SI:AM | The Bruins Look to Cap Off a Historic Season
Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I hope Boston fans don’t come for me with pitchforks.
In today’s SI:AM:
🏀 One rule the NBA needs to change
👑 Why the Kings deserve your respect
⛳ Matt Fitzpatrick vs. Jordan Spieth
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Boston might not be invincible
The Bruins lapped the field in the NHL regular season. Now the pressure is on to keep up their winning ways and lift the Stanley Cup in June.
Boston went 65-12-5 this season, setting a new record for wins in a season. The previous best was 62 wins, shared by the 1995–96 Red Wings and 2018–19 Lightning. But as that Tampa Bay team proved, playoff success is far from guaranteed, even for a historically great team. The Lightning didn’t just lose in the first round in ’19—they got swept by the Blue Jackets.
The Bruins will face the Panthers in the first round, with Game 1 tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. Florida has a potent offense, led by Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov, that had the most shots on goal of any team in the league this season and finished sixth in scoring. But the Bruins are elite in every respect. They allowed the fewest goals in the NHL this season by a significant margin and finished second in scoring behind the Oilers.
David Pastrňák scored 61 goals this season, making him just the fifth player since the 1996–97 season to score 60. (Edmonton’s Connor McDavid led the league with 64.) Boston’s two-headed goalie monster of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman has been nearly unbeatable. Ullmark led the league in both save percentage and goals against average, while Swayman was fourth in both categories. How many teams have had a top-five goalie as their backup?
So yeah, the Bruins are really good, but it’s possible to look at some of the advanced statistics and make an argument for why they shouldn’t be considered a lock to host another duck boat parade this summer. In full-strength scenarios, Boston is ranked 10th in expected goals for and eighth in expected goals against. The B’s also aren’t generating many high-danger scoring chances and aren’t turning those chances into goals. They rank 20th in high-danger scoring chances and 25th in goals scored from those chances. But Boston is able to score so many goals, even when it isn’t getting the best chances, because its shooters are among the most accurate in the league. The Bruins ranked second in the NHL this season in shooting percentage.
That isn’t to say that the Bruins are frauds. You don’t accidentally win 65 games, and they have two goalies capable of leading a Stanley Cup charge. But there’s reason to believe they might not be invincible.
As for the rest of the field…
There are plenty of familiar faces in this year’s NHL playoffs. The Golden Knights posted the best record in the Western Conference after missing the postseason for the first time in franchise history last year. The defending champion Avalanche won the Central division. The Maple Leafs will play in the postseason for the seventh year in a row but are still looking for their playoff series win since 2013. The Lightning will be looking to make their fourth straight appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.
There are some new faces, too. The Devils are in the playoffs for the first time since 2018 and just the second time since they went all the way to the Final in ’12. They’ll face the Rangers in a first-round matchup of bitter rivals. The biggest newcomers of all are the Kraken, which have qualified for the playoffs for the first time in their second season.
The most interesting team to watch, though, might be the Oilers. Despite employing the NHL’s best player, Connor McDavid, who led the league in scoring for the third season in a row, Edmonton has had limited postseason success. The Oilers may have turned a corner, though. They finished the regular season with more than 100 points for the second year in a row after reaching the Conference Final last season. They’re coming into the playoffs on a serious hot streak, having won 14 of their last 15 games. And their fearsome offense, which led the league in scoring by a wide margin, has three of the best weapons in the NHL. McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins were all in the top 10 in points this season. If the defense can hold up its end of the bargain, Edmonton might be able to reach its first Cup Final since 2006.
The best of Sports Illustrated
Petre Thomas/USA TODAY Sports
- Injuries were the story of yesterday’s NBA playoff games. Ja Morant hurt his hand and could miss Game 2 against the Lakers. Tyler Herro broke his hand against the Bucks, and Giannis Antetokounmpo hurt his back. The latest on Paul George, who did not play in the Clippers’ Game 1 win over the Suns, is he’s expected to be sidelined for the whole first round.
- Morant and Antetokounmpo were injured after falling to the ground when defenders attempted to draw charge calls. Chris Herring argues the NBA should adjust the block/charge rule to avoid future injuries.
- Herring also wrote about the Kings’ impressive Game 1 win over the Warriors and how it shows Sacramento shouldn’t be taken lightly despite its lack of playoff experience.
- Even before Morant went down in the fourth quarter, the Lakers looked like a better team than the Grizzlies, Chris Mannix writes.
- Mannix also has the story of the Hawks’ longtime equipment manager, who is finally running the Boston Marathon today after the race was canceled three years ago.
The top five...
… things I saw yesterday:
5. Nolan Arenado’s barehanded stop and strong throw to nail a runner at first.
4. A vintage chase-down block by LeBron James.
3. Florida baseball player Jac Caglianone’s response to his teammate getting ejected for celebrating.
2. Matt Fitzpatrick’s perfect approach shot to beat Jordan Spieth on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff at Harbour Town. (Alex Miceli wrote about how the Englishman used to attend the tournament on family vacations when he was growing up.)
1. Brandon Nimmo’s diving catch in center to save a run in the bottom of the ninth against the A’s. (The Mets went on to win in the 10th.)
SIQ
When Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier April 15, 1947 (an accomplishment celebrated across MLB over the weekend), he went hitless in four plate appearances. How did Robinson achieve his first hit with the Dodgers on April 17?
- A bunt single
- A ground rule double
- A triple
- A two-run homer
Friday’s SIQ: Nikoloz Tskitishvili, the fifth pick in the 2002 NBA draft, is one of six NBA players from which European country?
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Latvia
- Montenegro
- Georgia
Answer: Georgia. Tskitishvili went fifth in a weak draft class that included only four future All-Stars (Yao Ming, Amar’e Stoudemire, Caron Butler and Carlos Boozer). He never really made an impact in the NBA, averaging 11.3 minutes per game over the course of four seasons before returning to Europe. He enjoyed a long career in Europe and Asia from 2007 to ’19.
The most notable Georgian NBA player is Zaza Pachulia, who played 16 seasons in the league, primarily with the Hawks, and won two championships with the Warriors. The others from the country who reached the NBA are Vladimir Stepania, Jake Tsakalidis and Tornike Shengelia, along with current Magic center Goga Bitadze and center Sando Mamukelashvili, who finished the season with the Spurs.