d'Arnaud Done

It has been a seven year experiment that failed, to put it bluntly. At the end of the 2012 season, the New York Mets made a pretty big deal. On December 16, just two months after R.A. Dickey had won the NL Cy Young Award, the Mets agreed to trade Dickey to the Toronto Blue Jays (along with Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas) in exchange for Travis d'Arnaud, John Buck, Noah Syndergaard and Wuilmer Becerra. Now d'Arnaud was supposed to be the biggest and most valued piece of that deal for the Mets in return for Dickey. Here we sit, almost seven years since the deal was made,m and Travis d'Arnaud time in New York has come to an end. ON Sunday he was designated for assignment.

D’Arnaud spent seven years with the Mets and ended his era in Queens after a year-long recovery from Tommy John surgery. His performance was underwhelming would be putting it mildly. He had a bright future in baseball, which is why the Mets made the big deal to try and land him. But, sadly during his time here in New York, he never hit above .275 for a full season, in fact his single season best was .268 in 2015. Now this year, he had been coming off Tommy John surgery, so you could cut him a little bit of slack. That ran out quick when Travis had gone 2-for-25 with two RBI, two walks and five strikeouts across 10 games this season.

He ends his Mets career as a .242 hitter, with 47 home runs, 164 RBI, 65 doubles and 112 walks over 407 games. Most guys would be happy to put up those kind of power numbers in a single season, and he did it over a full career. He was a slightly above average hitter at best. And to make matters worse this year, his play behind the plate, which was supposed to be a strong suit for Travis, was horrible and can't happen at the big league level. Oh but wait, this gets more interesting.

The Mets had deemed d’Arnaud as the second-best catcher on the club behind Wilson Ramos, this after having Travis miss a year because of the injury. The decision by the team caused a rift between veteran backstop Devin Mesoraco and the ball club. While d’Arnaud was still rehabbing at Mets camp, Mesoraco expected to be on the Mets Opening Day roster as the backup catcher. New York promoted Nido for his defense and enthusiasm to grow behind the plate. Mesoraco opted to look for a home with another major league ball club, but came up empty handed. The veteran catcher sits on the Mets restricted list after the team declined to release him.

The Mets dropped the ball with the whole thing. It would have just made more sense to get rid of Travis during camp and either save the money off his contract or give it to Mesoraco, who helped the pitching staff greatly last season. Ramos is the main guy here I get that but Devin could have done a way better job serving as the backup here in the big leagues.

Anyway, back to my other argument. The fact that Travis d'Arnaud isn't here any more does make me a little sad, for the man anyway. He deserved a little bit better ending for his time here with the Mets. At the same time, I'm glad he's gone because, lets face facts, he wasn't very good at the plate, or behind it. He was meh at best from where I sit. So now the Mets can move on in a different direction without d'Arnaud here. I do hope that Travis can find another job as a catcher in baseball, I want to see him get another shot at this thing to see if he can turn it around. It was a failed experiment with the Mets.

Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round Preview

Well well, we now have eight teams left standing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Coming off a very exciting first round in which we saw all four division winners get eliminated from Stanley Cup Contention. Columbus pulled off the biggest upset, sweeping the President's Trophy winning Tampa Bay Lightning to pick up their first ever playoff series win. The only other team to pull off a sweep in the opening round was the Islanders, who swept Pittsburgh right out of the playoffs. Calgary, the top seed in the West, was bounced in five games by Colorado. Every other series in the opening round went at least six games. Now its on to the eight teams remaining in round two. And here's what we got for this year's second round.

First up, we have the Columbus Blue Jackets taking on the Boston Bruins. Boston is coming off a seven game opening round win over the Maple Leafs, marking it the 2nd year in a row Boston has advanced past the first round. The Bruins are looking to advance to their first Eastern Conference Final since 2013. As for the Blue Jackets, they're coming off the upset sweep of the Lightning in the opening round, their first ever playoff series victory. This marks the first time the Jackets have ever made it to round two. This marks the first playoff meeting between these two teams. Boston won two of the three games in this year's regular season series.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 25 Columbus Blue Jackets 7:00 p.m. Boston Bruins TD Garden
April 27 Columbus Blue Jackets 8:00 p.m. Boston Bruins TD Garden
April 30 Boston Bruins 7:00 p.m. Columbus Blue Jackets Nationwide Arena
May 2 Boston Bruins 7:30 p.m. Columbus Blue Jackets Nationwide Arena
May 4 Columbus Blue Jackets 7:15 p.m. Boston Bruins TD Garden
May 6 Boston Bruins TBD Columbus Blue Jackets Nationwide Arena
May 8 Columbus Blue Jackets TBD Boston Bruins TD Garden

There's a lot of momentum on the side of the Blue Jackets right now. They just swept the best team in hockey during the regular season and did it in pretty convincing fashion to pick up their first ever playoff win. Look at what they did to Tampa in the opening round. Seth Jones is starting to take a leap into the most elite tier of defencemen and paired with partner Zach Werenski, completely neutralized Tampa Bay’s most potent offensive weapons. Throw that in with the play of star netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, and you'll see that the Bolts were held to just eight goals in the opening round, a shocking number for a team that's as good as Tampa was. For Columbus it was two fold. Not only did they do a good job of shutting down the Lightning, they managed to find the back of the net with regularity. Matt Duchene had three goals and seven points in the four games to pace Columbus, while Artemi Panarin and Zach Werenski each chipped in five points. So they can score too.

But in this round they're going against a battle tested Boston Bruins squad who's coming off a seven game series win over the Leafs for the 2nd year in a row. Brad Marchand scored four goals and nine points, proving to be a consistent thorn in the Leafs’ side, while Patrice Bergeron’s all-around excellence wore down the opposition. David Pastrnak chipped in six points, while Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci had five each. Tuukka Rask looked solid in net, but there were times he defense let him down and there was nothing he could do on a few of those goals he gave up. Columbus is going to have to watch tape of what Toronto did right in the first round if they want to try and move past the B's. On the whole, Boston did a great job of keeping the Leafs big boys at check to start this playoffs, and are going to be counted on to do it again in this round with the Jackets gunners.

