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Though the big favorites rule the second round in the Western Conference, the opposite is true in the East, where a pair of incredibly close series should make for great viewing.
Let's get right into the matchups.
New York Islanders (+115) @ Philadelphia Flyers (-135)
The Flyers rode their luck - and Carter Hart - to an unconvincing series win over the Montreal Canadiens and now have their work cut out for them against the Islanders. Philadelphia's play was concerning in Round 1, as the team was dominated at five-on-five and also struggled on special teams.
Meanwhile, the Islanders have allowed the fewest expected goals in the bubble and posted the best five-on-five save percentage, stifling the Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals. New York has been opportunistic on offense, but the Flyers are more structured than the two teams they faced previously and Hart is a step up in class between the pipes. However, the Flyers can't expect to simply lean on their 22-year-old goaltender again.
Everyone is contributing right now for the Islanders. To no one's surprise, Barry Trotz has done an exquisite job to get everyone on the same page and buy in. This is a fast, relentless team, and we saw how problematic that was for Philly when it played Montreal. There's no way the Flyers aren't better here than they were against the Habs, but the Islanders will prove to be too much.
Pick: Islanders (+115)
Boston Bruins (-110) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (-110)
The hockey world is frothing at the mouth in anticipation for this clash of titans. With both the Lightning and Bruins at their peak, this could be the best these playoffs have to offer.
There is so little between these two teams. The Bruins have the edge in star power but the Lightning have better depth. Both are playing excellent hockey, and this series is close to a coin flip.
It's the extenuating factors, though, that could make the difference - most notably, the absence of Tuukka Rask. Can Jaroslav Halak stand strong with no safety net behind him, and, if not, what happens if he falters against the Lightning's seemingly unstoppable attack?
Steven Stamkos' absence - and his possible return date - is the other issue. The Lightning defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets without him, but the Bruins are an entirely different beast. If he doesn't return by at least midway through the series, it could be the edge Boston needs to make a return to the Eastern Conference Final.
Boston's biggest weakness is perhaps its lack of depth, as the Bruins are beatable if you slow down the top line. The same can't be said for Tampa Bay. The Lightning hold the edge in goal and, with the monkey off their back, possess the belief needed to finally put it all together.
Pick: Lightning (-110)
Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.
The Washington Capitals fired bench boss Todd Reirden after just two seasons on the job, the team announced Sunday.
"We have higher expectations for our team, and we felt a fresh approach in leadership was necessary," general manager Brian MacLellan said. "We would like to thank Todd for all of his hard work and efforts with our organization. Todd has been a big part of our team for more than half a decade, including our Stanley Cup run in 2018, and we wish him and his family all the best moving forward."
Reirden was an assistant coach with the Caps for four seasons. He was promoted to head coach following Barry Trotz's departure after the club's 2018 Stanley Cup triumph. Trotz resigned when the Capitals were unwilling to meet his contract demands, and he was hired shortly thereafter by the New York Islanders, who beat the Capitals in Round 1 this year.
The 49-year-old Reirden guided the team to an 89-46-16 record during the regular season but failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs in each of his two years at the helm.
Tim Horvat was downstairs in his basement in Rodney, Ontario, well after midnight a couple of weekends ago when his older son - the captain of the Vancouver Canucks - glided into frame on the big screen, tracking the puck on the forecheck in the Minnesota Wild's end.
Six minutes remained in Game 4 of Vancouver's playoff qualifier series, a matchup slated to wrap that night if the Canucks could overcome a late one-goal deficit. Not since 2011, smack in the middle of the Sedin brothers' heyday, had the Canucks won a round of any kind, a long wait for a titleless franchise and the mission of the center counted on to fill the twins' vacated leadership role.
With a little help from friend and foe - Tanner Pearson battling behind the net; Minnesota's Kevin Fiala watching the puck a little too closely - Bo Horvat took it upon himself to end the holdup. Fiala was none the wiser as Horvat coasted behind him to the crease, and Wild goalie Alex Stalock couldn't keep him from potting Pearson's pass.
