Las Vegas Golden Knights vs. Los Angeles Kings (4-0)
We left on a 3-0 in favor of the Nevada team and nothing has changed in race 4 where the Kings have surrendered in the worst way, without scoring, putting too much on the physical plane and with very few ideas of construction of the game. Oh yes, it ended 4-0 for the surprising Knights who won with a score of 1-0 also in the second race of LA closing the series with a stunning 4-0. Amazing but really ugly to see, many, too many mistakes in the fundamentals for both teams that have made the games of this series truly unwatchable, the playoffs are expected to see an intense hockey but also a technical thing that was seen only for very few traits and that leaves neutral fans really disappointed. The only thing that did not disappoint but rather, an excellent level is the goaltending, where Quick and Fleury have battled with really high level parades and their merit in the very low scores is to be taken into account. As for the Kings, the first to disappoint was Kopitar (candidate for the HART Trophy) who probably played one of the worst playoff series of his career, failing in his role as leader and captain of this team, the only extenuating factor for the team. Slovenian is the poor attitude of this team to score goals and support it, which in my opinion coach Stevens will have to answer in this long and burning offseason. On the other hand the Knights have tried to everyone that besides knowing how to score a lot of goals as a success in the regular season they also know how to defend and be very physical that they were very much in doubt about before this series. The good news is that they passed the round winning the first set of playoffs in their history, the ugly is that there are the Sharks on the horizon after a dominant victory against the Ducks where unlike the Knights against the Kings have been able to express the good hockey in both halves. Reason for which Las Vegas if he wants to continue to make the road will certainly return to the ice as he did in the regular season and not rely almost entirely on the excellent Fleury.
The other series of the Western Conference ...
Nashville Predators vs. Colorado Avalanche (4-2)
The Avalanche after a good race 3 failed to replicate and enforce the field factor in race 4 where the Predators in the 3-2 year, race 5 saw a new goalie for the Colorado team with Hammond who went to replace a non-brilliant Bernier and was a good choice given the excellent backup race in that of Nashville where his team managed to impose itself with a score of 2-1. With the possibility to force race 7 the Avs have resurfaced in Hammond that this time nothing has been able against a Nashville concentrated and able to capitalize every opportunity to close the series with a net 5-0 away.
Winnipeg Jets vs Minnesota Vikings (4-1)
After the six goals suffered by the Jets in race 3 Hellebuyck has completely closed the gate to the Wild who have not been able to score a goal in the following two games. Winnipeg has been superior in every field of play and with a goalie of this level (in my opinion candidate number one at Venzina trophy) never say never in the playoffs where you know the goalie are much more the difference than in the regular season.
Anaheim Ducks vs. San Jose Sharks (0-4)
After the first three races dominated by the Sharks the epilogue was clear to everyone now and even though Perry and company have tried to the bottom to reassemble the difference between them and the hated rivals was too much to fill. Race 4 was perhaps the most fought but also in that the Sharks were in command right away risking little and thus bringing home a qualification in the second round more than deserved given the quality of hockey expressed by northern Californians.
Considerations!!!
The Western conference for years is known to be the most physical and the hardest and is therefore also the least spectacular from an aesthetic point of view and this year has made no difference for the first round. The only thing that made the difference was the gap between the teams involved and the consequent competitiveness of the series (all finished much earlier than the Eastern). This in my opinion has a little taken away from the Western conference, that especially neutral fans have preferred to see the show offered by Crosby & Co. or that of the Boston vs Toronto series culminated in a wonderful race 7 to heart. Best wishes and hope is that the second round saw the high level of the teams involved can give as well as physicality and beaten by orbi also many goals and exciting actions that can make us stay awake even late at night.
We left on a 3-0 in favor of the Nevada team and nothing has changed in race 4 where the Kings have surrendered in the worst way, without scoring, putting too much on the physical plane and with very few ideas of construction of the game. Oh yes, it ended 4-0 for the surprising Knights who won with a score of 1-0 also in the second race of LA closing the series with a stunning 4-0. Amazing but really ugly to see, many, too many mistakes in the fundamentals for both teams that have made the games of this series truly unwatchable, the playoffs are expected to see an intense hockey but also a technical thing that was seen only for very few traits and that leaves neutral fans really disappointed. The only thing that did not disappoint but rather, an excellent level is the goaltending, where Quick and Fleury have battled with really high level parades and their merit in the very low scores is to be taken into account. As for the Kings, the first to disappoint was Kopitar (candidate for the HART Trophy) who probably played one of the worst playoff series of his career, failing in his role as leader and captain of this team, the only extenuating factor for the team. Slovenian is the poor attitude of this team to score goals and support it, which in my opinion coach Stevens will have to answer in this long and burning offseason. On the other hand the Knights have tried to everyone that besides knowing how to score a lot of goals as a success in the regular season they also know how to defend and be very physical that they were very much in doubt about before this series. The good news is that they passed the round winning the first set of playoffs in their history, the ugly is that there are the Sharks on the horizon after a dominant victory against the Ducks where unlike the Knights against the Kings have been able to express the good hockey in both halves. Reason for which Las Vegas if he wants to continue to make the road will certainly return to the ice as he did in the regular season and not rely almost entirely on the excellent Fleury.
The other series of the Western Conference ...
Nashville Predators vs. Colorado Avalanche (4-2)
The Avalanche after a good race 3 failed to replicate and enforce the field factor in race 4 where the Predators in the 3-2 year, race 5 saw a new goalie for the Colorado team with Hammond who went to replace a non-brilliant Bernier and was a good choice given the excellent backup race in that of Nashville where his team managed to impose itself with a score of 2-1. With the possibility to force race 7 the Avs have resurfaced in Hammond that this time nothing has been able against a Nashville concentrated and able to capitalize every opportunity to close the series with a net 5-0 away.
Winnipeg Jets vs Minnesota Vikings (4-1)
After the six goals suffered by the Jets in race 3 Hellebuyck has completely closed the gate to the Wild who have not been able to score a goal in the following two games. Winnipeg has been superior in every field of play and with a goalie of this level (in my opinion candidate number one at Venzina trophy) never say never in the playoffs where you know the goalie are much more the difference than in the regular season.
Anaheim Ducks vs. San Jose Sharks (0-4)
After the first three races dominated by the Sharks the epilogue was clear to everyone now and even though Perry and company have tried to the bottom to reassemble the difference between them and the hated rivals was too much to fill. Race 4 was perhaps the most fought but also in that the Sharks were in command right away risking little and thus bringing home a qualification in the second round more than deserved given the quality of hockey expressed by northern Californians.
Considerations!!!
The Western conference for years is known to be the most physical and the hardest and is therefore also the least spectacular from an aesthetic point of view and this year has made no difference for the first round. The only thing that made the difference was the gap between the teams involved and the consequent competitiveness of the series (all finished much earlier than the Eastern). This in my opinion has a little taken away from the Western conference, that especially neutral fans have preferred to see the show offered by Crosby & Co. or that of the Boston vs Toronto series culminated in a wonderful race 7 to heart. Best wishes and hope is that the second round saw the high level of the teams involved can give as well as physicality and beaten by orbi also many goals and exciting actions that can make us stay awake even late at night.
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