It’s Playoff Time In Nhl; Forget Regular Season At This Time Of Year, Fights, Ties Are Out; Hot Goalies, Injured Stars Playing Are In

So you’ve seen 82 games of regular-season hockey and you like what you saw. You can’t wait to get more of the same in the playoffs.

Well, forget it. You are now entering the world of postseason hockey. We’re not saying it’s a completely different product. They still use ice and skates and sticks and pucks. But there are some obvious differences.

Remember all the fights? Forget it.

Remember the alternating goalies? Forget it.

Remember playing for the tie in overtime? Forget it.

Remember your favorite player sitting out with a groin injury? Forget it.

Being presented with his own death certificate wouldn’t keep a hockey player out of a postseason game. It’s all different in the playoffs.

Fighting off an urge

As recently as the early 1980s, fighting was still a big part of playoff hockey. Some fans may remember the Broad Street Bullies in Philadelphia or the up-and-coming New York Islanders and their five-on-five brawls with the Boston Bruins. The Islanders had to prove they would not be intimidated in the postseason.

But fighting is no longer a part of the playoffs. With goalies so good and shooters so accurate, teams can’t afford to put opponents on the power play. Sure, there are occasional fights, but the goons do a lot of sitting in the postseason.

More important in the playoffs is antagonizing. Pure punchers aren’t needed, but pests are. Claude Lemieux in Colorado, Ulf Samuelsson in New York, Kris King in Phoenix - players who can get under the skin of an opponent and draw penalties without going to the box themselves … every team wants one of those.

Hot goalies in spotlight

In the regular season, goalies are rested. In the playoffs, the hot goalie is ridden until he drops.

Colorado, last season’s champion, needed 22 games to win the Cup, and Patrick Roy played in all but 1 minute of those 22. New Jersey won the Cup in 20 games in 1995, and Martin Brodeur played in all 20. The Rangers won it in 23 games in 1994, and Mike Richter was the goalie in all 23. And Roy played all 20 of the games Montreal needed to win in 1993.

There is one aspect of goaltending that is different in the playoffs than the regular season. Most coaches have a quick hook in the playoffs. Look for goalies to be pulled after two or three quick goals. In a best-of-seven series, coaches don’t have the luxury of time.

Aggressive in OT

Look at the regular-season standings. Florida has 19 ties. Detroit has 18. What’s that all about, you ask?

It’s about teams looking to dump the puck out of their zone for 5 minutes and play for the one point earned with a tie.

That doesn’t make it in the playoffs. First of all, overtime is 20 minutes. And they play 20-minute OT periods until someone scores.

Teams that are accustomed to playing aggressively in overtime have the edge when it comes to the extra period in the playoffs.

Injured, not out

A funny thing happens to players in the playoffs. They don’t get injured like they do in the regular season.

Groin pull? Play through it. Laceration? Stitch it up and get back out there for the next shift.

In 1964, Bobby Baun was a defenseman for the Maple Leafs, who were playing the Detroit Red Wings in a best-of-seven series. In the third period of Game 6, Baun was carried from the ice on a stretcher with a broken ankle.

He went to the locker room. The game went to overtime. The trainer “froze” the broken ankle. Baun returned and scored the winning goal on a shot from the point.

Even when players must go out injured, miraculous things can happen. In 1928, in the second period of the second game of a best-of-three series between the Rangers and the Montreal Maroons, New York goalie Lorne Chabot was hit in the left eye by a Nels Stewart shot.

Chabot could not play. The Rangers had no spare goalie, and the Maroons would not let an NHL goalie, sitting in the stands, suit up for New York.

So 44-year-old Lester Patrick, the coach of the Rangers, suited up. He preserved a 1-1 tie, and the Rangers eventually won in overtime. The Rangers also won the series.

Clean as a whistle

Under normal circumstances, the officiating changes dramatically in the playoffs. Referees allow more marginal infractions - holding, hooking, interference.

This postseason will be different, though. Referees, on the directive of the league, have been allowing the marginal stuff to go all season. That has drawn the ire of star players such as Mario Lemieux, Joe Sakic, Wayne Gretzky and Mike Modano. They believe fans want a more wide-open game. That has not been the case this season. Players who normally score 50 to 60 goals are scoring 35 to 45.

This postseason, expect to see less of a swing in the officiating. In the first period, referees are more likely to call a close game. In the second period, they are less likely to call marginal penalties. In the third period, they will swallow their whistles.

An interesting aspect to watch for then: with less of a swing in the style of officiating, there should be less of a chance for upsets.

The Red Wings, who benefited from a lot of power-play opportunities in regular seasons past, didn’t get a lot of man-advantages in the postseason.

This season, Colorado, Dallas and Philadelphia should benefit if the officiating consistency carries over to the postseason.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: OPENERS All Times PDT Wednesday, April 16 St. Louis at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. Edmonton at Dallas, 5 p.m. Chicago at Colorado, 5:30 p.m. Phoenix at Anaheim, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 17 Montreal at New Jersey, 4:30 p.m. Ottawa at Buffalo, 4:30 p.m. Pittsburgh at Philadelphia, 4:30 p.m. N.Y. Rangers at Florida, 4:30 p.m.