Let’s watch some playoff hockey!
Scroll down to the comments to discuss Thursday night’s games.
Eastern Conference
Flordia Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs 6 p.m. CT (TNT)
Florida leads the series 1-0
The Matthew Tkachuk and Brandon Montour Show continued on Tuesday night, with Montour scoring another goal (his six goals are twice as many as any other defenseman in the playoffs) and Tkachuk dishing out three more assists (he has nine so far) in Florida’s Game One win in Toronto. The Maple Leafs looked lost and lethargic for most of the game (perhaps they’re confused as to what to do in the second round) until they finally appeared to wake up after pulling goalie Ilya Samsonov late. Toronto is 1-3 at home at Scotiabank Arena so far in the playoffs, and they’re going to need to start playing much better on Bay Street unless they’re content to be one and done. The Leafs might also want to keep an eye on Carter Verhaeghe, as he’s scored the game-winning goal in the last two games straight. The Panthers are absolutely playing with house money at this point; they look fast and loose and their forecheck is relentless.
Western Conference
Seattle Kraken at Dallas Stars 8:30 p.m. CT (TNT)
Seattle leads the series 1-0
Quick, who is the best player on the Kraken? Trick question, there isn’t one (although it will probably eventually be Matty Beniers, fresh off his Calder Trophy nomination). Seattle continues to win with its “flinging spaghetti against the wall” approach of having a wealth of above average forwards that are speedy and annoying. Dallas looked a step slow to start Game One, perhaps they were a little too used to a top heavy Minnesota team that tried to attack them more physically, but picked up the pace as the game went on. Joe Pavelski returned to the Stars lineup with a vengeance, becoming the oldest player in league history to score four goals in an NHL playoff game (to which Leon Draisatl said, “hold my beer” – but not for the being old part). Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger got off to an uncharacteristically bad start in the first game of the series, so look for him to rebound at home tonight.