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~19 000 words (just under). Second half of post in comments, ready to be graded

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Season 41 featured a remarkably close playoffs. Not just in terms of the series scores, but through individual games. As expected when series are so closely contested, there were a lot of games played. In fact, out of the 49 games possible in the SHL playoffs, there were 46 games played in the Season 41 playoffs, as far as I know, the most games played under the 3 round system (I only checked Season 33 to 46 as there were no wild card rounds to up the game amount). Having only 3 potential games not played over an entire season is a wild accomplishment that deserves a deeper dive into the leadup to the playoffs, and how close each series was to going another way.

Prologue
As some would expect from the 'marathon' playoffs, actually making the playoffs wasn’t heavily contested. The closest thing there was to a team making it that didn’t was New England who missed the 4th seed by 3 points, which seems good until you consider their W-L of 6-8 in their last 14 games is what ultimately sank them when they had an opportunity to make it in.

As far as playoff seeding goes, Winnipeg was top of the west with 77 points, with a 7 point lead over the second place team. Edmonton and Los Angeles secured the 2nd and 3rd seed, putting Calgary as the last team in the playoffs in the West, solidly in the 4th seed above the Renegades who had 43 points on the season.  The east saw Buffalo, West Kendall, Minnesota, and Hamilton make the playoffs, with just 4 points separating the 1st and 4th seeds.

You may have noticed that I neglected to mention the points totals of a few teams, namely all of them 2. That’s because of a very special thing I like to call a Seeding Race. It might be self explanatory, but I’ll make sure everyones on the same page. So other than New England, everyone made it into the playoffs without any last second heroics required, but as I mentioned for the east, who played who was very much up for grabs. It was only fitting that before we understand the playoffs, we understand how each team is playing each other.



Thanks to the courtesy of Excel and this guys tutorial video, I was able to figure things out in barely under an hour to find out how exactly to make my information into a graph. The graph itself shows the 5 teams in the East in their competition in the Seeding Race. I thought it would be nice for New England to be included here because at least they tried and got close. For the graphically illiterate, there are some points of interest.
Game 45: Minnesota solidifies their lead over Buffalo with extra time loss, while Hamilton overtakes West Kendall to tie Buffalo for 2nd.
Game 47: Buffalo is back in first as Minnesota is on a losing streak, while the Platoon and Hamilton are tied for 3rd once again.
Game 50: With Buffalo on a two game skid, Minnesota decides to win again and clinches 1st in the east, leaving Buffalo in 2nd. Elsewhere, Hamilton pushes for another tie with West Kendall, but the Platoon think better of it and beat Buffalo (Game 49) en route to 3rd in the East, where they will just so happen to play Buffalo again, Leaving Hamilton to face the top seeded Buffalo

The seeds thus far are:

WIN (W1) vs CAL (W4)
(W2) vs (W3)

MIN (E1) vs HAM (E4)
BUF (E2) vs WKP (E3)

I’ve saved the best for last. While a four way race to the finish sounds fun, but also kind of dirty at the same time, things get even tighter in the west with Edmonton and Los Angeles. It’s time for another graph



There we go. As you can see, following Game 33 (which was a head to head matchup), Edmonton was trailing the Panthers by 6 points, 42 to 48. That was before Edmonton went on a push to end off the season, winning 4 games in a row three separate times down the stretch, ultimately moving into a tie for second place with the Panthers going into the final games of the season… but wait a second, that only goes to game 49 with both teams tied at 68 points? What could have happened there…


LAP vs SFP
One of the battles of California, a game where San Francisco could play spoiler and give Edmonton the chance to gain home ice advantage through the first round of the playoffs, or the Panthers could force Edmonton into do or die for the second seed with a win.

The 1st period is uneventful through the first. San Francisco takes 3 penalties, and the momentum is on the Panthers side as they almost put up 20 shots, however nothing gets by Partridge. The Panthers opened it up in the 2nd with a goal by Wachter, but a mere 36 seconds into the third the game was tied by Gill. The Panthers retake the lead, and the game is looking like a win for the Panthers with the score 2-1 in their favour. With under 3 minutes left, Otto ties the game but a minute later, with 1:17 on the clock, the Panthers score. And then they score again. And then they score again. Game’s done. 3 goals in 1 minute of game time, and the Panthers have 70 points.

At this point, Edmonton has one option. Beat Calgary in regulation on the final day of the season…

CGY vs EDM
The Battle of Alberta, with what could be the highest stakes for the Blizzard this season. Things get going a lot faster than in the previous game, with Calgary scoring 5 minutes in, with an answer from Edmonton coming 12 minutes later. 6 minutes into the second Edmonton makes it two in a row with another goal, but 10 seconds later Bubba Nuck puts Calgary on the powerplay that will bear fruit for the opposition, making it a tie game halfway through the second. With 7 minutes remaining, Knouse plays hero for the Blizzard with his 33rd tuck of the season. 3-2 Edmonton going into the 3rd.

Seven minutes and twenty nine seconds into the third, there is a faceoff in Calgary’s end. 13 seconds later, the puck is in the net. 3-3 game. This is a nightmare for Edmonton. The night before they saw the Panthers claw their way into the 2nd seed, and if they can’t get a ROW they have lost every conceivable tie breaker. The game stays tied through the rest of the third. And in overtime…! No, still tied. Going into a shootout, all hope is lost. And after 5 straight shooters not scoring, Adam Kaiser walks off the Blizzard…



The matchups are set.

WIN vs CGY
LAP vs EDM

MIN vs HAM
BUF vs WKP

The playoffs are ready to begin…






ROUND 1

Winnipeg (36-9-5) vs Calgary (29-19-2) 
A straight up Canada on Canada matchup, all of Manitoba squaring off against the superior Albertan city. The matchup may seem lopsided, that’s based off of their overall record, now their head to head records. So here’s a quick little refresher on how the teams matched up

Home team - Away team
CGY 3 - 2 WIN (OT)
WIN 3 - 5 CGY
WIN 4 - 5 CGY
WIN 4 - 3 CGY
CGY 2 - 5 WIN
CGY 2 -1 WIN (OT)

Out of 6 regular season games, Calgary won 4, going 2-1 at home and 2-1 on the road, though 2 of those wins came in overtime. Despite the disparity in overall record, these teams played each other very close, with only 2 games being decided by more than 1 goal. Interestingly enough, the OT games happened in Calgary.

Game 1
36 seconds left in the game, it’s 3-2 Winnipeg. Calgary has just pulled C. Hocolate for the extra attacker 2 seconds before. Kurczewski relays it to the point for Augustus to lean into one. It beats Zhumbayev. Tie game, 3-3. Overtime is necessary. But it isn’t enough for Calgary to pull the upset on the road. 4-3 win for Winnipeg off a Vijanupatan Singh goal with 3 minutes left in overtime.
Final Score: 4-3 WIN

Game 2
This game is not close at all. The game winning goal is scored 2 minutes in by Jason Visser, and Calgary is caught chasing, taking 3 penalties through the rest of the period. The 2nd period is much closer chance wise, but Winnipeg adds 2 more, Kurczewski and Evans fight, and the game is practically done. The nail in the coffin comes with 4:34 remaining, Evans caps off the game and Zhumbayev has posted a playoff shutout against the Dragons
Final Score: 4-0 WIN

Series Update: WIN 2 - 0 CGY

Game 3
First game at home for Calgary this playoffs, and they lay an offensive onslaught against Zhumbayev, putting up 43 shots. Going into the 3rd, the game is tied 3-3. 2 minutes into the third, Calgary’s top line strikes, with Esa Anrikkanen scoring their second goal of the game to take the lead.. The Dragons hold on for the rest of the third, killing two penalties on their way to try and even up the series.
Final Score: 4-3 CGY

Game 4
Back. And. Forth. Only way I can describe this game. Volkova scores 20 seconds apart to put WIN up 2-0 in the second, but then Forsberg and Anrikkanen team up to score goals 3 minutes apart before the end of the second. But that’s not where it ends. Winnipeg takes the early lead in the 3rd off of Singh’s goal, but Randleman answers back for the Dragons 5 minutes later. 3-3. But a mere 4 minutes after that, Izzy takes a penalty and Bearss tallies one on the powerplay that is negated 21 seconds later by Mike Izzy who makes up for his mistake. On the scoreboard. 4-4. It looks like we’re going to need overtime again, as the game is tied 4-4 going into the final minute, but Jason Visser scores with 25 seconds remaining to win the game for the Jets. And just to be mean, Bearss scores again to make it a 6-4 final in favour of Winnipeg.
Final Score: 6-4 Winnipeg

Series update:WIN 3 -1 CGY
Despite what the series score might indicate, these games have been extremely close. Other than the shutout game and Calgary’s win, the games have featured literal last minute goals to tie the game, or win the game. They’re all practically 1 goal games, again, other than game 2, with game 4 being 2 goals, but Winnipeg got an empty net goal with 13 seconds left

Game 5
This game wasn’t close. Calgary scored 4 goals in the first ten minutes, and put up a 5th with 6 minutes left in the period to take a 5-1 lead. Winnipeg did make it interesting with powerplay and shorthanded goals to make it 5-3 going into the third, but Calgary pulled ahead with 2 more goals to start off the third en route to a 7-4 win. Zhumbayev only faced 24 shots this game, making 17 saves. Not saying it’s his fault, but he did not put the Jets in a position to come out ahead.
Final Score: 7-4 CGY

Game 6
Winnipeg has a chance to close out the series, but following a lacklustre game from Zhumbayev to pull off what it takes? They do. After Izzy takes his 3rd penalty of the period, Kyle Kylrad scores his first goal of the series to make it 1-0. The score stays through the rest of the 1st, and 2nd. Calgary looks to keep their season alive by pulling C. Hocolate in the 3rd, but that leads to the dagger in the heart by Isaac Cromier-Hale, as he slaps it into the empty net.
Final Score: 2-0 WIN

Series over: WIN 4 - 2 CGY

Series Sv%
C. Hocolate: 0.895% (220 SA)
Zhumbayev: 0.893% (168 SA)

Autopsy
Calgary was undone by Zhumbayev’s hot and cold starts. They put up 23 and 24 shots in games 6 and 5 against Zhumbayev, and got cold Zhumbayev in game 5 to stay alive, but that same effort wasn’t enough in the last game as Zhumbayev shut them out again. That along with Zhumbayev’s game 2 shutout put Winnipeg in good position to beat Calgary in 6, a tie for the fastest series these playoffs. Zhumbayev’s ability to lock it down in net was especially surprising considering that he had only posted 3 shutouts in the regular season. It wasn’t just Zhumbayev that held them at bay, it was their roster structure. Their top player at each position (Kurczewski, Forsberg, Anrikkanen, Kaiser, and Boychuk) put up 30 points in the series. The rest of the team? 24 points.Their 2nd line got feasted on by Winnipeg, with Jones not even scoring a goal in the series. On the second line. He and Mack were the only forwards not to score, but Mack was on the 3rd line. Defensively, they had 4 goals. 3 were from Roman Augustus (2 of which came in the game 1 loss). Creller, Monkey, and Maksimov had next to no offensive contributions, which is most shocking for Creller after a 8 goal campaign in the regular season. Calgary had opportunities to take this series to seven, or even to win it, but Winnipeg’s depth, and strength in net, crowned them victors in the series.




