2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs Notebook: Connor McDavid and Nazem Kadri Take Center Stage

The second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs has lived up to the excitement of the first round. Though the first round is usually the best. And this year with five Game 7s in the first round it is hard to say the second round is better than the first. Though the matchups are more intriguing, nothing beats a Game 7. But enough of the first round, though it will be referenced, let’s take a look at some interesting insights in this edition of the Stanley Cup Notebook as Connor McDavid and Nazem Kadri are under the spotlight.

Time to dive into this edition Stanley Cup Playoffs notebook.

2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs Notebook

Connor McDavid Is The Best Player in the World

The old saying went in Montreal as Carey Price went so did the Canadiens. Well in Edmonton, the saying has shifted to as Connor McDavid goes so do the Edmonton Oilers. McDavid willed his team to the second round of the playoffs after brilliant performances in Games 6 and 7 of their first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings. That play has carried over in the second round against the Calgary Flames in the Battle of Alberta.

Through 10 games in the playoffs, McDavid has 23 points. Over the last four postseasons, that point total would have led the playoffs in scoring. These are Wayne Gretzky-type numbers. McDavid is producing at a historic level as he extended his streak of multi-point playoff games to six contests. Gretzky accomplished a similar feat in 1983 with the Oilers with eight consecutive multi-point games. It does not stop there for McDavid as he is the first player in NHL history with nine multi-point performances through 10 games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

It feels like McDavid was the one that said “I haven’t won sh*t,” but it was Nathan MacKinnon last year, and he took those words to heart. McDavid is rewriting the record books. This is what the best players and generational talents do, they put their team on their back and will them to victory. Yes, it helps to have Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane, but the rest of the Oilers team is following the lead of Connor McDavid. There is a reason he is considered the best player in the world now. Can anyone stop this guy?

Around Full Press Hockey

NHL: Tampa Bay Lightning Not Giving The Florida Panthers Any Life

NHL: Stanley Cup Playoffs Marred By Inconsistent Goaltender Interference Calls

NHL:  Patrice Bergeron Not Ready To Discuss Future Following Game Seven Loss

NFL: Los Angeles Chargers Defense Starting to Look Formidable

MLB:  Feast or Famine: Tigers Seek Offensive Consistency

PODCAST: Full Press Hockey Weekly: Ep 28: NHL Draft Lottery; Stanley Cup; Islanders Coaching Situation

Nazem Kadri Under the Microscope

Then there is Nazem Kadri who is public enemy number one in St. Louis. After the controversy he caused in Game 3, where he fell onto Jordan Binnington, forcing Binnington out of the game and the series. The bad blood boiled over after the game and into the press room.

Kadri was not even going in the direction of Binnington until Rosen changed his trajectory!

(from Reddit user PiersonNyx) pic.twitter.com/pXJtdSBrUN

— Zaiem Beg 🏒🦑 (@zbeg) May 22, 2022

However, it was Kadri, who once again was in the spotlight for Game 4 as recorded four points including a hat trick in the Avalanche 6-3 Monday night. Regardless of whether you thought it was intentional or not, Kadri is good at what he does. As he wrote in the Players Tribune, “I am Who I am.”

Nazem Kadri. That’s it. That’s the tweet. #StanleyCup | #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/flm9VWftA6

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 24, 2022

Kadri has a history of getting himself suspended in the playoffs and costing his team. It was one of the reasons why Toronto shipped him off to Colorado. Kadri was suspended three times in the playoffs when playing for the Leafs. Of course, they were playing their old rivals the Boston Bruins. In each one of those instances with Toronto, the Maple Leafs could have used Kadri’s services to get past Boston.

Last year, Kadri was suspended eight games for his illegal check to the head on Blues defenceman Justin Faulk. So there was already bad blood between these two teams. So when the incident happened with Binnington and it turned out Kadri was in the middle of it, this series went to a whole new level. And the shame of all it all is Binnington was playing well and allowed the Blues to stay with the Avalanche.

Kadri was able to put the distractions aside and continue to be the playoff performer the Avalanche expected him to be. Though after he completed his hat trick, David Perron and Pavel Buchnevich went after him. Tensions are high heading into Game 5.

#GoAvsGo forward Nazem Kadri following the team’s 6-3 victory in game four.

On #stlblues head coach Craig Berube: “I guess he’s never heard of bulletin board material”#StanleyCup #NHL pic.twitter.com/P2PVSKnJ6T

— Full Press Hockey (@FullPressNHL) May 24, 2022

Other Observations

• The Tampa Bay Lightning are moving on to the Conference Finals once again with a 2-0 victory in Game 4 against the Florida Panthers.
• Andrei Vasilevskiy is now 7-0 in close-out games going back to the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs with six shutouts.
• The Presidents Trophy winners have not won the Stanley Cup since 2013.
• The Florida Panthers won a playoff series for the first time since 1996. And just like in 1996, the Panthers in 2022 were eliminated by being swept out of the playoffs.
• Carolina Hurricanes are 6-0 on home ice and 0-4 on the road.
• Carolina-New York Rangers series is playing out as the Boston-Carolina series did with the home teams winning.
• Going back to the Lightning they have won 10 straight playoff series, they join the New York Islanders of the 1980s (won 19 straight postseason series) and the Montreal Canadiens from 1976-1980 (13 straight postseason series).
• Lightning have made it to the final four in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in six of the last eight years. The last team to accomplish that feat was the Colorado Avalance from 1996 to 2002.

That does it for this edition of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs Notebook. Stay tuned for another one in the coming days.