The Blue Jackets may be headed to the nearest golf course, but the world's greatest postseason is kicking into high gear.
Sunday saw Ottawa dispatch Boston – in overtime – to advance, 4–2, and Washington best Toronto, to likewise move on in six games with an overtime win. Hello, conference semifinals.
The action begins Wednesday night with the Nashville Predators, broom kings of Chicago, visiting the St. Louis Blues, and the upstart Edmonton Oilers dropping into the Ponda to face the Anaheim Ducks.
Thursday brings us game one of the New York Rangers–Ottawa Senators series in the Canadian capital, and the much anticipated Crosby-Ovechkin clash between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals in D.C.
CRAZY PLAYOFF STATS: The Toronto–Washington game Sunday night brought us our 18th overtime game of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. That's good enough for a new record for first round games.
42.9% of all conference quarterfinal games (18/42) went to extra periods, which is great because the only thing better than playoff hockey is free playoff hockey.
The 1993 Stanley Cup Playoffs set the overall mark with 28 games going extra sessions, and that record is absolutely in reach with seven playoff series remaining.
And now for some bad news: Not one of the eight conference quarterfinals went the full seven games. The last time that happened was 2001, or you know, about when the Penguins were last contemplating bankruptcy.
ABOUT THAT PENS–CAPS SERIES: When Washington welcome Pittsburgh to the Verizon Center for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Thursday night, we're not only getting a matchup of the two best teams in the NHL this season, we're also getting a matchup of the two best players of this generation, right in their primes.
Since entering the league together in 2005, Ovechkin (1,035 points) and Crosby (1,027 points) are No. 1 and No. 2 in league scoring. However, including NHL and international competition, the two have met on the ice over 50 times, and Crosby has a solid lead in wins when the two square off.
Quick aside: As much as the focus will be on Crosby vs. Ovechkin, the Pens' Evgeni Malkin has been pure beast mode this postseason, leading the NHL in scoring with 11 points in the five games he played against the Blue Jackets.
The teams have a bit of a history in the postseason, too. Last year, the Caps won the President's Trophy going away with 120 points. It didn't matter, as the Penguins knocked them out in the second round. In fact, the Capitals are just 1–8 all-time against Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And the Penguins claim four Cups – all captured with a series win over the Capitals along the way.
Get your popcorn ready.
THAT'S THE SOUND OF FREEDOM: The United States topped Finland, 4-2, yesterday to capture gold at the U18 World Championships.
If you're scoring along at home, Team USA is now the reigning World Juniors, Men's U18, Women's Worlds, and Women's U18 champions.
HERE'S SOME SALT (AND POPCORN): Sharks fans were not exactly thrilled seeing the Oilers celebrate a series-clinching 3-1 win, so one of them tossed tossed a bucket of popcorn on the Edmonton bench:
Sharks fans dumped popcorn on the Oilers bench after the empty-netter sealed it pic.twitter.com/eyZ536FmmU
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 23, 2017
Anton Slepyshev is still picking popcorn out of his shirt.
ICYMI: John Tortorella has one message for his team: Good is the enemy of great ... No surprise here, but Sergei Bobrovsky is a Vezina finalist Exit Day interviews: Zach Werenski, Seth Jones, Cam Atkinson and Nick Foligno ... Ovechkin hits a suplex (here's a cool photo of it) ... What just landed in my beer ... With eight points in six games this postseason, former Blue Jacket Derick Brassard now has 52 points in 65 career playoff games. He's basically this era's Claude Lemieux.
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