Los Angeles (33-13-4) vs Edmonton (32-13-5)
With Calgary out of the playoffs, it comes down to Edmonton to carry on the Albertan dream of bringing the cup home, while Los Angeles is fighting to shut down an all Canadian showdown in the conference finals. The regular season results for these teams were even closer than Winnipeg and Calgary, which given how we have already covered their records, should be no surprise.

Home - Away
LAP 1 - 2 EDM
LAP 4 - 3 EDM OT
EDM 5 - 4 LAP OT
EDM 3 - 5 LAP
LAP 4 - 3 EDM
EDM 3 - 1 LAP


As even as any series season could be. 3-2-1 for both sides, with all but two games coming down to one goal, 2 of them going to overtime. Both teams ended up with a goal differential of zero, so this was as close as it could be. There is emphasis on home ice advantage going into this series, with the home team going 4-1-1. In other words the team with home ice advantage had enough wins to win a playoff series. This bodes well for Los Angeles, but there’s a reason we play the games.


Game 1
The opening game of the series saw the home team take an early lead off of a Wachter goal, but the pregame research falters as Ace Redding and Bubba Nuck notch tallies 4 minutes apart to end the first. The second period follows a similar suit, Los Angeles scores, and then Edmonton picks up the next two. Going into the third LA needs something big here, and a Tor Tuck tripping minor gives Joshua Woodcroft the chance he needs to make it a one goal game on the power play. The next thirteen minutes are played without a goal, until Ben Turska takes an elbowing call with 5 minutes left, with Edmonton re-establishing a 2 goal lead off of a Rockefeller goal on the power play. The dagger would come from Tigole Bitties 22 seconds later, as the hopes for a comeback are washed away. Matthew Auston would score with 30 seconds left, but there wasn’t enough time to establish anything significant after that. After talking about the home ice advantage with these times, the home team takes the opening loss. Home ice advantage = gone. Also interesting to note the 3 point night by Bubba Nuck, despite no power play time and playing on the third pair.
Final Score: 6-4 EDM

Game 2
While the previous game was heart attack inducing due to 13 minutes of playoff hockey with 1 goal separating two teams, this game is going to be heart attack inducing for other reasons. It started off with a feel of deja vu, with a Panthers goal 7 minutes in, but there was no response from the Blizzard. An early second period penalty, and a subsequent power play goal for the Panthers left Edmonton behind by two. They were only able to get on the board mid-way through the first off a Nicolas Winter penalty. Going into the third Edmonton had 22 shots on net and 1 goal. In the third they ended with 5 shots and 2 goals, a 3-2 lead late in the game. Despite the LA domination on the shot clock (22 in the period), McFadden seemed to be holding strong. The only thing he couldn’t stop in the period was a powerplay goal by Winter to tie the game with 6 minutes left. Overtime would be necessary. The first overtime period was uneventful, Boyka Jr. took a slashing penalty for LA, and Brady Mcintyre took a penalty for each team to end the period with 2 power play minutes. There wouldn’t be enough time for penalties in the second overtime, since Boyka Jr. stamped the score sheet once again, this time with a goal 5 minutes in to send the fans home happy. Fun thing of note here, both goalies took penalties this game, as they added to the whopping total of 14 penalties on the night. Wow.
Final Score: 4-3 LAP

Series update: 1-1 going back to Edmonton

Game 3
The name of today’s game is special teams. LA looked to silence the Edmonton crowd early with two goals to start off the game, before Wollker got Edmonton within one in the last minute of the period. This is where the pivotal moment of the game came in. Penalties. Just like the last game of the series, the refs were very liberal with the whistle. A Jean-Luc Reflieux game misconduct following a fight in the second gave way for Nikolaus Scholz to pot his first of the series. Then, 2 minutes into the third Geoff Higgins ran McFadden, his team avenging the tender with a goal 3 seconds later. Karno Gronkjaer would get in on the train of costly penalties by taking a tripping minor with 14 minutes left, with Rockefeller scoring 20 seconds later.

This topic of penalties leads me to the very interesting decision of LA to have an actual 4th line. Every team we’ve seen so far, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, they all only play 3 lines, and their fourth consists of players on higher lines already. LA decided to utilize Marc Melodias and Geoff Higgins as purely 4th line talent playing with Nicolas Winter. They both only played 7 minutes a night each game, and put up zero points while both being -2 in the series. I bring this up because this decision comes back to bite them as Geoff Higgins, in one of his seven minutes spent skating, took a vital penalty that threw momentum into Edmonton’s favour when they could have easily not played a fourth line for those 7 minutes, or attempted to play them less. They offered nothing of value offensively and were there to fill time, which ultimately ended up costing LA game 3.
Final Score: 4-2 EDM

Game 4
There’s a trend that’s become apparent here. Los Angeles likes to start hot. This game is no different, Sophia Bennett scores twice to start off the first, putting the Panthers up by two early. There are two other trends that are apparent, penalties come back to bite you in the ass, and Edmonton almost always responds. Case in point, Cory Knouse gets them within one off of a Marmeladov penalty, and Redding ties it up 3 minutes later. However, in a new twist, LA ends the period with a lead after Auston scores 8 seconds after the tying goal. The second period goes by without a goal, however Edmonton put up 4 more shots than LA. Not a terribly scary thing for just a period, but when Edmonton only put up 10 shots that shows that the Panther’s weren’t able to get things through to McFadden often. Not challenging him carried on in the third period where the Panthers only mustered seven shots. Edmonton only got 5 more shots this period, but they contributed heavily on the scoreboard. 3 third period goals 6 minutes apart. Nuck, Kane, and Cuddles put this game away for Edmonton, giving them a huge leg up in the series. (And to continue with my previous rant, Melodias and Higgins were -1 on the night.
Final score: 5-3 EDM

Series Update: EDM 3 - 1 LAP
I may have spoiled some parts of this series for unfamiliar viewers earlier with my comments earlier about the games played and the like, but I won’t go over that again here. I’m just going to use this as an opportunity to highlight how lopsided this series has been for Edmonton up to this point. They have been lethal on the powerplay, and we’re a 2OT game away from eliminating the Panthers and going to face the Jets. They’ve been killing off penalties effectively and have won their games by 2 goals. If they could start playing well 2 minutes earlier and eliminate the early goals by LA this series would be done by now. But again, there’s a reason we play the games.

Game 5
Coming into this game we have the first real lineup change. On the brink of elimination, LA has reworked their defensive structure. Before they had pairings of :
Gronkjaer - Leetch
Foster - Picard
Johnson - Turska
With the first pair being given 40% of the minutes and the other two pairs got 30% each. The change they made was swapping Johnson’s and Gronkjaer’s positions in the lineup, ideally dropping the latter’s ice time by 6 minutes. Big moves for a team that’s in need of them.

Speaking of Edmonton shutting down LA early being a key to success, they did just that in the first. They allowed 3 shots and put up 16 against Marmeladov. However, they only converted one of those shots via Ace Redding’s third of the playoffs. That hot powerplay I spoke of cooled off with 3 opportunities passing them by in the first. Taking a page out of Blizzard playbook, the Panthers decided to come alive in the second with a big answer. A 4 goal answer. Boyka Jr., Bennett, Wachter, and Auston contributed to a period where LA entered down 1-0 and left up 4-2. That lineup change the Panthers made ended up paying off as the new Gronkjaer - Turska pairing each collected an assist on the comeback period for the Cali team. The LA PK held on in the third to kill of a single penalty, and the team defence showed up, only allowing 9 shots the third en route to win #2 for the Panthers.
Final Score: 4-2 LAP

Game 6
With the second round in sight, in Edmonton, the Blizzard need to shut the Panther’s down here and give the home team something to cheer for. The Panther’s took control early, and as we’ve seen so many times before, took an early lead off of Reflieux and Wachter goals. Except Edmonton didn’t answer. Not for the rest of the first, or the second period. After 50 minutes without a goal, and with the crowd all but defeated, they got crushed by Boyka Jr. and Auston combining for goals 3 minutes apart, sealing a shutout by Marmeladov in Edmonton. For a team that started the series scoring 6 goals, 0 on home ice was completely unexpected.
Final Score: 4-0 LAP

Game 7
On the brink of elimination, the Blizzard made two lineup changes. Their first and second lines through the first 6 games we’re
Knouse - Scholz - Rockefeller
Redding - Cukurs - Cuddles
With the two lines getting similar ice times.  However, following being shutout, the Blizzard coaching staff looked to change things up. They swapped Cukurs and Scholz’ spot, and allotted 2% more ice time to the new top line. They also told their third line of Kane - Bitties - Berger to put more offense in their game at the sacrifice of some of their defensive game.

Defensively they had a lineup of
Wollker - Tuck
Tanner - Chiclets
Mcintyre - Nuck
Much like their offensive structure they made one change, which was putting Wollker with Chiclets and Tanner with Tuck to make a pairing that kind of sounds like a player. Tanner Tuck. Regardless of the satisfying sound of the pairings, there was one other change, where they told the Wollker - Chiclets line to play more aggressively scoring wise in hopes of getting more goals, or a goal in their next game. But did it work? Let’s see.

Now it’s do or die for both teams. Tensions are at an all time high, and both teams need strong outings if they want to move on. This game comes down to who wants it more, and it’s on LA ice. The first ten minutes go by without any sign of a deadlock breaking, however Edmonton is on their heels. 3 penalties in 13 minutes. That third penalty, a hooking minor by Tigole Bitties, was the straw that broke camel’s back for the Blizzard PK, as Boyka Jr. opened the scoring 15 minutes in. Just over a minute later, Woodcroft made it 2-0. The second period went by with nothing but a Tor Tuck penalty. At this point the shots are 24-15 in favour of LA. The third comes, and so does Edmonton’s chance to get back in this game. Reflieux scores. 22 seconds into the third. The dagger. Edmonton gets three more shots, no goals. Marmeladov has posted back to back shutouts and has doused the red hot offense of the Blizzard.
Final Score: 3-0 LAP

Series over: LAP 4 - 3 EDM

Series Sv%
McFadden: 0.889% (218 SA)
Marmeladov: 0.907% (216 SA)

Autopsy
Another series decided by strong goaltending. Marmeladov’s only ‘weak’ performance would be game one of the series where he gave up six. Other than that, he continually improved, locking in as soon as LA was on the brink of elimination. The ultimate clutch gene,only giving up 2 goals in the last 3 games of the series. In similar shots against to McFadden he put up a considerably better sv%, though McFadden’s is in line with what Hocolate and Zhumbayev put up in the other west series. Other than that, this series served as an interesting parallel to the Calgary Winnipeg series, where each saw a team go up 3-1. The biggest difference were the lineup changes. Whereas Calgary made minor change in Game 3 that weren’t worth going over, LA made big moves on their defence, and while I don’t understand why those exact moves were made, they paid off immediately in the form of 3 points by the new 3rd pairing in two games. Edmonton, on the other hand, seemingly made lineup changes for the sake of them. Cukurs did not score a goal this series, and put up the least points of any centre, yet he was the one moved up to play with Knouse and Rockefeller, who also didn’t perform great. Redding, Bitties, and Cuddles were far and away their most productive offensive players, so changing around who the two best wingers played with as questionable to me if they weren’t going to put them with the top scoring centre. Not taking ice time away from the top line also falls under that criticism. They made their top line weaker offensively and still had them play 40% of the game. And the thing is, Bitties still played around 17 minutes in the final game, but at 5v5 he was with Kane and Berger who combined for 2 goals total. He was underutilized. Edmontont did not take advantage of their depth and relied on a killer powerplay for the series, whereas LA had two great lines that they ran into the ground and tried to keep on the ice for 70% of the game. I criticized the use of the fourth line earlier, but when looking back on the series it is obvious to me that that line getting 4 minutes would allow the top two lines big minutes more useful. And it ended up working out for the Panthers in the end. Their defence ended up not scoring a goal, and Kesler and Winter we’re the only 3rd or 4th liners to score, but those top two lines were so good it worked.