NHL / Sportsnet
"That one got the ball rolling," Tim Horvat said by phone the other day. "It was that comeback, that tie, the overtime goal by (Chris) Tanev. I think that was when the team really started to gel."
Vancouver's still rolling, deposing the champion St. Louis Blues to move into the second round proper, and the fan base has plenty of names to salute. Tender-aged Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes magnetize the attention of defenders, whose targeted physicality hasn't stopped them from scoring at point-per-game rates. Pearson, J.T. Miller, and Brock Boeser have driven offense, too. At 30 years old, Jacob Markstrom had never appeared in the postseason; he now rocks a .929 save percentage and seven wins in 10 starts. Tanev eliminated the Wild with his first career playoff goal, and Tyler Motte has four of his own in the past two games.
The puck drops Sunday night on Vancouver's next best-of-seven, against a new challenge entirely in the Vegas Golden Knights. Vegas is a powerhouse, seemingly destined to meet the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final. Yet like the scrappy Dallas Stars, the Canucks can't be discounted from the outset - nor, in their particular case, written off as content to wait for the bright future that's in store for their core.
The Canucks have the air of a dark horse on the rise, unfazed by their last opponent's resume or by the magnitude of the stage. For that, a fair share of the credit goes to Horvat, already a seasoned veteran at age 25 and the first folk hero to emerge during this run.
Andy Devlin / NHL / Getty Images
Horvat's six goals in the bubble tied him for the NHL lead entering this round. He's scored in all situations, in spectacular fashion, and in the clutch, from the equalizer that set about Minnesota's downfall to the OT winner he cashed on the rush in Game 2 against St. Louis. That he's gone without a point since then doesn't detract from the legend he fashioned across those several days in Edmonton. The former ninth overall pick, which was acquired from New Jersey at the 2013 draft for Cory Schneider, has become the franchise's rock in pressurized times.
When the Canucks talk about their first-year captain in media availabilities, they tend to repeat certain compliments. Horvat plays smart, they say. He keeps it simple. They appreciate that he's strong on the puck down low, that he attends to all 200 feet of the ice. To put it broadly, he does a lot right. And inarguably, he shows up when needed.
"A couple of us younger guys, younger than Bo, are watching that and taking notes," Boeser said.
"There's that stereotype where you say guys are built for the playoffs. That's bang on with Bo," Pearson told reporters after Horvat's second multi-goal game early in the Blues series. "He's leading the way for us, and we're just following right now. Which we'll all do in a heartbeat."
Dave Sandford / NHL / Getty Images
Through two rounds, Horvat leads Vancouver forwards in ice time (21:13 per game) and defensive zone starts (43, fourth among forwards in the playoffs, according to Natural Stat Trick). While Pettersson and Hughes have been electric on the power play, Horvat's six points at even strength and shorthanded pace the team, an invaluable lift for a lineup that St. Louis outchanced heavily at five-on-five.
As for the aesthetics of how he's scored: as distant a memory as they may seem given the relentlessness of the schedule, most of his goals on Jordan Binnington are sure to feature in any postseason highlight reel.
Those goals showcased the breadth of his capabilities. Eyes popped when Horvat dangled Vince Dunn in Game 1 and walked Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz on a shorthanded breakout two nights later. Scoring on those plays required speed, the awareness to attack Dunn or two backchecking forwards in space, the puck-handling dexterity to reset to his forehand off the deke, and a sweet release to beat Binnington.
Widening the playoff lens, he's also scored on a tip, a slot shot on the power play, and the one-timer that punished Fiala's inattentiveness. The winning sequence that squashed the Blues in Game 2 started with a wonderful banked stretch pass from Hughes; Horvat finished with composure on the ensuing partial breakaway.
"When Bo's on top of his game, he just does a little bit of everything," head coach Travis Green said during the Blues series. Another day, he issued this endorsement: "If anyone's made for playoff hockey, it's Bo Horvat."
Back in junior, Horvat proved as much in the months that preceded his 2013 draft day. He scored 16 goals in 21 playoff games to guide the London Knights to the Ontario Hockey League title, earning postseason MVP honors. He reserved his best for the latest possible instant: in Game 7 of the final against the Barrie Colts, Horvat broke a 2-2 tie with a netfront flick that crossed the line with 0.1 seconds left.
