NHL Playoffs 2021: A look at Teams Other Than the Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens are locked in an epic battle, but what about the seven other series that are happening concurrently.?

Well it’s nearly June and so you know what that means: The first round of the 2021 NHL playoffs are just winding down. Hopefully we can all tune in for the Finals before Labour Day, and a few weeks before Toronto Maple Leafs training camp starts.

But seriously, so far the playoffs have been an intense, rousing success and currently six of the eight opening round series have already been decided.

Here’s how the rest of the first round, outside of Toronto-Montreal, has gone down (and I’m including my NHL bracket picks as comparison)

Washington Capitals (2) vs. Boston Bruins (3) 

After clipping the Bruins 3-2 in overtime in game 1, Washington dropped the next four and fell to Boston in just five games.

The series was close early on, despite Washington being forced to use 39-year old Craig Anderson, a cheap January depth signing. Games 2 and 3 ended in OT and 2OT, respectively, but once Ilya Samsonov took over starting duties for Washington, Boston took control of the series.

Samsonov had an .899 save % compared to Tuukka Rask’s .941 and the Capitals were outscored by a 16-10 margin (all stats from hockey-reference.com). David Pastrnak led the Bruins in scoring with 2 goals and 6 points while Alex Ovechkin, with 2 goals and 4 points, led the way for Washington.

Result: Boston in 5

My Bracket: Boston in 7