NHL Playoffs: #StormSurge becoming #BattleOfWinterfell
Published on April 28, 2019
- Curtis McElhinney stepped in and played hero. Could he be the Steve Pearce of the NHL?
- Reality is harsh. The Canes have scored four goals in two games. Three into the Isles' net and one into their own. The Isles need to pick things up or they won't get back to home ice. The #BattleOfWinterfell is upon them. Or in non-Game of Thrones talk, a flat-out slaughter.
- Can you say bulletin board material? "We're not going to put excuses on hitting posts and bars, but the reality is we were the better team. They just scored one more than us." @NYIslanders @RobinLehner. I did say #BattleOfWinter, remember.
- El Nino usually comes off the Pacific, but Sunday it came off the Hudson River. Niederreiter's hand-eye on that tip -- while he was falling, no less -- oozed talent. The kind of talent the Minnesota Wild could use. Oh right -- that trade.
- I was prepared to release Roope Hintz this summer. Not now. He's second only to Jamie Benn in team scoring with seven points. And tied for the lead in goals (four) with Alexander Radulov. A homegrown second-line pivot. Go figure.
- Hintz's pass through the defender's legs to Miro Heiskanen was special. Heiskanen's deke of Jordan Binnington? Damn special -- not just the move, but the maturity and presence of mind to jump up into the play. At just 19.
- Jarmo Kekäläinen's big gamble sure is paying off. Keeping Bob the Goalie and the Bread Man. And bringing in Matt Duchene, who looked like a dud until the playoffs. That winning goal at close to 1 a.m. Eastern Sunday morning was worth staying up for.
- Clutterbucked has replaced Kronwalled. That makes his knee or ankle injury a massive loss. If you didn't notice, he needed help to the dressing room at the end of the game.
- Back to McElhinney. To think the Leafs' kept Garret Sparks and not him. One keeps coming up big. The other is a big flop, at least so far.
- Let you in on a little secret. I have both Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson on a big dynasty team. And Cale Makar on the minor/feeder squad. The team name? More Orr Please. Fitting, eh?!