This won't be as easy a series for the Jackets. I know that they're coming into this one well rested. But the difference between the Bolts and B's is that Boston is a lot tougher than the Lightning were in the opener. This isn't a put down of the Jackets by any means. They pulled off the huge win to start this run and are going to really test the Bruins. But I like Boston's depth and trust Rask in this sense more than I do Bob, more so after the way Rask played the last two games of the first round.

Prediction: Bruins in 7

Next up, we have the Carolina Hurricanes taking on the New York Islanders. Carolina got here by knocking off the defending Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals in seven games. Its the first time that Carolina has gotten past the first round since 2009. Carolina is looking to reach the East finals for the first time since 2009. As for the Islanders, they swept the Penguins in the opening round, something they haven't done since 1983. Its the first opening round win for the team since 2016. New York is looking to reach the conference finals for the first time since 1993. This will be the first playoff meeting between these two teams. New York won three of the four games in this year's regular season series.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 26 Carolina Hurricanes 7:00 p.m. New York Islanders Barclays Center
April 28 Carolina Hurricanes 3:00 p.m. New York Islanders Barclays Center
May 1 New York Islanders 7:00 p.m. Carolina Hurricanes PNC Arena
May 3 New York Islanders 7:00 p.m. Carolina Hurricanes PNC Arena
May 5 Carolina Hurricanes TBD New York Islanders Barclays Center
May 7 New York Islanders TBD Carolina Hurricanes PNC Arena
May 8 Carolina Hurricanes TBD New York Islanders Barclays Center

Those "Bunch Of Jerks" down in Carolina are carrying momentum into this second round matchup with New York. It wasn't really a huge save or a big goal, or anything that coach Rod Brind’Amour did, he just stuck with his gameplan and it worked. Rookie standout Andrei Svechnikov took on Ovechkin in a Game 3 fight and was promptly knocked out, but it may have turned the tide for the Canes and got them going. Carolina took game three 5-0 and rallying to win four of the last five games in the series. Jaccob Slavin was huge in this series with nine points (all assists) and Dougie Hamilton’s contributions from the back end will be something to keep an eye on against the Islanders. Warren Foegele lead the way with four goals, while Jordan Staal and Sebastian Aho had solid contributions as well in the opening round.

They got a tougher test in this round in the Islanders though. New York was the higher seed than Pittsburgh but the fact that they swept the Pens and kept Sidney Crosby off the goal sheet was pretty impressive. Robin Lehner was outstanding in the series, only surrendering a grand total of six goals in the sweep. He was great the entire series, as a matter of fact so was his defense for not letting the Pens get to the rebounds. On the other side, Jordan Eberle had himself a good series, scoring four gaols anad six points to lead the team. Everybody on the club registered at least one point except for the fourth line of Martin, Clutterbuck, and Cizikas. That's a balanced scoring attack that's going to be tough for the Canes defense to deal with. There were times in the opening round where the team would spend a little too much time passing, but having all this time off to rest and get healthy is going to be big.

Not having Johnny Boychuk due to injury could be tough for the Isles to overcome, but Barry Trotz has had his team ready to roll every step of the way so far in this playoffs and that's not going to change here. Carolina put up a hell of a fight by beating the Caps in the last round, but they don't get that lucky here. New York is going to have just enough of an edge to take this series.

Prediction: Islanders in 6

Moving to the Western Conference, we start with the Dallas Stars taking on the St Louis Blues. Dallas got here by beating the Nashville Predators in the opening round in six games, the first time they've won an opening round series since 2016. Dallas is aiming to get to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2008. Meanwhile, the Blues got here by beating the Winnipeg Jets in six games, the first time the Blues have won in the opening round since 2017. St Louis is looking to reach its first conference finals since 2016. This will be the fourteenth playoff meeting between these two teams with St. Louis winning seven of the thirteen previous series. They last met in the seond round of the 2016 playoffs, which St. Louis won in seven games. Dallas won three of the four games in this year's regular season series.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 25 Dallas Stars 9:30 p.m. St. Louis Blues Enterprise Center
April 27 Dallas Stars 3:00 p.m. St. Louis Blues Enterprise Center
April 29 St. Louis Blues 8:00 p.m. Dallas Stars American Airlines Center
May 1 St. Louis Blues 9:30 p.m. Dallas Stars American Airlines Center
May 3 Dallas Stars 9:30 p.m. St. Louis Blues Enterprise Center
May 5 St. Louis Blues TBD Dallas Stars American Airlines Center
May 7 Dallas Stars TBD St. Louis Blues Enterprise Center

This is a big run for the Blues, who fired their coach in early November and were a last place team in early January. Now they're in the 2nd round of the playoffs. You can't make this stuff up. Jaden Schwartz has been playing like a man on fire as of late, scoring four goals in the opening round and finished one point behind Alex Pietrangelo for the leading scorer in that opening round series. St Louis has a unique ability to be able to roll four lines and they did that pretty well in the opening round against Winnipeg. In net, Jordan Binnington wasn’t at his best during the first round, but he started coming around at the end of the series and could be back to top form against the Stars. Even if, for some reason, he does fault against Dallas, St Louis does have another solid netminder in Jake Allen to step in between the pipes and take over.

But Binnington has some tough competition at the other end of the ice in the form of Ben Bishop, who's not only a finalist for the Vezina for top goalie, but only allowed 12 goals in the first round win over Nashville. So keeping the puck out hasn't been too tough for Dallas. Scoring hasn't either. You knew the Stars big line of Alexander Radulov, Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin were going to come up big. They all did in the first round, with all three players racking up six points throughout the series. It's more than just the big boys. John Klingberg, Mats Zuccarello, Radek Faksa, Roope Hintz and Jason Dickinson all felt pressure and all delivered in some way shape or form in this series.

