NHL Rink Wrap: Playoffs begin with star power, Kings outlasting Oilers

• Despite a potentially devastating major penalty by Kyle Clifford, the Maple Leafs thumped the Lightning in Game 1.

• Antti Raanta won his first career playoff start, helping the Hurricanes take care of business vs. the Bruins.

• The two West road teams won their Game 1 matchups in different ways (Kings over Oilers by a goal; Blues shut out the Wild 4-0), but both got the job done.

• Juuse Saros won’t be available for the Predators for at least the first two games of their First Round series vs. the Avalanche.

After late-season injuries, it wasn’t clear if the Hurricanes would roll out a reliable, healthy goalie against the Bruins. Frederik Andersen missed Game 1, but Antti Raanta won his first career playoff game by making 35 saves against the Bruins. The 5-1 score is a bit misleading, as a Taylor Hall goal reduced Carolina’s lead to 2-1 about three minutes into the third period.

The Hurricanes responded with two goals, then an empty-netter, to remove any doubt.

Now, this Game 1 was as lopsided as the score indicates, as the Maple Leafs leveled the Lightning to a shocking degree. As mentioned in the bullet points, a Kyle Clifford major penalty could’ve been trouble for Toronto. Instead, they generated more scoring chances than the Bolts’ power play, and the Buds rarely looked back.

Beyond winning, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner enjoyed huge games, scoring three points apiece. Spoiler: Matthews and Marner will get some consideration for Monday’s 3 NHL Stars.

Heading into this First Round series, there was some question if the Blues would start Ville Husso or Jordan Binnington vs. the Wild. On one hand, Husso put up elite goaltending during the regular season, while Binnington was up-and-down (at best). On the other, Binnington’s their bigger-money goalie, and has a Stanley Cup on his resume.

Wisely, the Blues stuck with the hot hand, and Husso delivered a shutout in his first NHL playoff start.

Husso wasn’t the only driving force of this Blues win, but he could be a big difference-maker against a Wild team that generated a greater volume of shots than St. Louis in Game 1.

On a side note, this could be a situation to watch.

look at this TRASH pic.twitter.com/LB6qjXlMBi

— Tony X (@soIoucity) May 3, 2022

When you watch this Connor McDavid goal, and realize it didn’t summarize the entire impact of McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, you might assume the Kings were in trouble on Monday. Really, you just need to watch that McDavid goal anyway.

Connor McDavid is just UNFAIR