NHL playoff scores 2017: Logan Couture’s mangled mouth is a Sharks metaphor

Logan Couture took a puck to the mouth earlier this year. That sounds bad, right? The reality is worse. He says it hurts to breathe, and this description by The Mercury News is quite unpleasant.

His bottom teeth are being held together with wires. The top teeth have a plastic bond coating that keeps them from moving or falling out. Peering inside his mouth when he talks is like peering into a collapsed mine being propped up by temporary timber.

But Couture keeps playing. Pointless through his first two playoff games, Couture ditched the face-shield in favor of the traditional visor for Game 3. At first, it paid off.

Couture provided a spark early for the San Jose Sharks’ struggling power play, breaking through for his 30th career playoff goal and the start of a 7-0 rout by San Jose. But it didn’t take long to figure out just how brittle Couture really was.

One bump, a shrug, really, to the jaw by Connor McDavid sent Couture on a beeline to San Jose’s locker room. The pain from that little jostle was enough to make him hightail it for the hills. A hockey player. In the playoffs.

Most of Couture’s teeth are coming out in the offseason. Pulling teeth out would keep him out of the playoffs, and he can’t have that.

So you have the whole picture. A little nightmarish glimpse into the kind of resiliency not unique to Couture or the Sharks, but critical to their role in the playoffs at this stage. It’s a group of veterans who’ve given up so many years to playoff disappointments, no doubt passing on their qualities and passion to their younger teammates.

And all of those leaders emerged from a series slumber in that 7-0 win. Joe Thornton had an assist. Joe Pavelski scored twice. Patrick Marleau scored. Joel Ward, playoff role player extraordinaire, had two helpers. Martin Jones blanked the Edmonton Oilers.

And Logan Couture, he of teeth contraptions and a mouthful of collapsed mineshafts, scored twice. It’s only round one.

Rangers 2, Canadiens 1
Blue Jackets 5, Penguins 4
Sharks 7, Oilers 0

1.. Torts is rubbing off on the Jackets

The John Tortorella of the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs is unfamiliar. Even as his Blue Jackets fell behind, 3-0, to the defending champions, the usually red-faced coach had nothing but positive things to say about his team and where they were going. Before Game 4, he said the only thing he hoped for was for his players to be able to turn on the radio after the game, listen to sports talk in Columbus, and not feel bad about themselves. Win or lose.

Well. That attitude is infectious. Columbus played like a team ready to go down with pride and wound up with a 5-3 win. The series heads back to Pittsburgh.

2. Andrew Shaw can do tricks

3. The Rangers can win on home ice!

New York’s struggles at home come playoff time are well-known. They hadn’t won at Madison Square Garden in six playoff games, a lengthy streak for a team so used to its own friendly confines. But with a 2-1 win and series-tying victory at home on Wednesday, the Rangers can put that streak behind them.

Undoubtedly this moment. Seconds left on the clock. A Shea Weber slapshot from the point. The velocity on that thing as it screams through the air ...

... and hits metal. Brutal. Would’ve tied the game and given Montreal a real chance at a commanding 3-1 series lead. Instead, it’s just a jaw-dropping what-if moment.

Evgeni Malkin has to be the leader, though. Or Alexander Radulov.