The Stars have a great first line, but the Blues, outside of one game, held a deeper Jets team in check in the first round. Jordan Binnington had a .879 save percentage against the Stars during the regular season, but he's capable of keeping his team in games. The Blues' power play will provide a bigger challenge than the terrible Predators one that the Stars faced in the first round.

Prediction: Blues in 7

Finally, we have the San Jose Sharks taking on the Colorado Avalanche. San Jose got payback for last year, knocking off the Vegas Golden Knights in seven games. Its the 2nd straight year and 3rd time in the last four years that the Sharks are on to round two. San Jose is looking to get to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2016. As for Colorado, they beat the Flames in five in the first round to get here, the first time they've gotten out of the opening round since 2008. Colorado is looking to get to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2002. This marks the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams with both teams splitting the four previous series. They last met in the 2010 Western Conference Quarterfinals which San Jose won in six games. San Jose won all three games in this year's regular season series.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 26 Colorado Avalanche 10:00 p.m. San Jose Sharks SAP Center
April 28 Colorado Avalanche 7:30 p.m. San Jose Sharks SAP Center
April 30 San Jose Sharks 10:00 p.m. Colorado Avalanche Pepsi Center
May 2 San Jose Sharks 10:00 p.m. Colorado Avalanche Pepsi Center
May 4 Colorado Avalanche TBD San Jose Sharks SAP Center
May 6 San Jose Sharks TBD Colorado Avalanche Pepsi Center
May 8 Colorado Avalanche TBD San Jose Sharks SAP Center

Much like what happened with the Bolts over in the East, seeing Colorado kick the crap out of Calgary in five games was a pretty big upset. Colorado's top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen should not be taken lightly after marching to the second round with ease. They dominated that series against the Flames. But hey, it wasn't just them. Colorado received balanced scoring across the board with 10 players lighting the lamp against Calgary, but MacKinnon began to separate himself from the pack<, with eight points in the series, only one behind Rantanen. Hey, Philipp Grubauer looked good in net, allowing only ten goals in the entire five game series, but the offense stole the show, out pacing that high powered offense in Calgary.

San Jose is no pushover, getting revenge on Vegas for what they did to them last year. Barclay Goodrow put a merciful end to the series, which was a remarkable comeback for the Sharks. San Jose did trail 3-1 in the series before winning the final three games. Tomas Hertl, who's just starting to really find his game, had a big series with six goals and two assists. The only other guy who did that well against Vegas was Logan Couture. Killing off the Sharks will be easier said than done, as Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski are still reliable secondary contributors. Brent Burns, who led the team in scoring during the regular season didn’t approach his grandest heights and we’ve gone this far without mentioning Erik Karlsson, who cooly put up nine assists.

Colorado is on a roll no doubt there. But they got a much more battle tested team to go against in San Jose. The Sharks are finding their game and have hit the right stride at the right time.

Prediction: Sharks in 6

Huge Opening Round Upset

Winning the President's Trophy. A team that does that has gone on to have the best record in the National Hockey League in a given season. Once considered a sign of stability for great teams, it hasn't gone quite that way at times. In the case of this year's winners, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the President's Trophy win meant something else altogether. A first round sweep at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets. It also meant the waste of what was a truly historic season for the Bolts.

Here's the raw numbers. With a 62-16-4 record, the Lightning tied the 1995-96 Red Wings for the most wins in a season. Tampa Bay finished with 128 points, which was just short of one huge benchmark, the record 132 points achieved by the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens (60-8-12). That Habs squad was regarded as one of the best, if not the best, NHL teams ever. But Tampa couldn't get the job done. That I think is going to be the biggest factor that sticks in the craws against the Lightning this summer. They had a dominant regular season, the likes of which we haven't seen in the hockey world in over twenty years. Nikita Kucherov lead the loop with 128 points. Andrei Vasilevskiy lead the league in wins with 39. Tampa lead the league in total goals with 325. it was a season for the ages.

But it all went for a waste. You'd like that with a regular season that the Bolts had, they would romp their way to a Stanley Cup. So that's bad enough, that they lost in the first round. To make matters worse, not only did they get swept in the first round, the blew a 3-0 lead in game one and never really recovered and did it to a franchise that had never won a playoff series before in franchise history. It also goes to show that winning the Presidents Trophy won't exactly guarantee success. Since the award started being given out in 1986, a team that has won it has gone on to the finals 11 times, winning the Stanley Cup eight times. Nobody has won the Cup in the same year they took the Presidents trophy was the 2013 Chicago Blackhawks. So it goes to show that there's no correlation between the Presidents Trophy and winning the cup. One does not guarantee the other.

So its a lot to digest.

The goal by Nick Foligno that got the Jackets on the board in the opener turned the series around. It gave the Jackets hope and it was something that Tampa never really recovered from. For the Jackets, this too had major implications It was the first time that they had won a playoff series in franchise history, so its a major step in the right direction. And its an even bigger feather in their cap that they managed to do it against the best team in hockey. It was solid defense and goaltending, and timely scoring. Columbus did what they had to do to get the job done and now here they sit, waiting on the winner of the Bruins-Leafs series.

Whatever the outcome may be for the Jackets in the next round, this was a huge step in the right direction for the franchise and their confidence in this years playo

NFL Schedules Announced

Ah the NFL Football season. Sure, its still a little ways away, but we can start making our plans now. Day's like today are a blessing for sports fans. Its the day we can start circling on the calender the big games and big dates. We start planning our Sundays in the fall and winter today when we see who are teams are playing and when. The schedule is out for the 2019 season for the NFL. Before we get into the locals, here's a look at some of the other big dates on next year's schedule.

Week 2: Saints @ Rams
This one is kind of an easy game to pick. After what happened last year in the NFC title game with the non call on Nickell Robey-Coleman, you know there's going to be fireworks with this one. Even if the Saints win, it won't quite be getting revenge, but it would help heal the wound some.

Week 8: Browns @ Patriots
After having the rookie year that he had last year, there will be a lot of eyes glued to Baker Mayfeild to see if this kid is legit This will be the first test against a guy that's as great as Brady is./ And it's in New England no less.

