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2014 Stanley Cup playoffs

Nine Reflections On The 2014 NHL Playoffs

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We’ve had a week without hockey, which somehow doesn’t seem right in the middle of June. It was last Friday night in the Staples Center that the Los Angeles Kings won a double-overtime Game 5 over the New York Rangers and the Kings secured their second Stanley Cup in three years. Here’s nine closing thoughts, covering both the Stanley Cup Finals, and the 2014 NHL playoffs as a whole.

*I know it sounds cliché, but the Los Angeles run was really a tribute to the value of having championship players. The Kings weren’t the best team in the season—third in the Pacific Division and fifth in the Western Conference and they often didn’t even look like the best team in the postseason.

But between Drew Doughty, Marian Gaborik, Jeff Carter, Anze Kopitar and Jonathan Quick in net, they had a group of players that just refused to roll over. The character and strength of this team to simply keep playing hockey in the face of adversity was their greatest attribute, and it’s why they managed to win three Finals games that they trailed in by two goals.

*When it was announced that Justin Williams had won the Conn Smythe Award as MVP of the entire postseason, my initial reaction was negative. I felt like Doughty or Kopitar would have been better choices, and that Williams’ reputation as “Mr. Game 7” was overriding common sense. But a review of the statistical data said that it was my initial reaction, not the vote, that was wrong.

2014 NH LPlayoffsWilliams scored nine goals and had 16 assists. Kopitar had more total points, thanks to 21 assists. Carter’s 10/15 line was a little bit better. But Williams was close enough to his teammates in terms of bottom line production, and when you then add in his ability to come up with the big goal in big games, it justifies a vote for the Conn Smythe.

*Jonathan Quick was shaky during the regular season and he often needed his teammates to bail him out, notably in the Western Conference Finals against the Chicago Blackhawks. But the Los Angeles goaltender was at his best in the Stanley Cup Finals. His save percentage, at 91 percent in the regular season and lower than that for three playoff rounds, jumped to 93 percent for the Finals.

Two percentage points is a big deal for hockey goalies, and Quick’s 136 saves on 146 shots over five games don’t tell the story of how many spectacular saves he made in late game and overtime situations. Quick’s performance proved the adage that you can’t give great athletes repeated chances. Eventually they’ll show you greatness and Quick finally did in the Stanley Cup Finals.

*I was one of the Henrik Lundqvist critics when the playoffs began, believing the New York Rangers goalie would consistently let his team down in big situations. Even though they didn’t win a championship and let a trio of 2-0 leads get away, as far as I’m concerned Lundqvist vindicated himself.

He carried New York to the Eastern Conference title and those lost leads in the Finals don’t reveal how many outstanding saves the Ranger netminder had to make. Nor do they show they would have hung on in Game 2 had the Kings not gotten away with an outrageously obvious goalie interference on a third-period goal that set the stage for overtime.

*Kudos to Ryan McDonagh. The New York defenseman was stellar in these playoffs. He led his team in points with 17, and was their best player in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Montreal Canadiens.

*Looking out over the rest of the Eastern Conference postseason, this Boston Bruins fan is still having a hard time digesting the B’s seven-game loss to Montreal in the second round. Yes, some bad luck went against Boston, as their goals repeatedly hit the pipes. But the Bruin talent advantage was sufficient to win even without breaks. The problem was that Montreal just seemed to play much more intelligent hockey, and their defenseman P.K. Subban clearly has the number of Boston’s great goalie Tuuka Raask. Subban’s conversion on power play situations, with his laser shot from deep, was starting to remind me of a basketball shooter, in that it seemed like he was hitting about 50 percent.

*The Pittsburgh Penguins disappointed again, and with a city in fury, had little choice but to clean house, going for a new general manager and a new coach. Unless they make it a trifecta and go for a new goalie to replace Marc-Andre Fleury, they’ll be doing this same song and dance not spring.

Fleury didn’t play terribly this spring, but he’s shown himself capable of such depths. And more important, he’s not a goalie who can carry his team for at least one series, which usually needs to happen in a Stanley Cup run. Lundqvist can do that, as can Raask. Not coincidentally, those are the teams that knocked Pittsburgh out the last two years.

