nhl playoffs – Page 3 – CanucksBanter

Photo: nhl.com

By NHL Public Relations

April 13, 2023

With just two more nights and 17 games of regular-season action left in 2022-23, the NHL enters a loaded 15-game slate still looking to determine seven of eight First Round matchups and three division winners.

From the 7 p.m. ET starts to ESPN’s Golden Knights-Kraken broadcast at 10:30 p.m. ET, there will be games that impact playoff positioning from start to finish Thursday.

Photo: nhl.com

Division Crowns Still Up For Grabs

The 2023 Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins are the only team to have clinched their division thus far, but the Metropolitan, Central and Pacific Division crowns are still up for grabs along with the Western Conference title.

* The Hurricanes (51-21-9, 111 points) control their own destiny – a win in any fashion will secure them the Metropolitan Division title. They could also end the season as the division’s No. 1 seed if they get one point AND the Devils lose to the Capitals in any fashion, OR if the Devils lose in regulation.

* The Devils (51-22-8, 110 points), on the other hand, can grab the Metropolitan Division title if they defeat the Capitals in any fashion AND the Hurricanes lose to the Panthers in any fashion, OR if they get one point vs. the Capitals AND the Hurricanes lose to the Panthers in regulation.

* Should Vegas (50-22-9, 109) salvage at least one point from its matchup Thursday, it will capture its third division title in the franchise’s six-year history.

The Golden Knights would clinch No. 1 in the Pacific if the Oilers lose to the Sharks in any fashion.

The second-place Oilers (49-23-9, 107 points) also have a shot through the regulation wins tiebreaker if they win in any fashion and the Golden Knights lose in regulation.

The winner of the Pacific Division will also claim top spot in the Western Conference.

* The Central Division has been a three-team race for months, with Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota all holding the top seed at some point since April 1.

Entering play today, it will all come down to the defending champion Avalanche (49-24-7, 105 points), who have two games remaining, and the Stars (46-21-14, 106 points), who conclude their season tonight.

Colorado will look to claim their division title for three consecutive seasons for the first time since a nine-season run from 1994-95 to 2002-03, while the Stars will look to finish the campaign as their division’s top seed for the first time in seven years (2015-16 Central Division).

* The Avalanche will clinch the Central Division if they defeat the Jets in any fashion AND the Stars lose to the Blues in regulation. For the Stars, they will clinch the Central Division if they defeat the Blues in any fashion AND the Avalanche lose to the Jets in any fashion, OR if they get one point vs. the Blues AND the Avalanche lose to the Jets in regulation.

* Should none of the scenarios presented above materialize, the battle for the Central Division crown will extend to the final day of the season Friday, when the Avalanche head to Nashville.

NHL Playoff First Round Matchups??

Eight First Round matchups will commence next week, but for seven of those series, the question remains: which teams will be facing off against one another?

With just two days remaining in the regular season, the only confirmed matchup is the Maple Leafs-Lightning. There are still 10 seeds that could be claimed by two or more different teams heading into Thursday.

* Two of tonight’s games could be First Round matchups once the regular-season dust settles: Carolina-Florida (7 p.m. ET on BSSO, BSFL, TVAS) and Vegas-Seattle (10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN).

* A preview of a potential First Round matchup between the two newest NHL franchises – the Golden Knights and Kraken – will air at 10:30 p.m. ET as the second half of an ESPN doubleheader.

Seattle will start their postseason in Vegas if they finish third in the Pacific Division and the Golden Knights finish as the division’s No. 2 seed.

* The Hurricanes have a number of potential opponents in the opening round of the 2023 postseason, including the Panthers, should the club finish atop the Metropolitan Division. Carolina and Florida, who have the second- and fifth-most regular-season wins since the start of the 2021-22 season, have never met in a playoff series.

Should Carolina finish No. 2, it would tee up the second straight postseason to feature the Hurricanes facing off against the Rangers after the two clubs clashed in the 2022 Second Round and ended in a New York Game 7 victory. All-time, the Hurricanes and Rangers have split their two playoff series meetings.

The Hurricanes could also end up facing the Islanders for the second time (4-0 W in 2019 R2).

* The Devils, who have the longest gap between playoff appearances among teams that have clinched so far in 2023 (four years), could face the Rangers or Panthers in the opening round.

Both the Rangers and Panthers would mark the franchise’s first playoff series against that opponent since 2012, when New Jersey triumphed over Florida in the Conference Quarterfinals via a double overtime goal by Adam Henrique before facing New York in the Conference Finals – where Henrique once again clinched the series in the extra frame but this time in Game 6.

Source: NHL Morning Skate – April 13, 2023

Atlantic Division Wins 2023 All-Star Competition (Photo: NHL)

By STEPHEN WHYNO Associated Press

February 5, 2023

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Bruce Cassidy’s Vegas Golden Knights lost eight of 10 games going into the All-Star break after leading the Pacific Division at the midway point of the NHL season.

