Quick thoughts on my two teams last night:
Bruins: Expected... kind of. The Leafs were against the wall, not just the end of their season but the end of their TEAM. Losing another first round series almost certainly means an enormous overhauls in Toronto, with key people (coaches especially) likely out the door. This is it, this is the Leafs core as we know it on the line, so they were always going to show up with their A-level game. Anything less only justifies the teardown to follow. That said, the B's were shockingly bad in the first 30 minutes or so- two shots on net in the first period of a playoff game? TWO? And yet the team that laid that egg still went to OT and nearly won it. I'm not worried right now- I think a more even effort closes things out on Thursday.
Avalanche: Good lord. Just... they took the likely-Vezina winner behind the woodshed and beat the tar out of him five games in a row. I can't think of the last time I watched a top-tier goalie get absolutely torched like that. I noted before that this was less of an ass-kicking of the Jets and more of a warning to every other team left in the playoffs, and while the Stars and Knights are tied at this writing, both have to be looking ahead a little and raising their eyebrows. Dallas at least has a very good goalie in Oettinger- Vegas, I have zero faith in their ability to stop the Avs. Maybe keep up in high-scoring games, but not STOP them.
Side note, Cale Makar. Since 2005, only four defensemen have more playoff points than Makar does- Hedman, Keith, Letang, Carlson. That's it, those four. Now, part of that means the Avs have made deep playoff runs for him to get points in, same as the others, but... he's ahead in that time period of other deep-playoff defensemen like Doughty, Chara, MacAvoy, etc., and of the four ahead of him, three are surefire Hall of Fame players (sorry, Carlson).
The big one? Makar made his debut in 2019.