Compared to the previous series this creates an interesting situation for the 2nd round matchup. Winnipeg just dispensed with a team that relied on their top players to produce, and found ways to shut them down effectively and use their depth to their advantage. However, a lot of that relied on Calgary’s second line getting taken out by Winnipeg, whereas LA doesn’t have a weak second line. Conversely, LA just took down a depth based team that needs the entire lineup to contribute, much like Winnipeg. The big key moving forward to that series is the goalie performance. Both goalies posted 2 shutouts in their series, though Marmeladov was tested much more than Zhumbayev and still posted a better sv%. If Marmeladov continues with his ability to clutch up LA is in good position to upset the top seeded Jets, but that relies on the Panthers offense to get past the strong defence of the Jets, and for the Panthers own defence to hold back an offense that can pile up shots. But that will come after the rest of the first round matchups.


Minnesota (27-17-6) vs Hamilton (25-19-6)
Now onto the eastern half of the first round. Other than Winnipeg, Canada has one remaining to keep the Cup dream alive, while Minnesota is looking to prove themselves as the state of hockey after taking the East. Seeding in this situation means a lot. Or at least it should. Having home ice advantage when the regular season finish was so close between these teams is imperative. Especially since the home side has won the series in the west. Of course, as usual, I think it’s very telling to see how the regular season played out for these teams so here are the results:

Home - Away
HAM 4 - 3 MIN
MIN 3 - 4 HAM SO
HAM 3 - 2 MIN
MIN 4 - 5 HAM
HAM 3 - MIN 4 OT
MIN 3 - HAM 5

Things are fairly lopsided in favour of Hamilton going into this series. They picked up 11 of a possible 12 points against the Chiefs, only losing 1 shootout game to them all season. Most games did end pretty close which is interesting, but in terms of the home-away theme I was discussing earlier, it doesn’t seem all that important now, does it?


Game 1
This series, there is going to be a lot of stress on lineup decisions, or lack thereof. In the first game, both teams have a heavy emphasis on offensive firepower up front, Minnesota with a 0/5 DF/OF scale on all of their forward lines, Hamilton opting for a more reasonable 1/4 for their top 2 forward lines, though they match Minnesota’s zeal with a 5/0 on their fourth line. Defensively there is little variance. 5/0 or 3/2, Minnesota has 2 of the former while Hamilton only has one.

The first game is won off of powerplay prowess by the Chiefs, however a multitude of chances in their favour doesn’t hurt. On 8 attempts they struck 3 times. Once in the first, by Terrence Nova, followed up by himself and Thorstein in the second. Interestingly enough, all of these goals are scored in a 1 minute span on the same powerplay, a major taken by Ben Dover a the end of the first, meaning that this 3 goal outburst nets them a 75% effectiveness on the powerplay. Odjick and Kennedy score at 5v5 to hopefully even things up going into the third, but Isac Odegard puts that dream out of reach late in the game before Terrence Nova wows the home crowd by completing the first hat trick of the playoffs with 3 minutes to go. The score holds and the home team takes game 1
Final Score: 5-2 MIN

Game 2
After a 1st game where seemingly nothing went right, Hamilton looks to switch things up. They abolish the fourth line, instead allotting the 14% of ice time given to them elsewhere. The first line gets 6%, 2nd gets 3%, and the 3rd gets 5%, though the lines stay the same outside of that move. Defensively, it is much of the same. After playing their bottom pairing 20% of the time in game 1 they opt to give them an extra ten, making the overall ice times of their defensemen much more even over the course of game two, a 35/35/30 split. Their defense is unsurprisingly told to play just defence coming into this game.

That did jack shit to help. Halfdan Thorstein scores 10 minutes in, followed by Nova, who is followed by Caelum, who is followed by Koivu. Lyndis Vakarian scored somewhere in there but that’d be the Steelhawks only goal as the first ended 4-1. The rest of the game goes similarly. Shirobokov pots one in the second, so things are looking up for the Steelhawks, until the third happens where Nova gets his 5th goal in 2 games, and Halfdan Thorstein looks to emulate him by getting another hat trick. The first two hat tricks of the playoffs in back to back games of the same series. What are the odds?  Either way, Hamilton is not going to be going home in a good mood.
Final Score: 8-1 MIN

Series update: MIN 2 - 0 HAM
I want to take a moment to acknowledge something here, even though game 1 and 2 together look really bad, there’s a saying as far as playoffs go. You aren’t in trouble until you lose at home, and Hamilton has only lost on the road so far. And on top of that, their losses have actually been more even than the score lets on. They’ve only been outshot by 9 through the first two despite being outscored 13-3. Jay Bae has not had a good series so far, or did Hamilton’s defence give up prime opportunities? I can’t know for sure, but something is up there. Going home, Hamilton needs strong performances in net to tie the series and stay alive.

Game 3
Big lineup changes en route for Hamilton. And it makes sense. They have 2 + players coming back home (Tommy Salami and Angelo Odjick) and now that they can practice on familiar ground, it makes sense they’re going to try something new. Something really new. First up is the forwards. Before, they had something like

Wozy - Phelps - Abes
Odjick - Konig - Kennedy
Vakarian - Blackwell - Harrak

Whereas going into game 3 they had

Odjick - Phelps - Harrak
Wozy - Konig - Abes
Vakarian - Blackwell - Kennedy

Wow. I just want to take a minute to appreciate the aggressive, wild moves made here. 3rd line and 2nd line wingers are now centred by Phelps on the first line, while Wozy and Abes are packaged down to support Konig on the 2nd line. That 2nd line is given full reign on offense with 0/5 DF/OF splits in terms of play style, allowing the wingers to take advantage of their lesser minutes. And having a second liner drop down to the 3rd to spread out the offence is genius. But that’s now where the moves end. Defensively things are due for a mix up. For reference, games 1 and 2 had this:

Holmberg - Dover
Westbrook - Owens
Trochek - Salami

Which became

Salami - Dover
Westbrook - Trochek
Owens - Holmberg

Hamilton assessed some very valuable things in between games 2 and 3 in order to make these moves. They recognized that Salami was playing great and popped his minutes up by playing him on the first pairing, meaning Holmberg dropped down. They also made a shocking move by moving Trochek up to the 2nd line spot and creating a 3rd pairing out of 1st and 2nd pairing d-men in Owens and Holmberg. Hamilton restructured their forwards and defence to create strong, depth based lineups to counteract Minnesota’s reliance on 2 players to score all their goals. But enough lineup talk, did it actually change anything this time?
Things started early this time Wozy, Kennedy, and Ownes scored 3 times in the first 3 minutes, showing how Hamilton’s moves already were paying dividends. Two guys with lesser roles contributing right away. Minnesota struck back twice before the end of the first, with Flacko and Lundberg scoring against Bae. The game ended up tied after the second after Thorstein scored his 5th goal of the series. However, Vakarian struck again this series, before Odjick capped off the game for aHamilton win. All three of the new lines had players to score, with the 3rd line laying claim to two of the goals scored. More important than that, however, was Bae succeeding with the new defence, posting a 0.870 sv%, which is almost .100 points better than last game's efforts. The defence allowing 23 shots all game isn’t anything to sneeze at either. Especially considering the Steelhawks killed off 4 penalties that game.
Final score: 5-3 HAM

Game 4
Now we’re just back to straight games. No more lineup changes for the rest of the series. And this game is possibly the first nail biter of the series. The first period is a doozy with Hamilton having to kill off penalty after penalty, though they get their own power play half way through. Despite the special teams action, nothing materializes for either team through the first. There is only 1 penalty in the second as O’Koivu delays the game from the crease, leaving Dick Skillstedt in the box for two minutes. After a negative contribution from one goalie, the netminder on the opposite end looks to make a positive impact. Bae relays a breakout pace to Robert Phelps, who carries it through the neutral zone, working his way into the Chiefs end. At the end of his rush, he dishes a quick feed that is met by a quick shot off the stick of Trochek. The puck gets past O’Koivu, and the Steelhawks are up 1-0, Jay Bae collecting the assist on the play. Not only does Bae pick up a point on the only goal scored that game, he is the goalie who collects the shutout. He contributed more on the stat sheet than any Minnesota player. If there was a hockey equivalent to a CGSO with a solo homer by the pitcher, this would be it.
Final Score: 1-0 HAM

Series Update: 2-2 tie
Well there you have it. Home ice advantage is still there for Minnesota, but the series is tied with dominant performances both ways. It’s funny, Game 2 and Game 4, Hamilton scores the same amount, but Jay Bae’s performance is what sets them apart. There is a big difference between 8 goals and 0 goals. The difference is like 8 goals I think. However, with a hot goalie the momentum is in Hamilton’s favour going back to Minnesota.

Game 5
The all around scoring continues for the Steelhawks early on the road. Odjick 28 seconds in, Kennedy 3 minutes later, Konig 30 seconds after that. Things are looking up for Hamilton as they are quickly up 3-0. But just like last time they scored three quick, Minnesota answers with two quick ones from Joseph Lombardi and Lord Pretty Flacko. Hamilton isn’t risking it though, and Noro Wozy comes through to give them a 2 goal lead with 40 seconds left in the period. Things continue south for Minnesota in their own barn as Odjick gets his second of the game in the second, and Westbrook gets his first of the series 2 minutes into the third. After the thumping Hamilton took their last time in Minny, it’s only fitting they thump them right back. A whopping 43 shots. And by the way, there’s some proof Bae’s surge isn’t just a result of lower shot totals, he makes 35 saves on 37 shots for this win.
Final Score: 6-2 HAM

Game 6
Minnesota finally gets with the times and changes their lineup. They go from a lineup of
Lundberg - Nova - Skillstedt
Thorstein - Flacko - Lombardi
Glover - Pelletier - Zbynek
To
Lundberg - Nova - Thorstein
Glover - Flacko - Skillstedt
Lombardi - Pelletier - Zbynek

Interestingly, the new first line centred by Nova has 2 of five points put into physical play, making it the first first line to have that. But does it pay off?

