The Biggest Lessons Learned in the 2014 NHL Playoffs So Far

What have we learned in the NHL playoffs so far?

Overtime is rampant, Game 7s are even more thrilling when there are three of them in one night, Tuukka Rask really must hate playing the Montreal Canadiens, and Milan Lucic is a little too cool with using his stick in a stabbing motion.

There are plenty of other items to take away from what has been a spectacular spring of playoff hockey so far. Here's a list of the biggest lessons we've learned so far.

The lessons are subjective and, like kindergarten, supposed to be a little fun.

Stats are current through games of May 8, and are all from NHL.com unless otherwise noted.

Steve Macfarlane has been covering the NHL for more than a decade, including seven seasons for the Calgary Sun. You can follow him on Twitter @MacfarlaneHKY.

Ben Bishop Should Have Been a Hart Trophy Finalist

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The Montreal Canadiens are a good team that finished just behind the Tampa Bay Lightning in the standings, but the fact the Bolts folded so quickly and easily in the first round was a testament to how important goaltender Ben Bishop was to the team. 

His late-season elbow injury kept him out of the playoffs. He had surgery on his wrist after the year was over, too.

Without Bishop, the Bolts were helpless after a gut-wrenching opening game of the series they lost in overtime. They lost Game 2 by a score of 4-1, Game 3 was 3-2 and the sweep came in Game 4 with a 4-3 Canadiens victory.

No doubt the Lightning needed more goals, but they sure couldn't stop them without their Vezina Trophy candidate between the pipes. Backup Anders Lindback allowed 14 goals in the four games, a 3.91 goals-against average, and had an .881 save percentage.

During the regular season, Bishop had a .924 save percentage and 2.23 goals-against average. He was easily the team's MVP, and by definition of the Hart Trophy voting description—the player judged to be most valuable to his team in the NHL—he should have received more votes.

No doubt he would have if the voting included the playoffs.

The Minnesota Wild Are Not a Boring Trap Team

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Contrary to the belief of many who still envision the Minnesota Wild under former head coach Jacques Lemaire—who schemed to clog up the neutral zone like a two-year-old stuffing toys in the toilet—these Wild players can score.

Adding some great offensive talent over the past couple of years with Zach Parise (who has four goals and 13 points through 10 games) and Jason Pominville, the Wild have also groomed the likes of Mikael Granlund and Charlie Coyle to great success so far this postseason. Mikko Koivu and Matt Moulson are threats who haven't yet lived up to their reputations.

They took a chance on New York Islanders castoff Nino Niederreiter, and the youngster has rewarded the Wild with some great games in the playoffs—most notably a two-goal, one-assist performance in Game 7 of the first-round upset over the Colorado Avalanche, in which he netted the overtime winner.

Even Dany Heatley has looked a little more like his former self with a goal and six points through eight games.

Don't get me wrong, the Wild can still play some stifling team defense in spite of their unheralded collection of blue liners behind stud Ryan Suter.

They don't dominate on the score sheet very often, averaging a ninth-best 2.90 goals per game through the playoffs as of May 8, and rely on timely goals. But according to ExtraSkater.com's numbers, they are the second-best possession team when the score is close while playing five-on-five.

The eyeball test says they're fun to watch, too.

There's No Limit to What Corey Perry Will Do to Rattle Opponents

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Corey Perry is a pest.

There, I said it. Wait, everyone already knew that?

Yes, the Anaheim Ducks winger is not only an incredible goal scorer, he's an incredible agitator. We've known that for years. So where's the lesson?

There are no limits to what he'll do, and during these playoffs he just continues to find new (or fresh) ways of getting under his opponents' skin.

The latest was a hilarious (or if you're Team Carter, annoying) moment on the benches when Perry grabbed a water bottle and gave it a good squeeze inside Los Angeles King Jeff Carter's glove while he was looking the other way.

He's also floated feet-first into Kings goalie Jonathan Quick, who got his own form of justice with a blocker shot to Perry's groin, and Perry of course gave out a shot of his own to Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn in the first round.

We'll give him some new creativity points for the water in the glove.

Drew Doughty Can Probably Score Points Whenever He Wants

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You get the feeling that Drew Doughty could be a point-per-game defenseman if he were playing under a different system.

He told me earlier this season he knew he wouldn't be among the Norris Trophy finalists and that in his current situation in Los Angeles he'd never put up the kinds of point totals needed to earn those votes.

He was right. The snub played out as expected.

But when the pressure is at its highest—like the Olympics or the playoffs—he somehow finds a way to consistently make a difference offensively without sacrificing his defensive responsibilities that head coach Darryl Sutter would quickly rectify if he did.

In Sochi, he scored four goals for Team Canada and six points in six games en route to a gold medal. Through Wednesday's games, he had a goal and eight points in nine contests in the postseason.

The leash hasn't been extended; Doughty just has the talent to be the best player on the ice on any given night. It's just not sustainable for a full season without cheating on his system play.

Rick Nash Has Jumped the Shark

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His worst regular season in a decade deter many from picking Rick Nash as a guy who could have a big playoff performance with the addition of Martin St. Louis meaning better potential matchups for him.

He looked decent early, too, netting four points—all assists—over the first three games against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Then things got awkward. He's now on an eight-game skid without a single point. The fans in New York are booing their big-money man, who was a force in the lockout-shortened season a year ago for the Blueshirts.

Even more puzzling is the fact Nash leads all NHLers in shots in the playoffs so far but has still gone this long without as much as a secondary assist.

His shots are too often being taken from the perimeter rather than the places he traditionally scores from, and his shooting percentage is suffering as a result.

So is his reputation.

The Sharks Have Jumped the Shark

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You have to commend the San Jose Sharks for being as good in the regular season as they have been for so many years.

