It's gonna be difficult to top last night's slate of games, as the Senators, Wild and Devils look to even up their series at 1-1, while the Battle of Florida gets underway tonight in Tampa.
LAST NIGHT'S ACTION
Holy crap, was that a fun night. Sure, it was disappointing if you were hoping for the Habs or Oilers to pull off the comeback, but each one of those games was an absolute nail-biter! Let's start off in Washington, where the Capitals stormed out to a 2 goal lead thanks to goals from Alex Ovechkin and Anthony Beauvilier ('member him?). The Habs refused to lay down though, and like they were most of the season, Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki led the charge on a comeback. Sadly, it would fall short as, and this was a shock to discover, the first career playoff OT goal from Alex Ovechkin (!) gave the Capitals a win and a 1-0 series lead.
From there it's off to Winnipeg, as they look to not just shake off any Presidents' Trophy curse but a string of bad first round exits. After giving up the tying goal in the last second of the first period, these two teams went back and forth before Kyle Connor scored the winner less than two minutes into the third, holding on for a 2-1 win and a 2-0 series lead heading back to St Louis for Game Three.
After getting blown out in Game One, you knew Dallas was going to push back tonight, so it wasn't a shock to see them tie this one up in the third period and force OT. Colin Blackwell chipped home a loose puck to seal it for the Stars and move this series to Denver tied at one game a piece.
And in the wildest game of the evening, it was a bit of a shocker to see the Los Angeles Kings jump out to a 4-0 lead late in the second period. But, as is often the case with the Oilers, if you give Connor McDavid an inch (and allow him to blatantly hold an opponent's stick with no call) they will start a comeback. Leon Draisaitl with less than ten seconds left in the second made it 4-1, then Mattias Janmark early in the third brought the Oilers to within two goals. Kevin Fiala would score for the Kings, making it 5-2 with 15 minutes to go, but McDavid wasn't done, setting up goals by Corey Perry (ew!) and Zack Hyman before tying the game himself with just 1:28 to go in the third. So overtime, right? Nope. With 0:42 left on the clock, Phillip Denault's second of the game fluttered past Stuart Skinner for a 6-5 win in Game One of their series.
TONIGHT'S ACTION
CAROLINA HURRICANES (1-0) vs NEW JERSEY DEVILS (0-1)
LENOVO CENTER, RALEIGH, NC
3:00 PM PST/ 6:00 PM EST
TV: SN360
The Devils are going to try and break through the stifling defence of the Hurricanes tonight and get more shots on Frederik Andersen, while also trying to not just contain the well known offensive dangers of the Canes, but also guys like Logan Stankoven. The Kamloops native, who came over from Dallas in the trade for Mikko Rantanen had two goals in Game One. Jacob Markstrom needs to be better if the Devils want to head back to New Jersey with the series tied.
Eastern Conference First Round, Game 2
6 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, ESPN, TVAS2, SN360
Carolina leads best-of-7 series 1-0
Devils projected lineup
Ondrej Palat -- Nico Hischier -- Timo Meier
Erik Haula -- Dawson Mercer -- Jesper Bratt
Paul Cotter -- Cody Glass -- Stefan Noesen
Tomas Tatar -- Justin Dowling -- Nathan Bastian
Brett Pesce -- Dougie Hamilton
Brian Dumoulin -- Johnathan Kovacevic
Dennis Cholowski -- Simon Nemec
Jacob Markstrom
Jake Allen
Scratched: Kurtis MacDermid, Nolan Foote, Curtis Lazar, Daniel Sprong
Injured: Jonas Siegenthaler (lower body), Luke Hughes (undisclosed), Brenden Dillon (undisclosed)
Hurricanes projected lineup
Seth Jarvis -- Sebastian Aho -- Jackson Blake
Taylor Hall -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Andrei Svechnikov
Jordan Martinook -- Jordan Staal -- Logan Stankoven
William Carrier-- Jack Roslovic -- Eric Robinson
Jaccob Slavin -- Brent Burns
Dmitry Orlov -- Jalen Chatfield
Shayne Gostisbehere -- Sean Walker
Frederik Andersen
Pyotr Kochetkov
Scratched: Tyson Jost, Mark Jankowski, Alexander Nikishin, Riley Stillman
Injured: None
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (0-0) vs FLORIDA PANTHERS (0-0)
AMALIE ARENA, TAMPA, FL
5:30 PM PST/ 8:30 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET 360
The Florida Panthers begin their title defence against their upstate rivals in what should be a barn burner of a series against two pretty evenly matched teams. Whoever comes out on top here could well be the one that makes it to the final from the East, so expect an absolute war.
