NHL Playoff Daily: Can we start the games when they are actually scheduled?

Game 1 between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche was officially scheduled for an 8:30 pm local puck drop. 

That’s what was on all the promotional materials, the tickets, the television advertisements, etc… 

The game is at 8:30, prep for that, whether you are tuning in from home or going to the game, that’s what you plan around. 

Instead the puck wasn’t dropped until 8:52 local time, 22 minutes after the so-called “scheduled” start. 

Even in the regular season NHL games are never started at their official start time. Opening puck drop is typically six to eight minutes after the officially listed time, but Western Conference games in the playoffs, particularly games on ESPN, have been pushing the limit even further this spring. 

I’m not sure why we can’t just list the official start time in promotion. 

There is precedent for honesty. 

Look at the Major League Baseball schedule today: there are start times listed for 12:35, 1:05, 1:10, 6:40, 7:07, and 7:20. MLB doesn’t round to the nearest hour or half hour, they simply put the time the game will actually start so people can properly prepare. 

Anywho, that’s something that I needed to throw out into the universe before we could chat about a pair of overtime games from Tuesday. 

Remember the mid-season drama about whether Igor Shestyorkin was the guy for the New York Rangers?

That gloom and doom that the goalie had lost it and that Jonathan Quick was legitimately pushing for the No. 1 role on Broadway? 

Well on Tuesday Shestyorkin made 54 saves on 57 shots in a double-overtime victory to give the Rangers a 2-0 series lead against the Carolina Hurricanes. He handled both quantity and quality from the Hurricanes, who peppered in double-digit shots in four of the five periods, effectively holding the fort before Vincent Trocheck finished it off by drawing a penalty and then scoring on the ensuing power play. 

The penalty on Brady Skjei was heavily debated, it was a pretty soft cross-checking call, but it was also something that we all knew was coming. 

The Rangers had already been called for a pair of penalties in overtime, and Carolina had failed to convert on either power play. Hockey’s old axiom, which continues to be true, is the officials are going to find a way to even it up if possible, and they did. 

The second game on Tuesday also needed overtime, and the Dallas Stars dropped a major opportunity after jumping out to a 3-0 first period lead before falling 4-3 against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1. 

It was a call back to an earlier game this season, where the Stars also had a 3-0 lead and lost that one. 

Ready for a weird stat about the Stars?

In the past three seasons the Stars are 3-4-2 when taking a 3-0 lead in a game and failing to add a fourth goal. 

When they add the fourth goal to that 3-0 push they are 34-0-0. 

So Josh Manson’s goal-line save on Jamie Benn to keep it at 3-0 late in the first period? 

Kind of a big play.