They've had at least 100 points in eight of the last 10 seasons (including a pro-rated lockout-shortened season last year), and the other two campaigns saw 99 and 96 point totals. 

They've been to the playoffs for 10 straight years. But they haven't been to the Stanley Cup Final even once. Not even one time in all those years of greatness.

Granted, there is plenty of parity in the NHL, and they've been to the conference finals a few times, but the reputation of being toothless chokers in the postseason was taken to new heights in the first round.

They became the losing side in hockey history when the Los Angeles Kings won four straight games to bounce the Sharks after they piled up a three-game series lead over the Kings and needed just one more victory to get past the 2012 Stanley Cup champions.

It's probably time to make some sort of bold move there, and that could mean trading one of the veteran leaders in Patrick Marleau or Joe Thornton.

Sidney Crosby Is Effective Even When He's Not Scoring and May Be Injured

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Sidney Crosby was pretty effective even when playing with a suspected injury, or fatigue, or whatever seemed to be bothering him in the first-round series against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

He didn't suddenly become a slug after scoring 17 points more than his next-closest competitor in the regular season and after earning votes from the media and his peers to become a finalist for both the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award.

But something seemed wrong, and it probably wasn't just the pesky play of Blue Jackets shadow Brandon Dubinsky.

Still, he's managed to snap his goal-scoring slump and has nine points in 10 playoff games to sit tied for second on the team and tied for eighth in the league. Not bad for a guy who has seemed slow or tenuous at times.

Bleacher Report colleague Dave Lozo sure seems to think Crosby has carried much of the play in the second-round series against the Rangers, writing, "Outside of an abysmal performance in Game 1 of this series, Crosby has been carrying the play on every night and he was a commanding presence Sunday against the Rangers."

He even snapped his goal drought. Not bad for a guy who might not be playing at 100 percent.

The lesson? Always bank on a Crosby rebound.

Trade-Deadline Moves Are a Crapshoot

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Marian Gaborik has ignited Anze Kopitar's offensive production and has given the Los Angeles Kings all kinds of offensive momentum over the past couple of weeks. The former Columbus Blue Jackets underachiever has found a fit on the Kings' most talented trio.

Through the first three games of the Kings' second-round series against the Anaheim Ducks, Gaborik had a league-best six goals and is putting up a point per game. He's using his speed and skill and also avoiding hurting the team's defense-first mentality by, for the most part, being smart about his positioning without the puck.

He scored twice in the Game 4 victory that rallied the Kings to a comeback in the first round after falling behind 3-0 in the series and dominated with three goals and five points in the first three games of the second round.

Thomas Vanek was brought to Montreal to help the Canadiens earn goals from those hard-to-play regions around the opposition crease and has been doing exactly what is expected of him lately.

He scored twice and earned three points in the first three games against the Bruins, and he has proven to be a tough customer, too, coming back from a hit from teammate P.K. Subban and playing through a supposedly minor leg injury.

The 6'0", 217-pound winger has offered some size to a smaller roster.

The Habs' Mike Weaver might be the steal of the deadline, costing just a fifth-round draft pick in 2015. With 22 blocks through the first eight games, he's been a stellar defensive player who came cheap.

Ilya Bryzgalov has proven to be an important insurance measure for the Minnesota Wild goaltending position, although he's not about to steal the series against the Blackhawks.

Although acquired well before the deadline, Dale Weise has two game-winners for the Canadiens. And he plays on the fourth line.

On the other side of the coin, Martin St. Louis hasn't been the offensive dynamo the New York Rangers were hoping would propel them deep into the playoffs, and goalie Ryan Miller sure wasn't the difference-maker for the St. Louis Blues.

The Wild are also waiting for Matt Moulson to wake up. Maybe they should have traded for John Tavares, too, and set up a reunion.

P.K. Subban Is Going to Make a Whole Lot of Money on His Next Deal

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P.K. might as well stand for Payday Koming.

OK, bad spelling aside, 24-year-old Montreal Canadiens rearguard P.K. Subban is going to get a massive raise as a restricted free agent this summer.

He leads all defensemen in scoring in the playoffs with 11 points through eight games, has been throwing big body checks and playing massive minutes—over three more on average per game than he did in the regular season—while keeping his emotions in check and playing better in his own end than he did a year ago while winning the Norris Trophy.

The Habs didn't want to pay him big dollars when his contract expired two years ago, settling on a bridge deal that counted $2.875 million against the cap the past couple of seasons. They'll be on the hook for much more now.

The series against the Bruins alone has put Subban in the spotlight on a grand scale, and he's taking advantage of it. He scored six points in the first three games of the series and has been even better than counterpart Zdeno Chara, according to Don Cherry—who has previously slammed the confident blueliner on his Coach's Corner segment on CBC.

Los Angeles Kings star Drew Doughty makes $7 million a season, and the cap hit on Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter sits at $7,538,462. You can bet Subban will ask for—and receive—something in between there thanks to his incredible playoff performances.

Leads Are Not Safe

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One of the greatest statistics from this year's playoffs is the two-goal lead curse.

No lead is safe this spring.

In 11 of the 64 games played through Wednesday night, teams have come back from at least a two-goal deficit and won the game. That’s 17 percent of playoff games so far. It’s an astounding stat when you consider that last year the same thing happened just 9 percent of the time.

There’s really no way to explain it. Some teams just get more desperate and play better. Some teams stop playing the pressure and possession game that got them the lead in the first place. Often it’s a combination of the two that leads to the dramatic reversal.

Interestingly, seven of those have taken place in the Eastern Conference, with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets involved in four of them (each winning in comeback fashion twice in their first-round series).