Home Ice Is Merely a Description in These Stanley Cup Playoffs
Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has a point.
When teams go on the road, they have a tendency to simplify their game.
This spring, then, simplicity is doing rather well for itself.
And it's not a team-specific trend. After tonight's play, home teams are only 27-27 in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
In every North American sport, teams spend the whole damn season fighting for the right to get that deciding last playoff game at home. Usually, it's a good idea.
We're still waiting to see the there's any significance to home ice in the chase for 2018's Stanley Cup.
The old bromide is win your home games and break even on the road. However, clubs that make a playoff field are there because they did well with their away schedule.
Let's take a look at the East and West Conference semifinalists' regular-season road records:
Only the Penguins have a losing record in other barns.
Right now, they're more concerned that they're 0-1 in the Igloo to the Washington Capitals after this 4-3 result:
Of course, Pittsburgh went 1-1 in this series' first two games in DC. So much for keeping the home-ice advantage they earned from it.
Same thing but different in the Central Division series. Winnipeg grabbed the home advantage by splitting in Nashville and preceded to show the form in Game 3 that produced their impressive 32-7-2 mark in the league's smallest market.
The Jets were all over it a wide-open 7-4 victory:
To note that Nashville needs to show its road chops in Game 4 is to observe the obvious.
Even further out West, San José demystified Vegas after getting blown out in Game 1.
Their turn at home ice in the series vanished when the Golden Knights prevailed in Game 3 with a 4-3 overtime triumph in the Tank:
Meanwhile, down in the snowbird region, Boston had wrested home ice from Tampa Bay with a 6-2 thrashing of the Lightning in Game 1.
These two teams were separated by only one overall point in the regular season standings, so odds are strong the series will go the distance, especially with Tampa Bay taking Game 2 by a 4-2 count:
The NHL clearly strives for consistency in facilities, but in each venue, the ice is a bit different and the boards have different give.
So far, none of that has really mattered.
As to the atmosphere, no one can hear themselves think out there, which has been painfully obvious on more than one occasion. The only time arenas are subdued in the post-season is when the road team scores.
And so far, that's been often.