No rest for the wicked.
The grind of the Stanley Cup Playoffs has already moved on, with the second round opening on Sunday, the same day as the first round came to its end. Eight teams are left with Stanley Cup hopes and we know we’ll have a new champion in 2024, with the defending Vegas Golden Knights eliminated by the Dallas Stars in seven games.
As we turn the page on the first round and move into the meat of the post-season, here is a look at five ongoing storylines.
Rangers: Lots of cap era playoff games, no cap era Cups
When we think of teams that delivered regular-season success, but never the Stanley Cup, the San Jose Sharks will be one of the first to come to mind. That franchise won division titles before the 2004-05 lockout even changed the game, but from the time Joe Thornton arrived in 2005-06 they quickly stepped up a tier. In Thornton’s era the Sharks won four division titles, 14 playoff series, reached four conference finals and one Stanley Cup Final. But that championship eluded them.
In the salary cap era the Sharks have played 157 post-season games, fewer than only four teams — and they haven’t qualified since 2019. The Penguins (190), Bruins (184) and Lightning (179) have all played more, and each of them has won the Cup.
The fourth team ahead of the Sharks, with 164 playoff games played in the cap era, are the New York Rangers, who haven’t won the Cup since 1994. They reached the Cup Final once with Henrik Lundqvist in net and were always a “good” team in that era. But they seemed to rely on him a little too much and didn’t have the all-around attack to finish a championship.
A rebuild on the fly saw the Rangers miss the playoffs in three of four seasons just before and into the start of the pandemic years, but they’ve come out stronger and perhaps better suited to finish the job. Two years ago the Rangers got back to the conference final, while this year they claimed the Presidents’ Trophy.
Past New York and San Jose in post-season games played since 2005-06 are the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings and Anaheim Ducks, all teams that claimed a Cup. Not until you get to Nashville at 125 games do you get another team that’s played so often in the playoffs without reaching the summit.
With a run to the final this year, it’s possible the Rangers will even surpass the Lightning on the of post-season games played list in this era of the NHL. Will New York finally get something to show for it?
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Speaking of searching for a breakthrough…
By now you’ve seen the stat: the Carolina Hurricanes became the first team to win at least one playoff round in six straight post-seasons since the Detroit Red Wings did it from 1995-2000, a streak that began with the arrival of Rod Brind’Amour behind the bench.
But while those Red Wings went to three Stanley Cup finals and won two of them, these Canes haven’t got past the third round and, when they do get eliminated, it often happens quickly and easily.
In their previous five exits, the Hurricanes lost in a sweep to Boston in 2019 and in five games to them in 2020. They were knocked out in five games by Tampa Bay in 2021 and swept by Florida in last year’s conference final. The only time they really put up a fight in getting eliminated was in 2022, when they were upset by the New York Rangers in seven games.
Often the problem that caught up to Carolina was a lack of game-breaking goal scorers. Their defence was sound, with a blue line perhaps the best top-to-bottom in the league, and goaltending that should have been good enough had they not been so unlucky with bumps and bruises. But from 2018-2023, the Canes averaged 2.78 goals per game in the playoffs, 16th of 28 teams that played in the post-season, with a 14.2 per cent power play that ranked 26th.
This season, the defence is still strong and Frederik Andersen opened with a .912 save percentage against the Islanders. The Canes scored at least three goals each game, averaging 3.8, and their power play went 5-for-15, or 33.3 per cent. Maybe it’s different this time.
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Can Colorado’s offence be stopped?
If you make Connor Hellebuyck’s stat page look this bad, you’re really on to something.
The Avalanche didn’t score less than five goals in any of their first-round series games against the Jets and Hellebuyck, this year’s Vezina Trophy favourite.
It wasn’t all on Hellebuyck of course, a meltdown of that magnitude is a team effort. The Jets, thought to be a well-rounded unit heading into the playoffs, allowed a league-high 37 shots against per game and, according to Natural Stat Trick, more 5-on-5 scoring chances and high-danger opportunities per 60 minutes than any other playoff team.
The top-line talent in Colorado is a nightmare to contain and the second line, elevated by Casey Mittelstadt, is in its best form since the Avs won the 2022 Cup. Surely they won’t go on averaging over five goals a game, but this is a team you don’t want to get in a track meet with.
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Will we have a new king of the Atlantic?
The Tampa Bay Lightning represented the Atlantic Division with two recent Stanley Cups, and if it wasn’t them doing damage in the playoffs it was the Boston Bruins. From 2018-2022 one of Boston or Tampa reached the third round of the playoffs, but as both teams have climbed in age and faced the wrath of the salary cap it’s opened the door for others.
While the Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t been able to break through and now face numerous questions about what’s next for them, the Florida Panthers came out of almost nowhere to stake a claim as the new kings of the division. Grabbing the last playoff spot in the East last season, their Round 1 upset of Boston was a shock to many, but chasing a playoff spot for months forced the Panthers into playoff form early and they rode the wave into the final round. It was a Cinderella run for sure, and it ended the way many of those upstarts finish — in an anticlimactic final against a polished team.
But rather than wilt, the Panthers came back even stronger and won their second regular season division crown in three years. Then they took a 3-0 series hold on Tampa Bay — who historically hold a decisive edge in the rivalry — and finished the Lightning off in five games.
With a quick series win and multiple days of rest, the Panthers now have a chance to knock off Boston for the second year in a row and officially declare a changing of the guard at the top of the Atlantic.
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There’s hope to end Canada’s Cup curse
At least we know there will be one Canadian team in the third round.
With Winnipeg gone in five and Toronto in seven, Vancouver and Edmonton are the last two Canadian teams standing and the Pacific rivals will meet each other in Round 2.
Now, we kind of expected Edmonton to be here, even after a horrific start to the season led to a change behind the bench. If any team could bounce all the way back from a rough few opening weeks it was Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Co., and, indeed, the Oilers were the NHL’s best team from Dec. 1 onwards, posting a .708 points percentage.
We did not expect Vancouver to be here at the beginning, but as their strong start didn’t fade it became more apparent that these Canucks may have some staying power. And, with how much they added to their team during the season, they became one of the most improved teams on paper as the year unfolded.
The winner will need to get past either Colorado or Dallas in the conference finals to have a shot at the Stanley Cup. Who do you think has the best shot?