After getting embarrassed on home soil, Minnesot must want to shut the Canadian crowd up. They get to work quickly. Nova picks up his 6th of the series 4 minutes in. Flacko adds his 3rd 8 minutes later. Things are looking up for Minnesota in a do or die game, however Nova takes a penalty 14 minutes into the game and Ben Dover comes up big for Hamilton with a powerplay goal for his first of the series. However, Minnesota wants blood. Caelum scores with just over a minute remaining in the period to give the Chiefs a 3-1 lead. The Chiefs take two penalties in the second and escape unscathed, though they fail to increase their lead with an extra man of their own. The minutes start to wind down in the third and the Hamilton crowd has become silent. 1 minute goes by. It feels like an eternity before the second minute passes. Both teams are grinding away. It’s halfway through the third. The Steelhawks have control in the Cheif zone with their top line out. Westbrook holds at the line. Fakes a shot before sending it down low for Phelps who cuts behind the net. He relays it quickly in front for Odjick who sticks it far side before he’s bowled over by the Minnesota defence. The crowd is into it now. The lines cycle through again. It’s their first shift since the big goal. Shirobokov has it in the defensive end and relays it to Lundberg. Under pressure by Harrak, Lundberg makes a risky play that’s intercepted by Phelps. Odjick has set up in front of O’Koivu already. Phelps fires a quick wrister from near the blue line, and Odjick gets a piece of it to slip it by O’Koivu. Tie game. Overtime is necessary.

The series thus far hasn’t been exciting outside of one game. And that’s nothing against these teams, it’s just that when they win, they win big. But this game, this is what fans are wanting to see. Home team is down early and they have two periods to claw back and they end up tying it in the third, necessitating overtime. The fans know they can’t lose the series here, they have two things promised; Round two or game 7, and they want a second round matchup. A Jonathan Lundberg high stick 1 minute into overtime gives them that opportunity. A barn that had just been rocking for an entire intermission is now dead silent apart from the gasps from the crowd whenever a shot is directed on net. O’Koivu’s faced 4 of those shots already, and the second unit is out there. There’s 20 seconds left on the clock and there’s a scramble in front. Phelps has directed one on net that sends the puck careening off of O’Koivu and into the slot. Westbrook steps into the slot, and everyone is ready for the shot. He doesn’t put it near the goal mouth. Instead he darts it to his defence partner, Sami Owens, who has snuck in and lays one into the open net. Series. Over.
Final Score: 4-3 HAM

Series over: HAM 4 - 2 MIN

Series sv%
O’Koivu: 0.906% (203 SA)
Bae: 0.888% (187 SA)

Autopsy
With all the lineup changes, this series shows what an attentive coach can do. Hamilton tweaked things after a first game loss, assessed the issue, and tweaked until they found a mix that worked. This included a lot of creativity as it involved playing scorers in unfamiliar territory, and in ways you wouldn’t normally expect to pay off (i.e. Kennedy with 6 points on the 3rd line), and that I wouldn’t bet on paying off in the future. The changes had a tangible impact and felt like they were built to shut down Minnesota, seeing as Bae’s highest shots against were game 1, 2 and 5. And really, Bae’s only bad game was game 2. Other than that he was stellar, though the 8 goals against bring down his sv% to make it look like the Steelhawks won in spite of him instead of with him. He allowed 3 or less goals in 4 games, all of which they won. Conversely, O’Koivu was consistent all series but Minnesota was reluctant to change the lineup until they were on the brink of elimination. Their new lines almost worked too, they were up by 2 with 10 minutes left in the game and only got bested in overtime by a power play. If they had switched to those lines, say after they got shut out in a game that evened up the series, things would’ve been better for them. A surprising similarity between these teams is actual lineup depth. Scoring wise, they both had 6 players not score. Part of these stats are skewed in terms of how even the series seems because of the 8-1 inflating some stats, but Hamilton was actually outscored this series. One big thing I notice is that Minnesota’s third line and pairing were weak. As in a combined -29 on the series when no other players were minuses. That is tough. If there was a change to split them up, or take away ice time, Minnesota is in a better spot to win since they aren’t bleeding goals with them out. One interesting fact, at 5v5, Sami Owens and Mattias Holmberg we’re not on the ice for a goal against. Kind of wild considering Holmberg was on the top pairing during the first two games, and Owens was on the 2nd pairing. That is impressive.

All this considered, this is kind of the most boring series of the 1st round. It has the least amount of games, tied with Winnipeg v Calgary, it features two 1 goal games the entire series, and has lopsided victories with very little lead changes either way. It was also practically a gentleman's sweep, like Hamilton let Minnesota win and then dominated. And honestly, it’s impressive that a series that has the action and chess match plays like this one can be considered the most boring, but the overall picture of the series isn’t exactly as exciting as other first round matchups.

Buffalo (26-17-7) vs West Kendall (26-18-6) 
The final series of the first round has two teams with near identical records facing off, so this is bound to be a good series.. Before, I’ve gone through the locational situations of each team. And this time, both these teams are kinda in areas that I don’t know where they are. West Kendall sounds a bit Candian but I looked it up and it’s Floridian. And Buffalo sounds like it should be where Minnesota is if Minnesota is in the direct centre of the United States. I don’t know geography, don’t come for me. But to the actual on ice product of these two teams, there are no sleeve tricks here. The lineup doesn’t change at all throughout the entire series. These are two times who have crafted a lineup and have complete faith in what they have built. For a bit more context, here’s the head to head matchup;

Home - Away
WKP 4 - 2 BUF
BUF 3 - 4 WKP OT
WKP 2 - 4 BUF
WKP 0 - 3 BUF
BUF 5 - 2 WKP
BUF 2 - 4 WKP

Home ice advantage isn’t a big deal if we’re going off of the season series. And the games that are won aren’t super close either. Only 1 game within 1 goal and that was in overtime. However both teams are 3-3 so the overall series is expected to be super close. Speaking of the series, let’s get right into it.

Game 1
Buffalo controls the opening period very convincingly. The doubled the Platoon in shots, with TJ Bayley opening the game up 7 minutes in with a powerplay tally by Charles Walker coming just 2 minutes later. Langabeer gets the Platoon on the board, but that doesn’t change that they were doubled in shots through the first. The second period gives way for West Kendall to take control by matching Buffalo’s output, namely an even strength goal by Linna, and then a Koch Schroder goal on the powerplay 2 minutes later. Still, the Platoon only put 7 shots on net. The third opens up with the Platoon trying to put the game out of reach for Buffalo as Cam Oullette piles on to give them a two goal lead. However, the TSN turning point shows itself 5 minutes in the period as Finn Kruger gets caught slashing and heads to the box. The Platoon successfully kill off a minute forty eight of the penalty, but can’t hold off the Stampede as Walker scores on the powerplay once again. And Stampede is a worthy name for Buffalo in this game, as they come on strong with the tying goal by Eduard Selich 1 minute later, and then another minute later Selich gives Buffalo the lead. They hold that lead until the end of the period, securing the first win for them this round. It was a concerning game by goaltender FourFour Jr. as he allowed one less goal than the opposing net minder on 12 less shots. If West Kendall can find a way to get more shots onto FourFour Jr. there could be trouble for Buffalo
Final Score: 5-4 BUF

Game 2
Game 1 was kind of like doing the equation wrong on a math test but still getting the right answer for Buffalo. Sure, they won, but it wasn’t in convincing fashion. Game 2 is more of the accepted formula to get the same answer. It starts the same way as before. Marius and Atmey each score in the first 3 minutes for an early Stamp-lead before West Kendall gets within one off of a Linna goal. Before 10 minutes are gone in the first the Stampede add two more goals from Tusk and Mafs giving them a commanding 4-1 lead going into the second. Atmey scores on the powerplay 39 seconds into the 2nd to put the Platoon down a daunting 4 goals, and things are going in Buffalo’s favour for a good 10 minutes into the second before the Platoon turn the heat up. Wilsona and Langabeer score 2 minutes apart before the end of the period, giving them just a 2 goal deficit to get past to tie it up. And if their shot totals continue--25 through 2--there’s a good chance they can tie it up here. Things don’t look that good through the first half of the last frame until Alex Light collects a goal with 8 minutes left to bring them within 1. A penalty by Makela with 2 minutes left gives the Platoon the perfect opportunity to send the game to an extra frame, but they can’t convert with the extra men and the game ends with Buffalo taking full advantage of home ice, thanks in part to a much better effort by FourFour Jr.
Final Score: 5-4 BUF

Series Update: BUF 2 - 0 WKP
Nothing much to see here that hasn’t been stated before. Every time I want to mention home ice being important or unimportant based off the regular season the teams smack me in the face so I don’t feel like mentioning it anymore.

Game 3
Home ice proves to be a lot kinder to the Platoon. Maybe they’re used to mushy ice that Buffalo doesn’t use? Who knows, but West Kendall controls this game from the get go. Finn Kruger scores the only goal of the first, and Gabriel Wong similarly adds the only goal of the second to give the Platoon a two goal cushion going into the third. After seeing a 3 goal third in the first game of the series, West Kendall doesn't want to give them a chance. Light and Mafs both score their seconds of the series 3 minutes in to give the Platoon a commanding lead. A goal by Mete ends the shutout bid for Biscuit, but team success is more important than individual achievements, and the team has just succeeded in winning the game. FourFour Jr. gives up the expected 4 goals, but Biscuit shuts the door on Buffalo, denying them of their usual 5 goals.
Final Score: 4-1 WKP

Game 4
Everything that happened in the last game, forget about it. This series is crazy again. Another first minute goal to open up this game, with Lavelle tallying that one for Buffalo. But uh oh, Walker is caught tripping which allows Rielly to tie it up. And not even three minutes later, Oullette scores to give West Kendall a lead. Woo! But don’t get too excited, another three minutes happens and that means another goal. Lavelle seeks revenge and gets it. 2-2 game going into the second. The middle frame is relatively quiet. A penalty for each team, though Koch Schroder (ow) scores on West Kendall’s opportunity, and no one can say the same for the other side. Now, if you thought the 1st was a bit wild you aren’t ready for the 3rd. 2 minutes in, Marius strikes, tie game. A minute and a half after that, Makela gives Buffalo the lead. A Sven Brokstad minor gives Buffalo a chance to open the game up, but this is actually the one reprieve for this period. 8 minutes left in the period, and the game is tied once again. Linna scores their third in four games, but sitting below a goal per game isn’t sexy, so they score one minute later to reach that mark and to give West Kendall another lead. But once again, there is a Platoon penalty, and this time they can’t keep it out of the net as barely 3 minutes after getting the lead, the game is once again tied. Makela is the culprit again as they get their second of the period, completing double stacked Makela breaded Linna scoring sandwich. Now it’s tense. Will there be overtime, or will someone sco- West Kendall scored. Jon Ross from Linna and Schroder. 2 minutes go by without a goal, and that’s all the Platoon need to win this game. Interesting fact here is that the Platoon were out shot 42 - 26, but FourFour Jr. posted a sub 800 sv% and Biscuit held a near 900 sv%. Definite difference in goaltending this game.
Final Score: 6-5 WKP

Series Update: BUF 2 - 2 WKP
There is a very clear trend here, goaltending is consistent yet inconsistent in their consistency. Biscuit has allowed exactly 5 goals 3 times this series, and FourFour Jr. allowed 4 goals 3 times as well. This series has a big spotlight on goaltending, as FourFour has lost the Stamps 1 game, and Biscuit one the other for West Kendall. West Kendall’s offense has also been super inconsistent though, putting up 20 shots or 30 shots seemingly randomly, while Buffalo has consistently reached 30. West Kendall can’t rely on FourFour Jr. faltering forever, so they need to pick up the consistency in the right direction to ensure a victory.

