Throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs we’ll be keeping track of all the action around the league, and bringing you all of the results in one place.
Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
Some games, it really just comes down to the individual and during Game 2 of the return to this infamous and heated matchup, it all boiled down to Auston Matthews being Auston Matthews.
At Game 2 at TD Garden, without William Nylander for the second playoff game in a row, and after putting up some embarrassing effort to lose the first match, the Leafs needed all of their remaining stars to step up and not suddenly find themselves on the verge of getting kicked out of the series very early. Boston scored first and early, but Max Domi tied it up just 14 seconds later, for David Pastrnak to score with just seconds left in the first period to really tie a bow on that first section of 20 minutes. Instead of skipping to the first intermission with a well-earned draw, Toronto found itself down and needing to come back.
And it sort of seemed like destiny. Tyler Bertuzzi had a power-play goal called back after video review, but shortly after, during the same man advantage, John Tavares scored the equalizer to beat Linus Ullmark in-close. And thankfully for Leafs fans’ sanity, the team didn’t just completely give up as soon as the puck bounces went their way, they kept on pushing on and getting more of the chances than the Bruins in the third period.
That, of course, led to Matthews scoring the game-winning goal to earn his third point of the game and tie the series with one game each as they head back to Toronto for Game 3. It all came down to one guy to be able to reward his team for their overall efforts.
Final: 3-2 Leafs
Series: Tied 1-1
Highlights: NHL
Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Islanders
If you want a reason why it was good that the Philadelphia Flyers did not make the playoffs, Game 2 of this series is as good as a reason you will find.
The Hurricanes completely dominated the Islanders into succumbing to the inevitable. It was a classic Carolina Hockey game in the sense that despite having control of the game from every other metric, they found themselves in a three-goal deficit halfway through the game. Thanks to goals from Kyle Palmieri, Bo Horvat, and Anders Lee, the Islanders were riding high despite not really having a whole lot of chances.
And then, well, the Hurricanes just decided to play in just one area of the ice, unloading countless shots as the Islanders managed to have just eleven attempts in the final 40 minutes of the game.
Thankfully, this effort led to actual goals scored and Hurricanes fans weren’t pulling their hair out for not claiming the Game 2 win. Four unanswered goals and an added empty-netter earned the comeback win that felt inevitable and justified.
An insane level of domination from Carolina, and it might have been even worse if our Flyers were in that position. Yikes.
Final: 5-3 Hurricanes
Series: 2-0 Hurricanes
Highlights: NHL
Dallas Stars vs. Vegas Golden Knights
Of course Mark Stone scored the first goal of this game. In his return from a helpful injury that allowed the Golden Knights to acquire even more talent for the defending champs. In this Game 1 matchup between two teams who should really be meeting in the Conference Final instead of the first round, it wasn’t so much as the deserving team won, but an inevitable result after the process.
Vegas has made it their mission to find every financial loophole they possible can to ice the best team, and despite being outshot 30-15 in this first game of the first round for them, they hold on to a win because of goals from the aforementioned Stone, the deadline acquisition Tomas Hertl, a pay-to-acquire-during-expansion Jonathan Marchessault, and Brayden McNabb off an assist from Jack Eichel. This team just feels like they are going to win so many games this way, despite maybe not even playing the best game.
The Stars really deserved more and we will just have to see if Vegas can really put up another not-so-great performance and get away with it again this series.
Final: 4-3 Golden Knights
Series: 1-0 Golden Knights
Highlights: NHL
Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings
Is there anything more inevitable than Connor McDavid pulling out a highlight-reel assist and Zach Hyman scoring a goal inches away from the crease?
That was the very first goal of the game and of the series, and it just played out exactly how you would expect from that tally happening within the first seven minutes. Three more unanswered goals to give the Oilers a 4-0 lead — one especially from deadline acquisition Adam Henrique — and the Oilers were just too damn powerful to take any damage.
Despite the Kings scoring two goals and making it sort of a game, the Oilers scored back-to-back power-play goals in the third period and that was that. Three goals from possibly the most dangerous man advantage unit in the entire NHL is enough to put any team to bed, and especially when it’s a not-so-grea team to begin with.
And, oh yeah, McDavid finished the game with five assists. Five. He didn’t even score in this one but just dished out every puck to make Los Angeles look oh so silly.
Final: 7-4 Oilers
Series: 1-0 Oilers
Highlights: NHL