Week 8: Packers @ Chiefs
This might be the best game of that entire week. Aaron Rodgers against Patrick Mahomes for the first time. Arguably the most talented quarterback ever against the quarterback who could eventually challenge him for that title. MVP past vs. MVP present. This one could steal the show this year.

Week 11: Bears @ Rams
Another playoff rematch. The Rams went on to get to the Super Bowl, but they didn't quite look the same on offense after the Bears game. Now is their chance to show they can move the ball on an elite defense. It's the classic offense vs. defense matchup.

That's just some of the matchups that are on the radar from around the league. Lets get into it with the teams that matter in this area. Here's what it looks like for the locals.

Here's what it looks like for the Giants this year:

Sunday September 8 4:25 p.m. at Dallas Cowboys AT&T Stadium Fox
Sunday September 15 1:00 p.m. Buffalo Bills MetLife Stadium CBS
Sunday September 22 4:05 p.m. at Tampa Bay Buccaneers Raymond James Stadium Fox
Sunday September 29 1:00 p.m. Washington Redskins MetLife Stadium Fox
Sunday October 6 1:00 p.m. Minnesota Vikings MetLife Stadium Fox
Thursday October 10 8:20 p.m. at New England Patriots Gillette Stadium Fox
Sunday October 20 1:00 p.m. Arizona Cardinals MetLife Stadium Fox
Sunday October 27 1:00 p.m. at Detroit Lions Ford Field Fox
Monday November 4 8:15 p.m. Dallas Cowboys MetLife Stadium ESPN
Sunday November 10 1:00 p.m. at New York Jets MetLife Stadium Fox
Bye
Sunday November 24 1:00 p.m. at Chicago Bears Soldier Field Fox
Sunday December 1 1:00 p.m. Green Bay Packers MetLife Stadium Fox
Monday December 9 8:15 p.m. at Philadelphia Eagles Lincoln Financial Field ESPN
Sunday December 15 1:00 p.m. Miami Dolphins MetLife Stadium CBS
Sunday December 22 1:00 p.m. at Washington Redskins FedEx Field Fox
Sunday December 29 1:00 p.m. Philadelphia Eagles MetLife Stadium Fox

Here's what it looks like for the Jets this year:

September 8 1:00 p.m. Buffalo Bills MetLife Stadium CBS
September 16 8:15 p.m. Cleveland Browns MetLife Stadium ESPN
September 22 1:00 p.m. at New England Patriots Gillette Stadium CBS
Bye
October 6 1:00 p.m. at Philadelphia Eagles Lincoln Financial Field CBS
October 13 4:25 p.m. Dallas Cowboys MetLife Stadium Fox
October 21 8:15 p.m. New England Patriots MetLife Stadium ESPN
October 27 1:00 p.m. at Jacksonville Jaguars TIAA Bank Field CBS
November 3 1:00 p.m. at Miami Dolphins Hard Rock Stadium CBS
November 10 1:00 p.m. New York Giants MetLife Stadium CBS
November 14/17/18 1:00 p.m. at Washington Redskins FedEx Field CBS
November 24 1:00 p.m. Oakland Raiders MetLife Stadium CBS
December 1 1:00 p.m. at Cincinnati Bengals Paul Brown Stadium CBS
December 8 1:00 p.m. Miami Dolphins MetLife Stadium CBS
December 14 8:20 p.m. at Baltimore Ravens M&T Bank Stadium Fox/NFLN
December 22 1:00 p.m. Pittsburgh Steelers MetLife Stadium CBS
December 29 1:00 p.m. at Buffalo Bills New Era Field CBS

So there you have it. What games intreague you the most this season?

Tiger's Epic Weekend

There had been debate for a long time as to who the greatest Golfer of all time is. Names that usually come up in conversation are guys like Gary Player, Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus and of course, Tiger Woods. Tiger has now won 81 PGA tour events and 15 Majors, both good for second all time. He hadn't won a major since 2008 and hadn't won the Masters since 2005. Both of those changed last night when he won the Masters at a -13. It was more than just another Major win for Woods. It was a sign of a career resurgence for Tiger.

Lets back track a little. In the late 90's and early 2000's, Tiger had dominated the golf world like nobody else. When he first broke onto the scene, he was drawing comparisons to Gretzky, Jordan and Ruth as to what they did for their sports, Woods was doing for golf. Tiger had it all and looked like he was going to break every record on the PGA tour. Then it started to come apart.

He starting having off the course issues in his personal life. Tiger is only two years removed from his spinal fusion surgery (his fourth back surgery) along with a DUI arrest and a stint in rehab that followed shortly afterwards—and those are just the issues he’s had to deal with over the last couple years. It looked to be nothing but a pipe dream that Woods would be anywhere near the top of the mountain again in the golf world. Not only had many assumed he’d never be as good as he once was again, but some even went so far as to believe that he’d never play again. Hell, that second fear was something he even said publicly.

The win at the Masters was a sign of redemption for Tiger. It showed that, with the comeback win on Sunday, anything could be possible. He can pull things off that some people didn't think could be done. It showed the heart and drive that made Tiger so good for so long was still there and still had an impact. This win was a major statement for Tiger that anything could be possible if you just stick with it. He managed to be able to turn things around for a positive and get his life back going on the right track.

There had been signs that some hope for Tiger might have been lost with everything he's had to deal with. But Tiger managed to get a win in a Major for the first time in ten years. He may not be back to his old self, but this was a sign of things to come. A flash that something good is still there.

Congratulations on the win Tiger! Welcome back!

Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round Preview

The time has arrived. We started this journey back in October and now, after 82 regular season games, there are sixteen teams left standing. All with one goal in mind, to raise the Stanley Cup over their heads. In order for a team to pull this off, they need to pick a few more wins up. To be exact, they need to win sixteen more games to achieve that goal. They need to do so without losing four games in a single round. It's going to be tough, but that's why they play the game. The defending conference champions are back in the chase again, and they got some big company to face off with. So lets get right into it. Here's the opening round matchups in this year's playoffs.

