Gabriel Landeskog takes on Brayden Schenn.

One game 2 tonight and two opening games.

As always, feel free to discuss the games and the full schedule is below.

from TSN,

Toronto and Montreal may be playoff strangers but the heated rivalry has never been forgotten in the minds of hockey fans. Despite not facing off in a postseason series since 1979, all that drought has done is build a fire in each fan base which will be unleashed when the two teams meet Thursday. Michael Farber has more.

Watch the 5 1/2 minute feature at TSN, no geo-blocking.

from Andrew Bucholz of Awful Announcing,

There’s yet another hockey media move in the works, and while this one is just a departure for now rather than a transfer, there’s already lots of talk about what could be ahead. The move in question is veteran reporter Frank Seravalli exiting TSN after six years. Seravalli, who joined TSN in 2015 after six years on the Flyers’ beat for The Philadelphia Daily News, tweeted about his TSN exit Monday, and said this was his choice:

Seravalli notes in there that he isn’t “exactly sure” what’s next for him, but there’s been plenty of speculation that he might join ESPN or Turner ahead of the start of their NHL coverage next season. Either of those moves might make some sense. ESPN in particular might have some merit, as Seravalli could contribute not only to game coverage for them, but perhaps also to SportsCenter and other shows. They also have a strong website for reporting, written features, and video features, and Seravalli has found some success in all of those formats.

Turner might be a little harder to envision as a destination given that they don’t have sports news shows or a real website association.

continued

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from Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News,

It's impossible to oversell just what Kucherov means to the complexion of this Lightning outfit. With him and Stamkos back on the power play, Tampa Bay is lethal and that was on full display against the Panthers in Game 1 with the Lightning scoring on three out of four power play opportunities. Kucherov scored both his goals from a near-identical spot with that wicked shot of his, but with Tampa Bay presenting so many weapons on the man advantage, the Panthers will truly have to pick their poison in this series.

As for Kucherov himself, the potent winger is still getting used to his physical situation.

"A new hip is a new hip; it's different," he said. "I'm better and I feel really good. I was excited to get back in the game and be with the boys. I've been waiting for this for a long time and it's nice to get this one out of the way and focus on the next game."...

And the fact of the matter is, Tampa Bay broke no league rules. The Lightning were deep enough that they could faithfully trudge on without Kucherov for 56 games and sure enough, they did so successfully. Now, with no salary cap to worry about, the Bolts have their superstar back and Game 1 went swimmingly.

more

Five ticks south of 2 1/2 minutes long.

from Andrew Marchand of the New York Post,

For its NHL coverage, ESPN has signed Leah Hextall to do play-by-play and other roles, The Post has learned.

While the exact number of games she will broadcast is not yet known, she will be the first woman play-by-player to be a regular part of national NHL TV package.

Hextall has been broadcasting hockey for 17 years. Last year for SportsNet, she became the first woman in Canada to call play-by-play for a national NHL broadcast.

She previously became the first woman to call the NCAA Men’s Tournament, which she did for ESPN. She is the cousin of former Flyers great Ron Hextall.

continued

My opinion, she's good. Knows the game and is an excellent choice.

Boarding.

from Mike Johnston of Sportsnet,

You weren’t expecting a bunch of blowouts were you?

The 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs got underway this weekend with three of the first four games requiring overtime and the other being a heated back-and-forth one-goal thriller between state rivals.

Yep. It’s definitely the post-season, folks.

The Capitals downed the Bruins 3-2 in OT in the lone game on Saturday, but three series got underway Sunday and each got progressively more entertaining as the day went on.

Sunday’s action concluded with the first playoff game between the Florida Panthers and defending Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning and oh boy did it ever live up to and exceed the hype.

continued

from Cathal Kelly of the Globe and Mail,

You can judge the quality of a person’s career by the number of acts they manage to fit into it.

Most of us get three – enter workforce; work; retire and/or die. Sidney Crosby, the world’s oldest 33-year-old, has had a half-dozen.

Act 1: The Arrival of the Savant. Act II: The Takeover. Act III: The Concussion Years. Act IV: The Resurrection. Act V: The Return to Glory. That puts us somewhere in the midst of Act VI.

Crosby’s sixth act is becoming a bit of a mess. What exactly is the motivation of the Pittsburgh Penguins captain here? What’s his purpose? What does he do? It isn’t winning, that’s for sure. It’s more like existing (but a lot better paid than if you tried it).

Six acts is a lot to live, and it’s beginning to feel like a lot to watch as well. There is a natural point at which fans want their heroes to begin shuffling off the stage. It’s not that they’ve stopped liking the guy. It’s that they’ve grown tired of hearing the same stories. They want new stories.

continued

The article has caught the attention of Pittsburgh media.

from Chip Scoggins of the Star Tribune,

One goaltender was spectacular. The other was perfect. As duels go, this one served as a master class.