The goal was Nazem Kadri-esque, mirroring the buzzer-beater the Avalanche center netted to stun the Blues in the Western seeding round. No championship was on the line when Kadri struck, though. To London assistant coach Dylan Hunter, it crystallized much of what made Horvat dangerous: the faceoff he won to start the play, the impulse to get inside position at the crease, the readiness to capitalize before the horn sounded.
"It was just one of those things with that leadership capability of his: to understand the compete level (needed) at the end of the game, to want to score and want to not have to go to OT," Hunter said in an interview. He added: "And having the confidence to be the guy."
In Vancouver as in London, where his teammates in 2013 alone included future NHLers Max Domi, Josh Anderson, Chris Tierney, Olli Maatta, Nikita Zadorov, and Scott Harrington, Horvat's managed to distinguish himself on a roster replete with talent. Hunter and Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher credited him with performing the same feat years apart: bridging the generational gap inherent to any locker room - between 16- and 20-year-olds in junior, and between the likes of Pettersson and Hughes and remaining guys who played with the Sedins - and setting a tone on the ice others are keen to follow.
Horvat, admittedly, was overrun throughout the Blues series by Ryan O'Reilly; Vancouver owned a mere 26.77% of scoring chances during his extensive matchups with St. Louis' top center at five-on-five. But that disparity wasn't ultimately meaningful. The overall scoreline on those shifts was 1-1.
Dave Sandford / NHL / Getty Images
Taken in isolation, meanwhile, the end of the Wild series and Games 1 and 2 against St. Louis were the best Green said he's seen his captain play. To apply Stecher's preferred metaphor, Horvat seized the bull by the horns, keying those crucial first victories that backfooted the defending champs.
"Everybody's followed suit and hopped on his back," Stecher said. "That's what a leader does."
Regardless of how the Vegas matchup turns out, questions will abound once these playoffs end about the Canucks' trajectory. How much better can Pettersson and Hughes get? What pay will they command in restricted free agency next summer? What is general manager Jim Benning to do under salary-cap duress about the glut of decisions he faces this offseason, with Markstrom, Stecher, Tanev, Tyler Toffoli, and Jake Virtanen all soon to be up for new deals?
For now, those are secondary concerns in Vancouver and in Rodney, where bedtime at the Horvat house will stretch into the wee hours a while longer. After he takes in each Canucks playoff game with his wife, Cindy, and their younger son Cal, Tim Horvat's made a habit of chatting with Bo on the phone, analyzing the night's events as calm descends on the bubble and Tim waits till 3 a.m. to get to sleep.
Rodney is a 45-minute drive from London, where Tim played 12 games at forward for the Knights - Brendan Shanahan was a teammate - in the mid-1980s. He sells insulation now, but retains a player and hockey parent's insight into the forces that have gotten his son to where he is.
Self-confidence, mental toughness, and an even keel helped him shoulder the weight of the captaincy this season, Tim said. His teammates have always liked him, and those he has in Vancouver were quick studies in navigating the playoff grind. With every matchup comes new lessons in how to rise to the occasion.
"That's the best thing," Tim said. "The farther they can go, the more they learn."
Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar wasn't happy with how his team performed in a 5-3 loss to the Dallas Stars in Game 1 on Saturday night.
"The biggest thing was we had half our team not show up to play," Bednar said postgame, according to NHL.com's Dan Rosen.
Bednar didn't mention anyone by name but made it clear to whom he was referencing.
"Obviously, our big guys had a good night," he said. "They were here to compete, play to win the hockey game, and we had a lot of guys that weren't. When I say a lot, I'm talking half the team."
The top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, and Mikko Rantanen - who combined for six points - had a strong outing. Second-line center Nazem Kadri - who's tied for the playoff lead with six goals and picked up an assist in the game - also appeared to be excused from Bednar's comments.
"I did not like our D-corps tonight. I did not like our middle-six wingers," Bednar added, according to The Athletic's Ryan Clark.
