NHL Rink Wrap: Battle of Alberta gets off to wild start

The Rangers were really good on Wednesday night and looked like a significantly better team than the one that barely snuck by Pittsburgh in the First Round. They defended well, they were the better team for most of the night, and they were three minutes away from stealing Game 1 against the Hurricanes. And then some sloppy play resulted in a Sebastian Aho goal to send the game to overtime where Ian Cole would score the game-winner for Carolina. The Rangers showed they can compete with Carolina, but they are going to need to repeat that effort the rest of this series. And then be able to finish it out.

We expected this series to have some excitement and some fireworks and these two teams did not waste any time. The Flames jumped out to a huge lead, allowed a four-goal lead to slip away, and then still recovered to win a 9-6 game. This game featured 15 goals, which is a high number for any playoff game. The Flames First Round series with the Dallas Stars, which went a full seven games, only had 24 goals over the entire series. One of the big questions for the Oilers in this series would be whether or not Mike Smith could continue his strong play from the second half. He did not get off to a good start on Wednesday, being pulled after allowing three goals on 10 shots in just six minutes of play.

A huge game for the Flames’ top line, including Tkachuk who recorded a hat trick and a game-high eight shots on goal. He was due for a game like this. Even though he had five assists in the First Round series against Dallas, he managed just a single goal in the seven games. That changed significantly on Wednesday with his first career postseason hat trick. The top line led by Tkachuk and Gaudreau has been a game-changer for the