Playoffs continue in NHL, PWHL
Columnist offers picks on NHL conference finals
Entering May 20, the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs have reached the conference final in the East while the West had still to be decided.
The New York Rangers will face off against the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference. It's the second time in three years the Rangers have reached this level, and the second straight year for the Panthers.
Both teams possess former Vezina Trophy-winning goaltenders with the Rangers backstopped by Igor Shesterkin and the Panthers by Sergei Bobrovsky. Their respective defence corps are solid, with the Rangers led by former Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox and the Panthers by Aaron Ekblad.
The two clubs also carry plenty of scorers. Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad lead the way for the Rangers while the Panthers are powered by Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart. They're evenly matched in goals-pergame with the Panthers averaging 3.55 and the Rangers 3.50.
Physical play could make the difference in this series. The Panthers ground down the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins to reach the conference finals, sitting second among all playoff clubs with 521 hits. The Rangers are eighth in that category with 315 but they're ahead of the Panthers in blocked shots (209-163).
Both teams should match up well in what is expected to be an entertaining, closely contested series. However, the Panthers' physicality will give them the edge though it will take them the full seven games to eliminate the Rangers.
Meanwhile, the Dallas Stars eliminated the Colorado Avalanche in six games to reach the Western Conference final. They await the winner of the Edmonton Oilers-vancouver Canucks’ series.
Whoever comes out of that series faces the daunting challenge of defeating the Stars. They are the best-balanced team in this post-season thus far.
Dallas has a solid mix of established veterans like Joe Pavelski, Tyler Seguin and team captain Jamie Benn and young stars like Miro Heiskanen, Wyatt Johnston, and Jason Robertson. Nine of their 16 players who've scored in his post-season have at least two goals.
Defensively, the Stars have given up the fewest goals-against per game (2.38) among the finalists thanks to their stingy defence and the goaltending of Jake Oettinger. They're strong on the power play and in the faceoff circle.
As of this writing, the only certainty about Dallas' next opponent is they will be a Canadian team. Whoever it is will find that their roster depth falls short compared to the Stars, who will take the Western Conference final in six games.
PWHL NOTEBOOK
The first post-season of the Professional Women's Hockey League featured two
big upsets in the semifinal round.
Boston squeaked into the playoffs but shocked Montreal with a three-game sweep of their best-of-five series, despite being outplayed in two of those contests. Aerin Frankel was the hero for Boston, giving up just four goals in those three games.
Strong goaltending was also a factor in Minnesota's stunning upset of heavilyfavoured Toronto in a series that went the full five games.
Minnesota barely qualified after dropping their last five regular-season games and fell behind Toronto 2-0.
However, netminder Maddie Rooney stole two wins for Minnesota, setting the stage for Taylor Heise's two-goal performance during its 4-1 victory in the fifth and deciding game.
Toronto captain Blayre Turnbull was her team's leading goal-scorer in this postseason. From Stellarton, N.S., Turnbull led all Maritime skaters with two goals.
Boston and Minnesota faced off on May 19 in the inaugural best-of-five Walter Cup final with Boston taking Game 1 by a score of 4-3.
Frankel made 30 saves while Jess Healey's tie-breaker in the second proved to be the game-winner.
Lyle Richardson is a freelance writer with The Hockey News and Bleacher Report and runs the website Spector's Hockey. His column will appear in The Guardian through the NHL season.