Parity, Parity, Parity and More Parity!
Parity! OK I’ll stop saying it (or in this case typing it). The NHL playoffs have further proved what we all had already known, which is the parity in the league is phenomenal.
Solid goaltending and defensive play are still the key to success (unless you are the Philadelphia Flyers, who can score at will).
Some things we have learned or that have been reiterated thus far in the playoffs are that Claude Giroux is even a bigger beast then originally thought. Mike Smith has absolutely turned his career around and is living up to the great potential he has always had. Jonathan Quick appears to have 8 legs. Willie Mitchell and Oliver Ekman-Larsson are the 2 most underrated defensemen in the NHL.
Good for the Nashville Predators on sitting Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn for game 3. Despite the club trailing 2-0 in the best of seven series against the Phoenix Coyotes, the Predators success has come from playing a great team game. They are a classy organization and as odd as this may sound, this move may actually end up waking the rest of the team up.