The quest for the Cup begins tonight.
In two month’s time, one of 16 teams will lift Lord Stanley’s Cup aloft, and A Lot Of Sports Talk begins our coverage of the 2014 NHL playoffs by previewing the first round match-ups in the Eastern Conference. Our many thanks to Mike Shalin, national sports writer for the Sports Xchange and former longtime sports writer with both the New York Post and the Boston Herald, who provided us this in-depth look at each of the four series, from the key storylines to his predictions on how each series will play out.
(Series previews are in chronological order of the beginning of each series. Click here for our Western Conference first-round preview.)
Montréal vs. Tampa Bay 
In my opinion, this could be the most fascinating of all the first-round series in the East. Of their four regular-season meetings, the first three were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation and the finale was a 2-1 game late before the Lightning scored an empty-netter to win the game 3-1.
Two of those three wins for the Lightning came without two-time league-leading goal scorer Steven Stamkos, who was tied for the league’s scoring lead when he broke his right leg in a game against Boston on Nov. 11, the day before the Lightning’s first meeting with Montréal. Mirroring their season series with the Canadiens, the Lightning deserve a lot of credit for doing more than just staying afloat without Stamkos, who missed 52 games altogether this season; Tampa was 22-18-5 in the 45-game stretch from the time of his injury to his return on March 6.
One day prior to Stamkos’ return to the ice, the Bolts engineered a trade with the New York Rangers and acquired Ryan Callahan in exchange for the franchise’s all-time leading point scorer, Martin St. Louis. Callahan’s demands on a new contract were too rich for the Rangers’ blood, while St. Louis grew disenfranchised with playing for the team he once won a Stanley Cup with in 2004. Both Callahan and center Valtteri Filppula provide the veteran, heart-and-soul element to a team with a lot of young talent, including Calder Trophy hopeful Ondrej Palat, a two-way player who led the team with 59 points.
While Stamkos’ injury is behind him, the biggest injury concern – and biggest question for the team overall – is that of goaltender Ben Bishop, who is nursing a sore wrist and not projected to start Game 1 of the series. Backup Anders Lindback comes into the series winning his last three starts, posting a .067 GAA and .975 save percentage, and the team goes into the playoffs winners of their last four games. But it’s still yet to be determined if Lindback can handle the playoff pressure. (Then again, the same goes for Bishop, although he’s the one that’s played in the majority of the games this season.)
Montréal, like Tampa, is playing some of its best hockey near the end of the regular season, and acquiring winger Thomas Vanek from the New York Islanders proved to be a great bit of business. Vanek teamed with left winger Max Pacioretty and center David Desharnais to form one of the most potent lines in the league, as the three combined for 40 points in the last 13 games of the season. Matching the likes of Callahan and Filppula, the Canadiens have a strong veteran presence used to the playoff grind, including winger Brian Gionta and center Tomas Plekanec. One possible trouble spot might be the play of last season’s Norris Trophy winner, P.K. Subban. After he scored and average 0.9 points per game and posting a plus-12 in the lockout-shortened 2013 season, those numbers shrank to 0.6 points per game and a minus-4 this season. Carey Price, although having another solid season in between the pipes, might have played his best at net this year wearing a Canadian sweater (as opposed to a Canadiens sweater), posting two shutout wins in the medal round to lead Canada to the gold in Sochi.
Prediction: Montréal is the only Canadian team in the 2014 NHL playoffs, marking the first time since 1973 that only one Canadian-based team is in the postseason. I don’t think that will put any added pressure on the players as much as that possibly could, but even so, I think the Lightning win a very close series.
in 6 games.
Columbus vs. Pittsburgh 
To gauge how much of a chance the Columbus Blue Jackets have in their first round series with the Pittsburgh Penguins is to choose which outlook you take on how the games between these two teams unfolded this season. One one hand, Columbus, out of 300 minutes played vs. Pittsburgh, had the lead for a grand total of 56 seconds. But of those five games, last season’s Vezina Trophy winner, Sergei Bobrovsky, only played in one of the five contests against the Penguins.
