The 3 Canadian teams were eliminated in progressive lengths with Calgary going in 5, Winnipeg falling in 6, and Toronto tripping in 7. The Flames and Jets staggered through their series with a combined 1 win on home ice. Toronto succumbed more to the juggernaut that is Boston and the referees allowing just about everything to give Boston a huge, undeserved advantage.
The less said about the Nazem Kadri suspension, the better. The NHL shows its bias against Canadian teams. Matt Cooke is a horrible goon, except when he severely injures a player on a Canadian team (Erik Karlsson — Ottawa). Zdeno Chara slammed Max Pacioretty's head into a stanchion, likely with intent and no suspension. Nazem Kadri in a Philadelphia, Boston, or New York Rangers uniform might have had a 1-game suspension. Since Kadri plays for Toronto, the suspension is deeper.
If the National Hockey League is sincerely upset about what is going on, and it isn't, then more honourable officiating would have prevented either Kadri incident. Boston shouldn't keep getting preferential treatment on and off the ice.
Calgary has only won a single playoff series since the 2004 Stanley Cup final. Vancouver Canucks fans will remember that well from the spring of 2015. This was a really good year to snap that streak. The Flames acclaimed ability to score in the 3rd period and overtime disappeared as did James Neal. The officiating was particularly bad in this series. The Flames have lost 12 of the last 14 NHL playoff games.
Winnipeg had 1 shot in the 2nd period of a critical Game 6. The Jets basically gave up in the 3rd period of Game 5. Maybe the team would have fared as poorly against the Dallas Stars, but not playing well down the stretch gave them a very hot St. Louis club.
We have teased about the Toronto Raptors being good at losing Game 1 in a playoff series (only 1 Game 1 win in franchise history). The Toronto Maple Leafs did win Game 1 of its series, the first such Game 1 win since 2003.
Toronto was the last Canadian team in the NHL playoffs, something that hasn't happened since 2002.
2019 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs preview
Having Gord Miller and Ray Ferraro in the first round for the Calgary and Winnipeg first round series coverage made a tremendous difference. This was especially true compared to who NBCU sent to the Toronto series.
Ferraro made a reference to Two Hills, Alberta and noted that Miller is from Alberta (Edmonton). Ferraro told the story about being in Calgary with Ottawa in town, watching the Tkachuk brothers (Matthew-Calgary; Brady-Ottawa) barking at each other like they were in their family basement. These small bits of colour help playoff coverage. Most NBCU on-air employees know little about the Jets and Flames.
Miller and Ferraro were on site in Canada for the Calgary and Winnipeg first-round series coverage. You didn't see them on screen since NBCU was using the Rogers feeds. Ferraro wasn't at ice level in either series, diminishing the NBCU coverage. We finally saw visual proof of their existence at Game 4 in Denver.
The 8 games in 9 days for Miller and Ferraro went like this: Calgary-Winnipeg-Calgary-day off-Denver-St. Louis-Denver-Winnipeg-Calgary.
Chris Cuthbert (and Joe Micheletti) covered the Dallas-Nashville series as well as Game 3 of the Winnipeg series. Dave Randorf and Louie DeBrusk (via Rogers Sportsnet) covered Game 1 of the Winnipeg series via the NHL Network.
NBCU gave Miller a day off for Game 6 of the Jets series but kept Ferraro on colour analysis with Brendan Burke. In a twist, Miller and Ferraro reunited for Game 7 in San Jose.
Cuthbert will work a series for NBCSN in the 2nd round. Miller and Ferraro will cover the World Championship for TSN.
As for the Toronto crew, Mike Milbury and his one-sided biased coverage was unprofessional. A Boston cheerleader and the loss of Eddie Olczyk damaged what little credibility NBCU has in covering the sport. Brian Boucher continues to be confused at crucial moments. Despite getting more work this season, Boucher may be getting worse in that role.
Milbury and Boucher in the studio would be much more effective. Boucher has time to work on his material and Milbury's smart-ass approach comes across better. That said, Olczyk has proven to also be effective in the studio as well as colour analysis. Mike Tirico could teach Liam McHugh and Kathryn Tappen how to be more human in the studio. Tirico has also done well in the booth, an asset the NBCU coverage desperately needs.
Doc Emrick called all the games in the Toronto series, except for Game 4 when Kenny Albert filled in for Emrick. Games 2 and 6 were on NBC.
The NHL Network used to be more generous in showing Canadian feeds in the matinee rebroadcasts. The only Canadian feed we've seen was Game 2 of the Winnipeg series with the Rogers Sportsnet feed. We saw 0 matinee rebroadcasts of the Calgary series with any feed.
2019 Stanley Cup playoffs scoreboard
John Bartlett, Garry Galley, and Christine Simpson only got to work 4 games in the first round with the New York Islanders sweep of Pittsburgh. CBC gravitated to the Winnipeg series to fill the gap with Games 3 and 5-6 instead of another Eastern series.
The CBC also carried all the Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames games. Rogers didn't produce a single all-U.S. game for its Sportsnet channels.
You can see the 2nd round coverage for CBC and Rogers Sportsnet.
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AJ Mleczko worked quite a few playoff games, especially with Cuthbert and Micheletti in the Nashville-Dallas series. Cassie Campbell-Pascall provided colour analysis in the Calgary series for CBC.
The local New York Islanders MSG coverage featured Mleczko, Shannon Hogan, and Jennifer Botterill, including an all-female studio show with all 3 of them for Game 4.
The Winnipeg Whiteout outside Bell MTS Place was not just about large crowds. The Winnipeg Jets Foundation charged $5 to get into the space with the proceeds going to the United Way for mental health, homelessness, and addiction support.
Their numbers were 8,500 for Game 1 and 11,500 Game 2, raising $114,000 for the first 2 games. Those numbers average more than $5 per person so they were extra generous. Miller and Ferraro estimated the Game 5 outdoor crowd at 11,000.
Canadian ads from spring 2019 NHL Center Ice free preview
Gord Miller mentioned on CNBC that Patrik Laine's 5-goal game against St. Louis early in the season led to a $1,000,000 prize for Winnipeg minister Chris Haley in a grocery store promotion. Miller didn't identify the grocery store chain, which was Sobey's/Safeway.
Miller is a spokesperson for Sobey's/Safeway. He does the voiceover for the ad about the food platters and is on camera for the latest shop-and-win contest with Cassie Campbell-Pascall.
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
Anthems are pretty low on NBCU's list in the regular season. Out west, we only saw the Game 1 anthem from Calgary and none with Winnipeg. Some of the games have had full pre-game coverage but still no anthems. The Toronto series had anthems in every game but Games 2.
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The Ottawa Senators 1st round pick fell from the top spot to the 4 spot. If the Senators controlled that pick, we would be furious. Colorado got that pick in the Matt Duchene deal. The Edmonton Oilers fell to the 8 spot; Vancouver Canucks is at the 10 spot; and the Montréal Canadiens at 15, the worst spot for non-playoff teams.
The lottery only applies to the first round. Ottawa has the top pick in round 2.
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As we noted during the Alberta election coverage, CBC stations in Edmonton and Calgary picked news over the NY Islanders/Pittsburgh Game 4. CBC in Charlottetown carried the Prince Edward Island election coverage before switching to Game 7 with the Maple Leafs Tuesday night. NHL fans did have Rogers Sportsnet as an option for Game 7 besides streaming through cbcsports.ca or securing another CBC affiliate.
photos credit: NHL/NBC; Citytv Calgary; NHL/CNBC/CBC