When it was over, the Game 1 headline carried a striking message: The Wild won a playoff game because of impenetrable goaltending.

Brought to the organization this season to provide calm, consistent goaltending, Cam Talbot rewarded that faith in him by blanking the Vegas Golden Knights 1-0 in overtime in what became a fantastic stand-off against Marc-Andre Fleury.

The teams combined for 72 shots, many Grade A chances. Shooters did everything possible to put themselves in position to score. The goalies were just better.

continued

Game highlights are below.

from Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

The Penguins did what good teammates do after their 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Islanders on Sunday. They lined up, one by one, on a Zoom call and had Tristan Jarry’s back. The rest of us can point the finger at Jarry as the primary reason for the painful defeat. They did not....

Jarry was the biggest question for the Penguins coming into this first-round series because of his lack of postseason experience with just one playoff start.

That question seems even more troubling after Jarry’s performance Sunday....

But three of the four goals that Jarry allowed were questionable at best. That is not good enough to win a playoff game. It’s not even close to being good enough.

Palmieri turned the corner on Marcus Pettersson and was able to score high on Jarry early in the game when Jarry was deep in his crease. Pageau beat him over his shoulder to tie the game, 2-2, early in the third period on a shot he saw all the way. Palmieri beat him over his left shoulder on the short side to win the game at 16:30 of overtime.

It was a stunning, hurtful ending for Jarry, who had been 8-1-0 against the Islanders, including 6-0-0 at home with a .930 save percentage.

more

Watch the game highlights below.

from Emily Kaplan of ESPN,

Anthony Mantha was accustomed to hating this time of year.

The 26-year-old, a 2013 first-round pick of the Red Wings, became a regular for Detroit in 2016-17 -- right after the franchise's NHL record streak of 25 consecutive playoff appearances ended. The Red Wings entered a rebuild, with no end in sight. Finishing toward the bottom of the standings year after year became a grind.

"It sucks," Mantha said. "You're playing hockey because you want to play in the playoffs. And when you don't have the chance, and you just pack every summer to go back home, and you're like, 'I'll just take two weeks off and start training again.' I mean, there's no motivation in that."...

And because it's the Capitals -- who have missed the postseason just once in the past 14 years, and will be vying for championships as long as Alex Ovechkin is on the roster -- it meant a chance to experience the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time.

Asked what he wants fans in Washington to know about him, Mantha replied: "I want them to know that I can be a difference-maker."

much more

Watch the hit below.

from Greg Cote of the Miami Herald,

This was the best regular season in club history. But does that make this the best team the Cats have had?

Prove it.

The chance started Sunday night, but ended in a crushing 5-4 home loss to Tampa Bay to begin the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Florida rallied from two deficits to lead 4-3, only to lose Game 1 of this Sunshine State Showdown series in the first round of the postseason, with Game 2 back in Sunrise Tuesday night.

Tampa tied it 4-4 with its third power-play goal of the night, and won it with 1:14 left in regulation. The Panthers’ penalty killing was the deflating factor.

“Five on five we played well,” said Aleksander Barkov. “On the penalty killing we needed to be a little bit better.”

The Cats played with maximum heart. That isn’t enough to beat the reigning league champions.

“It’s a long series. We just have to put it behind us and be fresh for the next one,” said Cats goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. “They have a good team and we have a good team. We just have to forget this one.”

Said second-year coach Joel Quenneville: “A lot of positives. But also things we need to work on.”

Regular seasons don’t mean much now. Here forward is all that matters.

The Panthers are South Florida’s best major team right now; sorry Miami Heat. But the onus was on Florida to prove that it should be nobody’s underdog in these teams’ first-ever postseason meeting.

Sunday was only the 26th home playoff game in Panthers history, and only the 15th since 1996.

It makes this feel like the club’s biggest series in 25 years.

more

Below, watch the game highlights.

Brooke Fletcher of Bally Sports Detroit talks with Joe Veleno regarding his this play in Sweden and Detroit.

THREE HARD LAPS

* Brayden Point scored late as the Lightning outlasted the Panthers in the fourth playoff game in NHL history to feature four lead changes.

* Cam Talbot outdueled Marc-Andre Fleury as the Wild stymied the Golden Knights en route to a Game 1 victory.

* Each of the first three games of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs required overtime, marking the first time the first three completed games in a postseason required extra time.

The first Stanley Cup Playoff game is at 12:00pm ET when the New York Islanders take on the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The full schedule for today is below and feel free to discuss the games right here.

from Dave Poulin at the Toronto Star,

What had I just watched? How could I write something different about the Oilers captain? I had to ask around, hence that first text. The cascade that followed was tremendous.

