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

Pittsburgh Penguins (1) vs. New York Islanders (4)

The Islanders finished 20th in goals scored during this regular season but that all changed once they got to face off against playoff Tristan Jarry.

New York scored 21 goals in the six games as four different players notched 3 tallies each. Jarry played to an abysmal .888 save %, Sidney Crosby could only muster a single goal and two points and so Pittsburgh ends up with another disappointing playoff performance.

Anthony Beauvillier and John Gabriel-Pageau both had a team-leading seven points for NY and Ilya Sorokin was a standout in net, supplanting Varlamov, as he finished with a .943 save % in 4 games. And yup, I completely botched this pick.

Result: NYI in 6

My Bracket: Pittsburgh in 6

Edmonton Oilers (2) vs. Winnipeg Jets (3)

I’m sure people expected more from Connor McDavid this series (1 goal, 4 points) but let’s face it, the team is essentially him and Leon Draisaitl (2 goals, 5 points).

Winnipeg, despite the issues they had down the stretch and the Oilers’ strong regular season success against them, simply had too much skill and depth for Edmonton to compete with, particularly when they also had playoff Connor Hellebuyck to Edmonton’s aged Mike Smith (who, to his credit, played quite well this year and finished with a .912 save % this series).

Jets finished with an overall 14-8 edge in goals, led by Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler (5 points apiece).

Result: Winnipeg in 4

My Bracket: Winnipeg in 6

Florida Panthers (2) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (3)

While the Capitals-Bruins series certainly was entertaining to watch, I thought this series took things to another level.

The speed, intensity and physicality of this match-up was something to behold. Tampa ultimately came out on top, outscoring Florida 24-17 (and 8PPG to 6) with perennial performer Nikita Kucherov looking none the worse for wear, cap-(shenanigans)-ing off the final game with two assists to give him a total of 3 goals and 11 points in six games.

Again, goaltending was a major factor as Panthers’ Chris Driedger and Sergei Bobrovsky struggled (.871 and .841) while Andrei Vasilevskiy (.929) shut the door.

Result: Tampa Bay in 6

My Bracket: Tampa Bay in 5

Colorado Avalanche (1) vs. St. Louis Blues (4)

Other than seeing Nazem Kadri suspended for the third(!) time in the post-season, everything went pretty smoothly for Colorado. Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen, with 9, 8 and 7 points, respectively, torched the Blues and made life miserable for Jordan Binnington, who finished with an .899 save % in the four game series. St. Louis was outscored by a whopping 20-7 margin and lost each game by at least three goals. Not many surprises here.

Result: Colorado in 4

My Bracket: Colorado in 5