*I am absolutely and completely convinced that the ghost of Marty Schottenheimer is lurking over the St. Louis Blues and/or the San Jose Sharks. Well, actually Marty isn’t dead, but the former NFL coach was renowned for producing solid, well-disciplined teams that just didn’t win in the playoffs. Whether it was his fault or just a reality that his teams overachieved to begin with is a subject for debate, and I feel like that’s exactly what we’re dealing with when it comes to the Blues and Sharks.

St. Louis had Chicago down 2-0 and lost. San Jose had Los Angeles down 3-0 and lost. Do we blame the Blues and Sharks for losing, or just say they played over their heads to have strong regular seasons and get early playoff series leads against superior teams? Or is the answer some mix of both?

*The Chicago Blackhawks can do a lot of analysis over why their bid for a repeat Stanley Cup came up short in overtime of Game 7 against Los Angeles. But some of it is probably just the luck of hockey. The Blackhawks went to a Game 7 with the Detroit Red Wings last year. They went to six games in the Stanley Cup Finals against Boston, a series with so much overtime that it felt like seven.

Chicago was the best team last year and might have been this year, but there weren’t so far ahead of the field that they were above the fate that comes with the bounce of the puck. I know it’s a tough loss for Blackhawk fans—had they won a second straight Cup and third in five years, we could have used the “D” word—dynasty. That’s off the table for the time being, but they’re still the most talented team in hockey and posted as the 15-2 favorite to win it again next year.

Jeff Carter Awakens For The Los Angeles Kings

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The first two games of the Western Conference Finals in these Stanley Cup playoffs have convinced me that all that’s necessary for a great player to turn his game around is for me to criticize him publicly. First it was New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Now it’s Los Angeles Kings forward Jeff Carter.

When I previewed the conference finals last weekend, I picked the Chicago Blackhawks to beat Los Angeles. One of the reasons I gave was that Carter has done nothing in the playoffs. And not to sound defensive or anything, but Jeff Carter really was doing zilch.


Los Angeles went the full seven games in series wins over the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Mighty Ducks, and Carter took either zero or one shot in half of those games. In only three games did he have 4-5 shot attempts. Carter wasn’t just silent, he wasn’t even attempting to speak.

JeffCarterThe first two games of the Western Conference Finals have been different. Carter has been aggressive, taking 11 shots combined in the first two games in Chicago. And, predictably, when a great player gets aggressive, it’s only a matter of time before the puck starts finding the back of the net. Carter went for a hat trick in last night’s shocking Game 2—the shock wasn’t the Kings winning, but that they nailed Chicago goalie Cory Crawford for five goals in the third period, to get a 6-2 win.

I’m still not changing my overall series prediction. Chicago is the more talented team, and for as bad as Crawford was in Game 2, he was every bit as good in Game 1 when Los Angeles attacked him throughout the night but to no avail. But at least the Kings are on the attack, and nothing captures that better than the return to form of Jeff Carter.

When I criticized the Rangers’ Lundqvist, it was in the aftermath of a poor performance against the Pittsburgh Penguins, as he gave up soft goals in consecutive home losses that put New York in a 3-1 series hole. I said it was the latest case of a great goalie underperforming in the postseason.

Lundqvist has since morphed into Ken Dryden, as New York first rallied to beat Pittsburgh, and now takes a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Montreal Canadiens back to Madison Square Garden tonight.

Now it’s Carter’s turn to have this sudden turnaround, right after I critique him. I’d get carried away with myself and think that I have some unique motivational skill, but for one problem—the one player this didn’t work with was Boston Bruins goalie Tuuka Raask. I knocked him after the first two games of the Montreal series, and Tuuka, for the most part, stayed down. Since I’m a Bruin fan, it only stands to reason that the players this doesn’t work with are the ones I actually care about.

 

2014 NHL Conference Finals Preview

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The Stanley Cup playoffs are pared down to four teams, as we come out of a second round that saw favorites in the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins fall, along with the Los Angeles Kings’ Game 7 demolition of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. In fact, none of the four regular season division winners are still playing hockey.

I’m sure no one at NBC is complaining though, because what the league does have are the three biggest American markets, along with a team from Canada that is only the most storied organization in the history of the sport. As conference finals go, you could do worse than Chicago, Los Angles, New York and Montreal as your foursome.


