While the action was light yesterday with just three games, we certainly weren’t lacking on storylines. Here’s our five thoughts on what shook loose yesterday.
1. I know that everyone is worked up into a lather about Raffi Torres’ hit on Brent Seabrook and that’s fine. It looks like a textbook violation of Rule 48 but as TSN’s Bob McKenzie made note of on Twitter last night, the area behind the net is given some leeway over areas on the open ice because it’s such tight quarters and action there gets hectic quickly. If Torres doesn’t get suspended for that hit, don’t be too surprised. I realize it may seem like a “loophole” in the rules, but it’s not. That’s not to say I agree with Torres’ hit, I don’t, just that that’s the way it is.
2. The more concerning part of that series of events for me was how Brent Seabrook was able to return to the ice so quickly and without anyone so much as raising an eyebrow. Blows to the head and concussions are being taken seriously, but that makes three pretty serious shots to the head Seabrook has taken In just the last week. He took an elbow from Justin Abdelkader in the final game of the regular season that saw him dazed and then a pair of hits last night. Perhaps Seabrook is a lot more hard-headed than other players out there and that’s just how it goes or the new concussion protocol that’s been put into place isn’t being taken very seriously.
3. For as easy as the Capitals made Game 2 look, they’re still going to be caught in battles like they did in Game 3. Some might think that the Capitals have things to worry about now, but if they stick to their game plan and stay out of the penalty box they’ll do just fine. Sometimes the bounces just don’t go your way in hockey. It happens. Caps coach Bruce Boudreau during a mid-game interview with NBC’s Darren Pang referring to some of the penalties they were being called for as “ticky tack calls” might’ve been correct, but they can’t put themselves in the position to make the officials be a factor in the game.
4. Ever since the Predators acquired Mike Fisher they’ve been waiting and hoping for him to look like their #1 center. Pretty sure the fans in Music City, U.S.A. are going to be OK with Fisher showing up huge in the playoffs. It’s not surprising that the Predators are winning the games in which he’s a big factor offensively (like Game 1 and Game 3), they play tough enough defensively and getting Fisher to lead the way offensively makes a world of difference for them. Without Fisher’s leadership there, Nashville is lacking some direction. Fisher fixes that. Now if they could just stop giving the Ducks power plays to score on they’d be dominating the series.
5. Safe to say the John Scott experiment to deploy him as a distraction for Roberto Luongo didn’t work for Chicago. The move to put him into Game 3 reeked of desperation for a team that found themselves frustrated with not being able to break through and beat Vancouver and some of the quotes from captain Jonathan Toews following their 3-2 loss in Game 3 to go down 3-0 in the series prove that. With all the talent the Hawks have up front, they shouldn’t need a side show like Scott out there to run interference. They gave it a shot and it failed and now they could be swept on home ice. At least they’ve got last year’s Cup run to reflect on and learn lessons from.