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Playoff Preview 2016
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
HOW THEY WIN: When the Lightning are good, they’re outstanding. Since the calendar turned to 2016, they’ve vaulted themselves back into the Eastern Conference contender discussion with winning streaks of seven and nine games. The Lightning were on pace to score almost half a goal per game less than they did in 2015-16, but their ability to limit high-quality chances is among the best in the East. Much of that is due to the defensive tandem of Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman. We all saw what Hedman was capable of doing during Tampa Bay’s run to the final in 2015. The Bolts lack a dominant offensive producer but get ample production up and down the lineup. Shut down one line and another picks up the slack. HOW THEY Lose: When the Lightning…
NEW YORK ISLANDERS
HOW THEY WIN: The workmanlike Islanders get contributions throughout the lineup. Teams don’t find many easy shifts against them. New York is one of the NHL’s most physical squads, with only Los Angeles throwing more hits. The brutalizing fourth line of Cal Clutterbuck, Casey Cizikas and Matt Martin plays a big role, and that’s not a fun style to face come playoff time. Despite the nastiness, the Isles are one of the least-penalized teams in the league and dynamite on the penalty kill. They also have nice balance on the back end, headlined by Travis Hamonic, Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy, but even the third pairing features an experienced veteran in Marek Zidlicky. HOW THEY Lose: New York is about as middle-ofthe-road as you can get in a playoff team, right…
COLORADO AVALANCHE
HOW THEY WIN: The Avs are all about speed. Nathan MacKinnon can fly. Matt Duchene can fly. Trade deadline acquisition Mikkel Boedker can fly. This team is extremely dangerous in transition. It has a strong leader in Gabriel Landeskog, whose blend of offense and physicality embodies an ideal NHL captain. He has a former longtime captain in Jarome Iginla to back him up in the dressing room, too. Blueliner Erik Johnson has developed into a doit-all top-pairing guy, realizing the potential that made him 2006’s No. 1 overall draft pick. Tyson Barrie is quietly one of the league’s best puck-moving D-men. He has more points than Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Drew Doughty and Duncan Keith the past two seasons. Veteran signing Francois Beauchemin was pricey but has stabilized the D-corps with his experience…
THE BOY AND THE GAME
FOR MORE THAN a year now, the filing system at Central Pediatrics in Woodbury, Minn., has become completely electronic, each of the clinic’s thousands of patient medical charts having been transferred to computer. In the center, doctors use the new e-records to point and click, to search and sort, to provide better, more organized care. Yet there was a time not long ago, when Dr. Carrie Pettey was first beginning at the clinic outside St. Paul, one patient required a hardcopy file thick enough it had to be lugged around the office. Inside a tattered manila folder was a medical history so complex it seemed to take on a life of its own, oozing at the margins and bursting at the seams. “It was barely being held together,” Dr. Pettey said.…
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