Happy Easter, everyone. There are four games on tap for today, with action beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Let’s have a look at the NHL Playoff predictions for today.
| Wild vs Blues ML -102 / -110 O/U 5 |
Penguins vs Blue Jackets ML +100 / -120 O/U 5.5 |
| Canadiens vs Rangers ML +110 / -130 O/U 5 |
Oilers vs Sharks ML +115 / -135 O/U 5 |
Here are tonight’s starting goaltenders, courtesy of LeftWingLock.
Wild vs Blues: Minnesota is in deep, deep trouble.
The St. Louis Blues lucked their way into a Game 1 victory. They got a lucky goal in regulation, clutched to a narrow lead until the 59th minute, then capitalized on one of their few chances in overtime.
Joel Edmundson, the overtime hero in the first game of the series, picked up where he left off by blasting home a one-timer on a delayed penalty to give the Blues a 1-0 lead in the second period. Later in the second, Zach Parise, who tied things up at the end of regulation the game prior, evened up the score again.
"SHOOOOOT GOLDBERG ! "#StlBlues pic.twitter.com/be7OekpeAb
— Kyle Foxton (@kfox9611) April 13, 2017
With 2:27 remaining in the game, Jaden Schwartz picked a corner to win it for the Blues. On both goals, David Perron was there to obscure the vision of Devan Dubnyk.
The Wild are winless in their last six road games against teams with a winning home record. They have lost four of their last five in St. Louis in particular.
I’ll fully cross this bridge when I get to it, but I’ll just say for the record now- a first round exit for the Wild would be absolutely disastrous for the legacy of Bruce Boudreau, who has had three different regular season powerhouses with big name talent in his coaching career.
Minnesota is now 1-8 in their last nine following games in which they score two goals or fewer.
Prediction: Minnesota is in trouble. Take the Blues to win. Play the under.
Penguins vs Blue Jackets: Man, has Columbus been underwhelming or what? The Blue Jackets once again fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins while only mustering one goal in the process, this time losing 4-1 in Game 2.
Brandon Saad, the man who was benched for the third period in Game 1, scored the lone goal for the Jackets, but Columbus could never take the lead. Sidney Crosby had three points.
And once more, John Tortorella sat his usual third pair to play two minor league scrubs for 10 minutes each. Give that man a Jack Adams already.
Just for good measure, Matt Calvert was a punk at the end of the game and cross-checked Tom Kuhnhackl in the head snapping his stick in the process then shoved him to the ground.
Great stuff from Matt Calvert at the end of the PIT-CBJ game pic.twitter.com/DKx788BZf6
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 15, 2017
Can we stop pretending the Blue Jackets are adorable underdogs now?
Calvert got suspended for one game. It really should have been more. There’s a lot of stuff around the league that’s getting let go because it’s the playoffs and that’s how things work, but this kind of behavior is reprehensible. To not suspend Calvert is to endanger the players on the winning side who have to deal with sore losers. I’m glad action was taken.
Sonny Milano will likely take his place in Game 3.
The wheels came off for the Jackets in Pittsburgh. Columbus has now lost eight of their last nine overall. Sergei Bobrovsky made uncharacteristically silly mistakes with the puck. The offense has come out strong in both games but then been outclassed. The defense has been undressed by Sidney Crosby. The Penguins simply have too many weapons to handle.
Speaking of which, Chris Kunitz skated on his own after practice. Carl Hagelin and Matt Murray remain out. Man, thank god the Pens didn’t move Marc-Andre Fleury at the deadline, right?
Teams that take a 2-0 series lead win 86% of the time. Take that how you will.
This is Columbus’ one chance at getting back in it tonight. The home team has won the last six encounters between these two teams. The Jackets put up seven on the Penguins earlier this season in Ohio.
But unless they change things real quick, this could be a much more brief series than originally thought.
Prediction: Take the Penguins to win. Play the over.
Canadiens vs Rangers: The New York Rangers were 17 seconds away from going up 2-0 in their series against the Montreal Canadiens. Instead, they find the series tied heading back to Madison Square Garden for Game 3.
What happened? Well, the Rangers got down early 1-0, then again 2-1. Incredibly, the Rangers fought back in the second period, scoring off a lethal Rick Nash wrist shot and a Mats Zuccarello redirection. With time ticking away in the third period, the Rangers short-shifted their forwards and played the entire frame in their own zone.
Lot of different ways to measure #NYR's insistence on shelling last night. Here's a good one from @HartnettHockey.https://t.co/ZMUK6h7k3X pic.twitter.com/rWBS6Ab0Om
— Adam Herman (@AdamZHerman) April 15, 2017
Like, really in their own zone.
Sure enough, Alex Radulov corralled the puck in the far-side corner and quickly slid a pass to the low slot. Marc Staal, for some reason, floated up to the hashmarks, leaving his defensive partner Nick Holden all alone to guard two players in front. The problem? Holden was without a stick. All he can do was give a couple of exhausted shoves to Tomas Plekanec, who deflected a Radulov pass to the back of the net.
