NHL Update, Also Heat Up (3-0) vs NBA, Top Ranked Bucks

After Joel Kiviranta’s “hat trick” overtime goal (he also had the tying goal, 10 seconds after Colorado took the lead in the last 4 minutes of regulation play) lifted the Dallas Stars into their first NHL “semi” since 2008, the third year Las Vegas Golden Knights advanced to their second, shutting out the Vancouver Canucks.

Each result was in a game 7 of the NHL quarterfinal round, the Stars/Avalanche tilt beginning at 4 P.M. Eastern Time and L.V./Vancouver playing a second straight day, as the tail that is TV, (particularly annoying, as it has David Stern’s mark, via Gary Bettman on it), continues to “wag.”

Bettman, as he seemingly always does, got what he wanted, 3 of the 4 NHL “quarters” going 7, with a team down three games to one, forcing such a game.

Last season, both Dallas and Las Vegas were eliminated in a game 7, the Golden Knights, in a prelim, to a San Jose Sharks team, coached by their current coach Peter DeBoer, whose #7 record rose to (5-0) last night.

The Stars were 7’d by the eventual champion St. Louis Blues, while the Avalanche also fell victim to DeBoer and the Sharks in a game 7/Qtrs loss last season.

Vancouver’s first NHL season was 1971 and in a 50 years inclusive and 49 completed seasons period, they are (3-8) in the quarterfinals, (3-0) in the semis and (0-3) in final round play.

With the ouster of the Canucks (speaking of 1971, that year the NBA Milwaukee Bucks, led by the then Lew Alcindor, later of course Kareem Abdul Jabbar, in just their third season, won the NBA crown on Friday night April 30th. Last night, a Friday, in the NBA ‘offs, which are way more of a joke than the NHL, only baseball’s absurdity tops the NBA’s, the Miami Heat took a seemingly commanding (3-0) series lead vs the top ranked Bucks. If Miami avoids being the first NBA team in history, to lose after a (3-0) series lead, the Bucks will have gone 49 consecutive seasons, sans a title, thrice with the best record, including the last two seasons with the top mark. At least last season, they were afforded the home advantage for their regular season efforts and achievements, not the case in 2020), there are no teams from Canada in the NHL semi-final round for the 6th straight season. 

Las Vegas Golden Knights’ goaltender, Robin Lehner, shown above,  in that thing called a mask, had 3 shutouts for L.V. in their “qtr” win vs Vancouver, including a (3-0) job in game 7.