Game 5
Home again home again, jiggity jig. That might just be what Buffalo is singing as they come back to the New York area where I’m pretty sure Buffalo is. And things go as nice as they could expect. West Kendall puts up 17(!) shots the entire game. Buffalo doubles that total and adds on more goals to boot. Starting with a powerplay marker 2 minutes in by Makela. And as expected at this point, Buffalo follows up 1 minutes later with a goal from Marius. Quick starts are kind of a trend for Buffalo, and going into the second that trend continues as Metzler collects his first of the series. Walker ironically becomes Tripper as he heads to the box shortly after the goal, and West Kendall don’t miss in those situations as they get their first of the game from Kruger. Kruger slips up later in the period though, as he closes his hand on the puck, giving Metzler the opportunity he needed to notch his second of the period on the powerplay. Things get testy in the third as Vyskoc pots one 4 minutes in, and then another 4 minutes pass before Langabeer makes it a one goal game. Hamilton (player, not team) decides that he doesn’t want any extra hockey tonight, so he puts the dagger in the hearts of West Kendall to secure the 3rd home win for them this series. But quick second to acknowledge how FourFour Jr. allowed 3 on 17 shots.
Final score: 5-3 BUF

Game 6
An elimination opportunity is upon us. Buffalo has a chance to win the series on the road and secure a matchup against Hamilton, which considering they have Hamilton on their team, that could get very confusing for me to talk about. But based on the first period of this game, the axe won’t be swinging down on West Kendall’s neck tonight. Buffalo is held to a single shot, with Mikko Linna scoring for the 5th time this series to open the scoring. Things don’t get much better for Buffalo, as the second sees Kadinger and Vyskoc score to give the Platoon a three zip lead. And by the way, Linna collects 2 primary assists on those goals. They are on an absolute tear this series. Buffalo only musters 20 shots this game as West Kendall takes this one to the bank with a shutout victory for Biscuit. That makes it 2 GA/G at home for Biscuit this series, which is damn good considering he has let in 5GA/G on the road. The Stampede can’t take advantage of a good game from FourFour Jr., so this game is going back to Buffalo.
Final Score: 3-0 WKP

Game 7
If potting 20 shots in a game was disappointing for the usually explosive Buffalo offense, putting up 18 in the game is even worse. Normally I’d try to build tension for a game 7 but like, how could I? Buffalo gets doubled up on the shot clock. After 2 periods it’s 3-0 with Oullette, Linna, and Light scoring for the Platoon. Meanwhile Buffalo’s shots through 2 doesn’t even match West Kendall’s in the second alone. This is just disappointing for a game 7. Vyskoc scores to make it 4-0, and then it’s 5-0 off of a Kruger goal. Atmey scores for posterity's sake with 1 minute left, so at least they aren’t shut out in front of the home crowd, but they still get trounced in a do or die situation. And FourFour Jr. had an average game that could have won them something with effort in front of him, but alas, that was not in the cards for the Stampede.
Final Score: 5-1 WKP

Series Over: BUF 3 - 4 WKP

Series sv%
Beaujeaux Biscuit: 0.873% (174 SA)
Jordin FourFour Jr.: 0.857% (203 SA)

Autopsy
There are a lot of spots you can look to to say why this series ended up the way it did. Was it Buffalo’s lack of a star forward, or the incompetence of their first line on both ends of the ice? Or was it Buffalo’s forward in general. Their leading point getter was Walker with 8 points. Lavelle is next on that list, before Metzler and Makela round out the top 4. Some would say that this is a sign that Buffalo had a strong scoring d-core, and I can’t deny that. Koenig and Tusk weren’t stellar on the offensive end, but they were fine elsewhere. But having a good d-core doesn’t win championships, that d-core’s first job is to defend the net, and they can only expend so much energy into scoring before they can’t continue to defend their goalie. First issue is that their centre depth is an issue. Atmey was the only centre to score. Through 7 games. That is terrible. The left side wasn’t much better, with Marius contributing 3 goals, but the other two weren’t able to add anything beyond a single goal each. The right side was more balanced with Selich and Lavelle both scoring twice, but that is a supreme lack of scoring. Back onto the idea of blaming different parts of a team for a loss, some might look to the goalie, FourFour Jr., who I pointed out several times. But he put up a sv% in line with other goalies in the first round. He shouldn’t be expected to do much beyond that. Especially when he is going against the true reason I think Buffalo lost, the Platoon 2nd line, and also the 4th line. The Platoon had Mikko Linna playing together on the 2nd and 4th lines, with Trevor Wilson filling in on their left wing when on the fourth line, and Dionyz Vyskoc playing with them on the second line. The star of the show here is Mikko Linna. She put up a whopping 14 points in the first round. 6 goals, 8 assists. There have been other 6 goal scorers, like Odjick or Nova, but they never followed that up with 8 assists. Linna is in a category by themselves at the top, a true talent that took control of this series. The Vyskoc - Linna - Light line combo collected 12 goals and 30 points through the series, and each player was at least double digits in +/-. They weren’t dominant. And so was Koch Schroder and the rest of the Platoon’s back end, with the scoring on the back end going by 8 points by Schroder, 7 by Kruger, 6 from Ross and Mete, 5 from Brokstad, and then a single goal/point from Kadinger. That is wild production. That right side of the defense featuring Kruger, Ross, and Mete we’re amazing, and having them out at all times leads to a ton of scoring opportunities. But the heroics still lie with Linna, as the first line struggled to produce and the third line relied upon Oullette to collect all their points. This was a series won off of Linna going absolutely insane and collecting 14 points on the round.

Round Two
Ah, the second round of the playoffs, what could either be the most, or second most stressful round for those in it, and generally people want to be in the latter category. If you don’t get what I’m laying down, I don’t even know what to say. But in this round, the tension is nearly at its peak, and with each passing game it only grows from there. There is a shot at the ultimate SHL prize of course, the challenge, at the end of the road, and this round is the final decider of which team gets to represent it’s territory in the fight for the cup. Mid to east Canada or south U.S, this is the last test.

As it may have been awhile since you’ve seen some of the faces here, here is a quick refresher on the storylines here.

Winnipeg: The Jets are coming into this series as the President’s trophy winners who got a bit more than they bargained for from the top heavy Dragons. Though they were able to dispatch the 4th seeded Calgary in 6 games, needing Zhumbayev to shut them out twice to secure that series is a definite concern moving into the 2nd round.

Los Angeles: After the intense race to the finish that saw the Panthers beat out Edmonton for the second seed, they almost ended up losing to the Blizzard, including an OT win for the Panthers sandwiched between 3 losses. They were one bounce away from a sweep, but thanks to two top lines they were able to get past the depth-based Blizzard in a tight series. Reflieux, Auston, and Wachter were the winners for LA that series but they’re going to need Marmeladov to continue his amazing play against Winnipeg to help secure the conference champion title.

West Kendall: The Platoon we’re in the middle of the chaotic eastern seeding race. And I mean the exact middle. 3rd seed, with 5 teams pushing for spots. Much like the other 2 seed v 3 seed matchup, they also went to 7 games with the Stampede. West Kendall pulled through thanks in part to the heroic efforts of Mikko Linna, who finished with the most points in the 1st round out of any player with 14 points. Beaujeaux Biscuit wasn’t exactly strong in net, and it’s arguable that if FourFour Jr. was any better for Buffalo than a sub .86 sv% the series ends differently, but he’s also going against a goalie who’s in the exact same situation.

Hamilton: Completing the “complete opposite from the west check”, Hamilton disposed of the top seed Chiefs in just 6 games. Despite getting outscored in the series, Bae came alive at the right times to keep them in games and propel them past O’Koivu who had a brilliant series in his own right. A lot of Hamilton’s success came down to Angelo Odjick, who ended up on the first line in all of Hamilton’s four straight wins over the 1 seeded Chiefs. To beat West Kendall they’re going to need more than just Odjick though, because despite scoring the same amount of goals as Linna, he also put up 7 less points in total.

With the re-introduction to the situations done, let’s get back to game time!

Winnipeg (36-9-5) vs Los Angeles (33-13-4)
You don’t need any extra history here, you just got it. Let’s get straight into the head to head history.

Home - Away
LAP 4 - 3 WIN SO
WIN 7 - 1 LAP
LAP 2 - 4 WIN
WIN 2 - 1 LAP SO
WIN 7 - 4 LAP
LAP 2 - 5 WIN

This matchup is a lot more favourable to Winnipeg if we’re going off the series, which makes sense considering they are the President’s Trophy winners. Interestingly the majority of these games are largely in Winnipeg’s favour, with a single shootout win being Los Angeles only win against the Jets going into this matchup. Despite the series appearing lopsided for the Jets, I have learned to keep my mouth shut in case I get proven wrong by Simon T. and his hockey simulator.

Game 1
Game 1 is a scoring sandwich. Despite having 4 shots in the 1st period, 1 of those shots by Zach Evans finds its way past Marmeladov to give the Jets a lead midway through the first. A last minute goal by Boyka Jr. evens the game back up before the start of the 2nd. That scoring touch stays with LA through the first two minutes of the second as Wachter scores in the first minute, and Boyka Jr. tallies again just after the 2nd minute. Winnipeg takes a minute to respond, but they do end up responding big with Max Weber’s first of the playoffs, followed up by the third line contribution from Kylrad to end the second. Now is where things get good. Nothing much happens beyond a penalty and a successful kill through the first half of the third. Gary Grease messes up big time though, because he takes a penalty with six minutes left that results in a Leetch goal with 5 minutes left. Winnipeg looks like they might just lose the first game of the second round off of that penalty, but on their 22nd and final shot of the game, Crossfit Jesus comes alive to score with the net empty to bring the game to a tie with a minute left. Last minute goals are a lot of fun when it comes to forcing overtime. But I may have let it slip that this overtime isn’t going to be exciting, because LA dominates with 3 shots through a minute, the final of the trifecta coming with Boyka Jr.’s 3rd goal of the game, completing the road hat-trick with the game winning goal. That game was actually dominated by LA the entire way. The shots were 45 to 22 in their favour, and a 0.818 sv% performance from Marmeladov almost sank them, but they were able to pull it out in spite of the netminder.
Final Score: 5-4 LAP

Game 2
Did I just talk shit about Marmeladov? I really shouldn’t have because he stands on his head this game. But is it enough? The 3 goal first period surge from the Panthers says so. LA hits the mark on half their shots in the first frame with goals from Woodcroft, Winter, and Reflieux. Sure, there is a goal there from Evans to make it a 2 goal game going into the third, but that is a weak performance from Zhumbayev who was batting .500 in the wrong sport for a second there. The second is boring. No one scores, and everyone knows defensive hockey is boring. Good news; there’s a goal with 4 minutes left in the third to make it interesting. Cormier-Hale scores so we’ve got something interesting going here. Can Winnipeg win in spite of Zhumbayev and even up the series the same way they got down in the first place? The goal by Leetch on the empty net with a literal second left says otherwise, which is boring. It’s a close game for 4 minutes, but nothing comes from it. Despite getting outshot 38 - 22, LA finds a way to win on the back of both goalies performances.
Final Score: 4-2 LAP

