Stanley Cup playoffs Day 4: Tavares, Maple Leafs headline night of blowouts, comebacks

Rangers repeat 5-1 trick, return to MSG up 2-0

Gerard Gallant would have told his team on their day off not to expect the New Jersey Devils to come out as flat on Thursday as they did during the Rangers’ dominant 5-1 victory in Game 1. Gallant will be thrilled that the Devils greeted the Prudential Center with another flabby performance that, remarkably, ended in another 5-1 defeat.

It started well for New Jersey when Erik Haula shoveled home a loose puck on the power play to establish a 1-0 lead that lasted until the first intermission. After Vladimir Tarasenko tied things up for New York with a heavily-screened wrister, the matchup snowballed into another disaster for a Devils team that badly needed to change the series narrative.

Chris Kreider gave the Rangers the lead with his third and fourth goals of the series to extend his franchise playoff record and seize control of the game, which again finished 5-1 after tallies from Patrick Kane and Kaapo Kakko. A melee near the end of the contest saw players from both teams dismissed, but meant nothing; when they visit Madison Square Garden for Game 3, Lindy Ruff’s unit needs to show fire before the 13th minute of the third period.

Avalanche come back to begin title defense in earnest

Through four periods of the 2023 postseason, the casual observer would be shocked to learn that the Colorado Avalanche steamrolled their way to their third Stanley Cup in franchise history 11 short months ago. The Seattle Kraken had done wonderfully to frustrate the Avs’ vaunted rush and deny quality looks at Philipp Grubauer’s goal. That stinginess continued into Thursday night. When Brandon Tanev blew the Denver crowd a kiss after scoring a shorthanded goal to stretch the Kraken’s first-period lead to 2-0, the arena descended into stunned silence.

Jared Bednar may have used Tanev’s theatrics to put a scare into his troops; when they took the ice for the second period at the Ball Arena, the champs looked determined to remind Seattle of the order of things in the Western Conference. After several minutes of pressure, Artturi Lehkonen tipped home a Cale Makar blast just seconds before Valeri Nichushkin converted on the rush. Suddenly, it was the visitors who were stunned. Alexander Georgiev locked in to make some jaw-dropping saves after his shaky first frame, and by the time Devon Toews slotted home to take the lead, it was clear Colorado would not give it back. Tanev and the Kraken may have made the mistake of thawing out the Avalanche.

Stone, Golden Knights have too much for game Jets

The Vegas Golden Knights were so poor in Game 1 that they could only possibly improve on Thursday night. The combined fervor brought on by the one-seed, Jack Eichel’s long-overdue playoff debut, and captain Mark Stone’s return from the LTIR seemed to wear on a Knights team that managed just 17 shots.

Game 2 was Vegas’s chance to prove their return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs was not too big for them. The Jets, meanwhile, sought to make their opponent’s impending trip from balmy Nevada to frozen Winnipeg even more bitter with a goose egg. With the cards down in the third period, the Knights were just too good for Winnipeg on the night, pulling out of the 2-2 stalemate with a goal from Chandler Stephenson and another two from Stone. 

The Golden Knights have perhaps the deepest roster in the league, and in tight games like Thursday’s, that can be all the difference. The eighth-seeded Jets did manage a road split and can look forward to playing on home ice in front of Connor Hellebuyck and a raucous arena for Game 3; they are a long way from despair yet.