NHL players will have to embrace the 'grind' of going from not playing hockey to playing playoff-style games as the sport returns from its pandemic hiatus, says the coach of the Edmonton Oilers.
In this Friday, April 7, 1990 file photo, St. Louis Blues goalie Curtis Joseph makes a leg save against the Toronto Maple Leafs' Ed Olczyk while teammate Wendel Clark looks on during first period action of their NHL playoff game in St. Louis. The NHL hasn't had best-of-five playoff series since 1986.
These expanded playoffs have plenty of links to that past, which is plenty evident in Quenneville's trademark white moustache. "I think that got to be a little bit concerned about those knowing that the next day's the next day," Quenneville said. "But you're only playing to win that game that you're in. So I think that's the focus in a short series. Momentum is a key. You always talk about doing the right things shift in, shift out, finding consistency in your game."
But what happens when it's too late to turn things around? Eddie Olczyk won and lost one best-of-five series early in his playing career with Chicago and remembers the nerves of being 18 and 19 years old in those moments. The Penguins, managed by best-of-five seasoned goaltender Jim Rutherford, face the Montreal Canadiens, whose GM Marc Bergevin was a teammate of Olczyk's in Chicago in the mid-'80s. Columbus, whose assistant Brad Shaw played eight games with the 1985-86 Whalers, faces the Toronto Maple Leafs in the other Eastern Conference series.
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