Mitch Marner and the Golden Knights were the headliners of a wild opening night, with both Vegas and Montreal carrying the more tired legs than their opponents into the conference finals. That also means they were more experienced in this year’s playoffs. They leaned more on the experience than allowing the bumps and bruises they’ve acquired to thwart their start to the conference finals.
The biggest lesson in Game 1 came out of Colorado. While the Av’s are certainly the deepest team in the league, and in the playoffs, they showed that they are way more effective with a hampered Cale Makar than they are without him completely. The Av’s went down 3-0 to start Game 1 and fought back to get within one goal. However, they weren’t able to complete the comeback. The game was within reach in the final minutes, and it was a shot from the point that got blocked leading to the empty net game-sealer. One would have to imagine that Makar gives them a literal shot to tie the game, injured or not. As game 2 approaches, it’s fair to assume that Colorado will be shooting Makar up with every drug possible to have him on the ice. This game also had two incredible goals. First, my Conn Smythe leader, Mitch Marner danced through the Colorado defense and placed a pretty feed onto the stick of Pavel Dorofeyev.
I’ve already talked about it, but Toronto must be feeling stupid. In particular, their fans should be feeling stupid. Marner was never the problem. The team in Toronto asked Mitch to do too much. Marner was expected to be elite defensively. He was expected to hunt pucks and get them to Matthews. He was expected to be the team’s engine. Instead of letting Marner be himself, they constantly made him feel like he was Robin to Matthews Batman. The fans rained down hatred on the guy, and I can admit some of it was warranted, but you cannot run elite players out of town. The fans should have been demanding the team get more players that could take the load off of Marner. They could have acquired more facilitators to get Auston the puck, get more leadership to help right the shit, or at the very least had someone let Marner just be himself once the playoffs started. Vegas is perfectly constructed for Marner’s success. The locker-room in Vegas is flush with players who have rings, Marner isn’t expected to do anything differently, and while he might be their second-best player the roster is deep enough to avoid him being the whipping boy. What we are witnessing is Mitch Marner playing free, free of distractions, and free of hate. The freedom is blossoming into a wonderful post season.
The best overall player in the series is not Mitch Marner, it’s Nate Mackinnon. You can be caught swimming with flippers all you want if you keep producing goals like he did in Game 1.
I don’t think we have ever seen a player quite like Mackinnon. Nate is a Mac Truck, but he has the hands and edge work of a significantly smaller player. All of those summer training sessions with Crosby were on full display on the goal above. The ability to climb up the half wall, stop on a dime, and create space is literally pulled right from the Crosby playbook. Mackinnon is such a unicorn. McDavid generates offense from his elite speed and fast hands, Mackinnon possesses both of those qualities, while also enjoying the ability to be brute whenever he chooses to do so. What truly separates him from McDavid is the fact losing feels like a poison he must expunge from his body. It doesn’t matter if it’s Game 1 of the conference finals, or game 1 of the regular season, Nathan Mackinnon hates losing on a near disturbing level. Some people are born with that trait, but again I believe training with Crosby only elevated his disdain for losing. Vegas cannot hope to slow Mackinnon down in their next game, that would be a foolish plan, but they need to be consciousness that Nate is going to be coming for blood. A pissed off Nate, coming off a loss, isn’t what any team wants to go up against. Vegas will have to do just that game 2 and I frankly don’t like their chances. I also see Colorado coming out and being more physical. We spoke about Mitch and when he truly struggled in Toronto it was because the opponents disrupted his game with physicality. Colorado is the first team that Vegas will face that has the ability to truly alter a game physically, I expect them to do so in game 2.
Montreal and Carolina were always going to play an interesting case study in game 1. The longest layoff between series in 107 years vs. a team who’s coming off the high of back-to-back game 7 winners. Montreal abused the rusty legs of Carolina in the first period, jumping out to a 4-1 lead. Carolina eventually regained their legs and absolutely dominated the second period. However, Jakub Dobes would not falter. Dobes kept Montreal afloat in the second period and eventually led them to victory after Slafkovsky scored a beautiful goal to seal it in the third.
I think Carolina is the superior team, they showed glimpses in the second period, but Montreal has a mojo about them right now. Sometimes, mojo is all that you need in the playoffs. Once you start feeling good about yourself, you begin playing good or at least finding ways to win. Carolina is haunted by the demons of the conference finals whereas Montreal can play completely free. I don’t expect this to continue, and I do expect Carolina to win game 2, but I don’t think we are going to see Carolina steamroll the Habs like they did to their first two opponents.
The stakes are raised, and the favorites both lost their first games. How each of Colorado and Carolina respond will tell you all you need to know about their championship aspirations. If either team loses both of the first two at home, I think it’s safe to stick a fork in them because they’ll be cooked (especially Carolina). We will find out tonight if Colorado can fight back, it’s bound to be an incredible watch.
