With the sprint for Olympic gold over, the marathon run for the Stanley Cup begins this week with the opening round of the National Hockey League playoffs.
While the Sochi Games was a two-week gold rush, the quest for the Stanley Cup is an ultimate test of endurance, requiring the eventual champions to persevere through four best-of-seven series before lifting the NHL’s top prize.
The first round gets underway tonight in what will be as much a battle of survival as a sporting contest for the 16 teams that qualified after an 82-game regular season.
Such is the ferocity of the post-season that Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron played through torn rib cartilage, a broken rib, a separated right shoulder and a punctured lung in last year’s final against the Chicago Blackhawks before spending three days in a hospital.
Still stinging from last season’s loss, the Bruins are back in the playoffs, this time as the NHL’s most complete team and with the added benefit of home-ice advantage in each series they play after finishing first overall during the regular season.
No team knows more about the post-season grind than Boston’s first-round opponent, the Detroit Red Wings, who are back in the playoffs for a remarkable 23rd consecutive year after sneaking in as the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card.
The Bruins and Red Wings, two of the NHL’s Original Six franchises, will clash in the playoffs for the first time since 1957 when their series opens on Friday.
“We’re team oriented,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. “We focus on the big goal and what it takes to get there and our guys have bought into that.”
Swept from the East final last year by Boston, the Metropolitan Division champion Pittsburgh Penguins are looking for a measure of revenge as they launch their Cup bid against a Columbus Blue Jackets team competing in only their second playoffs.
Once again, Pittsburgh will be led by captain Sidney Crosby, who finished the regular season as the NHL’s leading scorer.
Canadian attention will be fixed on the Montreal Canadiens, who will carry the hopes of a nation into the playoffs and try to bring the Stanley Cup to its spiritual home for the first time since 1993, when they won their record 24th championship.
The Canadiens open tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have sniper Steven Stamkos back at full fitness after missing a large chunk of the season with a broken leg.
The other East matchup is a mouth-watering one between the New York Rangers and archrival Philadelphia Flyers.
The Anaheim Ducks took the top seed in the Western Conference and will open against a Dallas Stars team returning to the post-season for the first time since 2008.
Anaheim are led by Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, who finished in second and fifth, respectively, in league scoring and have plenty of depth and experience with evergreen forward Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu and gritty Dustin Penner.
The speedy Stars can counter with young talents Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, but will need something special from netminder Kari Lehtonen if they are to pull off a first-round shocker.
The Colorado Avalanche have been one of the season’s big surprises, going from 29th place last year to taking top spot in the Central Division, earning them a first-round meeting with the Minnesota Wild.
First year head coach and former Colorado goaltending great Patrick Roy is sure to be a contender for NHL coach of the year honors, while Semyon Varlamov has been one of the NHL’s best netminders and could be in line for a Vezina Trophy nomination at the league’s top goalie.
The West’s two other matchups are also intriguing with the Blackhawks opening defense of their Stanley Cup crown against the fading St Louis Blues and the San Jose Sharks taking on the rival Los Angeles Kings in an all-California series.
The old saying goes that defense wins titles and the Kings have the best defense in the league and a playoff tested netminder in Jonathan Quick.
The Sharks have reached the playoffs 10 consecutive seasons, including three trips to the conference finals, but have never been able to get over the hump and get to the Cup finals.
The Blackhawks received good news on Monday that captain Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are both expected back in the lineup for tomorrow’s Game 1 against the injury-ravaged Blues, who enter the post-season mired in six-game losing skid.
IN-HOUSE BUSINESS: LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said that the reason for the team’s poor form was not due to Paul, but the player was not a good fit for them Chris Paul’s return stint with the Los Angeles Clippers has come to an abrupt and stunning end, with the franchise parting ways with one of its greatest players in a late-night meeting on Wednesday that adds another layer of drama to the team’s terrible start this season. The news was delivered in a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, that ended at about 2am, Clippers basketball operations president Lawrence Frank said. Frank said he made the decision to sever ties with Paul on Sunday then told the franchise’s career assist leader that he needed to see him on Tuesday in Atlanta. Frank did not confirm
SEESAW CONTEST: The Pistons remain top of the Eastern Conference after battling to a win over the Hawks in a game that saw the lead change 27 times The Phoenix Suns on Monday shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road. Booker exited in the first quarter, but the loss of the star point guard did little to halt the flow of Phoenix points over the remainder of the game. Dillon Brooks led the Phoenix scoring with 33 points, while Collin Gillespie added 28 — including eight three-pointers — as the Suns romped to victory. The Lakers were left ruing a colossal 22 turnovers — at a cost of 32 Suns points — on a
Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday scored twice and had an assist as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to end a three-match winless streak in La Liga. Eduardo Camavinga also found the net for Madrid as they moved back within one point of Barcelona, who beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 on Tuesday. Both 19th-round matches were moved forward because Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Club and Atletico Madrid are to play in the Supercopa de Espana semi-finals in Saudi Arabia next month. Real Madrid were coming off league draws against Girona, Elche and Rayo Vallecano. It was their second win in their past six matches in
PINA BRACE: Claudia Pina scored in the 61st and 74th minutes, while Vicky Lopez added one as Spain notched their third victory in a final in the past four tournaments Claudia Pina scored twice and Germany crumbled on Tuesday as Spain retained the UEFA Women’s Nations League title with a 3-0 victory in the final’s second leg. Vicky Lopez also scored after Pina finally broke the deadlock in the 61st minute with Germany stubbornly hanging on as Spain had done in the first leg, a 0-0 draw in Kaiserslautern on Friday. Spain were without three-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati, who broke her leg in training on Sunday. Lopez took Bonmati’s place and Spain dominated from the start. Esther Gonzalez swept the ball just past the post and Mariona Caldentey forced a save
RSS