The second round looked like it was going to be a disappointment, until the teams with big series leads seemed unable to close things out. Each one eventually survived, with the exception of Vancouver, who couldn’t clinch on the road on Saturday. They have had 3 leads in the series, with Edmonton evening it up each time. Game 7 is tonight at at 9:00 PM EDT and should be another banger.
The winner of that series will be the road team against Western Conference #1 Dallas, while the Eastern Conference finals will begin on Wednesday as the New York Rangers host Florida.
Old Friends
Former Blue Jackets still alive include:
New York
Jack Roslovic (if the Rangers advance, the 2026 4th round pick they sent upgrades to a 3rd round pick)
Artemi Panarin
Alexander Wennberg
Florida
Sergei Bobrovsky
Kevin Stenlund
Dallas
Matt Duchene
Edmonton
Sam Gagner (hasn’t played in the postseason yet)
Vancouver
Ian Cole
Dakota Joshua (not a Blue Jacket, but rather a former Buckeye player. He is fifth on the Canucks in postseason points!)
Bracket Challenge
Those of us who picked Carolina to win are in bad shape right now. Here is the top #5, with their points and who they picked to win:
- BVILLEDDZO, 154 points, Vancouver
- Maria327, 154, Florida
- MrSwift13, 151, Dallas
- Pale Dragon, 138, Carolina
- Adam/Bowtie_Stats, 134, Dallas
Calder Cupdate
YOUR Cleveland Monsters are up 2-0 over the Syracuse Crunch in the best-of-5 North Division Finals series. You can discuss that series in the open thread here.
All other playoffs, World Championships, NHL news, and CBJ miscellanea can be discussed below!