Monday LNN: Deadlocks in the Playoffs

Don't you just love watching seven periods of hockey only for your team to lose in the end? Thank goodness it was an afternoon game. The Ottawa Charge very nearly pulled off a 2-0 lead in Montreal, but will be content to take what's effectively a best-of-three series back home for Tuesday.

• Overall, the second round of the NHL playoffs has been much tighter, with the Florida Panthers shutting out the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 to tie the series at 2 apiece. The Carolina Hurricanes are also coming off of a shutout, a 4-0 decision to take a 2-1 series lead over the Washington Capitals. In the West, Mikko Rantanen continues to be a Porsche with no brakes, with another three-point effort to give Dallas a 2-1 series lead over Winnipeg, while Reilly Smith's game-winning goal with 0.4 seconds remaining in regulation allowed Vegas to cut Edmonton's lead in half.

• Three Ottawa Senators players are taking part in the World Championships this year. Shane Pinto and Nikolas Matinpalo have already played in the first two games with USA and Finland respectively, while Tim Stutzle will be joining Team Germany for tomorrow's contest against Norway. All three nations have begun the 16-team tournament 2-0.
• In Alex Adams' latest for Sportsnet, he discusses UFA options on forward and defense, as well as potential contract structures for RFAs Tyler Kleven and Leevi Merilainen. While I agree with his take that a longer-term deal between $3-4M would be a worthwhile gamble for Kleven, I don't think the Sens can afford to do that while also addressing their offensive woes.
• Over at The Athletic, Julian McKenzie ran through some recent mailbag questions, revolving around ideas such as which first-round pick (2025 vs 2026) the Sens should give up, a potential Drake Batherson trade, adding another RHD with Nick Jensen's health in question, and Claude Giroux's next deal, which McKenzie projects at $4.25M.
• The Anaheim Ducks announced on Thursday that they've hired Joel Quenneville as their new head coach. On top of coming to this decision in the first place, as well as having announced it during another very prominent case involving the 2018 World Junior team, and Ducks GM Pat Verbeek specifically mentioning Quenneville's tenure in Chicago when outlining what he could bring to his own young, developing hockey team – not only does this seem like a PR nightmare, but you're also putting your players at risk to gauge exactly how much Quenneville has changed.