Eastern Conference First Round, Game 1
8:30 p.m. ET; FDSNSUN, SCRIPPS, ESPN, TVAS2, SN360
Panthers projected lineup
Carter Verhaeghe -- Aleksander Barkov -- Sam Reinhart
Mackie Samoskevich -- Sam Bennett -- Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Brad Marchand
Evan Rodrigues -- Nico Sturm -- Jesper Boqvist
Gustav Forsling -- Seth Jones
Niko Mikkola -- Dmitry Kulikov
Uvis Balinskis -- Nate Schmidt
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Tomas Nosek, A.J. Greer, Jonah Gadjovich, Jaycob Megna
Injured: None
Suspended: Aaron Ekblad
Lightning projected lineup
Jake Guentzel -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel -- Anthony Cirelli -- Nick Paul
Conor Geekie -- Yanni Gourde -- Gage Goncalves
Zemgus Girgensons -- Luke Glendening
Victor Hedman -- JJ Moser
Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg -- Nick Perbix
Darren Raddysh
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson
Scratched: Cam Atkinson, Mitchell Chaffee
Injured: Oliver Bjorkstrand (lower body)
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (1-0) vs OTTAWA SENATORS (0-1)
SCOTIABANK ARENA, TORONTO, ON
4:30 PM PST/ 7:30 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET, CBC
The first game of this series was as advertised in terms of intensity and animosity. What we didn't expect was how lopsided it was. The Leafs looked dominant, riding a fantastic night in goal from Anthony Stolarz, and a three point night courtesy of Mitch Marner. The Senators will need to balance physicality and composure, or this visit to the postseason is going to a short one.
Eastern Conference First Round, Game 2
7:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN2
Toronto leads best-of-7 series 1-0
Senators projected lineup
Brady Tkachuk -- Tim Stutzle -- Claude Giroux
David Perron -- Dylan Cozens -- Drake Batherson
Fabian Zetterlund -- Shane Pinto -- Michael Amadio
Nick Cousins -- Adam Gaudette -- Matthew Highmore
Jake Sanderson -- Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot -- Travis Hamonic
Tyler Klevin -- Nikolas Matinpalo
Linus Ullmark
Anton Forsberg
Scratched: Dennis Gilbert, Leevi Merilainen, Ridly Greig, Nick Jensen
Injured: Hayden Hodgson (lower body)
Maple Leafs projected lineup
Matthew Knies -- Auston Matthews -- Mitch Marner
Pontus Holmberg -- John Tavares -- William Nylander
Bobby McMann -- Max Domi -- Nicholas Robertson
Steven Lorentz -- Scott Laughton -- Calle Jarnkrok
Morgan Rielly -- Brandon Carlo
Jake McCabe -- Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit -- Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Anthony Stolarz
Joseph Woll
Scratched: Dakota Mermis, Philippe Myers, Max Pacioretty, David Kampf, Ryan Reaves, Artur Akhtyamov
Injured: Jani Hakanpaa (lower body)
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS (1-0) vs MINNESOTA WILD (0-1)
T-MOBILE ARENA, LAS VEGAS, NV
800 PM PST/ 11:00 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET, SN 360
The Minnesota Wild definitely don't want to try and battle their way out of a two game deficit in this series, so they're going to need to find ways to exploit a Vegas defence that doesn't have many weaknesses. They'll also probably need Filip Gustavsson to steal a win for them tonight, something that's not easy to do against the kind of offence Vegas can bring.
WILD (WC1) at GOLDEN KNIGHTS (1P)
Western Conference First Round, Game 2
11 p.m. ET, FDSNNO, SCRIPPS, ESPN, SN360, SN, TVAS
Vegas leads best-of-7 series 1-0
Wild projected lineup
Kirill Kaprizov -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Matt Boldy
Marcus Johansson -- Frederick Gaudreau -- Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno -- Ryan Hartman -- Gustav Nyquist
Yakov Trenin -- Marco Rossi -- Justin Brazeau
Jonas Brodin -- Brock Faber
Jacob Middleton -- Jared Spurgeon
Zeev Buium -- Zach Bogosian
Filip Gustavsson
Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched: Jon Merrill, Declan Chisholm, Vincent Hinostroza, Devon Shore, Jesper Wallstedt
Injured: None
Golden Knights projected lineup
Ivan Barbashev -- Jack Eichel -- Mark Stone
Brandon Saad -- Tomas Hertl -- Pavel Dorofeyev
Victor Olofsson -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
Brett Howden -- Nicolas Roy -- Keegan Kolesar
Noah Hanifin -- Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hague -- Zach Whitecloud
Adin Hill
Akira Schmid
Scratched: Alexander Holtz, Ben Hutton, Kaedan Korczak, Tanner Pearson, Ilya Samsonov, Cole Schwindt
Injured: None
(All lineup projections courtesy of nhl.com so blame them, not us)
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
With three teams looking to tie things up 1-1 tonight, this song seems like the perfect fit. WASTED ETERNITIES are a three piece thrash act from Inglewood, CA, and this is from their new album 'No Way Out'. Here's 'Snake Eyes' as we get ready for another great night of hockey!
Reject fascism, fuck the Conservative Party and Trump, too! Enjoy the games, everyone!
