This week, Sergei Bobrovsky put up his fifth career playoff shutout as Florida squared its affair with Toronto; a controversial game-winning goal allowed Dallas to take the lead over Winnipeg; and Aleksander Barkov is expected to be okay after getting leveled by Max Domi. Other Fantasy hockey related stories we’re tracking include…

The Annoyingly Successful Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights have never known true suffering. In their eight-year existence, the worst season they’ve endured was in 2021-22 – the team’s only non-playoff season, despite a still robust 94-point total. Oh boo hoo!

As defending champions in 2023-24, Vegas “only” managed 45 wins and suffered a first-round defeat. The team has bounced back this season, winning 50 games and currently battling the Edmonton Oilers in the second round.

And with a 52.8 per cent probability to win this game, Vegas is poised to tie the series at two apiece.

Things always seem to break just right for Vegas. Take Game Three, for example, when overtime loomed, giving the Oilers are real chance to take a virtually insurmountable 3-0 lead in the series. Instead, a fluky goal by Reilly Smith with 0.4 seconds left gave the Knights the win and a huge swing in the series.

It was his second goal of the game and third of the postseason in what’s been a turnaround after a couple of down seasons. Smith had some of his most successful seasons with Vegas, but after being traded to the Penguins, things went downhill.

Last summer, he was dealt for the second straight offseason, this time to the Rangers, and it was again a rough go, and things didn’t improve after the deadline when he was traded again, this time back to Sin City. Smith managed just three goals in 21 games down the stretch, but has already matched that total in just nine playoff tilts.

Hell, even his dramatic winning goal needed reviewing before officials realized it went in. Smith’s first goal was also hugely important, tying the game at 2-2 before the end of the opening period. By the way, the odds of Monday’s game reaching overtime and him scoring the winner in extra time is +12000 as per FanDuel.

A 2009 third round pick, Smith has never been a star, but is a highly useful all-situations player capable of providing consistent secondary scoring (at least before 2023-24, that is).

Waiver Wire Pick of the Week

Vasily Podkolzin, RW, Edmonton Oilers (ESPN: 0.8 per cent; CBS: 3 per cent): Podkolzin showed promise as a rookie, but hasn’t done much in the three seasons since. However, his ability to produce in these playoffs with very limited ice time is noteworthy. Tied for 12th in the playoffs in percentage of shifts started on the fly, Podkolzin had a goal and an assist in the Game Two win over Vegas and has managed a 1-5-6 line through nine playoff games despite averaging just 9:36 of playing time. In fact, he’s down over 3.5 minutes compared to what he got in the regular season, yet his production rate is way up. Go figure! Maybe Podkolzin deserves a bit more PT, and if it comes his way, he could be a great Fantasy pickup.

RotoRob Tune of the Day

After evolving out of a few different bands, the three original members (Roger Fisher, Steve Fossen and Ann Wilson) teamed with Nancy Wilson, Michael Derosier and Howard Leese to form Heart in 1975. Here they are, old as dirt, performing their classic “Barracuda” on The Tonight Show.