COL vs. STL- COL wins the series 4-2
Sigh. Do I really have to make the Blues sing it again?
Losing in 6 games is decent enough and St. Louis fought hard to make it last that many games, but when you give up the series-losing goal at home with 5 seconds left when 20 minutes of overtime looked imminent? That really stings. And unfortunately, it's exactly what happened to the St. Louis Blues on May 27, 2022. Darren Helm sent Colorado to the West final, which ended any chance St. Louis may have had in the OT period if there had been any OT period at all. (Maybe not, IDK) At least the Blues got on the board first, from Justin Faulk with exactly 1 minute to go in the first period. Period 2 had 1 goal by either side, first from J.T. Compher (1) at 5:19 for a 1-1 tie, and then St. Louis regained the lead from Jordan Kyrou (7) at 9:34. In period 3, Compher would score his 2nd of the game and 8th of the postseason at 10:19. And then... Helm. Ouch. And he's actually got a penchant for knocking out big teams in the playoffs. Example? Game 5 of the 2009 Western Conference Finals, Helm broke a 1-1 tie in overtime to beat the Chicago Blackhawks when he was a member of the Detroit Red Wings. And you know the most astonishing thing? Helm's goal against the Blues came EXACTLY 13 YEARS AFTER the aforementioned 2009 OT goal. You just can't make something like that up. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for that.
Team Stats:
Shots: COL 39, STL 20
Hits: COL 24, STL 32
Faceoff Wins: COL 28, STL 24
PIM: COL 4, STL 4
See you next October, St. Louis!
CGY vs. EDM- EDM wins the series 4-1
Who else but Connor McDavid for the series winner in overtime?
McDavid's 7th goal of the postseason at 5:03 sent the Edmonton Oilers onto the Western Conference final with a 5-4 victory on May 26 for a 4-1 series victory, capping off a dominant performance by the Oilers in the overall series. Andrew Mangiapane (3) opened the scoring at 10:13 of period 1 for the Flames, and they would hold a 1-0 advantage before making it 2-0 from Mikael Backlund (5) at 5:41. However, Edmonton would tally 3 unanswered goals, courtesy of Darnell Nurse (2) at 7:40, Jesse Puljujarvi (2) at 9:56, and red-hot Zach Hyman (8) on the power play at 14:57 for a 3-2 Oilers lead. It didn't last long, though- Calgary responded with 2 goals in less than a minute, from Johnny Gaudreau (3) at 15:12 and Calle Jarnkrok (1) at 15:28 to retake the lead with a 4-3 advantage. The Oilers would at least get the last laugh, however, Evan Bouchard (3) scored at 16:08 for a 4-4 tie game, and that's how things would stay till the end of period 2 and for the entirety of the 3rd period before McDavid's heroics just past 5 minutes into OT.
Team Stats:
Shots: EDM 35, CGY 36
Hits: EDM 23, CGY 28
Faceoff Wins: EDM 19, CGY 38
PIM: EDM 4, CGY 2 (I would expect a lot more from a playoff Battle of Alberta!)
FLA vs. TB- TB wins the series 4-0.
Well, that was dumb.
You'd think that the President's Trophy-winning Panthers (the best regular-season record for those unfamiliar) would have a decent shot at the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champions, buuut you'd be wrong. Florida barely even scored AT ALL throughout the entirety of the series, which again, wasn't even that long. And much like Tampa Bay winning the Stanley Cup last year with a slow 1-0 victory, Tampa did the exact same thing in this year's Second Round with a sloppy 2-0 victory, both their goals coming from a goalie gaffe and an empty net shot. That's all it took. You'd expect a bit of a better effort from a team who barely avoided circumventing the league's salary cap just a couple of seasons prior. Oh, yeah, 1 more thing- both goals were scored IN THE THIRD PERIOD. Super late in the game, at 6:16, Pat Maroon (2) and Ondrej Palat (4) with 23 seconds left in regulation. Yawn.
Team Stats:
Shots: FLA 49, TB 26
Hits: FLA 41, TB 29
Faceoff Wins: FLA 23, TB 32
PIM: FLA 8, TB 6
CAR vs. NYR- NYR wins the series 4-3
And that's why No Quit in New York is the Rangers' slogan this postseason.
The New York Rangers blew off the Carolina Hurricanes with some gale-force winds of their own with a 6-2 victory in Raleigh in Game 7 of the series. It was the only road win for the Rangers in the series, and it just so happened to be the one they needed most. After a similarly dominant Game 5 win at home at the Garden, New York knew they had to keep their foot on the gas heading to a hostile Hurricanes arena. And they did just that, scoring 2 goals early on in the first period at 3:40 and the 8-minute mark with PPGs from Adam Fox (5) and Chris Kreider (7). The Rangers would make it 3-0 towards the end of the 2nd period from Ryan Strome's tally (2) at 16:19. Kreider would score his 2nd of the night early in the 3rd period, just like he did in the first period of play, this time at the 3:59 mark. At 8:11, Vincent Trocheck's PPG (6) finally got Carolina on the board, but it may have already been over by that point, as just 40 seconds later, Filip Chytil (5) made it 5-1 Rangers. At 16:13, Max Domi (3) got the final goal for Carolina, but Andrew Copp (6) scored at 17:08 to put the game, series, and season away for the Caniacs. Or, as Don Cherry once infamously labeled them, the "Bunch of Jerks." There was no Storm Sturge in Raleigh that night, either.
Team Stats:
Shots: NYR 31, CAR 39
Hits: NYR 22, CAR 23
Faceoff Wins: NYR 24, CAR 48 (TWICE as many? Yowza!)
PIM: NYR 8, CAR 6
Conference Final Matchups:
TB vs. NYR (No Quit in New York, baby!)
COL vs. EDM (Go Oilers! Beat those Avs! They beat my Blues!)
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