The playoffs for the National Hockey League are here, with the Winnipeg Jets (55-22-4), Washington Capitals (51-21-9), Dallas Stars (50-25-6) Vegas Golden Knights (49-22-10) Toronto Maple Leafs (51-26-4) Los Angeles Kings (48-24-9) Tampa Bay Lightning (47-26-8) Colorado Avalanche (49-29-4) Carolina Hurricanes (47-28-5) Edmonton Oilers (47-29-5) Florida Panthers (47-31-4) Minnesota Wild (45-30-7) St. Louis Blues (44-30-8) Ottawa Senators (44-30-7) New Jersey Devils (42-32-7) Montréal Canadiens (39-31-11) securing a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs
With the first two playoff games going underway on Saturday, the teams playing first will be Winnipeg hosting St. Louis at Canada Life Centre and Dallas against Colorado at American Airlines Center.
Winnipeg did make the playoffs last season but then lost in the first playoff game against Colorado. This season, Winnipeg is the top team in the league, their roster consists of forwards Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele, who are mainly responsible for Winnipeg having such a great record in the league, along with Nikolaj Ehlers and Josh Morrissey.
Dallas has been in the playoffs for four consecutive years, last year going all the way to the Western Conference Final. This year, Dallas ranks fifth overall in the league, their best players consist of Mikko Rantanen, Matt Duchene and Jason Robertson.
While Dallas has a one point differential win between Colorado, it could be anyone’s game between those two teams. Winnipeg has a major advantage over St. Louis, because of their records this season, there’s a more clear vision than Winnipeg is going to advance to Round 2.
Teams playing on Sunday will be Toronto going against Ottawa, Vegas against Minnesota and Carolina against New Jersey. Toronto does have that advantage points-wise, and does Mitch Marner, who is the only person who was 90 points or higher in the team, Ottawa has Tim Stützle with just 76 points.
Vegas’ top scorer, Jack Eichel, with 94 points scored this season and Minnesota with Matt Boldy with 73 points. Vegas has the potential to advance to Round 2, but Minnesota has a small difference of games won, there still would be a chance where Minnesota leaps to Round 2 and Vegas doesn’t.
Carolina against New Jersey is too close to call who will be advancing, as their win record for the season is very close to one another. Carolina has Sebastian Aho with 74 career points this season, but having that vision of New Jersey moving up to Round 2 it doesn’t seem visible with their record.
On Monday, Montréal will be going against Washington and Los Angeles facing off against Edmonton. It’s a clear choice that Washington will be able to advance to Round 2 given their record. Los Angeles against Edmonton is a special one, since Edmonton made it to last year’s Stanley Cup Final. Edmonton did not win the cup, but there is hope for Edmonton making it far in the playoffs. Los Angeles being in the playoffs has a feeling of not belonging, like a team that is underrated but has a chance to go up to Round 2.
The returning champion of last year’s finals, Florida, going up against Tampa Bay on Tuesday. These two teams have the same record for games won, but putting Florida against Tampa Bay each other could mean that Florida can advance, given their Stanley cup win of last year.
While Florida has Sam Reinhart as their leading scorer with 81 points overall for the season, Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherof leading with 121 overall points in the season. Florida’s defense has to be top tier to knock Tampa Bay off of their road to the finals.