"We had a couple workers in the bottom six, but we did not have enough people playing," Bednar said. "You might be able to get away with one or two passengers this time of year, but you're not getting away with any more than that. Not against a team like Dallas. So, that's on us. That's on me as the head coach."
Perhaps nobody had a rougher night than blue-liner Nikita Zadorov. The 6-foot-6 rearguard was on the ice for zero high-danger scoring chances at five-on-five compared to nine against.
Colorado Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer left Game 1 against the Dallas Stars on Saturday with an apparent groin injury after stretching out to make a save in the second period.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said postgame that "time will tell" how long Grubauer will be out, according to The Athletic's Ryan S. Clark. Bednar added that he doesn't expect Grubauer to be on the ice Sunday, and Pavel Francouz is the team's starting goalie for now.
Grubauer seemed to tweak something, and he grabbed his groin area before going down to the ice. He was then helped off without putting pressure on his leg.
Francouz stepped in to replace Grubauer. He's appeared in two games for Colorado this postseason, winning one and losing the other, and posting a .958 save percentage and 1.02 goals-against average.
Grubauer missed a number of games this season due to undisclosed lower-body injuries.
Barclay Goodrow could have pumped the brakes on the forecheck, but instead, he hustled past a Blue Jackets defenseman in a tight race to the puck to negate an icing call.
Blake Coleman could have chipped the puck deep into Columbus' zone, but instead, he curled away from the goal line to find Ryan McDonagh at the point.
Yanni Gourde could have positioned himself for a pass from McDonagh, but instead, he parked himself in goalie Joonas Korpisalo's crease in anticipation of the point shot.
These three smart decisions, one from each of the Lightning's third-line forwards - Gourde, the center, and wingers Coleman and Goodrow - led to a huge goal in Game 1 of Tampa's opening-round series against Columbus.
McDonagh unleashed a slap shot that produced a mad scramble. Then, with Gourde in Korpisalo's kitchen, the puck redirected off the goalie and into the net.
The tally, which came on the first shift of the third period and tied the game 2-2, turned out to be the beginning of the end for an overworked Blue Jackets squad. Columbus never truly recovered from the marathon loss that required four-and-a-half overtime periods. Tampa rolled on to win three of the next four games, setting up a second-round date with Boston.
"We have different lines that can bring different elements to the games. Gourdo, Coleman, and Goodrow (were) phenomenal throughout the first series," Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said Friday. "They bring that grit, they bring that hard forecheck game.
"But they chip in with big goals as well (four total against Columbus). I like the balance on our team and we expect the best out of everyone every night. We proved that in the first round."
Let's not kid ourselves here: The Lightning are the NHL's best team on paper. At every position, they boast high-end talent and enviable depth. The club's postseason fate, then, will largely rest with whether it can overwhelm opponents, especially up front. A dominant newly formed third line - and yes, Gourde-Coleman-Goodrow has been highly effective since the restart - takes pressure and attention away from Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, and, if he returns from injury, Steven Stamkos.
"This is the reason we got them, right?" Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said after Game 4 when asked about Coleman and Goodrow, who were acquired from New Jersey and San Jose, respectively, ahead of February's trade deadline.
"We feel we're a playoff team," he added. "It all just comes down to winning in the playoffs. You go down our roster and it's hard to squeeze guys into the top six, but we didn't feel like that was our need. We needed to be harder to play against."
Elsa / Getty Images
The bench boss added that while "harder" used to mean physicality and fighting, nowadays it refers to dialing up the foot speed, competitive drive, and pest-like tendencies.
Cooper likes to call his third line the Gnats because "they're always just buzzing around, and as you try and knock them away they just never leave." Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk has been impressed, too. "They're just a really annoying line," he said.
Though Gourde and Coleman have both reached the 20-goal mark twice, there's nothing too fancy about the trio. All three are meat-and-potatoes forwards of the modern era - driven and trustworthy, with enough speed and skill to frustrate the opposition's best players. They're not green anymore either - Goodrow is 27 years old, and the others are 28 - so you know what to expect from these hard-working veterans every shift. And that's why Cooper started each period of the first round with them lined up at center ice.
