The Night Before: Goaltending Battle Brewing in Canes Rangers, Warriors Depth Shines in Game 1.

May 19, 2022 Eric Jensen NBA, Nhl 0

A good start to round two of the NHL playoffs in the books and game one’s on the conference finals in the NBA, let’s take a look at the night before.

NHL

The Carolina Hurricanes get a 2-1 OT victory over the New York Rangers after Ian Cole posts a tip in game winning goal. This series promises to be defensive and physical as the Rangers posted 31 hits and the Hurricanes posted 40.

Both goalies also played extremely well Antti Raanta making 25 saves to secure the win for the Hurricanes. Meanwhile both goals for the Canes came on shots Igor Shesterkin had no chance of stopping, one on the tip in and the other a rebound after Igor made a full stretch save.

In the case of the first goal the Rangers defense could have been a bit more active to protect their goaltender from giving up a score no one could stop without a defenseman clearing the puck away.

The Flames Oilers game could only be described as crazy. After being down 1-4 and 3-6 at one point, the Oilers stormed back to tie the game. Neither starting goalie made it through the game. This series is going to be all kinds of crazy if neither team plays defense.

The most interesting thing to me though is just how horrific the Oilers power play was. 0 for 4 on the night. This was a unit that had trouble even getting the puck into the zone at points. If the special team’s unit for the Oilers doesn’t improve this series could be over relatively quickly.

Mike Smith will need to bounce back in game two, his game one performance was unacceptable quite frankly, for a playoff goalie and veteran of his caliber. If Smith bounces back the tenor of this series can change quickly, the Oilers need to get back to their game, that game is speed.

NBA

The depth of the Warriors scoring came out in full force in game one of the Western Conference Finals as Golden State get a 112-87 victory.

Klay Thompson 15 points, Andrew Wiggins 19 points, Steph Curry 21 points, and coming off the bench Jordan Poole with 19 points.

The Warriors also limited Luka Doncic to just 20 points. It is interesting to note, Luka started the Suns series slow as well. He adapted though and got better as the series went on. The key for the Warriors will be to keep Luka in check for seven straight games, up to this point, no team in the NBA this season has been able to do that.