We start it off with the defending Stanley Cup Champion and Metro division winning Washington Capitals taking on the Wild Card Carolina Hurricanes. Washington is the defending cup champions and have won the Metro for the 4th year in a row. The Caps have won their first round matchup in each of the last five playoffs for them. Carolina finished as the Eastern Conference's first wild card earning 99 points. This marks the first playoff appearance for the Canes This will be the first playoff meeting between these two teams. Washington won all four games in this year's regular season series.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 11 Carolina Hurricanes 7:30 p.m. Washington Capitals Capital One Arena
April 13 Carolina Hurricanes 3:00 p.m. Washington Capitals Capital One Arena
April 15 Washington Capitals 7:00 p.m. Carolina Hurricanes PNC Arena
April 18 Washington Capitals 7:00 p.m. Carolina Hurricanes PNC Arena
April 20 Carolina Hurricanes TBD Washington Capitals Capital One Arena
April 22 Washington Capitals TBD Carolina Hurricanes PNC Arena
April 24 Carolina Hurricanes TBD Washington Capitals Capital One Arena

Lets start with the Champs. Washington had built a lot of steam last year, leading to the first Cup win in team history. they slayed a lot of demons last year getting to the finals, something they hadn't done in twenty years. While looking to repeat as champs, Alex Ovechkin leads the charge again in the goals and points department, with john Calrson leading the club in assists. Washington is known for its balanced scoring attack. Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom also collected over 70 points on the year, joining Carlson and Ovechkin in that department. Braden Holtby basically did Braden Holtby things during the regular season. Don't think the Caps are going to make the same mistake they did last year, they're going with Holtby the entire time during the playoffs.

As for Carolina, this is a team that hasn't made the playoffs in a long time and are looking to make some noise in this year's post season. A pair of stud Finns lead this team offensively, but there’s a sharp drop in production after Sebastian Aho (83 points) and Teuvo Teravainen (76). Nino Niederreiter scored at a 30-goal pace after being picked up from the Minnesota Wild in January and the Canes desperately need that secondary offence. Another candidate to provide it is Russian rookie and 2018 second overall pick Andrei Svechnikov, who quietly posted a 20-goal season.Goaltending looked pretty good for the Canes this year, with both Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney winning twenty games. These bunch of jerks want to try to leave a lasting impression on this year's playoffs, and a good way to start doing that would be to eliminate the defending cup champions

No doubt the Hurricanes made major leaps this season to get into the playoff contention. They had a solid run. But Washington is not only the defending champs but they are also a loaded and balanced hockey club. Carolina can steal a game, maybe two at home ice, but the Caps swept the regular season series, so look for more of the same in this series

Prediction: Capitals in 5!

Next up we got the Presidents Trophy Winning Tampa Bay Lightning taking on the wild card Columbus Blue Jackets. Tampa won the Presidents trophy with 126 points. Its the 2nd straight division title and fifth appearance in the last six years for the Bolts. Columbus got in with 98 points, good enough for the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. This marks the 5th ever playoff appearance for the Jackets, who are looking for their first ever playoff series win. This will be the first playoff meeting between these two teams. Tampa Bay won all three games in this year's regular season series.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 10 Columbus Blue Jackets 7:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
April 12 Columbus Blue Jackets 7:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
April 14 Tampa Bay Lightning 7:00 p.m. Columbus Blue Jackets Nationwide Arena
April 16 Tampa Bay Lightning 7:00 p.m. Columbus Blue Jackets Nationwide Arena
April 19 Columbus Blue Jackets TBD Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
April 21 Tampa Bay Lightning TBD Columbus Blue Jackets Nationwide Arena
April 23 Columbus Blue Jackets TBD Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena

Tampa has a lot riding on this playoff run this year, as they won 62 games during the regular season. That tied them with the 1996 Detroit Red Wings for most wins ever in a regular season. So there's a lot riding on the Bolts run this year. Carrying the load for Tampa this year has been Nikita Kucherov, who lead the league in scoring with 128 points. He wasn't the only one lighting the lamp. Brayden Point (92 points) and Steven Stamkos (98 points) were the only other Bolts players to register over 90 points on the year. Tampa had two more guys score 20 or more goals in Yanni Gourde and Tyler Johnson. So there's no argument Tampa can put the puck in the back of the net. They can also keep it out of the back of the net as well. Andrei Vasilevskiy lead the league in wins with 39 and a goals against of 2.50. Tampa has plenty of balance for the attack and the defense.

Meanwhile the Blue Jackets are trying to get their first ever playoff series win. The bread man, Artemi Panarin carried the load in the points department for the Jackets, while Cam Atkinson lead the way in the goals department. They weren't the only ones. Pierre-Luc Dubois, Josh Anderson, and Oliver Bjorkstrand each had more than 20 goals. Only Panarin Atkins and Dubois had 60 or more points on the year. Sergei Bobrovsky had a fine season in net, finishing second in the league with 37 wins and lead the league with 9 shutouts. The goaltending has been good for the Jackets, keeping them in the playoff hunt most of the year.

This might be the easiest series of the bunch to pick. Columbus has some good scorers and a solid goalie, but they're going up against the best team in the league. Tampa has been steamrolling everything in their path this year, including sweeping the Jackets during the regular season. Tampa will have an easy time with this one.

Prediction: Lightning in 5!

