As we sit in the middle of the second round of the NHL playoffs, there have been many surprises and disappointments. Every year teams that make the playoffs have to make adjustments to the tighter, more intense hockey that is played, and with that players that haven’t had great regular seasons rise up like Chris Kontos in ’88 and John Druce in ’90. There are also stars that suddenly go missing like Marian Gaborik did in the first round this year. Classically there’s usually lots of San Jose Sharks on the underachiever list that has seen Joe Thornton head it many times, but Thornton and the Sharks have had a good playoffs so far, that may see them go back to the Western Conference Final. We’ll look at some of the over and underachievers for the teams in the second round of the playoffs.

Overachievers

Sean Bergenheim / Steve Downie – Tampa Bay Lightning

Ever since Game 5 in the first round against the Pittsburgh Penguins, in which they won 8-2, the Tampa Bay Lightning have rattled off 7 straight wins. They’ve won games with a strict system that coach Guy Boucher employs, and they’ve gotten contributions by not only their top players in Lecavalier, St. Louis, and Stamkos, but by some surprising contributions from a couple former 1st round picks. Bergenheim and Downie didn’t really have remarkable seasons yet somehow have been the key to the Lightning’s secondary scoring. Bergenheim scored 14 goals this year in 80 games, but so far these playoffs he has 7 in 11, which is tied for the league lead. Downie’s career high in points was 46, but this year he’s at more than a point a game pace, while being a incredible menace when he’s on the ice.

Brad Marchand / Chris Kelly – Boston Bruins

The Bruins haven’t had to rely on lights out goaltending by Tim Thomas so far these playoffs, but it’s largely been do to the play of the bottom 2 so called grinder lines. Brad Marchand has played a typical playoff style, but he’s been able to get 10 points in 10 games coming off a season in which he only scored 41 in 77. Chris Kelly is turning out to be one of the best deadline deal pickups, as he flew the sinking Ottawa Senators ship to join the Bruins where he’s chipped in with 7 points playing sometimes on the Bruins 4th line.

Underachievers

Nicklas Backstrom

There are many fingers to point at in assessing yet another disappointing playoff for the Washington Capitals, but look no further than Nicklas Backstrom. A former 100 point scorer took a bit of a dip this year, but so did every Capital as they adapted to a more defensive style. Alex Ovechkin had a decent playoff run, but it could have been so much better if his centre showed up to play, as Backstrom was only able to manage 2 assists the entire playoffs before they were eliminated. That’s not good news for the Washington Capitals going forward as they have him signed until 2020 at a cap hit of 6.7 million dollars. Yikes.

Milan Lucic

While many underachievers are usually found on the losing teams in the playoffs, in the case of Milan Lucic it shows that that’s not always the case. It may not be an issue now while the Bruins are on the verge on the Eastern Conference Final, but it may soon. Lucic broke out with 30 goals this year, and going into the hard checking playoffs, many thought Lucic would thrive. He’s only been able to manage 3 assists so far, which has been good enough for the Bruins so far, but for how long?

Henrik Sedin

There were many question marks for the Sedin’s heading into the playoffs for the President’s Cup Trophy winners. Sedin is coming off a Hart Trophy season, but 5 points in 10 games isn’t very reflective of the former best player in the league. Like Lucic, as long as the Canucks keep winning it won’t be a problem, but if they start to run into problems, all the fingers will go back to them as they usually do.