NHL Playoff Preview and Predictions

The NHL playoffs begin this evening in Winnipeg, Manitoba with the President’s Trophy winning Winnipeg Jets hosting the St. Louis Blues. In one of the least talked about series the Jets and Connor Hellebuyck will look to shake off the playoff yips that have scarred the team’s past appearances. The Blues are coming in with a tremendous record down the stretch to beat out the Calgary Flames to the last playoff spot and have plenty of big game experience to cause issues for the Jets.

Why the NHL has not added the all-Canadian matchup of Ottawa-Toronto is in my opinion a travesty to starve Canadian fans of the rivalry on a Hockey Night in Canada Saturday. The Battle of Ontario provides the best storylines of this year’s first round matchups. The young, feisty Senators team lacks playoff experience to their provincial counterpart, but they managed to sweep the season series versus this Leafs team. The Leafs have expectations at an all-time high, winning the ultra-competitive Atlantic division and a core that has uncertain swirling around if they all stick together after this season, the Leafs are in a situation where this series feels like a can’t lose scenario. This Senators team is much different from their past playoff appearance in 2017 where they lost in a heartbreaker to Chris Kunitz and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Sens will be looking to play spoiler and bring that youthful tenacity of Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle paired with former Bruins’ goalie Linus Ullmark who has a successful past against the Maple Leafs.

The Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars square off in the late game this evening as Mikko Rantanen faces off against his former team in a highly anticipated series. Having these two Stanley Cup favourites playing in the first round is egregious and highlights why the NHL should get rid of the division-based playoff system.

Looking to the Eastern Conference you can see the same issue arising with the Battle of Florida pitting the Tampa Bay Lightning against the defending champion, Florida Panthers. The path through the Atlantic division portion of the bracket is a gauntlet, while the Metropolitan division path is much easier as they had multiple teams limp into the playoff picture.

Carolina, New Jersey, and Montreal all finished with less points than the Flames who missed out on the playoffs in the Western Conference tying the record for the most points by a team to miss the playoffs in a season. Carolina and New Jersey will play each other in a rather uneventful first round matchup that will see two struggling teams battle for a chance to continue playing for the cup. New Jersey has some key injuries that a healthy Carolina team will look to exploit.

The Montreal Canadiens were not expected to make the playoffs this year, but a late season push saw the young team, captained by Nick Suzuki, overcome a few late season hiccups to clinch the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference where they will take on Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. Not an easy task but this Habs team is hot right now and are playing with house money at this point, so look for them to put up a fight in their first playoff appearance since they lost franchise goaltender Carey Price.

Lastly, we have the Vegas Golden Knights versus the Minnesota Wild. The Wild struggled mightily in the second half of the season and are just getting back to full health to start these playoffs. Vegas is not the place you want to play in the playoffs, and it’ll be a tough task for this Wild team looking to have legendary goalie Marc-André Fleury ride of into the sunset with another Stanley Cup to his name, as the Canadian shot-stopper has announced he will retire after this year.

Predictions

Eastern Conference

First Round

Ottawa Senators beating the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games: This prediction is purely based on my heart being broken by this Leafs team too many times. I think the likes of Tkachuk and Ullmark will wreak havoc on the Leafs whose playoff woes continue.

Florida Panthers beating the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games: The reigning Stanley Cup champions kept most of their core from the cup victory and added elite talent at the deadline. A potential line of Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Brad Marchand should strike fear into any opponent the Panthers face this postseason.

Montreal Canadiens over the Washington Capitals in six games: The Capitals do not inspire confidence with their final stretch of the season. With Logan Thompson questionable for this series and not having played since April 2nd, the Canadiens should capitalize on a team starting Charlie Lindgren in net, who has not looked good since Thompson’s injury. The Canadiens have nothing to lose and should be playing freely, as the Capitals have a looming sense of urgency with Ovechkin’s playing days coming to an end.

Carolina Hurricanes over the New Jersey Devils in five games: The Devils are without star player Jack Hughes and have limped into the playoffs tied for the worst point total of any team to make the playoffs this season. The Hurricanes have a very deep team but have had question marks in net late in the year and ever since they traded for and then traded away Rantanen, the offence has not gelled the way Rod Brind’Amour would like.

Western Conference

First Round

Winnipeg Jets over the St. Louis Blues in six games: The Jets depth and goaltending is superior to the Blues; the only question that remains is can Hellebuyck show up when the lights are brightest for his team?

Colorado Avalanche over the Dallas Stars in six games: The Rantanen series has lost a little appeal due to some recent injuries, but the former Avalanche star now looks across the bench to see his former teammates in a series of heavyweights. The Stars took a blow in the last game of the season with Jason Robertson going down with injury. Already without star defenceman Miro Heiskanen, the Stars are suffering some key losses at the worst time. The Avs on the other hand have reinforcements in the way of captain Gabriel Landeskog back after almost two years. The Swedish star, scored in his short rehab stint in the AHL and will look to inject some energy into the Avs lineup when these teams play Saturday.

Vegas Golden Knights over the Minnesota Wild in four games: The Golden Knights are Gary Bettman’s baby. The expansion franchise set an NHL record for the least amount of penalty minutes in the regular season with under 200 minutes, so this team is disciplined and ready to go. The Wild on the other hand, have had a horrendous second half with plenty of ups and downs. The home ice advantage in Vegas is something that many teams struggle with, and the Wild just do not have it in them for a long playoff run.

Los Angeles Kings over the Edmonton Oilers in seven games: Stop me if you have heard this before, but the Kings and Oilers will square off in the first round of the playoffs this year. For the fourth straight year these teams will battle it out. The Oilers have taken all three series matchups, but this year feels different. The Oilers are banged up and the Kings have home ice advantage that has proved critical for the team this year posting an NHL best record at home this season. The Kings will look to the Stanley Cup pedigree of Darcy Kuemper in net to stymie an Oilers offence that has superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl hungry to make it back to the finals.

Rest of the playoffs

Panthers beat Senators in five games.

Hurricanes beat Canadiens in six games.

Avalanche beat Jets in six games.

Kings beat Golden Knights in six games.

Conference Finals

Panthers beat Hurricanes in five games.

Avalanche beat Kings in seven games.

Stanley Cup Final

Avalanche beat Panthers in seven games.