Next up its the Toronto Maple Leafs taking on the Boston Bruins. Boston has made the playoffs for the 3rd year in a row, getting here by earning 107 points. They are looking to make it out of the first round for the 2nd year in a row and 3rd time in last five playoff trips. Meanwhile, Toronto earned 100 points, the second year in a row they've hit that mark. This marks the 4th time in the last seven years, and the third year in a row that the Leafs have made the playoffs. Toronto is seeking to win its opeing round series for the first time since 2004. This will be the sixteenth and second consecutive meeting between these two teams with Toronto winning eight of the fifteen previous series. They last met in the previous year's Eastern Conference First Round which Boston won in seven games. Boston won three of the four games in this year's regular season series.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 11 Toronto Maple Leafs 7:00 p.m. Boston Bruins TD Garden
April 13 Toronto Maple Leafs 8:00 p.m. Boston Bruins TD Garden
April 15 Boston Bruins 7:00 p.m. Toronto Maple Leafs Scotiabank Arena
April 17 Boston Bruins 7:00 p.m. Toronto Maple Leafs Scotiabank Arena
April 19 Toronto Maple Leafs TBD Boston Bruins TD Garden
April 21 Boston Bruins TBD Toronto Maple Leafs Scotiabank Arena
April 23 Toronto Maple Leafs TBD Boston Bruins TD Garden

There's going to be no problem for the Leafs scoring, as they have four forwards reach 70 or more points on the season. Mitch Marner lead the way with 94 points and 68 assists, while John Tavares lead the team in goals with 47. They have scoring help from Austin Matthews, and Morgan Riley hitting that magic 70 mark. Joining those top four scorers were Kasperi Kapanen, Andreas Johnsson and Zach Hyman, who each hit the twenty goal mark for the year. Scoring shouldn't be a problem, its the defense that has to lead one to worry. There were times this year where Fredrick Anderson looked really good. Down, the stretch, he wasn't the same goalie and seemed to fault a little bit. When Andersen is on his game he can steal a series and, when he’s doing that in conjunction with Toronto’s clicking offence, the Leafs become one of the NHL’s best teams.

But they have to deal with a very balanced Boston attack. Brad Marchand lead Boston with 100 points and was one of only four Boston forwards to crack the 70 point mark. David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci were the others. Jake DeBrusk was the only other Bruins player to hit the 20 goal mark for the season. Pastranak is going to be a big key for this Boston offense, he did have 834 points in just 66 games this season. He would have tied or put up better numbers than Marchand had he been healthy all season. Boston's scoring is going to be a tough threat. So is their goaltending as either Jaroslav Halak and Tuukka Rask each won 20 games this season. There's no doubt in anybody's mind that Tuukka is the number one man in the Boston net, but it should come as some level of comfort that Halak is behind him just in case Rask faults.

This series no doubt will go the distance. It's going to be a pretty even battle between the two rivals. Toronto just hasn't been able to seem to get the job done in the opening round as of late, and going against Boston hasn't been any easier. The Bruins are a balanced team and can be very dangerous when fully healthy. Toronto is going to put up a good fight, but I like the Bruins in this series.

Prediction: Bruins in 7!

Closing out the Eastern Conference it's the Pittsburgh Penguins taking on the New York Islanders. New York finished 2nd in the division with 102 points, making it their first playoff appearance since 2016. That was also the last time the Islanders won a round in the playoffs. As for the Penguins, they've hit the 100 point mark for the 3rd straight year. This also marks the 12th year in a row that the Penguins are playing playoff hockey. Pittsburgh hasn't lost a first round playoff matchup since 2015. This will be the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams with New York winning three of the four previous series. They last met in the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, which Pittsburgh won in six games. These teams split their four-game regular season series.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 10 Pittsburgh Penguins 7:30 p.m. New York Islanders Nassau Coliseum
April 12 Pittsburgh Penguins 7:30 p.m. New York Islanders Nassau Coliseum
April 14 New York Islanders 12:00 p.m. Pittsburgh Penguins PPG Paints Arena
April 16 New York Islanders 7:30 p.m. Pittsburgh Penguins PPG Paints Arena
April 18 Pittsburgh Penguins TBD New York Islanders Nassau Coliseum
April 20 New York Islanders TBD Pittsburgh Penguins PPG Paints Arena
April 22 Pittsburgh Penguins TBD New York Islanders Nassau Coliseum

No surprise here that the Pens are good. Sidney Crosby hit the 100 point mark again this season. Evgeni Malkin chipped in another 71 points, while Phil Kessel had an 82 point campaign and Jake Guentzel scored 50 goals on the year. Adding talent like Jarrod McCann and Nick Bjugstad to the bottom forwards has been a solid addition to this lineup, making it that much tougher to play against. Matt Murray has done a fine job in net for Pittsburgh this year, winning 29 games and recording four shutouts.

What the Islanders have an advantage over the Pens on is in net. Robin Lehner and Thomas Griess won the Jennings trophy for the fewest goals allowed in the entire league at 196. The two have them have been spectacular in net this year. It could take them far in the playoffs this year, if the offense can come close to matching what the goaltending has been able to do this year. Scoring has me a little worried. Matt Barzal lead the Isles in scoring with 62 points, which would have finished 4th on the Penguins. Casey Cizikas, Brock Nelson and Anders Lee were the only Islanders forwards to hit the 20 goal mark on the season. New York got balanced scoring this season. While not as flashy as what the Pens did, the Isles got the job done when they needed to when it comes to filling the back of the net.

This is going to be a long series, going at least six games. Scoring was even between the two teams during head to head play so why wouldn't this go at least six. The difference could come down to the netminding and while the Penguins have the advantage in experience, the Islanders are out to prove something to the hockey world. They pull off the victory in this series and move on to the next round.

Prediction: Islanders in 6!

Moving over to the Weest, its the Central Division champions the Nashville Predators taking on the wild card winning Dallas Stars. Dallas picked up 93 points to earn its first playoff appearance since 2016. Dallas is looking for its first win in the opening round since that 2016 playoff run. This marks the 5th straight year for the Predators making the playoffs, the second of which they've earned 100 or more points. Nashville hasn't lost an opening round series since 2015. This will be the first playoff meeting between these two teams. Nashville won three of the five games in this year's regular season series.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 10 Dallas Stars 9:30 p.m. Nashville Predators Bridgestone Arena
April 13 Dallas Stars 6:00 p.m. Nashville Predators Bridgestone Arena
April 15 Nashville Predators 9:30 p.m. Dallas Stars American Airlines Center
April 17 Nashville Predators 8:00 p.m. Dallas Stars American Airlines Center
April 20 Dallas Stars TBD Nashville Predators Bridgestone Arena
April 22 Nashville Predators TBD Dallas Stars American Airlines Center
April 24 Dallas Stars TBD Nashville Predators Bridgestone Arena

There seems to be a bit of a different vibe around the Preds this season. That power play has been an issue all season long and finishes up at the bottom of the league. Acquiring Wayne Simmonds at the trade deadline hasn’t been the cure. What has been a surprise is Viktor Arvidsson, who set a new franchise record for goals in a season with 34 in just 58 games played, Nashville’s offence leaves something to be desired. There are just three 20-goal scorers on the team and, since the trade deadline, Simmonds, Kyle Turris and Mikael Granlund have combined for just two goals. Having trouble filling the back of the net could be tough this time of the year.

