2015 NHL PLAYOFFS
Round 2 Summary
Nashville decided to go with
Pekka Rinne in net for their series against
Chicago, and didn't go back to
Hutton after yanking him during a round one loss. They made a competitive series out of it, showing off their dominant young D-corps and getting a lot of offense from the unexpected source of
Gabriel Bourque, but in the end
Patrick Kane added too much firepower to
Chicago's lineup, scoring two goals in the deciding game six to seal it.
Minnesota looked like they would waltz through
San Jose when they went up three games to none, but the
Sharks had other ideas and fought their way back into the series with two straight wins. In the end,
Minnesota pulled out a game six series clinching victory on the strength of four straight goals after being down 3-0 in the third. Their top three of
Suter,
Spurgeon and
Brodin looks almost invincible at this point. Now they will move on to face a dominant
Blackhawks team, and their trio of shutdown defenders will have their hands full with the likes of
Toews,
Kane and
Saad. The
Wild are not without firepower of their own -
Niederreiter's six goals have him tied for the playoff lead, while both
Granlund and
Suter have eleven points through twelve games, good for a tie for seventh in playoff scoring. How will
Kuemper handle the pressure of playing the top offense in hockey? So far
Yeo has stuck with his bold choice to start the younger keeper all playoffs, but how much leash will he give him in the Western Conference Finals?
Pittsburgh and
New York went back and forth all series, just like they did for the division lead all season long, but in the end the Pens were victorious in six games, with
Paul Martin emerging as an underrated offensive threat from the blueline - he scored three goals in the series.
John Tavares' heroics fell short, but he finished the playoffs with six goals and fourteen points in his efforts to carry his team into the conference finals. After going down 3-1 in the series, a scrappy
Lightning team came back against
Detroit to force a game seven but were shutout in a heartbreaker in the decisive game.
Zetterberg,
Datsyuk and
Tatar were lights out all series, with
Tatar having a four assist game 3 performance. The
Red Wings and Penguins will face off in the Eastern Conference Finals, the clear top two teams in the East. Will the star power of
Crosby and
Malkin and
Letang be able to overwhelm the clinical two way play of
Datsyuk,
Zetterberg and company?
Datsyuk finally notched his first goal of this playoffs, but he leads the postseason in assists with fourteen and points with fifteen.
Keith Yandle leads all defencemen with thirteen points in thirteen games.