The first round of the 2019 NHL Playoffs has come and gone and it most certainly did not disappoint. The league witnessed a flurry of drama, heartbreak, questionable calls and a number of upsets that saw household names hitting the golf courses much earlier than expected.
For the first time in the expansion era the top seeds in each conference were eliminated in the first round. Tampa Bay and Calgary were ousted in just one week of play and their fan bases were left in utter disbelief. What made this feat even more bizarre is that they won a combined total of just one game between the two clubs.
The biggest storyline heading into the postseason had to be whether or not this was Tampa’s year. It was a record-breaking season for the Lightning who tied the 1996 Red Wings for most wins all-time (62), and their superstar forward Nikita Kucherov tallied the most points in this century with 128. Seriously, who was actually going to beat this team?
They scored three goals in the first period of Game 1 and it looked like it was going to be a foregone conclusion before the night ended that Tampa was winning the series in 4. Just like we expected, Columbus came back and won in regulation 4-3, all while winning the next three games to sweep the series and ended the Lightning’s bid at the Stanley Cup.
Now, I can’t say that I’m shocked that the Blue Jackets won, BUT I most certainly can say that I am stunned they were swept. If it went 6 or 7 games and they fell, then it would have been more realistic, but 4 games? Incredible.
This series win by Columbus was by no means a fluke, although. If a team was going to pull this off it was the Jackets. Strictly because the franchise was all-in at the trade deadline for the exact reason of making a deep playoff run. They have an exceptional Cup-winning head coach in John Tortorella, along with a solid d-core to go along with three really deep offensive lines. Oh, and a Vezina-winning goalie shutting the door in Sergei Bobrovsky. Not only did Columbus show up every single night, but they developed the perfect game plan to get Tampa out of sorts and it worked all series long.
So for what seemed like the twentieth season in a row, the organization that won the President’s Trophy failed to hoist the Stanley Cup. Some say that a team can peak to early, but others have claimed that to be false. However you want to dissect this historic defeat, just know that Lord Stanley is extremely difficult to win.
Calgary, much like Tampa’s first period in Game 1, completely dominated their first tilt with Colorado, winning 4-0 behind a strong performance by Mike Smith between the pipes. They dropped a pair of OT games in Game 2 and 4, and were run out of the building by Nathan MacKinnon and the Av’s in Game 3. In Game 5 they were simply outplayed for the majority of the match and couldn’t seem to find an answer for Colorado’s top line.
Heading into the series the biggest question mark for Calgary was goaltending, but if you watched any, if all of the entire first-round matchup, then that simply was not the case. Scoring was what eliminated the Flames, including Johnny Gaudreau recording just 1 assist in 5 games played.
Like the old saying goes – defense wins championships –however, if you can’t score then you can’t win. Now both Tampa and Calgary get to watch the rest of the playoffs from the comfort of their own homes.
The other 1 seeds from both the West (Nashville) and East (Washington) were also eliminated by the Wild-Card team’s, making it the first time that all four of the top seeds were ousted since the new playoff format of division seeds began in 2013.
Carolina ended Washington’s hopes of a repeat in a thrilling Game 7, double overtime victory in DC, while the Stars wrestled the Preds to the ground in six games.
It’s disappointing that we don’t get the Caps-Pens, Alex Ovechkin–Sidney Crosby reunion this year, but what I am most hurt about is that the NHL was a goal away from getting Barry Trotz versus his old Capitals in the second round. Now that would have been something!
Nevertheless, the show must go on, and with that we get a new group of franchises competing for a championship.
What frustrates me the most is how people are acting like like the 2019 NHL Playoffs have been the biggest upset-filled year of all-time. Sure, that might be true based on the seeding aspect of the playoffs, but in today’s game along with the structure of how the NHL seeds the postseason, it really is anybody’s trophy.
The amount of parity across the entire league in 2019 is actually incredible. In the Central Division the Predators claimed the top seed by just one point with 100 points overall, while the Jets and Blues tied for second with 99 points each. Washington won the Metropolitan by just one point (104) over the Islanders, and the Penguins finished just three points behind New York with 100. The two East Wild-Cards, Carolina and Columbus, finished with 99 and 98 points respectively and nearly claimed a top-3 seed of their own.
Yes, the Lightning finished light years ahead of every other organization, but the entirety of the remaining playoff teams are separated by just a few wins. So if you want to call some of the first round victories “upsets,” then by all means go for it. However, in my eyes it just shows the overall strength of how the game of hockey has grown to the point where every team is on an even playing field.
Every team can compete with one another on a nightly basis, and in a seven game series anything can happen. The league is far too skilled nowadays and their truly isn’t a clear-cut 1 seed that you can honestly pick as a shoe-in to claim the title.
For that reason alone, the NHL has to be the hardest trophy to win among the four major sports.