The Stanley Cup Playoffs have been insane this year, and it is possible that statement is made every year the playoffs roll around, but this year feels different. Not cause of upsets, but because of blown leads in the final minutes of games. Yet again last night the Dallas Stars let the Anaheim Ducks score a tying goal with just 24 seconds left in the game. The Stars were 24 seconds away from forcing a game seven, and instead the trend of last minute tying goals continued sending the game to overtime where the Ducks Nick Bonino scored the series winning goal.
It seems as though every series has had these last minute goals at a surprisingly high rate in these playoffs. It is a very strange trend, the reason is unknown. It could be that teams are sitting on leads even more heavily than usual which is giving teams who are trailing more chances to score or it could simply be luck. Regardless of what is causing these last minute comebacks, it has made for an exciting first round.
Tonight there are three more teams seeking to punch their ticket to the second round of the playoffs. All of Pittsburgh, Colorado and San Jose can advance with victories tonight. The hardest part of a playoff series is closing it out, all the pressure is on the team who has the opportunity to win the series. The team that trails in the series has nothing to lose and thus they can throw caution to the wind in certain situations and just go for broke. It will be interesting to see which teams can find a way to win tonight.
Pittsburgh Penguins @ Columbus Blue Jackets Game 6 (Pittsburgh leads the series 3-2)
Tonight the Penguins will try to close out the Blue Jackets in Columbus and advance to the second round. The Penguins have had a difficult time in their first round series with the Blue Jackets and will not want to face the one game elimination that is a game seven. The Penguins have had an interesting series production wise; two defenseman have been leading the charge offensively. Paul Martin leads the Penguins with eight points in the first five games, and Matt Niskanen sits second on the team with six points in five games. Meanwhile Sidney Crosby has five assists and no goals in the first five games, Evgeni Malkin has four assists and no goals in the first five, and sniper James Neal has just one goal. The Penguins will need these three guys to produce if they hope to make it to the second round and beyond in these playoffs. The positive outlook for Crosby and Malkin is that they are still dominating the puck possession game, indicating it is just a matter of time before they start lighting up the scoresheet. Through five games Crosby has the highest CF% Rel on the team at 8.9% while Malkin sits at 5.1%. Both players have been hurt by their below career averages in shooting percentage. Crosby sits at 6.4% and Malkin at just 5.6%. These numbers should improve if the Penguins advance past the Blue Jackets.
Columbus for their part is the team that never quits. They play hard, they pressure opponents, and they win by using their speed and physicality to force turnovers. Brandon Dubinsky has had a very impressive series, tasked with checking Sidney Crosby he has managed to force some frustration into Sidney’s game. Dubinsky has also outscored Crosby with six points in five games. Ryan Johansen meanwhile continues his breakout season, with six points and a CF% Rel of 6.3%, Johansen has been tough to handle for Pittsburgh. But the true hero for Columbus has been goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Bob has a 91.6% save percentage in the series, and that jumps to 93.6% in 5-on-5 situations. He is the MVP of this Columbus team and if they have any hope of forcing a game seven, Bob will need to have another stellar night.
This is not the start to the playoffs Pittsburgh wanted, and if they do get past the Blue Jackets they will be hard pressed in the second round. Should Pittsburgh advance, they will face one of Philadelphia or New York in the second round. Both those teams bring a whole new challenge, and if Crosby, Malkin and Neal don’t return to form scoring wise, the Penguins will once again be on the outside looking in.
Colorado Avalanche @ Minnesota Wild Game 6 (Colorado leads the series 3-2)
In game five of this series Minnesota was 64 seconds away from taking the 3-2 series lead back home to Minnesota. Yet once again, last minute heroics forced overtime. P.A. Parenteau scored the tying goal, and in overtime rookie Nathan MacKinnon continued his impressive playoff performance when he scored the winning goal just 3:27 into the first overtime period. With the comeback victory Colorado now has the chance to close out the series tonight in Minnesota. They will be in tough, as the home team has won every game of this series thus far.
The Avalanche have been without Matt Duchene through the first five games of this series, but on Sunday Coach Patrick Roy hinted there was a possibility Duchene could be in the lineup for game six.
"We're going to be patient," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. "We're going to see how he feels after the morning skate. Then we'll make a decision." (Courtesy of nhl.com)
If Duchene can play, he will instantly give the Avs another scoring threat and a giant boost to team morale. It would alleviate some of the pressure on Nathan MacKinnon, and force Minnesota to spread out the usage of top defenseman Ryan Suter. Throughout this series Colorado has been dominated possession wise, yet strong goaltending has allowed them to put Minnesota on the brink of elimination. Through five games, Semyon Varlamov has a 93.2% save percentage, and has been a rock in net. The Avs have been outshot heavily throughout this series, but have benefited from having Vezina nominated Semyon Varlamov putting up a brick wall.
If Minnesota hopes to force a game seven, they will need a strong performance from goaltender Darcy Kuemper once again. Since coming in to replace Ilya Bryzgalov in this series, Kuemper has an astonishing 5-on-5 SV% of 96.1%. This number is incredible, and if the Wild were offering any offensive support, this series would already be over. But they haven’t, Zach Parise leads the way with six points in the first five games. Jason Pominville has been quiet offensively so far with just three assists and no goals. If there is going to be a game seven, Minnesota needs to find a way to bury their scoring opportunities. They have heavily outplayed Colorado in most aspects of this series, but without goals they cannot win. They will need to find a way to beat Varlamov if they hope to win tonight. Captain Mikko Koivu (SH% of 6.1%) and mid-season acquisition Matt Moulson (SH% of 2.4%) need to find a way to provide secondary scoring so that they can alleviate some of the pressure on Parise.
Information from NHL.com and extraskater.com are used in this article.