The Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning are the latest to have their Cup dreams snuffed out, as the East is down to just the Sens and Leafs and the West continues to be chaotic.
LAST NIGHT'S ACTION
WASHINGTON CAPITALS 4 MONTREAL CANADIENS 1 (Caps win series 4-1)
The top team in the East is through to the next round, but that's gotta be the least convincing 5 game series victory in quite some time. Montreal gave the Caps all they had, and probably extend this series had they not lost Sam Montembault to injury. In the meantime, we get to endure another round of Tom Wilson apologia, which is so fun. Bleh. I mean, talk about fucking loser energy...
Also, now that Ovechkin's broken Gretzky's record, can we get back to hating him because he's BFF's with Vladimir Putin? Seriously, fuck this guy. Anyway, they will face Carolina in the next round and being made to choose a preferential winner in that series is impossible.
FLORIDA PANTHERS 6 TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING 3 (Panthers win series 4-1)
Talk about a series that did not live up to the hype. The defending champs are on to the next round after making quick work of the Bolts, and if you listen closely, that's the sound of the Cup competitor window closing in Tampa. They now await the winner of the Leafs/Senators series and while it would be hilarious to see them dismantle the Leafs, the appeal of Tkachuk on Tkachuk violence is very appealing.
WINNIPEG JETS 5 ST LOUIS BLUES 3 (Jets lead series 3-2)
If you felt like being back at home would help the Jets, you were right. If you also felt like Connor Hellebuyck hasn't answered questions about whether or not he can win this series, you're also right as despite letting in 3 goals on 19 shots, the Jets were the better team and came out on top. They now head back to St Louis for Game Six, and may have to do it without Mark Scheifele, who left the game last night and did not return. That's a massive loss for the Jets and one that could tilt the scales in the Blues favour if Hellebuyck doesn't get his shit together.
There's four games on tap tonight, and we could conceivably see all of these series come to an end. Which ones will wrap up, and which ones are headed to a winner takes all Game Seven?
TONIGHT'S ACTION
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (3-2) vs OTTAWA SENATORS (2-3)
CANADIAN TIRE CENTRE, OTTAWA, ON
4:00 PM PST/ 7:00 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET, CBC
After a stunning OT win in Game Four to avoid the sweep, the Senators were absolutely dominant on Tuesday night, in a 4-0 win that has the anxiety levels in Leafs Nation rising rapidly. I would like to say that we know how this feels, but even the Canucks haven't blown a 3-0 series lead before. Just four times in NHL history has this happened, and the fact that it hasn't happened to the Leafs yet honestly seems surprising. I mean sure, they could totally come out and win tonight, and that would be the end of it, but does it feel like this team, especially after the way they played Tuesday night, is gonna come out and get it done?
Eastern Conference First Round, Game 6
7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TBS, MAX
Toronto leads best-of-7 series 3-2
Maple Leafs projected lineup
Matthew Knies -- Auston Matthews -- Mitch Marner
Max Pacioretty -- John Tavares -- William Nylander
Bobby McMann -- Pontus Holmberg -- Max Domi
Calle Jarnkrok -- Scott Laughton -- Steven Lorentz
Morgan Rielly -- Brandon Carlo
Jake McCabe -- Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit -- Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Anthony Stolarz
Joseph Woll
Scratched: Dakota Mermis, Philippe Myers, David Kampf, Artur Akhtyamov, Nicholas Robertson
Injured: Jani Hakanpaa (lower body)
Senators projected lineup
Brady Tkachuk -- Tim Stutzle -- Claude Giroux
David Perron -- Dylan Cozens -- Drake Batherson
Ridly Greig -- Shane Pinto -- Michael Amadio
Nick Cousins -- Adam Gaudette -- Fabian Zetterlund
Jake Sanderson -- Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot -- Nick Jensen
Tyler Kleven -- Nikolas Matinpalo
Linus Ullmark
Anton Forsberg
Scratched: Dennis Gilbert, Travis Hamonic, Matthew Highmore
Injured: Hayden Hodgson (lower body)
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS (3-2) vs MINNESOTA WILD (2-3)
XCEL ENERGY CENTER, ST PAUL, MN
4:30 PM PST/ 7:30 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET 360
Much like the Caps/Habs series, this one feels like the team that's leading isn't terribly convincing that they deserve it. Despite the losses in the last two, the Wild have been getting better goaltending, and being back on home ice, we should not be surprised to see this one head back to Vegas for a Game Seven and a possible upset of one of the favourites to win the Stanley Cup this year.
Western Conference First Round, Game 6
7:30 p.m. ET; FDSNNO, SCRIPPS, ESPN, TVAS2, SN360
Vegas leads best-of-7 series 3-2
Golden Knights projected lineup
William Karlsson -- Jack Eichel -- Mark Stone
Brandon Saad --Tomas Hertl -- Victor Olofsson
Ivan Barbashev -- Nicolas Roy -- Reilly Smith
Tanner Pearson -- Brett Howden -- 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: Pavel Dorofeyev (undisclosed)
Wild projected lineup
Kirill Kaprizov -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Matt Boldy
Marcus Johansson -- Ryan Hartman -- Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno -- Frederick Gaudreau -- Gustav Nyquist
Yakov Trenin -- Marco Rossi -- Justin Brazeau
Jonas Brodin -- Brock Faber
Jacob Middleton -- Jared Spurgeon
Jon Merrill -- Zach Bogosian
Filip Gustavsson
Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched: Zeev Buium, Declan Chisholm, Vinnie Hinostroza, Devin Shore, Jesper Wallstedt
Injured: None
Looks like Dorofeyev is a no go after leaving in the third period of Game Five.