Game 3
After two big losses at home, Winnipeg needs to find a way to beat Marmeladov when it matters on the road. Things start out promising with Corey Bearss opening the scoring in the Jets favour, but the home crowd gets into it soon after; Bennett and Woodcroft add tallies minutes apart from each other to take the lead. Winnipeg simply won’t accept that though, as Cormier-Hale and Bearss score before the period ends to give them the lead once again. The second is where things get out of hand for LA. Evans, Yelkrab, Arrivabene. 3 quick goals from Winnipeg and suddenly it’s a four goal deficit with 4 minutes left. Boyka Jr. makes it slightly less embarrassing by cutting the lead to 3 with a late goal but that wouldn’t be enough. Both teams end up even on the shot clock, so it’s a whole lot easier to pin the blame solely on Marmeladov in a situation like this. But I would never do that, I would just loosely suggest it and put it in your minds.
Final Score: 6-3 WIN

Game 4
Can Winnipeg take back home ice advantage here? Or would that be a visitor ice advantage… who knows. Either way, Winnipeg needs an even series here. Things don’t start off that hot for them tonight though, Evans high sticks it to the man, giving Boyka Jr. the chance to score an insane 5th goal of the series on the powerplay. Nothing much happens until the second, where it’s tied up by Kylrad who is having himself a series on the third line. Once again, the game quiets down for an entire period until Weber slaps one in 7 minutes into the 3rd. That’s a late lead for Winnipeg. Time is ticking down for LA to make a move here, and taking kneeing penalties does not help their cause. They do kill off two penalties with time to spare for an extra attacker to take the ice, but once again, a team is shut down by an empty net goal. Kylrad collects his second of the game, this time without Zhumbayev there to defend his cage. Another game where both goalies face the same amount of shots. At lest the save percentages weren’t lopsided this time?
Final Score: 3-1 WIN

Game 5
The game starts with a lot of penalties. 4 in the first period alone, but only a single powerplay goal? You better believe. Zach Evans scores once again to open the scoring in Winnipeg’s favour. However, Auston finds the back of the net at 5v5 to even the score. Auston gets the lone goal of the second, scoring at the halfway mark of the period. The third once again goes a long time without a goal, but for a one goal game that’s great. It’s tense. There isn’t another score until the last 4 minutes of the game. It’s Auston again. He’s got a hat trick to match Boyka Jr.’s from the opening game. Now that they’re down by two this is the perfect time for Winnipeg to strike to keep it close, and they do. Orlov scores with 1:16 left in the game, and things are close once again. Zhumbayev is out of the net an- fucking empty net goal again? Johnson gets his first goal of the playoffs here, cool. But honestly, this is another game with two very close shot totals, these teams are matching up well, but there’s an empty net goal to shut down the chance at another overtime game. That is frustration from a fan perspective.
Final Score: 4-2 LAP

Game 6
Los Angeles is coming home with a chance to win the first home game of the series and to also eliminate the Jets. Will the home fans finally go home happy? If the early goings of this game are any indication, yes. Bennett scores to take the early lead. The crowd gets a solid 8 minutes before being brought back down to earth by Arrivabene scoring once again. They get to ride the high of scoring again in the second, as Boyka Jr. gets their 6th goal of the second round to reinstate the lead. Reflieux adds on another goal 10 minutes later, so the dome has gotta be going crazy at this point. Except Winter takes a penalty 10 second after the goal is scored, and it’s hard to cheer through an unsuccessful powerplay and an Evans goal if you’re a Panthers fan. But a one goal lead going into the third is great if they can hang on shut the Jets down. Nope. In three minutes, Evans has tied the game, Volkova has taken the lead, and Jesus has put it out of reach. There’s no amount of cheering for elimination that can bring a team back from that. The Panther’s get outshot heavily and rightfully lose game 6, meaning we’re going back up north for game 7.
Final Score: 5-3 WIN

Game 7
Now it’s Winnipeg’s turn to try and give the home crowd a sendoff to the cup finals. Once again, do the early proceedings of things say they will? Well they take a penalty 3 minutes in, and that results in a Winter goal. And then 20 seconds later Gronkjaer scores, and then Woodcroft scores again right before the period ends. Things don’t get better from here for the home crowd. Reflieux  scores a min into the 3rd to really put the nail in the coffin. And then Boyka Jr. dropkicks the coffin 8 minutes later for a 5 goal deficit in an elimination game. And hey, Jesus and Visser pot two before the end of the period. And they just put up 22 shots in the 2nd. Surely they can carry this onto the 3rd? Unfortunately, no. The game ends as the second period does. LA is going to the cup finals and gets to celebrate in cold ass Winnipeg, while the Jets get to not celebrate in Winnipeg. Both suck, but winning would’ve been a lot more fun in this case.
Final Score: 5-2 LAP

Series Over: WIN 3 - 4 LAP

Series sv%
Zhumbayev: 0.896% (222 SA)
Marmeladov: 0.903% (239 SA)

Autopsy:
Despite going to 7 games this series never felt particularly close? It’s weird to say, because it HAD to be close to get to a game 7, but I think the amount of empty net goals skews the way I view this series. 3 potential one goal games that turn into 2 goal victories doesn’t sit the same for me. That might just be me because I imagine everyone else feels that this series was tight. And I can’t disagree with that. An overtime opener, and then 3 one goal games minus empty netters makes me feel better about the series. But I would still much rather a game 7 that was an actual competition. All three so far feel like they’ve been over after the 1st. I digress though, there is a series to discuss. Both goalies let in the exact same amount of goals at 23, though Zhumbayev was tested slightly less than Marmeladov, they are only separated by 0.007 points. This is a series that depended on the players to drive it, and I have a few key performers in mind. First off are Zach Evans and Yuri Boyka Jr. They put up the same amount of points over the series, putting up 6 goals and 5 assists. Evans stands out to me as special since he put up just 3 points against Calgary while had 8 before this series. Matthew Leetch and Weber were both noticeable on the score sheet, sitting 1 point apart from each other, Leetch scoring one more goal than Weber with the same assists. Finally, Auston and Reflieux both make it on this list for scoring three times and playing big roles in this win for LA. And really, having two good lines won LA another series here. Winnipeg’s second line stepped up to try and match the production of Boyka Jr., Auston, and Bennett, but when just 2 other forwards hit 5 points that’s an issue. Their first line specifically faltered, each being at least -4 and combining for just 9 points, 5 of those coming from Bearss. The team not showing up around these key performers gave LA the chance they needed to win the series and they took advantage of it in full. Also, home ice disadvantage was in full effect here, as there were no home wins. But there goes the presidents trophy winners, and the Panthers are going to move on to the finals with guaranteed home ice advantage.

West Kendall (26-18-6) vs Hamilton (25-19-6)
With the west decided we can take a look at the east matchup. The west may have had no upsets through the first round, but both of these teams here are experienced underdogs at the 3 & 4 seeds. No real need for introduction at this point, let’s look at the head to head

Home - Away
HAM 3 - 4 WKP
HAM 3 - 4 WKP
WKP 1 - 4 HAM
WKP 3 - 5 HAM
HAM 4 - 0 WKP
WKP 5 - 6 HAM

First off, this is set up exactly like a reverse bracket for this situation. If you swapped who was home each game this would be the exact same order the match up would be going in for this series. It also fits in with Hamilton’s first round matchup very well with 2 losses to start the series followed by four straight wins. Is there any chance they repeat that record against the Platoon? Let’s find out.


Game 1
I can’t get right into the game because lineups have been changed by Hamilton. They won four straight against the Chiefs with their other lineup but they have switched things up to matchup better against West Kendall, who have so much confidence in their lineup it hasn’t changed one bit. Thankfully the forward changs for the Steelhawks aren’t drastic. Noro Wozy finds his way into the 1st line in place of Harrak who is now on the second. This move just makes sense, Harrak had one point while Wozy had three through the first round. I would argue Kennedy and his point per game pace is more fitting on the top line but he is still playing with Vakarian and Blackwell. It’s understandable to do that to keep scoring throughout the lineup possible instead of having a third line run by Vakarian on her lonesome. They also take 1% of the ice time away from the second line and give it to the new Odjick - Phelps - Wozy line. Defensively, they messed around quite a bit. On the top pairing, Jakub Trochek has inched his way into the #2 defensemen role after starting on the third pair. He gets the gift of playing with Dover on the top pairing. For the second pairing role, Owens takes the spot that Trochek once assumed, sliding in next to Westbrook. These two pairings are slated to play 75% of the game, leaving Holmberg and former top pairing d-man Tommy Salami to get a quarter of the ice tiem on the back end despite both making appearances next to Dover last round. Now that we understand where the lineups stand, let’s get to the game.

In the first game of the east finals, things are looking good for Hamilton after their line changes. Harrak gets his second point of the playoffs and first goal 7 minutes in, while his linemate Abes also scores his first just a minute later. Unsurprisingly Konig gets assists on both of their goals, showing how the new lineups pay dividends for Hamilton, much like the Minnesota series. However, there is something to be said for consistency, and Ross puts West Kendall on the board before the end of the first period. West Kendall opens the second with a Kadinger zinger to tie the game up, but Kennedy once again keeps the third line scoring flowing with a go ahead goal. West Kendall trails by one on the scoreboard and 12 on the shot clock going into the third.
The third period gets a little out of hand scoring wise so strap in. Holmberg scores in the first minute for Hamilton for another first goal in this game for the Steelhawks. Blackwell takes a penalty 3 minutes later that gets first round hero Linna on the board with a special teams goal. Vakarian shuts down that momentum just 30 seconds later with a goal. After halfway through the period West Kendall regains the momentum with Light and Mete scoring just 30 seconds apart. After all of that, we stand with the game tied at 5 with overtime being necessary. Following up those two key goals to tie the game up  is going to be hard to do in overtime. West Kendall has been dominated by Hamilton all throughout this game. They’re outshot 40 - 24 going into the overtime frame, and Koch Shroder has taken a penalty 3 minutes in. This is the chance Hamilton needs to take an early lead in the series and take away home ice advantage from the Plat- Short handed goal. Alex Light scores from Kadinger and Rielly to clinch the first game of the series for West Kendall.

