Ask anybody who watches hockey where the NHL playoffs rank in terms of postseasons across professional sports, and they will assuredly have it in the top two. If you were not watching the first round of the 2023 playoffs, you missed some sensational matchups and moments. Thankfully, you have us to bring you up to speed…you’re welcome. Let’s recap a few of the biggest happenings in the inaugural round of this rendition of the NHL Playoffs.
Florida Panthers STUN the Boston Bruins in 7 games.
I don’t care who you are or how you feel about these two teams, there’s no way you wholeheartedly picked the Panthers to win this matchup. The Bruins are coming off the best regular season ever. EVER! They set multiple records in NHL history including single season wins (65), points (135), and became the first team to have five in-season winning streaks of 7+ games. And then came the playoffs. The teams split the first two games in Boston only for the B’s to win the next 2 games in Sunrise, thus capturing a 3-1 series lead. Series over…or so most of thought. Even when Florida won Game 5 in overtime, we all assumed it was too little too late. Wrong! Florida forced a Game 7 and then went into (the other) Garden and snatched the series – and the life, hopes, dreams and aspirations – from the team and the entire city of Boston. Oh, those plucky south Florida sports teams (hey, Miami Heat).
The Toronto Maple Leafs get over a hump.
17 seasons. 17 long, arduous, disappointing seasons. That’s how long the Maple Leaf faithful have been waiting for their beloved team to win a playoff series. Not a Stanley. A single series. Saturday night the wait ended as the Mapes took down the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6. It wasn’t easy by any means as all three wins secured by Toronto in Tampa came via overtime and two of them were comeback victories after trailing deep in the 3rd period. One could argue that the mileage of 3 straight cup runs finally caught up with the Bolts but that doesn’t take away from the fact the Leafs did what had to be done. A team, and country for that matter, that oozes hockey pride saw its best players lead from the front and get the proverbial monkey off their back. Matthews and Marner were and are dangerous as the Leafs keep skating in the 2023 postseason.
Somebody unleashed the Kraken.
Welcome to the postseason Seattle! The expansion Kraken have found their way into the playoffs in just their second season but clearly aren’t satisfied with just getting there. At some point we need to talk about how the NHL sets up its expansion teams better than any other league, but that’s for another time. For now, let’s talk about how the Kraken just knocked off the reigning championship winning Colorado Avalanche, becoming the first team to do so in their playoff debut. Led by Yanni Gourde (man do we miss him in Tampa) in Assists and Points, Seattle grinded out a 7-game series win to join the Florida Panthers as the only two Wild Card teams to advance. They put up a sensational 88.9 penalty killing % against an Avalanche team that was top six in the league this season in Power Play %. That’s playoff winning hockey right there.
The other series
- Dallas Stars discarded the Minnesota Wild in 6 games.
- Vegas Knights vanquished the Winnipeg Jets in 5 games.
- Edmonton Oilers eliminated the Los Angeles Kings in 6 games.
- Carolina Hurricanes careened the New York Islanders in 6 games.
- New Jersey Devils dismissed the New York Rangers in 7 games after being down 0-2
Comments