Dallas has offensive issues itself, at least when you look past the big three of Alexander Radulov, Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. No surprise that those three guys have been carrying the scoring punch in Dallas, Seguin lead the team with 33 goals and 80 points The next three highest-scoring players on the team outside of them are defencemen, which is why the return of Mats Zuccarello is such a big deal. Dallas has a big positive going for it in that Ben Bishop has been as good as he has this season.Big Ben had 27 wins, seven shutouts and a 1.98 goals against this year. If Dallas is to pull off the upset, then Bishop is going to have to be on top of his game.

As good as Bishop has been, and trust me he's been very very good this season, he can't do it all. Sure a hot goalie can take you places, but it won't do anybody any good if a team can't score. Dallas has depth issues that Nashville doesn't. Oh and Pekka Rinne is a pretty good netminder in his own right. Dallas puts u[p a fight but the Preds move along.

Prediction: Predators in 6!

Next up, we have the Winnipeg Jets taking on the St Louis Blues. St Louis picked up 99 points during the regular season to get back into the playoffs after missing last year. This marks the 7th time in the last eight years for the Blues in the post season. each of their last two playoff trips have resulted in first round wins for the Blues. Winnipeg picked up 99 points on the year, good enough to get them into the playoffs for the 3rd time in franchise history. The only other time that the Jets had won a playoff series was last year. This will be the first playoff meeting between these two teams. Winnipeg won three of the four games in this year's regular season series.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 10 St. Louis Blues 8:00 p.m. Winnipeg Jets Bell MTS Place
April 12 St. Louis Blues 9:30 p.m. Winnipeg Jets Bell MTS Place
April 14 Winnipeg Jets 7:30 p.m. St. Louis Blues Enterprise Center
April 16 Winnipeg Jets 9:30 p.m. St. Louis Blues Enterprise Center
April 18 St. Louis Blues TBD Winnipeg Jets Bell MTS Place
April 20 Winnipeg Jets TBD St. Louis Blues Enterprise Center
April 22 St. Louis Blues TBD Winnipeg Jets Bell MTS Place

There's no denying what an impact Jordan Binnington has been on the Blues. Think about this. Near the end of January, the Blues were in dead last in the league. Once the calendar switched over to 2019, St. Louis was leading the West with a 30-10-5 record, a mark that vautled to put them back into the playoffs. And in his time in the big leagues, Binnington went 24-5-1 with five shutouts. He's hot and its coming at the right time of the year. Aside from the hot goaltending, St Louis can score goals. Ryan O'Reilly lead the team in assists and points, while Vladimir Tarasenko lead the team in goals. O'Reilly, Tarasenko and Brayden Schenn are the only Blues skaters who collected 50 or more points on the season. The Blues have balance in their lineup, with thirteen guys scoring ten or more goals.

Winnipeg has tyhe same point total, but more regulation wins than the Blues. Blake Wheeler lead the team in assists and points, while Mark Scheifele lead the team in goals. Patrik Laine was the only other Jets forward to score over 30 goals. Five guys scored more than fifty points for this Winnipeg team. Connor Hellebuyck has great numbers playing in net for the Jets this year. They have balance and solid netminding so Winnipeg is going to be a tough team to play against.

St Louis is one of the hottest teams on the planet right now. This series will go at least six games, but the Blues may run out of gas. As good as Binnington is, I'm just not sure how well he can hold up over the course of a long series and the Jets should be able to figure him out. St Louis is good, but Winnipeg is more balanced. Would be happy to see the Blues come out of this series, I just think the Jets are going to pull it out.

Predictions: Jets in 7!

Next, its the Pacific division winning Calgary Flames taking on the wild card Colorado Avalanche. Colorado earned 90 points to make the playoffs for the 2nd year in a row after missing for three straight year. Colorado is trying to snap out of a slump, having not won a round in the post season since 2008. Meanwhile, Calgary won the division with 107 points, the first time it cracked the mark since 2006. It's also the first division title for the Flames since 2006. Calgary is making the playoffs for the 2nd time in three years and is looking to get out of the first round 2004. This will be the first playoff meeting between these two teams. Calgary won all three games in this year's regular season series.

Here are the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 11 Colorado Avalanche 10:00 p.m. Calgary Flames Scotiabank Saddledome
April 13 Colorado Avalanche 10:30 p.m. Calgary Flames Scotiabank Saddledome
April 15 Calgary Flames 10:00 p.m. Colorado Avalanche Pepsi Center
April 17 Calgary Flames 10:00 p.m. Colorado Avalanche Pepsi Center
April 19 Colorado Avalanche TBD Calgary Flames Scotiabank Saddledome
April 21 Calgary Flames TBD Colorado Avalanche Pepsi Center
April 23 Colorado Avalanche TBD Calgary Flames Scotiabank Saddledome

Calgary has been a dominating team for most of the year in the Western Conference and powering the offense was Johnny Gaudreau, who lead the team in goals assists and points. Along with Johnny Hockey, four other guys managed to crack the 7-0 point mark for the flames this year: Sean Monahan, Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk, and Mark Giordano. They also had six other guys hit double digits in goals, including Mikael Backlund, who was one of five twenty or more goal scorers for this team. Goaltending is the only thing that would be a concern for Calgary as both Mike Smith and David Rittich have been average to good during stretches this year. Calgary has no problem filling up the back of the opposing net, it just leaves one to wonder if they can keep the puck out of their own net.

