2 Days Into The Stanley Cup Playoffs And All The Bad Hockey Players Are Actually Good

Jordie4/14/2017 2:05 PM

Tanner Glass has played 511 games in his NHL career. Now clearly just to get to the NHL, you have to be incredible. So let’s just get that out of the way now. I know that in comparison to other hockey players around the world, Tanner Glass is in the top 2%. But he’s scored 24 goals in those 511 games. His career high was in 2011-12 when he scored 5 goals one season. So in comparison to the other NHL players surrounding him, he is bad and not good.

Howeva….

Tanner Glass scored the 1st goal of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, just as everybody had predicted. In game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Tanner Glass was the difference maker who scored the eventual game winning goal in a 2-0 win for the Rangers. You need 16 wins in the playoffs to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup over your head. And Tanner Glass earned the Rangers one of those wins. The same Tanner Glass who has 24 goals in 511 games and 639 career penalty minutes.

Then we move over to last night. Night 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The 1st playoff game in the long storied legacy of Auston Matthews’ career. And it was Tom fucking Wilson playing the role of the villain by ending the game in overtime.

Like I said above with Tanner Glass. Obviously you don’t get to the National Hockey League by being bad at hockey. But in comparison to the rest of the league, Tom Wilson is a 1st round draft pick who will never score 10 goals in a single season. He’s a plug in every sense of the word. The only reason he’s out there is to be an agitator. And he’s good at that. He’s not on the ice for his sense of the game. He’s out there to be a pest and piss people off. But last night Tom Wilson scored his 1st career playoff goal and it just so happened to be an overtime game winner.

Now here’s what I’m having trouble on deciding. Was this an A1 quality snipe from Tom Wilson or what it just bruuuuuutal reaction time from Freddie Andersen. Pretty sure the entire Verizon Center was able to clear out before Andersen’s glove left his hip. I guess I can live if we call it a little bit of both. I mean, nobody in the world was expecting Tom Wilson to let that one fly from the wall there. I’m sure he was just as surprised as everybody else that it not only A) was on net, but B) tucked itself away right in the corner. But yeah… 2 games and 2 heroes who have less than 50 total goals scored combined between the two of them with over 800 games in the league. Playoff Hockey. There’s nothing quite like it.

P.S. – Speaking of bad guys doing good things. This play from Ryan Kesler at the end of last night’s game 1 between Anaheim and Calgary was the smartest hockey play you’ll see for a while.

Less than 10 seconds to preserve a 1-goal lead. Calgary with the empty net. Kesler blocks a shot and just sits on it. Is he a shit head? Yes. One of the biggest shit heads in the league. But taking a delay of game penalty right there was the difference maker between getting out of game 1 with a lead and Calgary scoring a buzzer beater goal sending them into overtime with all the momentum.

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