After six weeks of hopeful excitement that his New Jersey Devils would face the New York Rangers in the opening round of the playoffs, Erik Haula had a simple, sarcastic statement: “Here we are.”
And the playoffs are finally here.
Devils vs. Rangers in another chapter of their bitterness Rivalry on the Hudson River is one of the juiciest of the eight first-round matchups, two of which took the final game of the regular season to determine.
The Eastern Conference is set, with the NHL Best Boston Bruins against the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division, along with the Rangers-Devils and the Carolina Hurricanes against the New York Islanders on the Metropolitan side.
In the West, MVP favorite Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers take on the Los Angeles Kings, and Pacific Division champion Vegas Golden Knights take on the Winnipeg Jets. Defending champion Colorado Avalanche finished first in the Central Division and opened their Stanley Cup defense against the Seattle Kraken, while the Dallas Stars will take on the Minnesota Wild.
The hunt for the trophy begins on Monday.
BRUINS PANTHER
Game 1: Monday in Boston.
The Bruins set league records with 65 wins and 135 points, and rode away with the Presidents’ Trophy and home ice during the playoffs. Goalkeeper Jeremy Swayman said of the winning record: “It’s a feather in our cap but we have a bigger goal in mind.”
Boston has it all, from 61-scorer David Pastrnak and elite two-way center Patrice Bergeron to top defender Charlie McAvoy and likely Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark.
Florida finished 30 points down from a year ago. but thanks to a late rise behind gregarious goaltender Alex Lyon, the Panthers came into play as a second wild card. Few NHL playoff series are easy to win, however the Bruins are strong favorites.
MAPLE LEAVES – LIGHTNING
Game 1: Tuesday in Toronto.
This tantalizing matchup, which has been deadlocked for some time, is a replay of last year’s first round when the Lightning won after trailing 3-2 in the series in seven games.
Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly are yet to win a Toronto playoff series. The Lightning have the playoff pedigree and the world’s best goaltender in Andrei Vasilevskiy, but they’ve also played so much hockey because they’ve made three finals appearances — and two wins — since fall 2020.
Toronto is preferred according to FanDuel Sportsbook. On paper, the team, which added 2019 Stanley Cup winner and playoff MVP Ryan O’Reilly among multiple trade deadline pickups, is better than Tampa Bay and seems poised to move on.
DEVIL RANGER
Game 1: Tuesday in New Jersey.
The Devils have won three of the four teams’ games this season and their speed presents a challenge for Rangers. Jack Hughes is in the playoffs for the first time and after a 99-point season leads the Devils to win the Cup -Signed veteran Ondrej Palat.
New York is benefiting from the experience of a run to the East Finals last year, adding Cup winner Patrick Kane Vladimir Tarasenko at the close of trading.
Rangers also have the X Factor advantage at the net with reigning Vezina winner Igor Shesterkin. New Jersey’s Vitek Vanecek needs to be better than in the postseason for Washington; If he plays like he did earlier in the season, it could help the Devils move forward.
HURRICANES ISLANDERS
Game 1: Monday at Carolina.
The Hurricanes lost forward Max Pacioretty And Andrei Shchnikov Season-ending injuries and still won the division for the third straight year. They finally want to break through after consecutive second-round exits.
The first test is the islanders, who are back in the playoffs after a year’s absence. Like a good friend and fellow Russian Shesterkin, the Islanders goalkeeper Ilya Sorokin could steal a series.
Carolina leads the league in goals scored by defenders, led by Brent Burns, who was transferred offseason. Well coached by Rod Brind’Amour, the Hurricanes could have one of three goalies in goal: Frederik Andersen, Antti Raanta or young Pytor Kotchetkov.
OILER KINGS
Game 1: Monday in Edmonton.
McDavid and the Oilers fought back from a 3-2 series deficit to beat the Kings in the first round last year and since Bringing defender Mattias Ekholm into play at the close were better at keeping the puck out of the net. Rookie goalie Stuart Skinner is still being tested by veteran Kings players like Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty.
Los Angeles threw off two-time Cup winners goalie Jonathan Quick for Joonas Korpisalo, and the Kings topped their troubles despite an .892 team save percentage that’s the fifth-worst in the league. That’s a striking stat for a team poised to take on the Oilers.
Edmonton is on a nine-game win streak, including two wins over the Kings, and could be the West’s class thanks to McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and their newfound balance.
GOLDEN KNIGHT JETS
Game 1: Tuesday in Vegas.
In their first season under Bruce Cassidy as coach and with Jack Eichel in good health, the Golden Knights are back in the playoffs. They’ve made the playoffs five out of six seasons since their inception – and this season they’re impressive no matter what goalie they have at the net.
Winnipeg looked safe until a late-season faint put that in jeopardy. The Jets up front and in defense will likely struggle against Vegas, but like so many lower-ranked teams, they can win if Connor Hellebuyck dominates at the net.
AVALANCHE KRAKEN
Game 1: Tuesday in Colorado
The Champions won the Central Division despite playing the entire season without captain Gabriel Landeskog, and long stretches missing from playoff MVP Cale Makar, center No. 1 Nathan MacKinnon and others.
In the playoffs in their second season, the Kraken beat Colorado in two of three matches that season, and the Avalanche’s only win came in a shootout. This is the reason for the Kraken’s optimism.
But the Avalanche still have much of their Cup-winning core together, plus manager Jared Bednar. Underestimate them at your peril because another long run in Denver is entirely possible.
STAR WILD
Game 1: Monday in Dallas
The former Minnesota team versus the current Minnesota team is also a showdown between two of the sport’s breakout stars: Jason Robertson of the Stars and Kirill Kaprizov of the Wild. Robertson scored a career-high 46 goals and broke Mike Modano’s franchise scoring record, while Kaprizov scored 40 goals despite missing several through injury.
If Jake Oettinger can match his game in the first round last year when he stopped 272 of 285 shots against Calgary, Dallas could have a long run.
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Follow AP Hockey writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno
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