All right everybody, are you with the Vancouver Canucks or against them?
Canada has one team left in the Stanley Cup playoffs, one team that can end a Cup drought for the country that extends to 1993.
So are you all in on watching Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat and Quinn Hughes do what Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly could not?
Didn’t think so.
At this point, Toronto is simply relieved Montreal got eliminated. The folks in Edmonton are relieved the Flames won’t be able to hoist the Cup in the Oilers home rink.
Now fans across the country can turn their disdain toward Vancouver.
Four playoff misses in a row and the Canucks win a round on their first attempt. They made it look easy, too, dispatching the Stanley Cup-champion St. Louis Blues in six games.
It really hasn’t taken the Canucks that long to turn things around after their big Swedish leaders retired. Sportsnet and the NHL are taking a unique approach to getting Canada to rally around the Canucks, starting Game 1 at 10:30 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday. That’s midnight in Newfoundland, and 11:30 in the Maritimes. Games 2 and 3 are at 9:45 ET.
Fun fact: The exit by the Blues means there will be a new Stanley Cup champion for the 20th time in the past 21 seasons.
The NHL started the conference semifinals Saturday night, and we picked Colorado to beat Dallas in six games.
How have we done in so far? Qualifying round: 5-3. Conference quarterfinals: 5-3.
Here’s a look at the other series:
Tampa Bay vs. Boston
The Lighting have gotten this far without captain Steven Stamkos, who remains sidelined according to coach Jon Cooper. Brayden Point, with two overtime winners in the same series, has stepped up with five goals and five assists in eight post-season games. Nikita Kucherov had seven points against Columbus. Tampa’s power play has struggled (13.3 per cent) and is 19th among the 24 teams that made it to the two bubbles. But Tampa’s Blake Coleman, Yanni Gourde and Barclay Goodrow, nicknamed “the gnats,” will cause the Bruins headaches. And Tampa has its top goalie, Vezina finalist Andrei Vasilevskiy ,unlike the Bruins.
Fun fact: Defenceman Zach Bogosian played 644 games over 12 seasons before he got into his first playoff game this summer the Lightning.
Boston survived nicely when Jaroslav Halak took over from Tuukka Rask, who left the tournament to tend to his family in Finland. The Bruins also survived the absence of David Pastrnak, who missed three games. Big hits are in their blood, passed down from Zdeno Chara to Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo. Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Pastrnak have yet to hit their stride.
Fun fact: David Krejci has 112 playoff points for his career, second behind Ray Bourque on the all-time Bruins list.
Pick: Tampa Bay in seven.
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Philadelphia vs. N.Y. Islanders
The Flyers could have been nicknamed the Flawed because they really have had good teams done in by bad goaltending ever since, well, late last century. Carter Hart (6-2-0, 1.71 goals-against average and .943 save percentage) appears to be the real deal. Hart is the 16th goalie to play a playoff game for the Flyers since 2012 and The confidence the Flyers have with him is palpable. They were already good with Claude Giroux, Travis Konecny and Jakub Voracek. They have scoring up and down the lineup and defencemen like Ivan Provorov who can move the puck.
Fun fact: The Flyers won a post-season series for the first time since 2012.
The Islanders fly under the radar in New York, so don’t worry if you hadn’t realized they’d made it to the conference semifinals. They lack superstars, though Mathew Barzal fans may say otherwise, and Anthony Beauvillier, with series-clinching goals in both rounds, is gaining a following. The highest-paid players are not paid outrageously, and their lowest-paid players are not left behind. They are a tight-knit a group.
Fun fact: Lou Lamoriello earned his 28th career post-season series win as an NHL general manager to to tie longtime Islanders executive Bill Torrey for second place on the league’s all-time list. He now trails only Glen Sather (41).
Pick: Philadelphia in seven.
Vegas vs. Vancouver
The Golden Knights are 7-1 in the post-season, a points percentage of .875 that is tops in the playoffs. They seem a team on a mission with a decent power play (19.1 per cent) and a killer penalty kill (86.4 per cent). Robin Lehner has won the goalie job from Marc-André Fleury. Their rate of 3.75 goals a game suggests an offence with few weak links. Thirteen Golden Knights players who played in the 2018 Stanley Cup final remain on the roster. Those that have joined since include Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone, who are hungry for success.
Fun fact: The Golden Knights became the third different franchise in NHL history with three multi-goal comeback wins through their first eight games in a post-season.
Vancouver’s young core is something to behold. Pettersson has four goals and nine assists for 13 points in 10 games. Only four active players collected more points through their first 10 career playoff games. Hughes became the fourth rookie defenceman in NHL history to record 10 career post-season points in 10 games or fewer. Goalie Jacob Markstrom has played every minute for the Canucks this post-season and is tied for the NHL lead with seven wins.
Fun fact: Vancouver earned its first win in a best-of-seven series since 2011.
Pick: Vegas in six.
