The Leafs have a 2-0 lead and... wait, for real? Holy shit! And the Jets put in a solid night, but they got Rantanen'd. We'll recap those, look at tonight's game plus the Abby Canucks are a win away from Round Three of the AHL Playoffs!
LAST NIGHT'S ACTION
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS 4 FLORIDA PANTHERS 3 (Leafs lead series 2-0)
We expected to see some push back from the Panthers last night as they looked to avoid dropping both games in Toronto, and when Brad Marchand scored at 0:15 of the second period, it sure looked another one of those Leafs playoffs losses was on the way. Someone forgot to tell the Leafs though. Goals from William Nylander and Max Domi would give them a 3-2 lead after forty minutes. Anton Lundell would tie it in the third, but that lasted all of 27 seconds, as Mitch Marner with his second of the playoffs restored the lead and would hold up as the winner. The series shifts to Sunrise, FL for games three and four this weekend.
DALLAS STARS 3 WINNIPEG JETS 2 (Stars lead series 1-0)
The score's a little misleading, honestly. It should read Mikko Rantanen 3, Winnipeg 2. Rantanen is on a tear that is literally rewriting NHL history. 14 points in the last 4 games. Hat tricks in back to back games, which has seen him score more points in those last 4 games than anyone else in the playoffs so far. It's absolutely insane. And it makes you feel bad for the Jets, who played well and probably deserved a better fate than losing that game. What can you do when there's a guy on the other side who is scoring every time he touches the puck. It's not a hopeless situation, but they're definitely going to have to do what Colorado couldn't: stop Rantanen before it's too late.
ABBOTSFORD CANUCKS 3 COACHELLA VALLEY FIREBIRDS 1 (Canucks lead series 2-1)
After earning a split in the first two games of the series in California, the series moved back to the Fraser Valley for the remaining games of the best of five. The Firebirds won Game Two in OT, so you know the Canucks would be fired up for a little payback in front of the fans at the Abbotsford Centre. They didn't disappoint, with Nate Smith and the first AHL playoff goal from Kirill Kudryavtsev gave Abbotsford a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes. Ryan Winterton would score early in the third, but Phil DiGiuseppe would add an empty netter to seal the deal for the win and a 2-1 series lead. Arturs Silovs had another strong outing in the crease, making 25 saves for the victory. The Canucks can advance with a win Friday night, that game goes at 7:00 pm at the Abbotsford Centre, and you can listen to it on Sportsnet 650.
TONIGHT'S ACTION
WASHINGTON CAPITALS (0-1) vs CAROLINA HURRICANES (1-0)
CAPITAL ONE ARENA, WASHINGTON, DC
4:00 PM PST/ 7:00 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET
After a lackluster performance in that Game One OT loss, expect the Capitals to come out firing on Freddy Andersen and the Carolina Hurricanes tonight. The Caps had just three shots in the third period and none in the three plus minutes of OT before Jaccob Slavin scored the winner. If there was a bright spot, it was the play of Aliaksei Protas in his return from injury, scoring the goal that had given Washington the lead in the second period.
Eastern Conference Second Round, Game 2
7 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS
Carolina leads best-of-7 series 1-0
Hurricanes projected lineup
Andrei Svechnikov -- Sebastian Aho -- Jackson Blake
Taylor Hall -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Logan Stankoven
Jordan Martinook -- Jordan Staal -- Seth Jarvis
Eric Robinson -- Mark Jankowski -- William Carrier
Jaccob Slavin -- Brent Burns
Dmitry Orlov -- Jalen Chatfield
Shayne Gostisbehere -- Sean Walker
Frederik Andersen
Pyotr Kochetkov
Scratched: Jack Roslovic, Tyson Jost, Riley Stillman, Juha Jaaska, Scott Morrow, Ty Smith, Alexander Nikishin, Spencer Martin
Injured: None
Capitals projected lineup
Alex Ovechkin -- Dylan Strome -- Anthony Beauvillier
Connor McMichael -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Tom Wilson
Andrew Mangiapane -- Lars Eller -- Taylor Raddysh
Brandon Duhaime -- Nic Dowd -- Aliaksei Protas
Jakob Chychrun -- John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin -- Matt Roy
Alex Alexeyev -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: Ryan Leonard, Ethen Frank, Dylan McIlrath, Ethan Bear, Mitchell Gibson
Injured: Martin Fehervary (lower body), Sonny Milano (upper body)
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS (0-1) vs EDMONTON OILERS (1-0)
T-MOBILE ARENA, LAS VEGAS, NV
6:30 PM PST/ 9:30 PM EST
TV: SPORTSNET, CBC
Much like the Capitals, the Vegas Golden Knights were underwhelming in Game One, blowing a two goal lead, and getting out shot 18-7 in the final forty minutes by the Oilers. I mean, come on man! It's Calvin Pickard in net. Just get some damn shots. It's one thing if you try and force the Oilers to outscore you. It's another thing if you just sit back and let it happen. Vegas is one of the few teams that can actually beat the Oilers at their own game, so they better start showing it, or this one's gonna be short and unpleasant.
Western Conference Second Round, Game 2
9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC
Edmonton leads best-of-7 series 1-0
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)
Golden Knights projected lineup
Ivan Barbashev -- Jack Eichel -- Mark Stone
Brandon Saad --Tomas Hertl -- Victor Olofsson
Brett Howden -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
Tanner Pearson -- Nicolas Roy -- Keegan Kolesar
Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore
Noah Hanifin -- Zach Whitecloud
Nicolas Hague -- Kaedan Korczak
Adin Hill
Akira Schmid
Scratched: Alexander Holtz, Ben Hutton, Tanner Pearson, Ilya Samsonov, Cole Schwindt
Injured: Pavel Dorofeyev (undisclosed), Alex Pietrangelo (illness)
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Sometimes YouTube can spew up some pretty amazing things, and this is one of them. How about a cover of AC/DC's 'Let There Be Rock' by the Hard-Ons with Henry Rollins on vocals? This is amazing.
Fuck fascists. Fuck Trump. Enjoy the games.
