If it seems as if the Capitals win the regular-season championship in the Metropolitan Division every year, well, there's a pretty good reason for that.
They usually do.
They've finished atop the Metro in five consecutive seasons; the Rangers and Penguins, with one division title each, are the only other clubs to end up first there since the division was created.
But while the Penguins and Capitals have been the dominant clubs in the Metropolitan for most of its existence, the balance of power is starting to shift. The Penguins have had back-to-back miserable postseason showings, going 1-7 in the process, and the Capitals are in mortal peril of being eliminated in Round 1 for the second year in a row. Washington trails the Islanders, 3-0, and needs to win Game 4 Tuesday evening to keep its season on life-support.
At the same time, clubs the Penguins and Capitals manhandled for so many years -- the Islanders, Flyers, Hurricanes, Blue Jackets and Rangers come immediately to mind -- are on the upswing, with their best years still appearing to be in the future.
The Penguins and Capitals certainly do not look to be in danger of becoming non-factors in the Metro anytime soon, but the days when the division was a domain they alone controlled are over.
• Columbus has earned a lot of respect with its performance in this postseason, but if history is any indication, the Blue Jackets' season is about to end.
Soon.
Tampa Bay has built a 3-1 lead in its series against Columbus, the seventh time in franchise history it has won three of the first four games in a best-of-seven.
The Lightning not only won all of the previous six, but closed out five of those with a victory in Game 5.
• The Penguins' postseason flop was pretty compelling evidence that regular-season success doesn't necessarily carry over into the postseason -- especially when the two are separated by about 4 1/2 months because of a pandemic.
Based on the results so far this summer, having a great playoff run doesn't guarantee success the following year, either, although those numbers have gotten a bit better over the past few days.
St. Louis, which defeated Boston in the Cup final in 2019, lost its first five games after the shutdown -- three of those during the Western Conference round-robin competition -- before picking up an overtime victory against Vancouver Sunday and another win Monday, while the Bruins have clawed back to 3-4 after dropping all three of their games during the Eastern Conference round-robin tournament that preceded the playoffs.
• If the Capitals, who lost to Carolina in the opening round a year ago, get eliminated by the Islanders, one has to wonder if coach Todd Reirden, a Penguins assistant under Dan Bylsma, will be out of a job. He was an assistant to Barry Trotz when the Capitals won the franchise's only Cup in 2018, but back-to-back playoff failures don't figure to sit well with his bosses.
And unlike Mike Sullivan, Reirden doesn't have a couple of Stanley Cup rings to show for his time in charge -- and to give management confidence that he's not miscast in his current role.
• Tampa Bay's five-overtime victory against Columbus in the opener of that series rekindled conversations about whether allowing playoff games to proceed under normal procedures until a winner is determined is prudent.
There are some who believe that, after a few extra periods, the teams should be reduced to four, or even three, skaters to enhance the chances of a game-deciding goal being scored.
Proponents of that are, at best, misguided.
The Stanley Cup is the toughest championship to win in all of sports, and nothing should be done lessen the challenge of accomplishing it.
• Although the Bruins were a popular choice to contend for a Cup, their prospects took a serious hit at few days ago, when goalie Tuukka Rask left the team to be with his family. Rask's move was publicly supported by management and teammates, as well as most observers from outside the organization.
But while Rask's departure apparently was not a complete surprise to those who know and work with him, it will be interesting to see if there is any fallout when he rejoins the team next season, which will be his last before qualifying for unrestricted free agency.
If his backup, Jaroslav Halak -- Penguins partisans might recall him from a series against Montreal in 2010 -- is able to lead the Bruins on a long run, Rask's teammates might get over any hard feelings they are quietly harboring. But if Boston stumbles -- and especially if Halak doesn't play especially well -- it doesn't seem like a reach to suggest that there will be some lingering bitterness inside the locker room over Rask's decision.
• Phil Kessel was a reliable offensive contributor during his four playoff appearances with the Penguins, putting up 20 goals and 36 assists in 65 games. He also had 15 points in 15 postseason games while playing for Boston, and six in seven playoff appearances with Toronto.
And while it might be a little early to put too much emphasis on what he's done this summer for Arizona because of the relatively small sample size, Kessel is not generating points at anything close to his previous playoff pace: He has one goal and three assists in eight games.
The Coyotes surely would like to see him inflate that total a bit Wednesday, when they will try to stave off elimination in Game 5 of their opening-round series against Colorado.
• Rick Bowness, the interim coach in Dallas since Jim Montgomery was fired during the regular season because of off-ice issues, likely doesn't have to try very hard to convince his players to go hard for a full 60 (or more) minutes.
Stars forward Joe Pavelski scored with 12 seconds left in regulation to send Game 4 against Calgary into overtime -- he subsequently got the game-winner, too -- and former Penguins defenseman Jamie Oleksiak got the winner in Game 2 against the Flames with 40 seconds to go in the third period.
• Some people were surprised -- albeit, quite pleasantly -- when Philadelphia forward Oskar Lindblom, who was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in December, turned up on the Flyers' playoff roster.
That was a huge step for Lindblom, who reportedly received encouragement from Mario Lemieux, a fellow cancer survivor, while undergoing treatments, but it wasn't the only one he's made lately, because Lindblom actually resumed practicing Sunday.
There's no target date for him to get clearance to get in the lineup, but based on the strides he's been making, no one should discount the possibility of Lindblom turning up in a game sometime this summer.
• This probably won't surprise Penguins fans who recall that the Islanders eliminated their team from the playoffs with overtime goals in 1982 and 1993, but no franchise can match New York's success in postseason games that stretch past the third period.
The Islanders' 2-1 victory in Game 3 against Washington raised their playoff overtime record to 35-17, a winning percentage of .673. Tampa Bay ranks second at 16-8 (.667).
To continue reading, log into your account:
