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Capitals, Jets, Stars, and Kings are victorious

Capitals 3 – Canadiens 2 (OT) (Series 1-0 Capitals) Captain Ovechkin has set personal records aside and has come to make a serious run at the Cup if game one is any indicator as the #1 NHL Leader in Goals Scored has come to play, earning 2G & 1A with his second goal in overtime additionally the only player to throw seven hits in the game as the Captain single handily saved his team after the Capitals lost the dreaded two goal lead.

Jets 2 – Blues 1 (Series 2-0 Jets) Winnepeg gets past St. Louis in an entertaining, physical game with spectacular goaltending with Blues rookie RW Jimmy Snuggerud the son of former Sabres LW/C Dave Snuggerud scoring his first playoff goal.

Stars 4 – Avalanche 3 (OT) (Series tied 1-1) Journeyman Center Colin Blackwell scored in his first playoff game for Dallas during overtime to help his team achieve the split before heading to Colorado.

Kings 6 – Oilers 5 (Series 1-0 Kings) After falling behind 5-2 the Oilers scored three times in the third period, twice they pulled the goaltender resulting in two goals to tie the game at five apiece with 88 seconds remaining in the game, unfortunately for Edmonton the Kings responded quickly and scored with 42 seconds left for the win and series lead.

Tonight’s Matchups

New Jersey at Carolina (Series 1-0 Hurricanes)

Ottawa at Toronto (Series 1-0 Maple Leafs)

Florida at Tampa Bay (Series 0-0 Game One)

Minnesota at Nevada (Series 1-0 Knights)

‘Canes, Leafs, and Knights begin with a win

Leafs 6 – Senators 2 Watching Toronto RW Marner score on a breakaway and then watching Ottawa Captain LW Tkachuk not score on a breakaway, sums up how the whole game played out.

No penalties in the first period, only seven penalties (former Sabres C Dylan Cozens earned a misconduct penalty) whistled with three of them coming with just three seconds remaining in the second period, then bedlam…17 penalties awarded in the third period, 12 of them with 44 seconds remaining in the game.

Just when fans thought it was over, Toronto RW Holmberg was mauled by Ottawa Defenseman Jensen at the end of the game that earned the Senators’ player a roughing penalty with no time remaining on the clock.

Hurricanes 4 – Devils 1 New Jersey Goaltender Markstrom played solidly posting a .932% save percentage while allowing three goals on 44 shots, but no offense (supposedly because Center Hughes is out), meanwhile Carolina launched 45 SOG with 38 of them coming in the first two periods building a 3-1 lead after the second period before their empty net goal near the end of the third period.

Knights 4 – Wild 2 Overlooked Center Howden who quietly scored over 20 goals this season for Nevada scored his first two goals of the playoffs to help his team win game one, this is the one series prognosticated to be a sweep mainly because of Minnesota’s regular season double digit negative goal differential.

Tonight’s Matchups

Montreal vs Washington GM 1

Edmonton vs Los Angeles GM 1

St Louis vs Winnipeg GM 2

Colorado vs Dallas GM 2

Winnipeg and Colorado Win

Jets 5 – Blues 3 (en) In Manitoba you do not attend a game in Winnipeg unless you are wearing white, and no other NHL fans/arenas come close to matching the “white out” at The Peg.

St. Louis took the lead twice, tied the game twice before Winnipeg outshot the Blues 9-2 in the third period as well as scoring three times with one empty netter to capture the home win.

Winnipeg and St. Louis in the last 19 seconds of the game earned 10 Misconduct penalties, five for each team in a game where the Blues laid 53 hits on Jets players, this series has become physical fast.

Avalanche 5 – Stars 1 (en) Dallas hosting Colorado came down to the goaltenders, one with plenty of playoff experience and the other not a single post season game, and in his first playoff start Colorado Goaltender Blackwood stood tall and earned the game one victory.

Both teams took 24 SOG, both teams scored on the power play, faceoffs nearly even, the Stars killed off an Avalanche two-man advantage, Colorado scored an empty net tally before scoring their fifth goal, and the first goal of the game was not scored until halfway through the game.

Buffalo Sabres earn a 3-1 Stanley Cup Quarter Finals series lead

Sabres 6 – Blackhawks 2 After dropping game three during overtime in Chicago, the Sabres fell behind 1-0 after the first period of game two and the Blackhawks backstopped by goaltender Tony Esposito and led by Cup Champion Center Stan Makita and tough guy Defenseman Captain Keith Magnuson the ‘Hawks were feeling confident.

Just 30 seconds into the second period however Captain Schoenfeld passes to LW Spinner Spencer whose sweet feed to Center Peter McNab who scored his first of the playoffs to tie the game at one.

For the rest of the second period Buffalo earned seven of their nine overall penalties as Referee Newell did his best to aid Chicago, one example was when he gave Sabres Defenseman King Kong Korab a roughing and misconduct penalty and a paltry high-sticking penalty for the Blackhawks player involved.

The Sabres scored even quicker to start the third period as Center McNab earns a primary assist on Center Jim Lorentz’s first goal of the playoffs this time only 17 seconds into the third period for the 2-1 lead.

Chicago earned one of their five penalties for the game 14 seconds after Buffalo scored giving the French Connection their turn as LW Rick Martin scores his third of the playoffs during the powerplay and four minutes later the French Connection scores again for the 4-1 lead.

The Blackhawks got one back, but Buffalo answered with two more goals while out shooting Chicago 16 – 5 in the third period, RW Danny Gare (3) and again the French Connection on the powerplay with five minutes remaining built a commanding 6-2 lead and final score.

Presidents’ Trophy & O’Brien Cup 2024/25 Champions

Winnipeg, Manitoba The Winnipeg Jets have earned the top spot in the NHL this season and are endeavoring to play past the early rounds of the playoffs for the first time in over 20 seasons.

Former Buffalo Sabres former Left Wing from the late 1980s and Assistant Coach in the early 2000’s, Scot Arniel has earned his position as Head Coach evidenced by the best regular season record in this franchise’s history in his first season as Head Coach of the Winnipeg Jets.

Much ado is made of the fact that the Jets goaltender plays spectacularly in the regular season but not so much in the playoffs as the Jets exited the playoffs in the first round the past two years ultimately costing Winnepeg’s HC Bowness his job.

Winnipeg appears poised and ready to make a deep run into this season’s playoffs if not capturing the Cup itself, I am confident the Jets can win it all this year, but there are a few other teams that I have considered just as capable in their abilities to win the Cup.

Six o’clock tonight the 2024/25 Stanley Cup playoffs begin with two games, the Presidents’ Trophy winners Winnipeg Jets versus the Western Conference second wild card seeded St. Louis Blues.

In the second game tonight at 8:30 pm, the Dallas Stars host the Colorado Avalanche in a Western Division rivalry between two teams that are closely matched record wise as the Stars and Avalanche curiously have identical 277 goals scored total this season.