The clock struck midnight about three hours early at the Pepsi Center last night as the defending Western Conference Champion Nashville Predators finally showed up for a complete 60-minute game in their 5-0 blowout of the upstart Colorado Avalanche. The game six win captured their first round series and catapulted the Preds into the next round for a matchup everyone knew was coming… but before we get to that…
Let’s give the Colorado Avalanche a lot of credit. They arrived in this series. This team needs a little more depth on defense and a second scoring line… get that and they could be there again next year. Nathan MacKinnon has shown himself to be “the man” in Colorado, now they need the role players to surround him.
They have coaching, Jared Bednar did an outstanding job behind the bench… he managed to scheme well against Nashville, almost completely shutting down the blueline offensively. He just didn’t have the necessary weapons to shut down all three scoring lines as the Bonino/Watson/Sissons line was on fire and the JoFA line was doing JoFA things all series. The only line they were effective at shutting down was the FiST line. Expect Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice to be studying those tapes to see how Bednar did it.
Dealing with a little adversity in the first round could be a very good thing for Nashville. It’s a good way to harden the team for when it happens again. The Predators struggled a bit in the first few games, bad starts, inconsistent play, horrid defense… Let’s talk about the blueline…
It seems to be hip to crap all over PK Subban right now after an ill-advised pinch in game five… but let’s face it. This blueline was not good in round one. Too loose with the puck, some bad positioning, off-target breakouts, turnovers and frankly… play that was not up to playoff level... and that applies to every defenseman on the team. Game six featured Predators defense from the top defensive squad in the league… that play needs to stay.
Pekka Rinne’s play went from acceptable to outstanding as the series progressed. Rinne was there for the big save most of the series, but game six was vintage Pekka. Calm and controlled between the pipes, keeping his emotions in check and completely frustrating Colorado’s top line.
Offensively, the FiST line seems to need to get on track. This line did not have their best series but in a clear example of the depth of this team… the third line had their back. The Bonino/Sissons/Watson line was outstanding through the length of the series. They came up big time and time again… I thought it fascinating seeing the comments from the Denver media talking about how the Av’s did a poor job against the third line… ummm… the Av’s didn’t have the horses to defend the third line. Stop one line against Nashville and there are two others that can kill you…
Nashville gets a couple of days to rest up as the East finishes their series… they could be done as early as tonight… unless both home teams hold serve, which would send both to a Game 7 on Wednesday. We will break down Round Two over the next few blogs and SlapShot Radio will have a full preview on Wednesday night at 7pm.
Until then, enjoy this one Pred Nation… because round two is going to be epic.
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The West is set… the East still has two series to decide, both could be tonight.
Eastern Conference
Tampa Bay Lightning vs New Jersey Devils – TBL wins 4-1
Washington Capitals vs. Columbus Blue Jackets – WSH leads 3-2 – Game six is tonight
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Philadelphia Flyers – PIT wins 4-2
Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs – BOS leads 3-2 – Game six is tonight
Western Conference
Nashville Predators vs. Colorado Avalanche – NSH wins 4-2
Vegas Golden Knights vs. Los Angeles Kings – VGK wins 4-0
Winnipeg Jets vs. Minnesota Wild – WPG wins 4-1
Anaheim Ducks vs San Jose Sharks – SJS wins 4-0
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Random Notes
- When does the second round start? Who knows… it really depends on what happens tonight. I would expect schedules to be announced tomorrow no matter what happens tonight.
- Best guess for the Nashville/Winnipeg series to get going is Thursday…
- Queue the inevitable media complaining about the second round matchup with the Jets and Preds… “waaaah, it’s too early” … “whimper… this should be the conference final…” waaah… Oh please… this series is going to be a blast, no matter when it is played.
- The beauty of these conference series is the intra-divisional hatred it breeds. There is now a real rivalry between Nashville and Colorado now… and the Winnipeg/Nashville one will just grow with this matchup.
- The Washington Capitals have turned their fortunes and can take their series tonight after dropping the first two games… which would leave Columbus as the only NHL team that still hasn’t won a playoff series.
- Boston invades the ACC tonight for a game six showdown with the pesky Maple Leafs.
- Hope you have two TV’s or picture in picture as both games tonight will be played in the same timeframe. TOR/BOS starting at 6pm central, WSH/CBJ starting at 6:30pm CDT.
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