Another day of NHL Qualifier round action, another day of exciting games. Though a 1-0 Columbus Blue Jackets lead late in the third period may not rate as exciting to a casual sports fan, a diehard hockey fan watches that game and sees the chess match that kind of game really is.
That same diehard fan probably finds the irony (and, for some, amusement) in the Toronto Maple Leafs losing their first game of the qualifier round in their home city (even if the NHL has done all they can to make the bubble sites decidedly less home arena for those two NHL clubs.) Columbus added an empty net goal at the end of the game to win game one, 2-0.
The Arizona Coyotes and Nashville Predators played a pretty exciting game, with the Coyotes getting out to a big lead before the Predators brought it closer before running out of clock. The Coyotes took game one, 4-3.
As the hottest team at the league’s pause, the Philadelphia Flyers picked up where they left off with a 4-1 trouncing of the Boston Bruins to open the Eastern Conference round robin games. On the Western Conference side, the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues played a low-scoring tight contest, with Nazem Kadri scoring with 0.1 seconds left in regulation to lift the team to a 2-1 regulation win — and give the Blues a full-value loss.
Alex Stalock, a career backup for most his time in the league and one of the shorter goaltenders in the postseason, backstopped the Minnesota Wild to a 3-0 shutout of the Vancouver Canucks.
Today’s slate of games finally features the Dallas Stars, but has a whole host of other exciting options to choose from on the hockey buffet today:
The full schedule kicks off at 11 AM CDT:
- 11 AM CDT – New York Rangers @ Carolina Hurricanes (NBCSN, CAR leads series 1-0)
- 1:30 PM CDT – Winnipeg Jets @ Calgary Flames (NHL Network, CGY leads series 1-0)
- 3 PM CDT – Washington Capitals @ Tampa Bay Lightning (NBCSN, Round Robin)
- 5:30 PM CDT – Dallas Stars @ Vegas Golden Knights (NHL Network nationally/FSSW locally, Round Robin)
- 7 PM CDT – Montreal Canadiens @ Pittsburgh Penguins (NBCSN, MTL leads series 1-0)
- 9:30 PM CDT – Chicago Blackhawks @ Edmonton Oilers (NBCSN, CHI leads series 1-0)/