Overtime was a continuation of the third period. The Canadiens had an early powerplay opportunity that was killed off and spent the majority of the opening 10 minutes in the Rangers’ zone. New York had two prime chances, one from Rick Nash and one from Chris Kreider, that were saved by Price. Eventually, Nash had his pocket picked in the neutral zone and the Habs came charging into the zone. Radulov, who had been in and out of the penalty box all game, redeemed himself in the ultimate way by potting the game-winning goal from right in Lundqvist’s grill.
Game over, Habs win 4-3. Lundqvist stopped 54 of 58 shots in the game.
You'd think Lundqvist's 2-game performance thusfar would be one his best in the playoffs. Amazingly, it's just another brick in the road… pic.twitter.com/QjqoPZWLLI
— HockeyStatMiner (@HockeyStatMiner) April 15, 2017
The series now heads to Madison Square Garden. The Blueshirts won their final two home games of the regular season against the Flyers and the Penguins, but were 0-5-3 dating back to February 21st. For whatever reason, the pressures of playing in Manhattan wore on the Rangers this season, as they finished with an underwhelming 21-16-4 record at home.
Montreal won both road games against the Rangers this season.
There have been no lineup changes announced by either side yet. Alexi Emelin will not make the trip to New York for the Habs. Alex Galchenyuk will likely stay on the third line after getting switched with Dwight King midway through Game 2.
If the lineup is not going to change for the Rangers and Nick Holden, who has been atrocious this series, dresses for Game 3, then the adjustment needs to come in the coaching department. Nick Holden and Marc Staal were pretty much directly responsible for all three regulation goals by the Canadiens, and yet they still saw significant time at the end of regulation and in overtime. Brady Skjei and Brendan Smith played terrifically, for all intents and purposes. They were on the ice for the overtime winner but they were the only pairing in the black for shot attempts.
In the final 11:13 of regulation, they played just a few ticks over two minutes. That is unacceptable.
Adam Clendening, Kevin Klein and Steven Kampfer are all in the press box. One of them could be sent in for Holden (most likely Klein).
Also, Rick Nash was one of the least-used forwards on the team in overtime. Explain it. That’s the kind of behavior Ken Hitchcock showed Vladimir Tarasenko last postseason that got him fired.
The Habs have won six of their last seven road games against teams with a winning home record. They are 10-2 in their last 12 road games overall. Winning Game 2 took tremendous amounts of pressure off. Sure, the Rangers now have home ice in the series, but Game 2 was an instant classic in modern Montreal playoff lore. That momentum goes a long way.
It’s on the Rangers now to prove they can win at home. Because if they don’t, the Garden crowd will turn on them. Hard.
Prediction: Take the Canadiens to take the series lead. Play the under.
Oilers vs Sharks: It had been two years since Canada had won a playoff game, seeing as all seven Canadian teams missed the postseason last year. Then Montreal beat the Rangers at the Bell Centre. But something even more extraordinary took place just after that.
The #OrangeCrush crushed it tonight! #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/mOXdwcuXPv
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) April 15, 2017
The Edmonton Oilers won their first playoff game in 11 years. With a shutout. And a Connor McDavid goal. What a scene.
Zack Kassian got the Oilers on the board first with a shorthanded breakaway and Edmonton didn’t look back (not a good look for Brent Burns, who did not exactly bust it on the backcheck). A McDavid shorthanded goal iced the game in the third period. Cam Talbot earned his first career playoff victory and his first playoff shutout simultaneously. But most importantly, the Oilers fanbase finally had something to cheer for in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
About Zack Kassian. Kassian is being lauded for having the game of his life in Game 2, which by all measures, he did. He threw his weight around, scored what wound up being the game-winner in a playoff game, shorthanded no less…but let’s be honest, some of his hits were kinda dirty, right? Or are we just going to turn our heads because it’s the playoffs?
Kassian absolutely crushes Couture pic.twitter.com/OedrTH3Sv2
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 15, 2017
Look at this. He leaves his feet and throws his elbow out at the head of someone who just had surgery on his mouth. That gets suspended in the regular season, period. But whatever, Grit/Heart/Hustle/Hitz/OldTimeHockey am I right guys?
Thankfully for the Sharks, not every playoff game will be held at Rogers Place. Game 3 will be at the Shark Tank, where San Jose won 26 games.
Naturally, everyone will be paying attention to whether or not Joe Thornton finally makes his first appearance of the postseason. He has been skating in practice, and has said that it is “only a matter of time” before he returns to the lineup. But there has been no affirmative that he is fully ready to go.
My bold prediction is that he is a last-second addition to the lineup. I am not a doctor, that is just my guess because it is the playoffs and that’s how it goes. It will not affect the outcome either way.
Oscar Klefbom left Game 2 early for the Oilers but he is expected to play in Game 3.
Prediction: Take the Sharks to win tonight. The Oilers will be getting their first taste of road playoff hockey tonight. Play the under.
To make a play on these predictions, or any other NHL bets, visit our sportsbook at https://www.betdsi.eu/gms-hockey.
