The Dallas Stars continued the trend of underdog teams upsetting potential Stanley Cup favorites, eliminating the Nashville Predators in six games on Monday night. Dallas, propelled by a John Klingberg wrister, won their series-clinching game in overtime before a deadlocked 1-1 tie almost made it into double overtime.
With their victory, the Stars joined the St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets, and New York Islanders in the second round. Each team disposed of a powerhouse in their first round matchup, which begs the question: Is this a year for the underdog?
Let’s start with the Islanders, a franchise who had a resurgence under the guidance of Barry Trotz fresh off of a Stanley Cup-winning season in Washington. Despite losing their franchise centerpiece John Tavares to the Maple Leafs last Summer, they scratched and clawed to secure the second seed in the Metropolitan Division. Even despite their home ice advantage, they were viewed as a fluke going into a series with the star-studded Penguins. Their response? An almost flawless, picture-perfect sweep of Sidney Crosby and the Pens. Out of these five teams, these Islanders have to be the least of the underdogs as they were in command of their division for most of the regular campaign.
Sticking in the East, the Columbus Blue Jackets barely squeaked into an eighth seed in the eleventh hour of the season. In a move that the entire hockey world saw and still probably is in disbelief about, they manhandled the President’s Trophy winners in Tampa Bay with a sweep of their own. John Tortorella has gotten his entire roster to buy into his system, playing unselfish, defensive, smash-mouth hockey in front of Sergei Bobrovsky and capitalizing on the offensive chances that they get. The acquisitions of Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel has solidified their top-six forwards to complement the existing firepower that Artemi Panarin and company had brought to the table. Columbus is a scary team going forward if they continue to play as well as they did against the Lightning.
Out West, the Colorado Avalanche matched the Blue Jackets elimination of the top-seeded Lighting with their own victory over the Western Conference one seed in the Calgary Flames. After a shutout in Game 1, the Avs won four straight, including the series-clincher in Calgary’s Saddledome. Propelled by the offensive explosions of Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon, the Avalanche potted 17 goals in the four victories they posted compared to the seven they allowed. Johnny Gaudreau, the star of the Flames, looked visibly frustrated by the lack of space that the Avs gave him. I’d like to see more depth scoring from the Avs, which is likely what led to the insertion of rookie Cale Makar into their lineup, but as long as the formula is working there’s little reason to worry as an Avs fan.
My personal prediction for the Cup winner before the season began, the Winnipeg Jets, fell victim to the same fate as the Flames, Lightning, and Penguins, losing to the St. Louis Blues in six games. Winnipeg ran into arguably the hottest team and goaltender in the league at the worst time. The Jets were unable to crack rookie Jordan Binnington, who led the Blues to three road victories before getting their fourth win on home ice. Timely scoring, including a back-breaking winner in Game 5 from Jaden Schwartz with 15 seconds left epitomized the series for the Blues; They got the goals when they needed them most, and the Jets did not. Surely, St. Louis is bound to have their luck run out soon and Binnington has to come back down to Earth at some point, but until that day comes their second-round opponent has their hands full.
That brings it back to Dallas, the team that felt the most surprising to see make it out of round one. Jamie Benn and company on paper were one of the most top-heavy teams in the playoffs, led by their top line of Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Alex Radulov matched with top pairing defense of John Klingberg and rookie Miro Heiskanen. Luckily, the Stars were able to knock out the former Conference-champion Nashville Predators on the stellar play of veteran goaltender Ben Bishop. Bishop showed why he was deserving of his Vezina nomination, conceding one goal on two occasions and two goals on two other occasions in the series. He gave them a chance to win night in and night out, along with the depth scoring that the team relied on to supplement their top line’s efforts. I still feel like they are the biggest underdog of the five. However, with Bishop in net, the Stars could be poised for a deep playoff run.
Now, only time will tell if the Carolina Hurricanes can continue the trend, knocking off the defending champion Washington Capitals in their own building in Game 7.
