(WGR 550) – It usually doesn’t work out this way in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but eight of the top-nine teams in the regular season advanced to Round 2.
Only the fourth-ranked Winnipeg Jets lost in the first round, as they were eliminated in five games by the Colorado Avalanche.
The second round started on Sunday before the first round ended, as the top-seeded New York Rangers took a 1-0 lead in their series with the third-ranked Carolina Hurricanes in a 4-3 win.
After that game was over, the Dallas Stars took out the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights in a Game 7.
On Monday, the fifth-seeded Florida Panthers will host the seventh-ranked Boston Bruins. Boston had a 3-1 series lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs, but in the end, it was seven tough games that ended on Saturday.
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Boston was in danger of losing a 3-1 first round lead for the second-straight year, but figured it out in a Game 7 overtime. The Panthers were the team that came back from 3-1 down to beat the Bruins last year.
This is the third time these two teams will meet in the playoffs. Florida won the other series in 1996 too, taking the Bruins in five games.
Boston went 4-0-0 against Florida this season. Three of the four wins were by one goal. Since two of the wins were in overtime, the Panthers were 0-2-2 against the Bruins.
The Bruins are averaging 2.57 goals per-game in this year’s playoffs, but the main reason they’re in the second round is goalie Jeremy Swayman.
Boston leads the playoff in team defense, averaging 1.71 goals-against per-game. Swayman is 4-2 with a 1.49 goals-against average and a .950 save percentage. In his playoff career, he’s 7-6 with a 2.17 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage.
Swayman and Linus Ullmark pretty much alternated during the regular season, as Swayman played 44 games and Ullmark played 40. They tried that in the first two games against Toronto, but just like last year’s playoffs, Ullmark didn’t look good and Swayman played the rest of the series.
Ullmark wasn’t up for the playoffs when he was with the Rochester Americans, and he definitely hasn’t been up for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Boston, going 3-6 with a 3.49 goals-against average and an .890 save percentage.
The Bruins' power play also helped them beat the Leafs, as they’re fourth at 35.3%. Their penalty killing is second at 95.2%.
Their only consistent performer has been captain Brad Marchand, as he has eight points in seven games.
Boston had a great start to the season, going 9-0-1. However, it wasn’t good enough to stay in front of Florida in the Atlantic Division.
Like Ullmark, Sergei Bobrovsky was usually not very good in the playoffs. But when he finally got into the net in last year's first round series against Boston, he never gave it up.
Over the last two seasons, Bobrovsky is 16-7 in the playoffs, with an excellent .915 save percentage last year. He helped carry the Panthers to an Eastern Conference championship and an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.
This year, his save percentage in the first series against the Tampa Bay Lightning was .896, but that’s because he had one bad game where he gave up six goals. In three of the games, he gave up two goals twice and one goal in the other.
The Panthers have gotten huge contributions from Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk. Both are fourth in league scoring with nine points in the postseason. Verhaeghe is third in the NHL with five goals.
Tkachuk had 62 assists in the regular season.
Sam Reinhart had a career-high 57 goals in the regular season, and had three in five games against the Lightning.
Reinhart isn’t the only former Sabres player with Florida, as they also have Evan Rodrigues, Brandon Montour, Kyle Okposo, Dmitry Kulikov and Rasmus Asplund.
Florida is third in league scoring, averaging four goals per-game this playoffs.
The flashy players the Panthers have are the ones that get talked about a lot, but their best player tends to fly under the radar.
Captain Aleksander Barkov will likely win his second Selke Trophy, and is the guy they count on heavily in all situations. In the regular season, Barkov had 23 goals and 57 assists for 80 points in 73 games.
In this year’s playoffs, Barkov has five points in five games.
It’s not that Barkov can’t score 30 goals, because he has twice in his career, scoring 39 and 35. However, he is concentrating on other ways to drive your team crazy.
You want to know the definition of being hard to play against, it’s Barkov.
Florida hasn’t played a game since April 29. Teams that have been off that long can be rusty. Just ask the Rangers, who won on Sunday, but weren’t themselves. The Rangers hadn’t played since April 28.
I think there’s more of a chance the Bruins could be sluggish after such a hard-fought series with Toronto. It’s only been two days, so that’s good for not being rusty, but it took everything and an overtime to finally beat the Leafs.
Boston is looking for revenge, but I think Florida is just too good in the end.