The answers were almost instantaneous, no matter the time of day. I texted a current player during what I was sure would be practice time, and his answer came back 30 seconds later: smart. I laughed, wondering if he had his cellphone tucked into his glove while on the ice.

The one-word answer was rare. People clearly wanted to say more. Unparalleled. Electrifying. Dominant. Those three came from a current player, who added, “I do think his complete tool kit is unmatched by any other player in the league … and he seems to dominate game after game in a different more exciting way each time.”

Incandescent. Scintillating. Sublime. This combination platter was delivered by a noted scribe who used the same formula to over-deliver as the player had. When I challenged him on the direction of what I had asked, he simply answered in another language: Nonpareil, clearly enjoying the exercise. The next morning, at 6:30 a.m., a detailed essay awaited in my inbox, eloquently expanding on his thoughts about McDavid, full of adjectives and verbs.

A lot of what I received dealt with his speed.

more

from Chip Scoggins of the Star Tribune,

The performance was a dud, to put it kindly. Sloppy mistakes, careless passing, no real focus.

The Wild coughed up turnover after turnover against Anaheim — one of the two worst teams in the NHL — in a textbook case of playing down to the competition. It was a moment ripe for a letdown loss earlier this month in the final push of the regular season.

Then the rookie sensation decided he'd had enough of that nonsense.

Kirill Kaprizov skated the puck up the wing in overtime, fired a shot from the circle, kept moving toward the goal, corralled his rebound in traffic and tapped in the game-winner. A piece of cake.

Just like that, overtime was finished after 17 seconds.

That singular play — and many others from the Thrill's rookie archive — helps explain why the Wild's playoff fate doesn't feel as hopeless as in previous years. The lineup finally has a true goal scorer, a guy who can make a play on his own in clutch moments.

Who needs puck luck when you have a superstar?

continued

from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- Smart for the NHL to schedule Vancouver games in the afternoon to get its elongated season over. Not smart to schedule both playoff series in Canada with back-to-back games without a day off in the first round. They should have found a way around that … Hall of Famer Jimmy Rutherford is in demand and a number of NHL teams have asked about his availability. The team that needs leadership help more than any other: The forever-confused Buffalo Sabres.

- Ottawa’s D.J. Smith will not win the coach of the year award in the NHL — he may not even be a finalist — but what a tremendous job he did with the Senators this season under challenging circumstances.

- Playoffs always come down to your best players being your best players. Rielly should be one of the Leafs’ best players and leaders. He needs to start the playoffs at a much higher level than he ended the regular season.

more on the last topic plus other hockey notes...

from Shawn Windsor of the Detroit Free Press,

Steve Yzerman said he’d be quick about meeting with his coach, Jeff Blashill, after the Detroit Red Wings’ season ended. He did not say he’d be quick about deciding Blashill’s fate.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Yzerman can’t be rushed....

the Wings were the worst team in the league last season. This year, they're tied for the fifth-worst record (with the potential to fall if Vancouver wins any of its' pandemic-stalled games this week). And if you are judging by record — or points — it's hard to justify extending Blashill, especially in a league that fires more of its coaches than any other; Blashill is the third longest-tenured coach in the NHL.

And yet?

Wins and losses aren’t the only way to measure a coach.

No, what Yzerman is trying to determine — and likely already has in some fashion — is whether Blashill is the right coach for the current roster, and for the roster Yzerman envisions the next couple of seasons....

Convincing an up-and-comer to start from (almost) scratch in Detroit won’t be easy. Though Yzerman may have the cache to pull it off.

Again, the question is whether he thinks he must. Blashill was once a promising coaching prospect, too, with a Calder Cup win in the AHL in Grand Rapids. When he had decent talent, it was easy to see his worth.

I’d argue he’s shown his value this past season as well. In a difficult year, when he lost a half-dozen players to COVID protocol nearly out of the gate, Blashill’s team got better, particularly the last six weeks of the season, particularly on defense.

Is that enough?

Possibly.

more ($$$)

THREE HARD LAPS

* The opening contest of the First Round required overtime for the second time in as many years, with Nic Dowd scoring the winner less than five minutes into the extra frame to power the Capitals past the Bruins in Game 1.

* Less than a week shy of his 40th birthday, Craig Anderson entered Game 1 in relief of Vitek Vanecek and became the oldest goaltender in franchise history to earn a win in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

* Three more First Round series start today, beginning with a matinee between the Penguins and Islanders followed by the inaugural head-to-head playoff meetings between the Golden Knights and Wild, as well as the Panthers and Lightning.

Watch it.