Fourteen days until the NHL Draft Lottery when we’ll all find out where Connor Bedard will be playing next season. Let’s watch some playoff hockey until then.
Scroll down to the comments to discuss Monday night’s Stanley Cup Playoff games!
Here’s the slate for this evening (all times CT):
Eastern Conference
New Jersey Devils at New York Rangers, 6 p.m. (ESPN)
With the Devils up against it Coach Lindy Ruff made a goalie change for Game Three and it paid off big time when Akira Schmid shut the door on the Rangers and got New Jersey a critical win. The Devils still need more scoring from their outstanding group of young forwards if they’re going to get back into the series after falling behind two games to none.
Toronto Maple Leafs at Tampa Bay Lightning, 6:30 p.m. (TBS)
The Leafs are ahead two games to one after a dramatic overtime victory on Saturday night that featured plenty of after whistle antics throughout – including Tampa forward Steven Stamkos dragging Toronto’s Auston Matthews into a fight (I appreciate the thoughtful way Maple Leafs’ Coach Sheldon Keefe broke down the gamesmanship involved in Stamkos’ actions, and no I never thought I would use the terms ‘Sheldon Keefe’ and ‘thoughtful’ in the same sentence either). Someone who probably needs to find a bit more fight? Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy is currently rocking a .853 save percentage and looks like a mere mortal compared to what we usually see from him in the playoffs.
Western Conference
Vegas Golden Knights at Winnipeg Jets, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)
The Jets were already in trouble before losing defenseman Josh Morrissey for the rest of the series thanks to a knee-on-knee collision in Game Three. Not only was Morrissey their ice time leader and top powerplay quarterback, but also Winnipeg’s second leading scorer this season after a career year where he put up 76 points (16 G, 60A).
Colorado Avalanche at Seattle Kraken, 9 p.m. (TBS)
Seattle has to figure out a way to stop Avalanche forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. Colorado’s depth was already depleted after the news that Gabriel Landeskog would miss the entire playoffs, and now they’ve been stretched even thinner after word came down that Valeri Nichushkin had to leave the team for personal reasons with apparently no timetable whatsoever as a return.