NHL Playoffs: Magical Mrazek does it again
Published on April 26, 2019
- Petr Mrazek has nine career playoff wins. Five of those are by shutout. He really has been magical, especially for a guy without a contract for next year.
- Nathan MacKinnon is the best player left in the postseason. Hands down. He's absolutely dominant.
- Back passes. We've seen a lot of them this postseason. None have worked out well. Right, Isles? You, too, Mitch Marner.
- There have already been some insane goaltending performances in Round 2. Jordan Binnington made 16 saves in the third period Thursday to seal the win. Without Sergei Bobrovsky's brilliance in the first, that game wouldn't have been close, let alone go to OT. But the weakest link remains Martin Jones. I'd pick the Sharks to go all the way if it wasn't for him.
- Mike Babcock's days in Toronto are numbered. In the business world, he'd be the aging-middle manager who just can't change and needs to be phased out. Watch the Leafs' year-end media conference. Kyle Dubas took responsibility for everything. Babs? Nothing. And his answers were arrogant and evasive. Babs works for Dubas, not the other way around. Things will be different in less than 12 months.
- Jack Hughes is just three points from equaling Alexander Ovechkin's record for most points at the IIHF U-18 World Championship. He has 28, including 15 goals, in 12 games the last two years. And a tourney-high 16 (eight goals, eight assists) in five games so far this year. The Devils are getting a good one.
- Vladimir Tarasenko is a Stars killer. He has 25 points, including 18 goals, in 28 games all-time against them. Two of the goals came in Game 1. The series will be short if they can't contain him.
- Robby Fabbri tied Tarasenko for the team lead with 15 points during the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He can be a real difference maker now that he's back in the lineup.
- Whatever happened to Scott Darling, anyway? Right -- he's somewhere behind Alex Nedeljkovic in Charlotte.