This game has to be dedicated to Beaujeaux Biscuit who faced 43 shots en-route to the win as well as Kadinger who entered this game with one point in the playoffs and left with four. On the other hand you have to think Bae isn’t going home happy about his performance. A sub .800 sv% on 26 shots while Hamilton controlled the pace of play isn’t easy to swallow, but for the rest of the team neither is an overtime short-handed goal against. After that game, Hamilton is going to enter game 2 with an extra jump or two in their step.
Final Score: 6-5 WKP

Game 2
I don’t have much to say about game 2, which is probably good since game 1 was a lot to handle. The name of this game is special teams, namely that West Kendall’s PK operated at a 33% success rate. Konig started that trend off with a powerplay goal in the first 3 minutes. Leafer Rielly gets on the board to tie it up, but Hamilton’s lone 5v5 goal by Phelps gives Hamilton the lead going into the second. Three penalties in the second lead to two goals by Harrak and Kennedy, making it a 3 goal deficit going into the third. A comeback is unlikely here, especially considering the fact that West Kendall is outshot 19-0. That’s not a typo. In a playoff game that Platoon go the entire period without a shot. As if that wasn’t enough indication that this game goes in Hamilton’s favour, another powerplay goal by Phelps ensures it as the Platoon take the loss. They arguably kept up with Hamilton for the first two periods, in fact they lead in shots through two, but a strong bounceback game by Bae really put that one out of reach.
Final Score 5-1 HAM

Game 3
After a fairly boring game 2 in the series, things go back to game 1 form in Hamilton. Phelps scores his third goal of the series to open it up for Hamilton. After going a full series without a goal as the top centre, that’s a welcome surprise for Hamilton. So is Noro Wozy scoring midway through the frame to give Hamilton a 2 goal cushion. That cushion gets ripped into after just 3 minutes of existing as Light and Wilson put up goals to tie it up. The dreaded Hamilton powerplay comes back for more though, and the first ends off with another Phelps powerplay goal. The second is very quiet outside of a fight and a goal. Odjick high sticks the opposition and Vyscok makes him pay for it with a tying goal. Going into the third tied is a tense situation, and it’s seemingly resolved by a Wilson goal 4 minutes in. You may notice I said seemingly, that’s because Owens earns their second pairing role with a game tying goal with 7 minutes remaining. Things are looking like another overtime game until Travis Jeziak unlocks his clutch ability for his first goal of the series for the Platoon to take a lead with 3 minutes remaining. That lead holds, as Biscuit collects another win where he faces 43 shots. Thankfully his team showed up more this time as they put up 38, and more importantly 5 goals through regulation to secure the win.
Final Score: 5-4 WKP

Game 4
Hamitlon knows how to score early, huh? Cause they just did it again. Wozy has done it again just 18 second into the game. But of course, West Kendall answers in favour with two goals, as Mete and Vyskoc give them the lead. The first ends deadlocked though, as the Steelhawks third line strike courtesy of Kennedy. The second features a lone goal once again, this time it’s Harrak three minutes in. With the third coming up with a Steelhawks lead, we just know that West Kendall strikes back. And of course they do four minutes in off of Ross’ goal. The game lays dormant for another 10 minutes until Linna scores the go-ahead goal with 5 minutes remaining. Last time this happened, the score held for West Kendall, but things aren’t so easy this time around as Harrak ties it up with his second of the game. This is another game that is looking like overtime. That is until West Kendall scores another last minute go-ahead goal in the third as Leafer Rielly really puts this one out of reach for Hamilton. Biscuit got to walk in Bae’s shows for a day as he faced 32 shots with his team putting up an astounding 44 and almost needing overtime to solve the game. In a series where West Kendall has needed last minute goals to pull ahead while being outshot, it surely hurts Bae emotionally that he couldn’t hold on to that lead for his team when they needed it most.
Final Score: 5-4 WKP

Game 5
With elimination on the line for Hamilton, it’s the perfect situation for Bae to make up for past mistakes and come up big for the Steelhawks. It’s also the perfect time for the Steelhawks to fuck around with the lines again. Phelps and Odjick stay together as the top two forwards through the series so far, and get Lyndis Vakarian to join them in the next game. Noro Wozy loses that first line spot and joins Harrak with a demotion to the third line to play with Blackwell. Kennedy, who has been scoring on that third line for quite some time now, finally gets brought back up to play with Konig and Abes. I might have been wrong to call Wozy and Harrak demotions, as all the ice time is practically even for all forward lines now. A 34/34/33 split. Hamilton is going to be relying on depth in this upcoming game. Defensively things also get a shake up as Holmberg ends up on the top pairing with Dover once again, this time doing a straight swap Trochek to keep the second pairing in tact. Now we can get to the possible elimination game.

Remember how I mentioned Bae being in a perfect spot to make up for earlier losses? He does just that for the first 10 minutes, but Mikko Linna  puts one up against Bae to put Hamilton in a familiar spot--trailing. Phelps responds in kind with his 5th of the series to tie it up before the end of the 1st. That momentum carries on into the second period as Odjick, who scored 6 against Minny in case you forgot, gets his first of the series in game 5. That new first line is doing gods work for Hamilton. And why not get the second line in on the action as well? Abes scores from Kennedy to give Hamitlon a two goal lead going into the third. Now all Hamitlon, and Bae, need to do is shutdown West Kendall for a whole period to force a game 6. They do it. No need for tension here. They give up 6 shots in the period and Bae has once again allowed just one goal for the Hamilton win, though it’s a strong game for both tendies as Biscuit let in 3 on 39 shots, which is a lot.
Final Score: 3-1 HAM

Game 6
Take two: Elimination Opportunity. This time free of line changes. So far the sequel is pretty similar to the original, with some slight changes on the first goal. It’s still a West Kendall, but there’s the added effect of it being on the powerplay and being scored by Light. And now there’s another twist as Light gets the next goal 2 minutes later as well. That two goal lead is cut into by the Hamilton top line as Phelps gets his 6th of the series 10 minutes later. Midway through the second Trevor Wilson strikes to re-establish the two goal lead for West Kendall, and the lead carries on into the third. Now is time for Hamilton to give West Kendall a taste of their own medicine and come back in this third. They’ve been outplayed thus far in the game but they need this third to go well to stay alive. Instead, Light completes the hat trick in front of the Hamilton crowd to give West Kendall a 3 goal lead. Harrak gets the game within reach, but Biscuit is on fire and behind a team that has a chance at the cup in their sights. No more goals are scored this game as West Kendall clinches their spot to face off against the Panthers. It was a game that they controlled for the most part, outshooting Hamilton by 10, though the real eliminator crown deserves to go to Light with his hat trick. He outscored Hamilton on his own when it mattered most.
Final Score: 4-2 WKP


Series Over: WKP 4 - 2 HAM

Series sv%
Beaujeaux Biscuit: 0.893% (214 SA)
Jay Bae: 0.889%  (198 SA)

Austopsy
Early on, knowing that West Kendall would win I was thinking that the lesser team ended up winning based on the overtime performance, and while that is a pivotal moment in this series after that moment the playing was more even, and even well in favour of West Kendall to end the series. Apart of me wanted to pin this on Bae, he faced lss overall shots and let in a similar amount of goals, but his sv% is so close to Biscuit’s, but that is skewed in a way. His wins were major boosts to his sv%. Letting in 2 goals over 2 games is going to get your stats to look pretty no matter what, but the first loss is hard to ignore as a game that was lost by Bae and set momentum in West Kendall’s way. Beyond that letting up 5 goals twice in a row in between those 1 goal games makes it hard for me to ignore the lacklustre play by Bae almost two series in a row with the same sv% with less shots than the opposition it was bound for it to end poorly for Hamilton. In terms of the skaters performances I could show you the scoring for this series on it’s own and you wouldn’t be able to tell who won. In fact, let me show you.

West Kendall needed timely scoring in order to win the series and were held to just one goal twice through the series which dropped their numbers down. You have strong series from Dover, Odjick, and Phelps relative to their peers with Rielly, Light and Wilson showing up to match them Harrak and Wozy were only matched by Linna, so things should be in favour of Hamilton, especially when all three of their lines were scoring and West Kendall’s third line was allergic to goals. I think the key, apart from everything I’ve said already, was the defensive depth instead of top heavy defense. Ben Dover was far and away the best d-man of the series but Owens was next up with three points. Meanwhile, only Sven Brokstad didn’t break that 3 point barrier. That’s that as far as the scoring for that series. I do want to give Kudos to Rielly, Light, and Wilson as being heroes of the series, specifically Rielly and Wilson as they put up 2 and 4 points in the last series respectively.


Finals

Los Angeles (33-13-4) vs West Kendall (26-18-6)
The finals need no introduction. The cup is going to a sunshine state no matter what happens in this series, but will it be West Kendall, a team that has gotten clutch performances all throughout the lineup with a focus on their top lines that takes it home? Or will it be Los Angeles, the team that has played the most games through the first two rounds and has stomped out two balanced teams with their top heavy team, who came back from a 3-1 deficit in the first round and have rid Marmeladov’s strong performances to the finals? Well, anything can happen.

Home - Away
WKP 4 - 1 LAP
LAP 3 - 9 WKP

One thing to note here is that Ben Holtby started both games which makes it hard to use these as evidence for which way the series goes, and West Kendall winning 2 of 2 games isn’t exactly a big sample size either, so unfortunately there won’t be that much pre series predictions for me to get proven wrong on. Let’s just get right to it.

Game 1
The finals are here. The LA crowd is going insane for the possibility of a third cup following a disappointing finals loss two seasons ago to Minnesota. The crowd surely is going to give LA all the energy they need to start strong and get past the jitters of playing in the finals again. Or maybe not, as Wong scores just 2 minutes into the game to put a shock into the home crowd. A Schroder barely a minute after injects some excitement back into the crowd, and their top goal scorer Auston gives them an outlet to get crazy with a powerplay goal to tie the game. The second period is just more reasons to cheer as it starts off with a Reflieux goal one minute in, and then another Reflieux goal two minutes after. The period goes smoothly from there, with no scoring after the first three minutes. The third is where West Kendall thrives however, as their last series was decided off of their ability to clutch it out and score late goals to tie the game or go ahead. This is a situation that needs the utmost care to tackle from the home team, however the second periods hero sours his image with a penalty that allows Light to get West Kendall within one. This is where West Kendall thrives, a one goal lead is never safe around them. LA knows just how to combat that though, as Auston gets his second of the game to seal the deal for LA to win the first game. The second period proved to be pivotal for this game, as half of Los Angeles’ shots were put up in the frame, as well as half their goals.
Final Score: 4-2 LAP

Game 2
The home crowd is hyped after game 1. They want a repeat. And the early proceedings predict just that. It takes 14 seconds for Bennett to pounce and put the Panthers on the board. Brokstad gets his first of the playoffs to tie it, however Reflieux retakes the lead with his third goal in two games. Wachter gets in on the scoring once again with his first of the series to cap off the first. The second is tame outside of Bennett’s second goal of the game to secure a three goal lead. Surely there are no teams that have ever lost after being up 4-1 in a playoff game. The third starts, and all LA has to do is not allow three goals. That doesn’t start off good as Wilson scores to make it a two goal lead with 12 minutes remaining. Now they just need to not allow two goals, and that is accomplished by the Panthers as they take game 2 with the exact same score as game 1. West Kendall gets a taste of their own medicine as they outshoot the opposition by ten but end up losing out on the win. Marmeladov came up strong, as is expected at this point in the playoffs. Now the onus is on West Kendall to win their games at home to keep the series even.
Final Score: 4-2 LAP

Game 3
The first period really has been where the action is at this series. West Kendall, after using their first game in LA to scare the crowd early, wants to give them something to cheer for. Trevor Wilson does just that early on get the crowd going. While Auston shuts that hype down momentarily, Light and Langabeer go back to back within 2 minutes of the tying goal to take a two goal lead out of the first. The second starts off in much the same way, with Light getting his second of the playoffs 3 minutes in. And again, no team has ever blown a 4-1 lead in the playoffs so West Kendall should be safe. Or maybe not. There’s a Wacht Attack. Two waves of it actually. One hits the back of the net 6 minutes after Light’s goal, and the second wave hits with 3 minutes left in the period. In case you didn’t pick up what I was putting down, that’s two goals by Maximillian Wachter to bring the score within 1 going into the third. LA puts up 10 shots in their third as part of their comeback effort, but my least favourite play ever happens on West Kendall’s 6th shot of the period. An empty netter with a minute left to seal the deal, but this empty netter is different. It’s Light’s 3rd of the night, as he pots a hat trick on home ice, his second hat trick of the playoffs en route to the Platoon’s first win of this year's finals. With goalies in the net, this is a 1 goal game with even shots on the clock, practically the most intense situation possible outside of an overtime finish.
Final Score: 5-3 WKP

