It’s building.
Welcome to Thursday, folks!
The NHL playoffs rolled on over the past few days, with three eliminations:
- The Capitals knocked out the Canadiens
- The Panthers brushed aside the Lightning
- The Hurricanes knocked out the Devils
Elsewhere, the Jets beat St. Louis to take a 3-2 lead in their series.
There’s a chance for four more eliminations tonight, with Toronto, Dallas, Vegas, and Edmonton all up 3-2 in their respective series.
Ideally, we get at least one Game 7 out of the bunch — and I think we all know which series we’d like to see go seven.
Can you imagine the Leafs playing a Game 7 at home after being up 3-0 in the series? The joy? The shots of Maple Leafs Square?
We can dream. With the Bruins missing the playoffs, schadenfreude and a higher Panthers draft pick is all we have left.
To me, the Leafs have too much talent to actually let it get that far (this time), but I’ve been wrong before. A Linus Ullmark heater could make things very interesting.
Elsewhere, the Bruins got a bit of nice news on the prospects front, as Will Zellers picked up a few USHL awards.
Zellers, acquired from Colorado in the Charlie Coyle trade, was named the USHL’s Player of the Year and Forward of the Year; he was also named an All-USHL First Team player.
The University of North Dakota commit had an impressive 71 points in 52 games, with 44 goals and 27 assists.
While he still may be a couple of years away from making an impact for the Bruins, it’s nice to see him succeed at his current level.
Finally, the Providence Bruins will kick off their second-round series against Charlotte tomorrow night in Providence.
That game will have a 7:05 PM puck drop, with Game 2 set to follow on Sunday (same time).
Those games are streamed online via FloHockey, if you’d like to tune in.
What’s on tap for today?