The Wraparound is your daily look at the 2020 NHL Return to Play. We’ll break down the NHL playoff games today with the all-important television and live streaming information included.
• Take a look back at Monday’s action, which included an Andrei Svechnikov hat trick and the shorthanded Jets hanging on to even their series.
• One full week inside the Edmonton and Toronto bubbles and zero positive COVID-19 tests, reports the NHL.
• Ryan Reaves, Tyler Seguin, Robin Lehner, and Jason Dickinson all took a knee before the anthem on Tuesday.
Through two games, the Hurricanes have jumped on the Rangers early and forced them to chase. In Game 1, Jaccob Slavin needed just 61 seconds to open the scoring. Andrei Svechnikov started his run to the first postseason hat trick in franchise history 4:32 into Game 2. Carolina also scored twice in a span of 2:22 in the second period Monday, putting New York in “uncharted territory,” as defenseman Marc Staal put it.
The Rangers’ season could be over by tonight after Game 3 (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN; livestream). The odds aren’t in their favor. According to the NHL, teams that win each of the first two games in a best-of-five series are 55-1 all-time.
“We need everybody in that room to be just a little bit smarter, a little bit more patient, work a little bit harder, win more wall battles,” said Rangers head coach David Quinn. “All those things add up. We did it probably for 20 minutes and then just when we got down 3-1, you could feel it on the bench. That’s not a feeling we’ve had very often since the turn of the calendar.”
It’s hard to say if New York’s fate would be different had Igor Shesterkin been healthy enough to play the first two games. But goaltending aside, the Rangers have only scored once at even strength and have been losing the possession game badly (44%), per Natural Stat Trick.
“Between now and [Tuesday] night at eight o’clock, we have to learn that we can’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot,” said Quinn. “Our lack of patience is killing us right now. Was it better than it was [in Game 1]? Yeah, it was. But we didn’t come here to get incrementally better. We came here to win hockey games. We’re not doing enough.”
NHL GAMES TODAY
Game 2: Panthers vs. Islanders, 12 p.m. ET, NBCSN; livestream – (NYI lead series 1-0): Styles make fights, and it was the Islanders’ defensive style that took over and earned New York a Game 1 win. Trade deadline acquisition Jean-Gabriel Pageau opened the scoring in the 1st period and Anthony Beauvillier added a power-play goal early in the second to give New York a 2-0 lead. Johnny Boychuk did not skate on Monday after taking a high hit from Mike Matheson. Andy Greene and Noah Dobson are options should Boychuk be unavailable.
Game 2: Coyotes vs. Predators, 2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN; live look-in stream – (ARZ leads series 1-0): Will we see Pekka Rinne in net for Nashville? Perhaps. Head coach John Hynes wouldn’t disclose who will start Game 2. Meanwhile, the Coyotes know it’s a race to three wins, and there’s still plenty of work left. “To be honest, you’ve got to forget about that game,” said Rick Tocchet. “I know you can feel good about yourself, but sometimes when you feel too good about yourself, you get too comfortable.”
Game 2: Blue Jackets vs. Maple Leafs, 4 p.m. ET, NBCSN; livestream – (CBJ leads series 1-0): Joonas Korpisalo got the nod over Elvis Merzlikins and shut out the Maple Leafs in Toronto in his postseason debut. He stopped 28 shots to record the first postseason shutout in Blue Jackets history. The low-scoring, defensive style played to the Blue Jackets’ strengths – only two teams allowed fewer goals per game in the regular season than Columbus. A tight game in the third period is also familiar to the Blue Jackets, as they were tied with Minnesota for most regular season wins when entering the third period tied (12).
Game 3: Flames vs. Jets, 6:45 p.m. ET, NBCSN; live look-in stream – (Series tied 1-1): After a gutsy Game 2 win, the Jets still aren’t saying anything on the statuses of Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine. Head coach Paul Maurice would only say “we’ll see how they come to the rink [Tuesday].” Calgary would like to see more success with the power play after an 0-for-6 performance Monday. They do need to be more disciplined as they’ve been shorthanded 13 times, the most in the postseason through three days.
Game 2: Wild vs. Canucks, 10:45 p.m. ET, USA Network; livestream – (MIN leads series 1-0): The final Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers saw the Wild handle the Canucks to the tune of a 3-0 victory. The Wild’s scoring leader had 14 goals over his final 18 games of the regular season and opened up their playoff tilt with a goal less than 3 minutes into the game, his first postseason goal as a member of the Wild.
WEDNESDAY’S NHL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
Game 3: Islanders vs. Panthers, 12 p.m. ET (NBCSN)
Game 3: Predators vs. Coyotes, 2:30 p.m. ET (live look-in, NBCSN)
Round-robin: Lightning vs. Bruins, 4 p.m. ET (NBCSN)
Round-robin: Avalanche vs. Stars, 6:30 p.m. ET (live look-in, NBCSN)
Game 3: Penguins vs. Canadiens, 8 p.m. ET (NBCSN)
Game 3: Oilers vs. Blackhawks, 10:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN)
Round-robin standings (ties broken by regular-season points percentage)
EAST
Lightning – 2 pts. (.657)
Flyers – 2 pts. (.645)
Capitals – 1 pts. (.652)
Bruins – 0 pts. (.714)
WEST
Avalanche – 2 pts. (.657)
Golden Knights – 2 pts. (.606)
Blues – 0 pts (.662)
Stars – 0 pts. (.594)
Western Conference top seed round-robin preview
• Jets vs. Flames
• Oilers vs. Blackhawks
• Predators vs. Coyotes
• Wild vs. Canucks
