The Daily Faceoff Show: Predicting the second round’s MVP
On Tuesday’s edition of The Daily Faceoff Show, Tyler Yaremchuk and Mike McKenna talked about who they believe is poised for a big showing in the second round of the playoffs.
Yaremchuk: Back in round one, there were some fantastic individual performances.
Look at what Connor McDavid did for the Edmonton Oilers and the way he carried them through Games 6 and 7 putting up 14 points in seven games. He’s just the second player in NHL history to have six multi-point games in a single playoff series.
Carter Verhaeghe had that big five-point night that the Panthers desperately needed, he’s second in playoff scoring. And even though his team didn’t win the series, Jake Oettinger was out of his mind between the pipes.
Those are the three stars of the first round, the three candidates for a first-round MVP. My question for you is, who’s your round two MVP?
McKenna: My pick is going to be Adam Fox. The reason is I have the Rangers getting past the Carolina Hurricanes and Fox had 10 points in seven games in the first round.
To me, everything goes through him in the offensive zone. The power-play, five-on-five, it doesn’t matter. His mobility makes a huge difference for that team and it’s not that dissimilar from Cale Makar in Colorado.
I’ve got Adam Fox. I’m sure Connor McDavid is going to be a factor but I have the Flames beating them. I have my eyes on Elias Lindholm, Victor Hedman, and Vladimir Tarasenko, but give me Adam Fox as MVP of the second round.
Yaremchuk: I’m going with Cale Makar. This guy was absolutely outstanding in round one but it almost didn’t get a lot of love because the Avs just steamrolled the Predators. He had 10 points in four games as a defenseman. That’s absolutely insane.
He’s a big reason why Colorado’s power-play was north of 40 percent in round one. And I think with this series being a lot tighter for the Avalanche than the Nashville series was, there’s going to be more attention paid to Cale Makar and the difference he makes will stand out even more.
Connor McDavid will always be in the talk, on the other side of that matchup, a sneaky pick, is I wonder if we’re in for a big Matthew Tkachuk series. He seems to really love these rivalry games, he’s been a thorn in the Oilers’ side in the head-to-head, and he was quiet in round one. Just one goal and it came in Game 7.
You know a guy like Tkachuk with that kind of competitiveness, a slow start to the playoffs won’t sit well with him, so I expect him to be a difference-maker for the Flames.
You can watch the full episode here…