is a lynchpin on the Bruins’ top power-play.

 

I’m confident that this fall will finally see Torey Krug’s draft value hit a respectable level. After 59-points in 76 games in 2017-18, he’s seen improved production in each of the last three seasons. At 27 years old, he’s still got plenty of big numbers in front of him.

 

 

 

**

I'll just leave this here. Who do you take? 

Points-Only Keeper League Pickum!

— /Cam Robinson/ (@CrazyJoeDavola3) May 4, 2018

 

After blanking the Golden Knights 4-0 in game four, the two west coast teams travelled back to Vegas for the pivotal game five match. 

 

It was all Knights early and often, peppering Martin Jones for 28 shots through the first two periods and leading 3-0. They extended their lead to 4-0 when Alex Tuch scored his second of the game and fourth of the playoffs half way through the third period. The aggregate distance from the net of those four goals may be under six feet as the 6'4 220lbs winger is a major load to handle near the blue paint. 

 

Alex Tuch showing it all in the playoffs, beautiful give and go with Eakin pic.twitter.com/eLNbQ2hbyG

— Born Salty (@cjzero) May 5, 2018

 

That fourth tally chased Martin Jones but gave life to the Sharks as Kevin Labanc and Tomas Hertl scored two quick goals on Marc-Andre Fleury to cut the lead to 4-2. Mikkel Boedker brought the Sharks within one with under five minutes to play. Logan Couture recorded his third assist of the period on the play and is up to 12 points in eight playoff contests. 

That's as close as they would come as Jonathan Marchessault sealed it with an empty-netter. 

 

The pendulum will swing back to San Jose for Game six on Sunday evening where the Golden Knights will have an opportunity to punch their ticket to the Western Conference finals. 

 

**

 

It may be time for people to start opening their eyes to Timo Meier. The 21-year-old winger just completed his first full season in the league and posted a very respectable 21 goals and 35 points.

 

He’s backed that up with two goals and three helpers in nine playoff games. He’s part of the reason that the Sharks are playing some of their best post-season hockey since deep run in 2015-16.

 

What stands out the most when looking at the Swiss forward is his shot generation. 210 shots in 81 regular games while seeing under 15 minutes a night. That’s an average of 10.5 shots-per-60 minutes. While I don’t have cumulative data for this season, that number would have landed him within the top 20 skaters in 2016-17.

 

All this while seeing second unit power play time and having his second most consistent linemate be Christ Tierney. He’s continued his depth role in the playoffs but has upped his shot rate to nearly three per contest.

 

The flashes of dazzling skill are becoming more frequent and you can see his confidence growing. That was obvious for all to see in game two. That night he played a career-high 27 minutes, had a helper, six shots, six hits and over three minutes of power play time.

 

While his true breakout may be another season away, he’s a player that needs to be rising on people’s lists of keeper players to watch.

 

**

 

Let’s take a moment to talk about Jonathan Marchessault.

 

Much has been written about his path to the NHL. Undersized, undrafted winger who climbed the junior ranks. Fighting for an AHL deal only to be left without a contract despite displaying success. After receiving his NHL shot with Tampa, he was left without a contract once again. And of course, the Panthers tragic misstep and his departure to Vegas is becoming the stuff of hockey infamy.

 

But what I’m most interested in, is what we can expect from him moving forward. Is this a premier fantasy asset we're looking at? Or a right-time, right-place season that will be difficult to replicate?

 

Let’s dig into the numbers.

 

The first number that jumps off the page was the insane value the 27-year-old brought to those in cap leagues. His 75 points for a paltry $750K was the best bang-for-your-buck-value in the entire league.

 

I'd just like to take a moment and remind the world that Jonathan Marchessault made 750K this year. That's $10K per point (75)

His replacement in Florida, Jamie McGinn, made $3.333 million and produced one point for every $115K (29)

— /Cam Robinson/ (@CrazyJoeDavola3) May 3, 2018

 

He signed a six-year, 30 million dollar extension in January, that’ll kick in next fall. That will all but assure he won’t be bringing such incredible value moving forward. Yet, for a player who flirted with a point-per-game this season, five million per is easily digestible.

 

When looking at the top 50 scorers from this season, 30 of them made more than five million. Another seven players were on their entry-level deals and are expected to at least match the raise that the Golden Knights’ star earned.

 

Marchessualt finished tied for 28th in points and did so while clicking on a very sustainable 10.1 percent of his all situation’s shots. Of the top 50 point-per-game leaders, only five had lower conversion metrics.

 

Patrick Kane: 27-49 = 76 points (9.5%)

Blake Wheeler: 23-68 = 91 points (9.4%)

Ryan Getzlaf: 11-50 = 61 points (9.4%)

Jakub Voracek: 20-65 = 85 points (8.8%)

Erik Karlsson: 9-53 = 62 points (4.6%)

 

Marchessault wasn’t overly reliant on power play production either. Of regular skaters, he produced the fourth most even-strength points-per-60 at 3.058. That’s ahead of players such as Evgeni Malkin, Claude Giroux and Nikita Kucherov.

 

His five-on-five production was boosted by an increased conversion rate. He clicked on 2.5 percent more even-strength shots than a season ago. Jumping from 8.16 to 10.66. That latter number represented the 13th highest mark in the league among regular players.

 

That will be difficult to replicate. As will his 1041 PDO mark.

 

What will be key to his continued success will be the sustainability of his linemates. Will William Karlsson be able to replicate his tremendous goal-scoring prowess? Do we see Reilly Smith slip back to being a 50-point threat as he has been most of his career or does he maintain the 60-point level he displayed this season? 

 

There are no assurances in this world, but the way the trio is playing in the cocoon of the wild-west Golden Knight system appears to be a reasonable bet. And what better place to lay a bet down than Las Vegas.

 

**

 

That's all for this week. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @CrazyJoeDavola3