RTP Daily: August 7th

Everyone is on the brink at this point; and we can see some pretty big upsets happen today. While the Las Vegas Golden Knights and St Louis Blues entertained us with some good quality playoff hockey, the Toronto Maple Leafs made sure to add another brick to their never-ending meltdown escapades. Let’s take a quick look at what happened yesterday and what we’re expecting today.

Thursday’s Games:

Vancouver Canucks 3, Minnesota Wild 0, VAN leads series 2-1

• The Wild continue to show little to no life in this series as the Canucks have been on a more consistent level of play lately. The Wild went from not scoring a goal at 5vs5 to not scoring at all. As they are put on the brink, will that be the spark they need?/

Philadelphia Flyers 3, Washington Capitals 1, Round Robin Series

• The Flyers were playing well before the break but very few expected that would translate into starting off the “playoffs” with beating both the Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals. Could they end up sweeping this round robin?/

Las Vegas Golden Knights 6, St Louis Blues 4, Round Robin Series

• One of the more exciting games we’ve seen so far where I think the expectation was that either team had a really good chance at victory. While both teams had a good game offensively, it was the Golden Knights who had the edge and the Blues found themselves once again losing a game they played really well in. The Golden Knights are another team that is looking good to take a full sweep of the round robin series after a comeback win against the Dallas Stars on Monday./

Columbus Blue Jackets 4, Toronto Maple Leafs 3, CLB leads series 2-1

• You would think a team that is far more powerful than its opponent and have had multiple experiences with losing big leads would know better. Up 3-0 in the second, the Maple Leafs managed to let this game get to overtime and completed the meltdown when Pierre-Luc Dubois capped off his hat trick with less than two minutes left in the first overtime frame. They now find themselves with their backs against the wall and yet another embarrassing series to be remembered by. At least Cody Ceci scored?/

Calgary Flames 4, Winnipeg Jets 0, CGY wins series 3-1

• This was a rough series for the Jets from the beginning where they lost both Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine. Any expected heroics by goaltender Connor Hellebuyck were simply not enough as the Flames took full command of this series./

Friday’s Games

New York Islanders @ Florida Panthers, 12:30 pm EST, NYI leads series 2-1

• The day starts with the Islanders trying to close their series before the Panthers gain any more momentum after their last win. Look for JG Pageau and Jordan Eberle to play an important role today./

Nashville Predators @ Arizona Coyotes, 2:30pm EST, ARZ leads series 2-1

• I think many people expected this to be a clear series win for the Nashville Predators; could this game be one of the many upsets of these playoffs? Will Matt Duchene finally shine at the most needed time?/

Pittsburgh Penguins @ Montreal Canadiens, 4:30 pm EST, MTL leads series 2-1

• Probably one of the biggest upsets but the Canadiens can both eliminate the Penguins and ruin Sidney Crosby’s birthday today. You can never really count out the Penguins but I think Carey Price and the Canadiens have the ability to close the deal today./

Edmonton Oilers @ Chicago Blackhawks, 6:45 pm EST, CHI leads series 2-1

• Another surprising result as the Oilers find themselves in a win or go home game. On paper, they are obviously the better and more entertaining team but they will need a lot of puck luck and discipline tonight to stay alive for a Game 5./

Toronto Maple Leafs @ Columbus Blue Jackets, 8 pm EST, CLB leads series 2-1

• The Maple Leafs find themselves in crisis mode tonight as they try to stay alive for Game 5. After a great comeback win last night, the Blue Jackets will come into this game with plenty of ammunition. The Leafs haven’t really dominated the Blue Jackets in this series, will they show more life tonight?/

Vancouver Canucks @ Minnesota Wild, 10:45 pm EST, VAN leads series 2-1

• After winning the first game, the Wild have struggled with any sort of consistent production in this series. Will the pressure of elimination bring them back to life?/