For those of you who know me, you know that I love hockey. So, Wednesday is basically Christmas for me: the start of the NHL Playoffs.
I know the Super Bowl is regarded as the greatest of the championship games in the four major sports and baseball and basketball are just more popular sports across the country, but, to me, there is no better overall playoff than the one for Lord Stanley’s Cup.
The excitement that comes game-in and game-out from the NHL playoffs is something to behold. The intensity shown on the ice and in the stands can be felt through your television, and if you have the pleasure to attend an NHL playoff game you know describing it doesn’t do it justice. The feeling of goosebumps during player introductions, the screaming silence in anticipation of a big play, the roaring of the crowd after a goal and the utter jubilation after a victory; there’s nothing else like it in all of sports. Even if you aren’t a big hockey fan, if you’re a sports fan you’ll appreciate the intensity of NHL playoff games.
This season, though, I feel like Christmas has come early. The past month of the season has felt like playoff hockey with all of the wild finishes and ways in which teams clinched births this season. The Calgary Flames defeated the Los Angeles Kings on April 9 to clinch their first spot in almost 10 years, and also eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champions from contention. In fact, there were plenty of crazy occurrences in the Western Conference this season. Usual suspects like the Kings and San Jose Sharks found themselves on the outside looking in and teams like the Flames and Winnipeg Jets, who earned their first bid since 1996-97, fighting for the Cup. Sure, the St. Louis Blues, Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks still made it, but there’s also the Minnesota Wild who rode goalie Devin Dubnyk’s hot streak since coming over from the Arizona Coyotes to get them back into playoff contention, and eventually clinch.
Although there weren’t many shocks in the Eastern Conference this season, with the Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings all making the playoffs, there was great parity in the top spot in the Metropolitan Division. At the beginning of the year, it looked like it was going to be a two-way battle between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders, but it was the New York Rangers who eventually took not only the division, but the best record in the NHL. The Rangers managed to put together an amazing stretch of games after being .500 after the first two months of the season and dealt with an injury to star goalie Henrik Lundqvist, which sidelined him for almost two months.
And, the eighth seed came down to the very last game of the season, mainly because of an incredible run by the Ottawa Senators. The Senators, led by rookies Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman and goaltender Andrew Hammond, ended the season as one of the hottest teams in the NHL, climbing back from 12 points out of a playoff spot at one point during the season to the seventh overall seed in the East. Hammond was a main reason for this, posting a 19-1-2 record, 1.82 GAA and .939 save percentage, while Stone (24 goals and 62 points) and Hoffman (27 goals and 48 points) provided the offensive spark necessary to back up the Hamburglar’s spectacular play. But, that meant that one team wouldn’t make the playoffs, and that team ended up being the Boston Bruins, who lost out to the Penguins, another struggling team down the stretch, in the final day of the regular season this past Saturday.
This year’s playoffs will feature red hot goaltenders looking to pull upsets on some of the best teams in the league all year, intense matchups between division rivals and old faces like the Bruins and Kings making way for the Flames and Jets. One thing that will certainly change is the Stanley Cup champion. So, who is it going to be? You’ll have to watch and find out.