Game 4
Game 4 features all of the scoring in one period, the first. I hate to spoil it, but you were going to figure it out soon enough. The scoring starts with a Leafer Rielly goal 4 minutes in, followed by Brokstad’s second of the playoffs an exact minute later. The defensemen scoring continues as Kadinger gets the third and final goal of this game. Despite getting 45 shots on net, LA cannot seem to solve Biscuit. This game was a goaltending duel that got ruined early. If those goals are scored in the third this game is infinitely better. Marmeladov had a fantastic game as well, he saved 35 of 38 shots, it just so happened that LA would outplay West Kendall, but not Biscuit. With that spectacular win from Biscuit over with, the series is evened at two games a piece as we head back to LA.
Final Score: 3-0 WKP

Game 5
Here comes another slugfest for the Cali crowd. Watcher and Boyka Jr. start and end off the first, with goals 50 seconds in and with 117 seconds left in respectively. Things don’t get any better for West Kendall at the start of the second as Leetch shows up 2 minutes in to make it a 3 goal deficit. Opportunity presents itself after a Boyka Jr. penalty, and Linna comes up big once again with the powerplay tally, but the pp prowess goes both ways as Johnson’s penalty 3 minutes after the goal results in an Auston goal. Brokstad cuts into the re-established three goal lead with his third of the series. We enter the third with a two goal lead in place for LA, and that lead only grows as Wachter continues his scoring tear with yet ANOTHER goal. But that’s not the most interesting play this period. Three minutes before that go ahead goal is scored, LA’s fourth line was lined up against the Platoon’s third line and all hell broke loose. Yeah, I’m talking line brawl. Foster and Wong get chances at each other, with Foster coming out on top. The next fight on the block is a draw between Higgins and Jeziak, but Higgins gets the better end of the deal as Jeziak gets called for instigating and is ejected from the game. The final fight is between Haugen and Oullette, with Haugen coming out on top. At the end of this mess, LA has taken the win on the ice and on the battlefield going 2-0-1 on fights, with the tie resulting in the opponent getting ejected. There was also a slew of penalties from those who weren’t in the fight as well at this time. Melodias is caught cross checking, Mete gets roughing, and Picard catches someone in the face with a stick. In the end the teams settle for some four on four ice time as the calls are evened up following the debacle. Despite getting outplayed by the Platoon for most of the game, getting outshow 42-31, the Panthers are able to win after another gem of a game by Marmeladov. That’s another home win this series, and LA is going into West Kendall next game with a chance at the cup.
Final Score: 5-2 LAP

Game 6
West Kendall has been here before. Against Buffalo they were down 3-2 in the series and won in 7, and tonight they’re looking to get into a game 7 again. The first period is hectic to start. Langabeer scores a minute in, but after a Mete penalty and subsequent Bennett goal, the game stands tied. The tiebreaker comes in the form of Gabriel Wong halfway through the first as he takes the lead for West Kendall with a goal. Vyscok increases that lead with 13 second left in the first with a goal of their own. The Platoon are sitting pretty but aren’t about to get complacent here as Langabeer scores once again to make it 4-1. Just like last time West Kendall was up 4-1, Los Angeles strikes back with two goals of their own, one 9 seconds after the Langabeer goal from Johnson, and the second goal comes from Woodcroft. 4-3 going into the 3rd. The score stands for most of the third, West Kendall fans feeling that they might just pull it off, but Maximillian Wachter ties the game with 6 minutes remaining. Is overtime going to be necessary? And in an elimination game of all times? Rielly says ‘not today’ to that idea as he scores the go ahead goal with three minutes remaining. With the net empty, now is the time for LA to try and tie it up and keep game 7 out of the books, but the only scoring is done by Light, who shows off his prowess for scoring on the empty cage with his 14th goal of the series. We’re going to need a game 7. Despite another gem of a game where Marmeladov saves 42 out of 47 shots, LA doesn’t show up and was only in the game thanks to a low sv% from Biscuit as they only got 27 shots through to him
Final Score: 6-4 WKP

Game 7
The final game is here. The final game of the series. The final game of the playoffs. Everything is going to be laid out on the line here. We’ve seen everything in this series so far--line brawls, comebacks, hat tricks--but it all ends tonight in California. It unsurprisingly takes a long time for the scoring to start. Eleven minutes and ten second to be precise, is how long it takes for Vyscok to score the first goal of the game. But given that the tensions are so high, that lead doesn’t last for long. Bennett gets on the board just a minute later. We’re tied through the first. The second doesn’t start kindly for the Platoon at all as Kruger is called on for hooking. The Platoon are 20 seconds away from killing it off when Auston scores to take the lead. Geoff Higgins is on the fourth line for LA. He plays four minutes and twenty three seconds this game, but he still finds a way to be impactful. He gets called for a holding penalty, and with 9 seconds remaining on the penalty, Jon Ross ties the game up once again. The period goes on with the tied score being accepted as the norm. Normalcy should never be accepted though, and Auston makes sure of that with his second goal of the period. The second ends with a home team lead 3-2 Panthers. The third starts with a flurry, Linna, arguably the hero of the playoffs to this point for West Kendall ties the game 10 seconds in. On the other end another playoff hero presents themselves, Wachter. He scores just 14 seconds later, reestablishing the lead for the Panthers. The rest of the period is filled with failed powerplays by the Platoon. Reflieux sits for the full two minutes, then he sits for a full four minutes following a double minor but the score remains the same. West Kendall is running out of chances to blow here. That is until James Johnson gets called for interference. While LA has killed off three consecutive penalties so far, they haven’t killed off a 5 on 3. 23 seconds into the original penalty call on Johnson, Turska takes a roughing penalty--possibly the hardest penalty to swallow on the PK--to give West Kendall a two man advantage. One minute into the powerplay and nothing has budged. Can LA kill this off cleanly? They could, but they can’t get away with penalties forever. Langabeer scores on the 5 on 3 and this game is tied with 6 minutes remaining, and a whole minute of powerplay time still on the board. We only need 12 of those 60 seconds to get another goal. Langabeer again. West Kendall leads. In a playoffs where they have fought from behind to take leads away from their opposition and to go ahead they’ve done it where it matters most. They just need to hold on for five minutes and the cup is theirs. But there’s a penalty. Danny Mete, the rookie, is called for holding the stick with 2 minutes remaining. Either the penalty is killed or there is overtime. No other options. Marmeladov is out of the net. They don’t get a shot on the powerplay. The game is over.
Final Score: 5-4 WKP

Series Over: LAP 3 - 4 WKP

Series sv%
Marmeladov: 0.898% (226 SA)
Biscuit: 0.886% (212 SA)


Autopsy
So the Platoon have won the cup as the underdog. It’s hard to say they weren’t the better team throughout the playoffs. They came back in two of their series wins but consistently put up great games that got them this win. As for LA, this loss came down to the third line in my opinion. Marmeladov was the best goalie through the playoffs, and their top two lines collected 121 points throughout the playoffs. Their only player outside of the top 6 on forward to actively contribute was Nicholas Winter. And this is where I have to question the coaching decision that I’ve disliked since game 1. The fourth line. The fourth line made since when Winter was getting double shifted there to carry the lines that didn’t work, but once they brought in Mikkel Haugen there was no point to it. Why play them four minutes a night when you know they won’t score? Why have unique players there at all? What if you cut down on Lines 1 and 2 icetime, cut Line 3 down and played line 4 the same amount of time as line three but with a lineup of Wachter- Reflieux - Winter to spread out the ice time? It could’ve been a  40/30/10/10 split so that Kesler and Church aren’t non-factors that combine for -21, and Winter still gets the same proposed ice time. I’m not saying my proposal is the be all and end all for what the lines could have been, but the insistence on playing those guys 1% of the time makes no sense to me and cost them a crucial goal in the finals. Shoutout to Leetch for being a beast of a defenseman in the Conference finals onward.

As for West Kendall, they committed to their lineup and were able to pull off having four lines because the 4th was a mashup of the 1st and 2nd lines, making one strong line to play 12% of the time. This model worked flawlessly for the Platoon and is a big part of why they won. Now, despite me spending a lot of time writing this article, I did have time to read some other pieces of writing. One piece, though I forget which one, covered the Platoon around the time of these playoffs and mentioned Linna as the hero of the playoffs. I didn’t think much of it at first but after finishing everything up here, I have to question how much Linna was a hero of the playoffs as a whole instead of just the first round. After a 14 point first round, Linna managed 6 and 8 points in the next rounds. Still great numbers, but Rielly was more productive out of the first round, and Light produced the same in the final two rounds, just with more clutch moments. I think this is a situation where there isn’t one here of the playoffs for West Kendall, but each round has an MVP. Langabeer is the MVP for the finals without a doubt, with the tying and go-ahead cup-clinching goal, Light would be round 2 with the hat trick and general strong performance, while Linna gets the round 1 nod with the insane 14 point series. These players were all vital in getting West Kendall their 3rd cup in franchise history ahead of 3 more championship runs in the near future.

This marks the end of the marathon playoffs. A race that started well before opening night featuring Winnipeg and Calgary, and is remembered beyond the Relfieux goals that secured the cup for West Kendall. It lasted 46 games and saw each series reach at least 6 games. While West Kendall leaves with the ultimate prize, everyone involved in these playoffs, and even those watching from outside, got to see a playoffs like no others. A playoff that went well beyond the expected limits, saw each series close, and had a race to the finish like no other just to make it. In the end, upsets were a plenty a the team with the 6th best record went home with the cup, proving that being an underdog does not mean you're hopeless.

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Now that the article itself is over I want to go over some of the decision making around why this is so big. It’s no secret that this article is covering the longest playoffs I could find with 46 games played, and I wanted to express that through a marathon style viewing of each series, giving an overview of each game and really giving my thoughts. In one part this was to emulate what it would have felt like to live through the playoffs, to see the interesting moments and to replicate the length of it, but on the other hand I included these ‘autopsy’ sections to give a fresh view on past playoffs and see where my opinion lies. I won’t include this final blurb in the word count, this isn’t a part of the article, it’s just some thoughts on it. I hope it was engaging, and I wish I could’ve been more creative presentation wise but I wanted to get this in for history week. What can I say, I’m not above selling out for double dough. If you have any questions about this or feedback I’d love to hear it, and in case you didn’t want to read all of that, I have the stats and stuff on a google sheets document here. I do have to apologize for the sloppiness of the first series. I wasn’t entirely sure on how I wanted to tackle covering the games and decided to do quick highlights before committing to what you saw in the series after. You can also see in the google sheets it looks very different from the rest of the sheets, that’s because I once again wasn’t sure what kind of stats I wanted to get or how I wanted to cover each game. If I had the time the rest of the document would look similar to that, but it was about 4 hours of work to get that one sheet finished after deciding to do a story of the game for each game and getting all the stats, though much of those four hours was probably spent blankly staring at the screen. Thanks for reading and happy 10 year anniversary to the SHL!