The Stanley Cup champions of 2018 (Washington Capitals) and 2019 (St. Louis Blues) are both in a 0-2 hole after Friday. The team that won in 2016 and 2017 (Pittsburgh Penguins) has already been eliminated. It certainly feels like this summer will win some new blood. We also got our eighth straight day of overtime hockey. It’s bad to complain if the drama is this good.
Saturday’s lay includes two series of ties at 1-1, and two others where one team hopes to fall 0-3.
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The games of Saturday
All times Eastern.
Game 3: No. 4 Boston Bruins Vs. No. 6 Carolina Hurricanes (Bund 1-1) | 12 pm
Tuukka Rask was judged to get the start for this one, but he took the pick from the rest of the post season on Saturday morning; instead, Jaroslav Halak will likely be between the pipes for the Bs in Game 3. The big remaining question for the Bruins: Is David Pastrnak available? Bruce Cassidy said Pastrnak did not skate Friday. “He could still play tomorrow,” Cassidy said. “But with the 12-hour game, there’s no real chance of testing it in a morning skate like you typically do. [night] match. We will make that evaluation tomorrow. “Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour will (probably) not have to challenge another call; he is already 0-for-2 in the series.
Game 3: No. 2 Colorado Avalanche vs. No. 11 Arizona Coyotes (COL leads 2-0) | 3 pm
Just 24 hours after a hard fought Game 2, these teams are it again. One player who did not dream of the short cover: Nathan MacKinnon. Asked on Friday by a reporter if he was worried about Saturday’s fatigue, the Avs star exclaimed, “No. It’s the reason I win fitness tests every year. I’ll buzz.” Arizona coach Rick Tocchet was proud of his team’s response to an unsatisfactory Game 1, saying he believes his team will go down swinging. He should also like that they have more shots in the second period (15) than they did in whole Game 1.
Game 3: No. 2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. No. 9 Columbus Blue Jackets (Bundes 1-1) | 7.30pm
We get to the point of the bubble where Jon Cooper is appearing at news conferences in Aerosmith T-shirts because he, as he said, wears clean clothes. His team ran out of a bit of steam after the epic game of five-overtime, as they recorded 37 shots against Joonas Korpisalo, but not too many quality chances for quality. It’s hard to get past Korpisalo, who had a .956 save percentage against the Toronto Maple Leafs and has improved it to .962 since. Sounds like it’s going to be the Korpisalo show for a while. With Elvis Merzlikins not yet fit to play, the Blue Jackets have named another goaltender (Veini Vehvilainen) in action as the understudy.
Game 3: No. 1 Vegas Golden Knights vs. No. 12 Chicago Blackhawks (VGS lead 2-0) | 8 pm
Vegas has backed Chicago in a 0-2 hole, and Robin Lehner (who defeated the Blackhawks in February) has lost another game since becoming a Golden Knight. But with back-to-back games popping up, Lehner is likely to sit one, giving Marc-Andre Fleury a chance to make his quarterfinal debut. Max Pacioretty and Tomas Nosek are both cunning, which means Vegas may have to look after its sparse forwards in Game 3. In Chicago, rookie Adam Boqvist was scrambled for Game 2, but it sounds like he will return to the lineup on Saturday. This playoff tour is all about getting the young Blackhawks experience. “We hope that Boqy, with a day of rest, can potentially return with another level for us,” coach Jeremy Colliton said.
About last night …
Colorado Avalanche 3, Arizona Coyotes 2 (COL leads 1-0)
After his team had only 14 shots on goal in Game 1, Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet was unhappy with his team, lamenting that it “Darcy, Darcy, Darcy [Kuemper] and that’s it. “Arizona Appeared in Game 2.” “We were in her face today,” Tocchet said. We had a good game, we could have won that hockey game. That’s more of our style. You have to swing down. “The third goal was simply unavoidable. Nathan MacKinnon scored a beauty to get the Avs early, and Andre Burakovsky scored the winning game. But let’s note that Nazem Kadri scored a point on all four of the game-winning goals scored by the Avalanche this postseason. Full review
0:23
Nazem Kadri’s shot attempt goes from a Coyotes defender and right to Andre Burakovsky, who breaks a bond for the Avalanche in the third period.
