Four Sask. players named to Canada world junior hockey championship team
17h ago
Berkly Catton, Brayden Yager, Caden Price and Tanner Howe were all named.
Looking at the NHL’s first-round playoffs, there isn’t a bad matchup in the bunch.
The worst, most lopsided matchup should have been the President’s Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning against the last-seeded Columbus Blue Jackets. But in the opener of their best-of-seven, Columbus was down 3-0 before storming back to win 4-3. So much for mismatches.
Despite all the mumbling as the regular season expired, there’s really no reason to change the playoff format. This format was designed to promote divisional rivalries. It does that, plus it pits together some well-matched foes, like Boston-Toronto, San Jose-Vegas and Winnipeg-St. Louis.
The NHL has voted to retain this format for at least one more year. When somebody is complaining about the “unfair” format late next season, when the Montreal Canadiens or Toronto Maple Leafs aren’t getting the respect their fans believe they deserve, remember the anticipation shown for these first-round series. And know that all the subsequent series are going to be just as riveting.