Bobrovsky wasn’t able to match last season’s award-winning form, though he missed over a month starting in December after straining his groin. His return to top form is crucial, especially given the fact that forward Nathan Horton is out for six weeks after undergoing surgery to repair an abdominal injury. The reason the Jackets signed Horton was for this very thing, to perform in the playoffs. In 43 career playoff games, all with the Bruins, Horton tallied 36 points, including 15 goals. Horton’s leadership – as well as his penchant for coming up big in big games – will be missed, but it’s not something Columbus hasn’t gotten used to. Since the 2012 off-season trade of Rick Nash, Columbus has gone without a captain for the last two years, and they have spread the leadership around. They fought hard to get into the playoffs, and can become an annoyance in only their second playoff appearance in franchise history if allowed to hang around.
Pittsburgh’s talent can be a whole lot more than just an annoyance. But even with the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, etc., the hopes of the Penguins making another Cup run starts and ends with goalkeeper Marc-Andre Fleury. He’s a guy who has won a Stanley Cup, taken another team to the finals, and has been a disaster ever since in the postseason. He has the most to prove of anyone, and I think he’ll do just that. His stats would indicate that he had a tremendous regular season (39-18-5, 2.37 GAA, .915 save percentage), but that was the case last spring before his benching in the playoffs. I don’t think he is asked to do that much, because his team is so dominant. So when you’re not asked to do too much, all you have to do is not mess up. Easier said than done, of course.
But this time around, I believe Pittsburgh’s defense around him is better than it has been in past years, and it coincides with getting back some of those players back from injury, including defensemen Paul Martin and Kris Letang. Letang came back onto the ice a week ago, having missed the previous 10 weeks after suffering a stroke. Malkin’s status is still up in the air with a foot injury, but regardless, the Penguins are too strong. As added incentive, Pittsburgh is looking to rebound from last season’s disappointing exit in the conference finals to Boston, when the Penguins scored only two goals in a four-game whitewash at the hands of the Bruins.
Prediction: If Fleury has a good Game 1 in goal for Pittsburgh and sets the tone, then the Penguins should dominate. But if Columbus wins the opener and puts a crooked number behind Fleury in the process, then everything changes.
in 5 games.
Philadelphia vs. New York Rangers 
If there was a series in which there is very little that separates the two teams, this would be it. That, along with the expectation of these two long-time rivals mixing it up a few times this series, is going to make this a fun series to watch…as well as a tough one to predict.
In the end, I think the Rangers have a little too much speed, and a little too much of Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi. Those two defensemen have morphed into as good of a defensive pairing as there is in the game, making the job for Henrik Lundqvist a little bit easier in net. Lundqvist has the title of best goalkeeper in the world, and he’s been terrific for most of the season. He stumbled early on and again just out of the Olympic break, but has righted the ship and led the Rangers to home ice in this series, which, given the team’s recent history against the Flyers at home, could be the tipping point in this series.
Rick Nash is one to look out for in this series for the Blueshirts. While winning a gold medal for Canada in Sochi, Nash, usually noted for his immense offensive ability, started killing penalties and played more in defensive situations, and first-year Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault has had him continue doing that to round his all-around game into form. Brad Richards, the 2004 Conn Smythe Trophy winner as a member of the champion Tampa Bay Lightning, also has to step to the fore for the Rangers, especially after his nightmare of a postseason last spring when he was benched and was made a healthy scratch during New York’s quarterfinal loss to Boston.
Just four seasons after leading the Philadelphia to the Stanley Cup Finals, and just three games into this season, the Flyers decided to pull the plug on head coach Peter Laviolette, replacing him with assistant Craig Berube. From viewing the Flyers, what I think Berube has done with this team is he’s gotten them to play hard – borderline dirty at times – but keep them out of the penalty box. If the Flyers stay out of penalty box, they have good chance of winning series. But that’s not a given.
What is a given is the Flyers and their scoring depth: seven different players scored at least 20 goals this season, including Vincent Lecavalier, who recently was moved to the fourth line. What makes that move significant is that the Rangers have struggled mightily against active fourth lines in the last two series they were eliminated from (2012 against New Jersey, 2013 against Boston). Richards, along with Derek Stepan, are good play-making forwards for the Rangers, but not so good in the corners fighting for pucks and being physical. As a whole, New York lacks size, something the Flyers can really exploit with their depth and size across all of their lines. Claude Giroux is the talisman for the Flyers when it comes to scoring, but a Wayne Simmonds or a Matt Read is just as likely to have a two goal game than Giroux.