Montreal Canadiens 5, Philadelphia Flyers 0 (Bundes 1-1)
With coach Claude Julien at home as rest after undergoing a heart procedure, Kirk Mueller took over as head coach. He shook the lines up a bit and Montreal looked creative and quick on offense. Tomas Tatar and Jesperi Kotkaniemi (a breakout star this summer) both scored twice. The Flyers just came out flat, and Carter Hart had very little help before he was drawn in the second (at 4-0). But Alain Vigneault was not too happy that Muller put his No. 1 power play on the ice late in the match: “We had embarrassed ourselves enough. I’m not sure we should be embarrassed anymore.” Vigneault said he will be sure to point to his players. It’s funny that he worries about the Canadiens’ (typically loud) power play of all things, but hey, it scored in back-to-back games. 2020 is crazy! Full review.
Vancouver Canucks 4, St. Louis Blues 3 (OT) (FROM 2-0)
The Blues need to win another game this summer, and need to channel some energy from last year’s team, which went 9-2 in the postseason after a loss. “Is it frustrating? Yes, sure. But I don’t care what people say outside our locker room,” said Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo. “We had a lot of noise last year, and look what we did. It’s a new year, of course. We do not want to stay on last year, but the core of this group went through that together. We know how to get back from these things. . “Jordan Binnington scored four goals on 25 shots (.840 save percentage), which is not ideal. Misleading the Canucks clicks. Since being eliminated by Minnesota in Game 1 of the qualifying game, Vancouver has scored 21 goals in its last five games. Full review.
New York Islanders 5, Washington Capitals 2 (NYI leads 2-0)
Alex Ovechkin scored his first two goals for the Caps this summer – including a goal less than a minute into the game – but he will likely be haunted by a miss in the third. The Caps were penalized by penalties and caps, as well as the Islands going on a three-goal burst in the span of 3:58 in the second period. Washington is hoping Nicklas Backstrom (concussion protocol) can return for Game 3, but we need to keep up. The islands have dominated Washington in this series on equal strength, recording 24 attempts at high danger compared to Washington’s 10, per Natural Stat Trick. Full review.
Calgary Flames2, Dallas Stars 0 (CGY lead 2-1)
There was definitely a drop-off in intensity level after the two teams played their second game in as many days. Mikael Backlund scored a short goal to open the scoring in the second period – the second straight game the Flames scored a shortie. It was a frustrating turn for the Stars, who dominated the period (a 33-6 advantage in shot attempts, per Natural Stat Trick), but had nothing to look forward to. In fact, Dallas outplayed Calgary for all three periods, making Friday’s loss extra frustrating. The Flames played the game without Matthew Tkachuk, but Flames coach Geoff Ward said he hopes the winger can return for Game 4. Full review.
Three stars
Bo Horvat, F, Vancouver Canucks
The captain scored two goals Friday, including the winner of the overtime, to give the Canucks a win. The latter was Horvat’s fifth goal of the postseason season, which bound him most to Connor McDavid this summer.
0:41
Bo Horvat’s winning goal 5:55 in overtime gives the Canucks a convincing 2-0 series lead over defending Stanley Cup champion Blues.
Cam Talbot, G, Calgary Flames
The 33-year-old got the nod in the net and made the most of it, recording a 35-yard shutout – his second shutout of the postseason and the fourth playoff shutout of his career – to help his team to a 2- 1 series lead.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi, F, Montreal Canadiens
At 20 years, 39 days, Kotkaniemi is the second-youngest Canadiens player to record a multi-goal game in the playoffs. He trains only Henri Richard, who scored twice in Game 7 of the 1956 semi-finals against the Rangers in 20 years and 27 days.
Random first name ritual of the day
Just leave this here.
Jordan Martinook’s pregame ritual calls for Andrei Svechnikov. 🔊😂
(📹: u / bothliveofficial, h / t @jtbourne) pic.twitter.com/U3SA3skuLD
– Tim and Sid (@timandsid) August 14, 2020
Whiff of the day
John Klingberg would like to do one.
😳#NHLonSN pic.twitter.com/FVynYodNa9
– Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) August 15, 2020
Quote of the day
“Typically when you hear comments like that, the team is normally lost.” – Vegas coach Peter DeBoer, casts some shadow on Boston goalkeeper Tuukka Rask, who said the crowdless games have the intensity of an exposition game.
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