The NHL playoffs are ready to face off this Wednesday, April 10th as 16 teams will be fighting it out for the Stanley Cup. Let’s take a quick look at who’s playing who and each club’s chances of moving on to the second round.
Eastern Conference
Tampa Bay Lightning vs Columbus Blue Jackets
The Lightning locked up their playoff spot long ago as the top team in the NHL and Atlantic Division champions. Their 62 wins tied a league record and forward Nikita Kucherov won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer with 128 points. In addition, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy led the league in wins with 39. Columbus made the playoffs on the last weekend of the season as the second wildcard team in the East. The club acquired pending free agent forwards Ryan Dzingel and Matt Duchene at the trade deadline and also hung onto their own pending free agent stars in forward Artemi Panarin and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who led the league with nine shutouts. Tampa Bay won all three games in the season series and should be able to take care of Columbus in the first round of the playoffs, but it won’t be a cakewalk.
Boston Bruins vs Toronto Maple Leafs
The Bruins finished second in the Atlantic Division while the Leafs weren’t far behind in third. The teams have met twice in the postseason in recent years with Toronto blowing a lead in the third period of game seven on both occasions. When the teams met last season the Bruins’ line of David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand combined for 30 points in the series as the Leafs simply couldn’t contain them. However, defenceman Jake Muzzin and forward John Tavares have been added to Toronto’s lineup over the past year and that could make a difference. The Leafs have plenty of offence, but struggle defensively and that’s why Boston won the season series three games to one. The Leafs haven’t played well down the stretch and Boston is favoured to advance in a relatively long series.
Washington Capitals vs Carolina Hurricanes
The Capitals won the Metropolitan Division again this season and are of course the defending Stanley Cup champions. Sniper Alexander Ovechkin led the league in goals for a record-setting eighth time with 51 and the Hurricanes finally ended a nine-year postseason drought this year. Carolina was one of the hottest teams in the league during the second half of the season with a record of 31-12-2 and locked up the conference’s first wildcard spot. Carolina has a good mix of veterans and youth, but they failed to beat Washington in four tries during the regular season. The Stanley Cup champions should advance, but Carolina will keep the games and series close.
New York Islanders vs Pittsburgh Penguins
The Islanders placed second in the Metropolitan Division with the Penguins coming in third. Barry Trotz took over as head coach of the Islanders this season and turned the league’s worst defensive team in 2078/18 into one of the best this year. Goaltender’s Robin Lehner and Thomas Greiss each had remarkable campaigns to make up for the team’s lack of offence. The Penguins big guns include Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby and it will be interesting to see if the Islanders can contain them. The Islanders went 2-1-1 against Pittsburgh in the season series and if they can score enough goals may pull off a mild upset here.
Western Conference
Calgary Flames vs Colorado Avalanche
The Flames won the Western Conference for the first time since 1988-89, when they won their only Stanley Cup. Bill Peters took over as head coach and was fortunate enough to have an offensively-loaded squad led by Johnny Gaudreau’s 99 points. Captain Mark Giordano leads the defence and chipped in with 74 points. The big question mark is the team’s goaltending which consists of Mike Smith and David Rittich. Colorado had injuries to deal with late in the season, but clinched the West’s second wildcard spot in the last week. The status of forward Mikko Rantanen is unclear, but Colorado’s chances fade if he can’t play. Colorado also has their fair share of scorers with Nathan MacKinnon tying Gaudreau at 99 points. Colorado didn’t beat Calgary in their three regular-season games and won’t be able to beat them four times to win this series.
San Jose Sharks vs Vegas Golden Knights
The Sharks and Golden Knights finished in second and third place respectively in the Pacific Division. The Sharks have two Norris Trophy-winning blue liners in Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson with Burns leading the league in assists and points for defencemen this season with 67 and 83. However, Karlsson only returned to the lineup from injury in the last game of the season. Vegas added veteran forwards Max Pacioretty, Mark Stone and Paul Stastny over the past year and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury posted eight shutouts. Vegas eliminated San Jose in last year’s playoffs on their way to the Stanley Cup Final and went 2-1-1 in the regular season this year. The Sharks’ goaltending was sub par this season and that may see them knocked out once again by Vegas.
Nashville Predators vs Dallas Stars
Nashville won the Central Division on the last day of the season while Dallas took the first wildcard spot in the West in the last week. Nashville has one of the best blue lines in the league with rearguards Ryan Ellis, P.K. Subban, Mattias Ekhlom and Roman Josi while the offence is led by Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson. However, Dallas netminder Ben Bishop led the league in save percentage this year at 93.4. Dallas also has some offence in Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. Nashville went 3-2 against Dallas in the regular season with just one win coming in regulation time. This should be another close series with Nashville winning it.
Winnipeg Jets vs St. Louis Blues
Winnipeg finished second in the Central Division with the Blues right behind them. The Jets are led offensively by Patrik Laine, Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele, but Connor Hellebuyck has struggled slightly in net. The Blues have offence in Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko and rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington’s 1.89 goals-against average led the league while posting a record of 24-5-1 and a save percentage of 92.7. The Blues were last in the league on January 1st and then caught fire when Binnington was called up from the AHL. Winnipeg went 3-1 in the regular season against St. Louis with two wins coming in regulation time. The Jets have faltered lately while the Blues remained hot and St. Louis should win a tough series.