They’re still safely in a playoff spot in the Western Conference, but they can’t keep it up.

“We’re still in a good position — that’s the way we look at it,” Cassidy said. “There’s not too many teams that can cruise home the last 30 games in this league, and we’re certainly not one of them.”

Cassidy’s old team, the Boston Bruins, probably could. They’re atop the NHL and running away with the Atlantic Division.

With 39 wins and 83 points through 51 games, Boston is on pace to break the record for the best regular season in NHL history. The Carolina Hurricanes, who beat Boston in seven games in the first round last year, are next in the standings at 76 points.

“Top to bottom, there’s no weaknesses,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said.

The Bruins are in a class of their own, but the playoff races behind them in the East and West should be hot down the stretch with roughly 30 games to go before the chase for the Stanley Cup begins.

METROPOLITAN DIVISION

The Hurricanes rode a seven-game winning streak into the break, putting some fear into the Bruins in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy and home-ice advantage through the postseason. Winger Max Pacioretty re-tearing his right Achilles tendon five games into his return didn’t slow them down, and if their goaltending holds up, Carolina stands a good chance of reaching the East final.

“This team, it’s a special group of guys,” said Brind’Amour, who captained Carolina to the Cup in 2006 and is in his fifth year as coach. “We kind of show that nightly. It’s just very consistent, and they take their job real serious. They do it right.”

The second-place New Jersey Devils are contending for the first time since 2018. Bottoming out the next season helped them win the lottery for No. 1 pick Jack Hughes, a two-time All-Star who has them winning ahead of schedule.

“Much better than being out of the mix,” Hughes said. “We’re really excited because it’s going to be a lot of important hockey, and it’s going to be really competitive and we’re really pumped to be where we are.”

They’re followed by the New York Rangers, Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders. All three New York-area teams could make it, which was the expectation for the Rangers after reaching the East final last year.

“I think the run last year really taught us a few things and stuff that we obviously could build on for the rest of this year,” 2021 Norris-Trophy winning defenseman Adam Fox said.

ATLANTIC

The Rangers lost to the Lightning in six games last spring, when two-time champion Tampa Bay reached the Stanley Cup Final for the third consecutive season before getting beat by the Colorado Avalanche.

The Lightning are almost certain to face the Toronto Maple Leafs — who haven’t won a playoff series since the NHL salary cap era began in 2005 — in the first round and remain a threat to the Bruins.

But Boston has separated itself despite starting the season without top left winger Brad Marchand and No. 1 defenseman Charlie McAvoy. The Bruins have lost only 12 games under new coach Jim Montgomery.

“You just keep winning,” said All-Star right winger David Pastrnak, who’s tied for third in the league in scoring. “Every single line and every single guy is going and it obviously builds our confidence. It’s funny sometimes what confidence can do in hockey.”

The Islanders should have some more confidence after acquiring 30-goal scorer Bo Horvat from Vancouver, but still need to make up ground to get in.

CENTRAL

Defending champion Colorado climbed in the standings — winning seven of eight going into the break despite an injury-riddled first half of the season. Captain Gabriel Landeskog still has not made his season debut since undergoing knee surgery. It would be foolish to bet against the Avs coming out of the West again.

“It’s up to us: We control our own fate,” All-Star center Nathan MacKinnon said. “We need to definitely keep playing the way we were before the break. No matter who’s in the lineup we were playing well, playing hard, so it would definitely help with healthy bodies.”

They still trail the Dallas Stars, Winnipeg Jets and Minnesota Wild in the Central, and the Nashville Predators are on their heels. Only the Stars and Jets are essentially guaranteed a spot.

“Every point, you grind for it,” Stars leading scorer Jason Robertson said. “Every point’s going to be a dog fight, so it’s going to be a fun 30 games down the stretch.”

PACIFIC

Undisputed MVP favorite Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers, who were swept by Colorado in the West final, have a little bit of catching up to do in the Pacific Division.

The top spot is held by the Seattle Kraken, who surprisingly are on pace to make the playoffs in their second season but still need to fend off the Los Angeles Kings and the Vegas Golden Knights.

Edmonton — and the Battle of Alberta rival Calgary Flames — have the talent to not only get in but make a run. McDavid leads the league with 41 goals and 92 points, 16 more than No. 2 scorer and teammate Leon Draisaitl, and is producing unlike anyone since Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux in the mid-1990s.

Now he’ll try to carry the Oilers into the playoffs and beyond.

“It hasn’t been easy at all for our group. We’ve kind of had to battle for everything that we’ve got,” McDavid said. “We’ve always been a second-half team for whatever reason. Even since my first year, we’ve always been better in the second half, so we’ll definitely look to continue that. That being said, we’re not going to hang our hat on that and expect that to carry us to the playoffs. There’s a lot of work to be done.”