COLORADO AVALANCHE (2-3) vs DALLAS STARS (3-2)
BALL ARENA, DENVER, CO
6:30 PM PST/ 9:30 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET EAST, SPORTSNET 360
We knew this series would be close, but it seems like we haven't seen close to the best from the Avs thus far, especially from Cale Makar. A guy who is regularly a difference maker for this team has been almost unnoticeable and if he doesn't change that tonight, this team, which is arguably deeper than the one that won the Cup in 2022, is going out in the first round.
Western Conference First Round, Game 6
9:30 p.m. ET; Victory+, MAX, TBS, ALT, SNE, SN360, TVAS
Dallas leads best-of-7 series 3-2
Stars projected lineup
Mikael Granlund -- Roope Hintz -- Mikko Rantanen
Mason Marchment -- Matt Duchene -- Tyler Seguin
Jamie Benn -- Wyatt Johnston -- Evgenii Dadonov
Oskar Back -- Sam Steel -- Colin Blackwell
Esa Lindell -- Cody Ceci
Thomas Harley -- Ilya Lyubushkin
Lian Bichsel -- Alexander Petrovic
Jake Oettinger
Casey DeSmith
Scratched: Mavrik Bourque, Mathew Dumba, Brendan Smith
Injured: Miro Heiskanen (knee), Jason Robertson (lower body), Nils Lundkvist (shoulder)
Avalanche projected lineup
Artturi Lehkonen -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog -- Brock Nelson -- Valeri Nichushkin
Jonathan Drouin -- Charlie Coyle -- Joel Kiviranta
Parker Kelly -- Jack Drury -- Logan O’Connor
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Samuel Girard -- Josh Manson
Ryan Lindgren -- Sam Malinski
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood
Scratched: Erik Johnson, Keaton Middleton, Jimmy Vesey, Miles Wood
Injured: Ross Colton (lower body)
No changes for either team in this one.
LOS ANGELES KINGS (2-3) vs EDMONTON OILERS (3-2)
ROGERS PLACE, EDMONTON, AB
7:00 PM PST/ 10:00 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET, CBC
What do you do if you're the Los Angeles Kings? You've shown that have no answer for Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard, your goaltender is only marginally better than Stuart Skinner and your team isn't the one getting all the bounces in this series. If you're gonna do bold coaching moves, why not put Phoenix Copely in net? It's obvious that the Oilers have the book on Darcy Kuemper, so throw them a curve ball and give the kid a chance. If you can plant the seed of doubt in the Oilers heads, and move the series back to LA for Game Seven, you should at least consider doing anything that's different than what's got you into this mess.
Western Conference First Round, Game 6
10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, TVAS2, ESPN, FDSNW
Edmonton leads best-of-7 series 3-2
Kings projected lineup
Andrei Kuzmenko -- Anze Kopitar -- Adrian Kempe
Warren Foegele -- Phillip Danault -- Trevor Moore
Kevin Fiala -- Quinton Byfield -- Alex Laferriere
Jeff Malott -- Samuel Helenius -- Alex Turcotte
Mikey Anderson -- Drew Doughty
Joel Edmundson -- Brandt Clarke
Jordan Spence -- Vladislav Gavrikov
Darcy Kuemper
David Rittich
Scratched: Kyle Burroughs, Jacob Moverare, Akil Thomas, Trevor Lewis
Injured: Tanner Jeannot (undisclosed)
Oilers projected lineup
Leon Draisaitl -- Connor McDavid -- Corey Perry
Evander Kane -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Zach Hyman
Trent Frederic -- Adam Henrique -- Connor Brown
Vasily Podkolzin -- Mattias Janmark -- Viktor Arvidsson
Darnell Nurse -- Evan Bouchard
Jake Walman -- John Klingberg
Brett Kulak -- Ty Emberson
Calvin Pickard
Stuart Skinner
Scratched: Joshua Brown, Cam Dineen, Max Jones, Kasperi Kapanen, Olivier Rodrigue, Derek Ryan, Jeff Skinner
Injured: Mattias Ekholm (undisclosed), Troy Stecher (undisclosed)
It appears both teams are going with the same lineups tonight, so we'll see if that was the right decision for LA.
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
It's May Day, aka International Workers Day. A day where your boss buys you lunch, tells you that everything he has, he owes to the sweat of your labour, and then sends you home early to spend the day with your loved ones. Yeah, right. Organize, folks. As things get dicier, strength in numbers is the key to weathering the storm. Remember those who literally died so you could have things like weekends off, health care and health and safety protections. It had to be taken because it wouldn't be given.
Fuck fascism! All power to the workers on May Day and every day! Fuck Trump! Enjoy the games, everyone!