Netminder Steve Mason showed glimpses of his remarkable rookie season when he was in Columbus in between the pipes this season, but goes into this series uncertain to start Game 1 due to injury. Ray Emery, although 9-12-2 this season, is a quality backup who’s capable of being one of those guys who gets on a roll.
Prediction: The Rangers have won the last eight home games against the Flyers, while Philly has won the last three at home against the Blueshirts. Even with that statistic, the Rangers seem to play better on the road than at home, winning a conference-best 25 road games. But the Rangers players say they’re excited to have the home ice for this series, and that will ultimately make the difference.
in 7 games.
Detroit vs. Boston 
There’s a lot of charm when two Original Six teams meet in the postseason, but even this tilt is extra special, as the Red Wings and Bruins get set to square off in the postseason for the first time since 1957.
Boston’s talent and depth is what led them to the Presidents Trophy this season, and what makes them the favorite to win the Stanley Cup. It’s a very balanced, deep team that’s very committed to winning. All you have to do to point to its commitment during the postseason is remember Patrice Bergeron playing with a broken rib and separated shoulder in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals last spring. And if that’s not enough, Jarome Iginla, a season after almost being dealt to Boston at the trade deadline before landing in Pittsburgh, takes another crack at winning his first Stanley Cup as a member of the B’s. The 36-year-old showed few signs of slowing down, notching his 12th 30-goal season and fitting in well on a line with Milan Lucic and David Krejci.
Boston’s depth, especially on the blue line, will be tested with the absence of defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, out since December with a knee injury and expected to miss the rest of the season. Seidenberg and Zdeno Chara proved to be a lockdown pair when together. Other than them, Boston is very young on the back end, and that would be more of a concern if they weren’t always executing Claude Julien’s system, which they seem to do on a regular basis.
One of the overlooked parts of Boston’s success this season is the play of skilled third-line center Carl Soderberg. Krejci and Bergeron already form one of the best top-two center duos in the league, and he provides quality up the middle after them. Soderberg has been property of the Bruins since 2007, but only debuted with the team last season after spending many seasons in the Swedish Elite League. Boston’s fourth line, one of the best checking line units in the game, will be without Daniel Paille for the foreseeable future. No update has been given, but Paille, who had already suffered two concussions earlier this season, was knocked to the ice by a check by Buffalo’s Jake McCabe last Saturday and got up woozy before needing assistance heading into the locker room.
Detroit is a very talented team, but like last year, injuries took its toll. Almost a who’s who of today’s hockey elite missed significant time for the Red Wings, including Henrik Zetterberg (37 games missed), Pavel Datsyuk (also 37 games missed) and Johan Franzen (28). Datsyuk and Franzen are back, but Zetterberg is looking at a possible round two return after undergoing back surgery in February. With those players going down, Gustav Nyquist came out of nowhere to help save the season for the Red Wings, scoring 48 points in only 57 games. In net, Jimmy Howard has the capability of getting hot and stealing a series or two, and matching the play of Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask is pivotal if the Wings want to pull off a surprise.
Last season, the Red Wings also were a low seed (seventh) yet defeated Anaheim in the first round and had the eventual Stanley Cup champions Chicago down three games to one in the second round before letting that series slip away in seven. It wouldn’t surprise me if that were to happen again, especially with the pedigree this team – and this franchise – has.
Prediction: Both Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock and Julien are coaches make a difference, and you can’t say that a lot about coaches in sports. They won the gold medal together in Russia and tactically, it is hard to gain the upper hand on either of them. This is not your typical “1 vs. 8” matchup.
in 6 games.
[About the author: Mike Shalin, a proud graduate of Wichita State University (’76), is a veteran of 35 years in sports journalism. He started with the wire services in New York in the 70s, moved to the New York Post from 1980-82 and then spent 22 years at the Boston Herald, covering the Red Sox for 12 years and then Boston College football and basketball. He is now a freelancer in the Boston area, with varied duties including work as an official scorer at Fenway Park. Shalin, a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 1989, co-authored a book entitled Out By A Step: The 100 Best Players Not in the Baseball Hall of Fame and is the author of the 2011 release Donnie Baseball: The Definitive Biography of Don Mattingly (Triumph). Shalin resides in Easton, Ma.]
