Ranking The 2014 NHL Playoff Series #14

We started our post post-season ranking of the 2014 NHL playoff series at #15 with a recap of the Montreal Canadiens – Tampa Bay Lightning series that was really without drama.

Of all the first round series, the biggest mis-match on paper might have been the series I have ranked at #14 – The Pittsburgh Penguins vs the Columbus Blue Jackets.

This pitted a team with Stanley Cup or bust aspirations against a team that hadn’t won a playoff game in franchise history. It was true David vs Goliath scenario and although the result was as expected, David fell but got a couple of solid shots in along the way.

The Penguins won the series 4 games to 2, but 5 of the games were decided by one goal, and Columbus took games 2 and 4 in overtime to tie the series on two occasions.

The Blue Jackets won their first two ever playoff games, with Jack Johnson leading the way from the blue line with 3 goals and 4 assists for 7 points.

From the Penguins vantage point, it was a preview of things to come in the near future, as Marc-Andre Fleury continued his trend of less than stellar play in the post-season. He was a big question mark going in, and didn’t really answer those who doubted his ability to perform under pressure, at least not in a positive way.

Superstar Sidney Crosby went goal-less in the series (6 assists) and fellow star Evgeni Malkin went goal-less through the first 5 games before breaking out with a hat trick in the deciding game. The star of the series was defenseman Matt Niskanen, as the pending unrestricted free agent made more than a few dollars on his next contract with a 2 goal, 6 assist series.