Stanley Cup Playoffs April 26 2018 Review
More history for Golden Knights with fifth straight win; Guentzel, Crosby lead Penguins to another comeback victory.
THURSDAY’S RESULTS
The Golden Knights and Penguins opened the Second Round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs with Game 1 victories. The winner of Game 1 in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoffs series holds an all-time series record of 465-210 (68.9%), including a 327-104 mark when those victories occur on home ice (75.9%) and a 138-106 clip as visitors (56.6%).
MORE HISTORY FOR GOLDEN KNIGHTS WITH FIFTH STRAIGHT WIN
Vegas erupted for seven goals, including four in a span of 7:12 during the first period, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 33 saves as the Golden Knights won Game 1 against the Sharks on the heels of a First Round sweep.
The Golden Knights became the first NHL team ever to win its first five postseason games. Elias notes that only one team from each of the MLB (Boston Braves: 5-0 from 1914-1948), NBA (Minneapolis Lakers: 7-0 in 1949) and NFL (Baltimore Ravens: 5-0 from 2000-2002) earned wins in each of its first five playoff contests. The Lakers were the only other franchise to accomplish the feat in their inaugural season.
Highlighted by three-point efforts from Jonathan Marchessault (1-2—3), William Karlsson (0-3—3) and Reilly Smith (0-3—3), the Golden Knights’ seven goals matched the total from their entire First Round series against the Kings, while nearly doubling the total allowed by the Sharks in their series against the Ducks (4 GA).
The Golden Knights became the third NHL franchise to score at least seven goals in a playoff game during its inaugural season. The Toronto Arenas did so during the first postseason in League history (Game 1 of 1918 NHL Final vs. MTL: 7-3 W) while the North Stars had two such outings against the Kings, another expansion club (Games 3 and 7 of 1968 Quarterfinals vs. LAK: 7-5 W and 9-4 W).
Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury recorded his 13th career postseason shutout and third of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He moved into a tie with Turk Broda for ninth place on the NHL’s all-time postseason shutouts list among goaltenders.
Fleury became the 14th goaltender in NHL history to record three shutouts through his team’s first five games of a playoff year and first since 2004, when Tampa Bay’s Nikolai Khabibulin and Toronto’s Ed Belfour did so.
Fleury owns a 5-0 record with a 0.54 goals-against average and .982 save percentage this postseason, marking his third win streak of at least five games within a playoff year. The others came with the Penguins en route to appearances in the Stanley Cup Final: 7-0 in 2008 and 5-0 in 2009.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
GUENTZEL, CROSBY LEAD PENGUINS TO ANOTHER COMEBACK WIN
The Penguins scored three goals in a span of 4:49 to erase a 2-0 deficit in the third period – with the trio of Jake Guentzel (1-2—3), Sidney Crosby (1-1—2) and Patric Hornqvist (1-1—2) combining for seven points – to win Game 1 in Washington.
Pittsburgh advanced to the Second Round with an 8-5 victory in their series-clinching game against the Flyers on Sunday, a game in which they trailed 4-2. This marks the first time in franchise history that the club has overcome a multi-goal deficit to win consecutive playoff games.
Jake Guentzel posted three points on the heels of his 4-1—5 outing in the decisive Game 6 against Philadelphia, extending his point streak to five contests (6-6—12) and boosting his totals to 7-9—16 in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs to lead all players.
This marks the 13th time in NHL history that a player has recorded 16+ points through his team’s first seven playoff games. Two Penguins players also achieved the feat – Mario Lemieux in 1992 (17 points) and Sidney Crosby in 2010 (16 points) – while Wayne Gretzky (4x), Darryl Sittler, Newsy Lalonde, Joe Mullen, Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier and Bernie Federko account for the other instances.
Guentzel has recorded 20-17—37 in 32 career playoff games. Only nine players in NHL history required fewer postseason games to record 20 career playoff goals.
Facing off in the postseason for the 20th time – and 13th time in the past three years – Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin each posted 1-1—2 to boost their head-to-head postseason totals to 11-13—24 and 13-15—28, respectively.
Crosby ranks second in the NHL with 7-8—15 this postseason aided by five multi-point outings. He recorded his 61st career multi-point playoff game to pass Jari Kurri (60) for the third-most in NHL history, trailing only Wayne Gretzky (108) and Mark Messier (77).
Crosby and Jake Guentzel have each already accumulated half the points of what the scoring leader finished with during the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Evgeni Malkin led all players with 10-18—28 in 25 games.
Ovechkin (52-48—100) became the 94th player in Stanley Cup Playoffs history – and ninth active NHL player – to record 100 career playoff points and the first do so all with the Capitals. He also recorded his 48th career playoff assist to surpass Dale Hunter (47) for sole possession of second place on the franchise’s all-time list behind teammate Nicklas Backstrom (55).
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Stanley Cup schedule Friday Apr 27 2018
JETS, PREDATORS MEET ON THE HEELS OF SERIES-CLINCHING SHUTOUTS
Backed by two of the most passionate fanbases in the NHL, the Jets and Predators will meet in the Second Round after both posting series-clinching shutouts to conclude the First Round.
After finishing first and second overall, respectively, in the regular season, Nashville and Winnipeg both continue their quest for their first Stanley Cup.
Though they are each backed in net by a Vezina Trophy finalist – Pekka Rinne for the Predators and Connor Hellebuyck for the Jets – the teams combined for 42 goals in their five meetings in 2017-18 (8.4 goals per game), with Nashville (3-1-1) earning the edge over Winnipeg (2-3-0).
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Matchup |
Time |
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Winnipeg@ Nashville |
8:00 PM ET |
TED LINDSAY FINALISTS ANNOUNCED
Hall, MacKinnon, McDavid in running for NHL’s most outstanding player as voted by NHLPA
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, New Jersey Devils forward Taylor Hall, and Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon on Thursday were named finalists for the Ted Lindsay Award, the Ted Lindsay Award is given each year to the most outstanding player in the NHL as voted by members of the NHL Players’ Association. The winner will be announced at the 2018 NHL Awards presented by Hulu at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on June 20.