Here’s a look at the 2014 NHL conference finals…

NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Chicago Blackhawks-Los Angeles Kings

This is the titanic battle of the last two Stanley Cup champions. Neither team was great in the regular season, but the Blackhawks appear to be the NHL’s version of the Miami Heat, where they were just lying in wait until the postseason began. We should also note that Chicago caught a considerable break in drawing the Minnesota Wild in the second round, the Blackhawks took full advantage of the break.

Los Angeles had a similarly ho-hum regular season—not great, but never in danger of missing the playoffs. The Kings have also flirted with disaster in the playoffs, including digging a 3-0 series hole against the San Jose Sharks in the first round before becoming the fourth team in NHL history to win four in a row. The Kings were then down 3-2 in games to Anaheim before winning two straight.

READ THE COMPLETE BLOG COLLECTION OF THE 2013 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS
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Just as noteworthy as Los Angeles’ 6-0 record in elimination games this spring is that both Game 7 wins have been decisive. Clearly, this is a team that has heart. But do they have the talent to knock off Chicago, something they couldn’t do when these teams met in last year’s Western Conference Finals?

The answer is no, although that doesn’t make an upset (betting odds are not yet posted for this series that starts on Sunday at 3 PM ET on NBC, but I have to think Chicago will be the favorite) unthinkable. Chicago clearly has the more talented players, from Patrick Kane, to Patrick Sharp to Marian Hossa to Jonathan Toews to Duncan Keith. Los Angeles has some pretty good ones, starting with Justin Williams and including Jeff Carter—though he’s been very quiet this postseason—but there’s no comparison between the nets.

What Los Angeles can reasonably hope for is that goaltender Jonathan Quick significantly outplays Chicago counterpart Corey Crawford and the Kings win a series built around 2-1 and 3-2 games. The NHL playoffs are a goaltender’s time, so this is reasonable.

The reason I would be loath to predict it is that Quick has been up-and-down during these playoffs. He’s always righted the ship in time, but never against a team that has a consistent goalie. Crawford, admittedly, can frustrate Chicago fans, but he’s also won a Stanley Cup and is undeniably better than what Los Angeles faced against either St. Louis or Anaheim.

NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Montreal Canadiens-New York Rangers

The Eastern Conference finals start this afternoon (1 PM ET, NBC) at Bell Center in Montreal. The Canadiens are not a great team, but they combine several factors that make them a tough out—they play smart, they’re fast to the puck, they have a standout defenseman in P.K. Subban and a goaltender in Carey Price who ranked sixth in the NHL in save percentage this season.

Price is not unbeatable—he had some third-period lapses against the Bruins, and Subban can be contained if he’s forechecked aggressively when he handles the puck out top, something Boston consistently failed to do. But when you combine all of Montreal’s assets together, it adds up to a team that, while beatable, demands a high level of intensity and execution over a seven-game set.

Montreal is a (-125) betting favorite to move forward in pursuit of their first Stanley Cup since 1993 and what their fans hope will be reclamation of the glory years of the franchise that is the New York Yankees of the NHL, and even more pompous than those in pinstripes. Can the New York Rangers knock them off?

I knocked Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist after his shortcomings led to his team falling in a 3-1 series hole. Lundqvist promptly went into lockdown mode for the next three games against one of the game’s truly great offenses in Pittsburgh. That’s where Lundqvist has to be frustrating for New York fans—he’s capable of doing that for an entire series and carrying this team all the way to their first Stanley Cup since 1994. But will he do it again?

New York, like Montreal, isn’t a great team, but they have enough assets that, when you combine them with great goaltending, can win you a Cup. Rick Nash and Derek Stepan are solid offensive players. Martin St. Louis’ best days, when he led the Tampa Bay Lightning to the 2004 Stanley Cup are well behind him, but St. Louis has shown he has solid leadership skills and can be counted on at big moments.

This is a tough series for me, as a partisan Boston fan. I have no choice but to root for the Rangers, because rooting for the Canadiens is simply unthinkable. But that means standing in alliance with a New York fan base that I’m currently passionately rooting against in the ongoing baseball season. That’s depressing.

But seriously, the Ranger fan base is a great one, and I hope they get it done here and that Lundqvist finally makes the Stanley Cup Finals.