Colorado is a good team, but they too have holes that leave one to worry a little. Colorado's top line of Nathan MacKinnon (who lead the team in all offensive areas), Mikko Rantanen, and Gabriel Landeskog. outside of them, the only other Avs player to hit the twenty goal mark was Carl Soderberg. Semyon Varlamov lead the way in the Colorado net and looked good at times this year, but at times also looked average. Colorado did enough to be able to make it into the playoffs, but how far they are going to go is going to be determined by the play of their top line.

Colorado is the more top heavy team in this series. It relies too much on one offensive unit. They aren't deep enough to be able to hang with a team like Calgary. The Flames goaltending may leave something to be desired but they have the advantage over the Avs in this series.

Prediction: Flames in 6!

Finally, its the San Jose Sharks taking on the Vegas Golden Knights. Vegas shocked the hockey world last year, making all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first year of existence. After winning the division a season ago, Vegas managed to finish 3rd this year. As for San Jose, the Sharks picked up 100 points for the 2nd year in a row, made the playoffs for the 4th year in a row and the 13th time in the last 14 years. San jose is looking to win its opening round series for the 2nd year in a row. This will be the second playoff meeting between these teams. They last met in the previous year's Western Conference Second Round which Vegas won in six games. These teams split their four-game regular season series.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:
April 10 Vegas Golden Knights 10:30 p.m. San Jose Sharks SAP Center
April 12 Vegas Golden Knights 10:30 p.m. San Jose Sharks SAP Center
April 14 San Jose Sharks 10:00 p.m. Vegas Golden Knights T-Mobile Arena
April 16 San Jose Sharks 10:30 p.m. Vegas Golden Knights T-Mobile Arena
April 18 Vegas Golden Knights TBD San Jose Sharks SAP Center
April 21 San Jose Sharks TBD Vegas Golden Knights T-Mobile Arena
April 23 Vegas Golden Knights TBD San Jose Sharks SAP Center

Vegas needs to get something going at the start of this year's playoffs. The top line of William Karlsson between Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault came alive in the final quarter of the season, re-discovering the form that made them so dangerous in the Knights’ debut season. Nobody was able to crack the 70 point mark on Vegas this year, as Marchessault lead the way with 59 points. Marc-Andre Fleury was quiet down the stretch going 1-5-2 in his last eight starts. But when he's on his game, he can carry a team. Look at what Fleury did for Vegas last year. One thing that's really going to have to step it's game up for the Golden Knights is their second line of Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty and Paul Stastny. On the surface, that’s an equation that Vegas should be thrilled about. Those three newcomers form the squad’s second line and if they could ever get locked in, look out, they're going to be very dangerous.

Vegas is going up against a poised Sharks team who has no problem filling the back of the net. Brent Burns lead the team in scoring with 83 points and San Jose had four guys crack the thirty goa mark in the form of Tomas Hertl, Timo Meier, Joe Pavelski, and Evander Kane. Hell they even got 27 more from Logan Couture, who was the only other Sharks skater to crack the 20 goal mark. So scoring isn't the problem. Defending might be. With Burns and Erik Karlsson leading the blue line crew they should be OK. but its the play of Martin Jones that has me a little worried. He's been good, but around this time of year you need to be great boardering on spectacular. I just don't feel they are right now.

It easy to sit here and say that Vegas may have been a flash in the pan and only time will truly tell. In this series it's going to come down to goaltending and I trust that of Vegas right now over the Sharks.

Prediction: Golden Knights in 7!

A Reason To Believe

Lets travel back in time a few months. Go back to the end of September 2018. Its getting close to the start of the 2018-19 season for the National Hockey League. For the New York Islanders, there wasn't much to be optimistic about going into the beginning of the year. Now, here we sit on the first weekend in April, and those same New York Islanders are getting ready to face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. After what this team went through last summer, this is a huge statement by management and the team.

Now I'll be the first one to admit to it, I didn't have a lot of hope for this season. Yes, it was great that they had brought in Lou to run the team and Barry to coach the club. It was a change of pace and I felt that those two guys could head the team in the right direction. Then, things seemed to fall apart. John Tavares decides to bolt the team and head for Toronto. Lots of people around the team (fans mostly) felt hurt by how that whole thing went down. And they have every right to with the way he went about it. But Lou and Barry got passed it and went right to work bringing in talent to try and replace his production. Valtteri Filppula, Leo Komorov, Robin Lehner and Luca Sbisa were all brought on board to try and make this team better.

The loss of Tavares could have been really damaging. Who was going to score? Could last year's Calder trophy winner Mat Barzal step up to fill the role of superstar? The answer was yes, to a degree. The fourth line killed it this year, with Casey Cizikas netting his first ever twenty goal season. He, along with Anders Lee and Brock Nelson where the only guys on this team to score twenty or more goals this year. They had five other players, Barzal, Josh Bailey, Jordan Eberle, Valtteri Filppula, and Anthony Beauvillier each score ten or more goals this season. It does show balanced scoring of this team.

What really turned out to be the backbone for this team was the goaltending. Robin Lehner and Thomas Greiss had allowed the fewest goals in the NHL this year at 196, the only team to allow less than 200 goals on the year, truly amazing when you think about it. This was a team who had allowed the most goals against in the league a season ago.

Now here comes the big question. Can they get it done in the playoffs? we will see in about two weeks. But that's not the big story. The big story here is the fact that this team got here. This team was given no hope with Tavares now north of the boarder. There was a lot of question marks going on with this team. They've managed to overcome it all and are now in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

This team believed in eachother. They manged to buy into the new system and are clicking at the right time. They know what they have to do. Job number one is complete. They proved a ton of people wrong my making the post season. That's just step one. Now its time to work on showing the rest of the league that this isn't a flash in the pan. Mission 16W starts now. Sixteen wins are needed top hoist the cup overhead. That begins Wednesday night.