The clip below, from the line's second shift of overtime in Game 5, is a shining example of the three causing havoc in the offensive zone to wear down the opposition. Over a 10-second stretch, Gourde applies puck pressure several times and nearly scores, Coleman takes the body to eliminate a defender from the play, and Goodrow fires a dangerous shot from the dot.
The line's puck-battle victories, fearlessness in front of the net, smart reads, responsible passing, and calories burned from skating end to end during the first round resulted in some eye-popping underlying numbers.
The three generated 45 scoring chances and 16 high-danger shot attempts at five-on-five while surrendering just 18 chances and five high-danger attempts in 75 minutes and 30 seconds against Columbus, according to Natural Stat Trick. Tampa's three other lines finished 95-81 in chances and 39-20 in high-danger attempts. Those are excellent ratios, but not quite as lopsided as the play of the tone-setting third line.
Here's a look at the Lightning with and without its third line on the ice against Columbus (all numbers five-on-five):
with 3rd line
without 3rd line
Time on ice
75:30
222:55
Attempts
70%
56%
Chances
71%
54%
High danger
76%
60%
Goals
80%
60%
Part of the third line's success can probably be attributed to Columbus lacking forward depth. The Bruins, whose bottom six includes guys like Charlie Coyle, Sean Kuraly, and Jack Studnicka, pose a stiffer test for Tampa.
"(The Gourde line) brought other forward lines into the fight there, as far as the intensity that you need to play with and the simplicity to your game, too - winning your battles, not turning the puck over, and then getting rewarded for it, getting on the scoresheet in different fashions," McDonagh said.
"They're going to be counted on again in a lot of situations here and hopefully our forward group, as a whole, gets brought into the fight with those guys leading the charge and we can just keep rolling all four lines throughout the whole game and our depth can prevail and be an asset for us," he added.
The Lightning infamously flamed out in last year's opening round, losing in four games to the Blue Jackets following an exhilarating 62-win regular season. The franchise has been agonizingly close to a championship since Cooper's first full campaign with the team in 2013-14, losing in the Stanley Cup Final once and the Eastern Conference Final twice.
However, the contention window with this core won't remain open forever, hence general manager Julien BriseBois' willingness to part with two first-round picks to acquire depth pieces like Goodrow and Coleman. Prior to the season pause, neither forward had enough time to fully acclimate, and earlier in the campaign, Gourde went goalless for over two months.
Playoff success for the trio wasn't preordained, and although the advanced stats suggest they won't be a one-series flash in the pan, thriving against the Presidents' Trophy-winning Bruins is far from a guarantee. From BriseBois to Cooper and the players, Tampa nevertheless seems determined to do whatever it can to focus on the early returns and push forward. The Gnats are game-changers, which is exactly what the team needed.
"They've contributed so much for us in these playoffs and I'm just so glad that they're getting rewarded for their efforts, because those are the types of players we needed, we got them, and it's paying off for us," Cooper said.
It's safe to say Allan Walsh isn't happy about Marc-Andre Fleury's diminished role in the 2019-20 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
On Saturday, the prominent hockey agent, who represents the Vegas Golden Knights goaltender, tweeted an image showing a sword with head coach Peter DeBoer's surname inscribed on its blade stabbing Fleury through the back.
DeBoer recently indicated the Golden Knights' other primary netminder, Robin Lehner, would continue to start when Vegas begins its second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks.
Marc-Andre Fleury hasn't lost in regulation to Vancouver in 14 years.
I asked about opponents and lineups with that in mind. This was DeBoer's exact quote.
"When I think about it, I don't think it changes our roster decisions or our line makeups, at least not for Game 1." https://t.co/2krnbcWRuX
Lehner has usurped the starter's role from Fleury in the postseason. The Golden Knights acquired the former New York Islanders goalie from the Blackhawks at this year's trade deadline.
Fleury played in only one of the Golden Knights' five games against the Chicago Blackhawks - a 2-1 Vegas victory in Game 3 - during the opening round of the playoffs. He also started in just one of the team's three round-robin contests.
