1 Nightmare Matchup for Contenders in the 2023 NHL Playoffs
It's so close they can almost taste it.
With less than 20 games to go before the arrival of the NHL playoffs, the teams most likely to be mapping out post-tournament parade routes can't help but envision the revelry.
But no matter how optimistic they feel during waking hours, the players, coaches and GMs all have the occasional stretch of sleepless nights.
Whether because of past playoff failures or recent regular-season difficulty, each team surely has a would-be opponent it simply doesn't want to see come April or beyond.
The B/R hockey team took a look at prospective paths for a handful of championship contenders and came up with the foe they'd least like to engage in a seven-game series.
Take a look at what we came up with, and drop a thought or two of your own in the comments.
Everyone: Boston
1 of 6
OK, let's do the math.
The Boston Bruins completed Saturday night having lost exactly nine regulation games.
Not nine this month. Not nine this year.
Exactly nine since the regular season began. Exactly (for them) 64 games ago.
They've secured 82 percent of possible standings points, winning 50 times, while losing just nine in regulation and five in OT/shootouts.
The prodigious point-securing clip has them 11 ahead of their nearest overall pursuer and 17 up on the second-place team in the Atlantic Division.
Given that success, the possibility of them losing four times in seven games to anyone seems remote at best. They've played each of the 31 remaining teams at least once and are unbeaten against 22 of them, and 2-1 against three others.
Only five teams have even managed to split a pair of games, and only one—the Ottawa Senators—has earned a majority of points against Boston in head-to-head matchups, with the Atlantic's fifth-place team winning once in regulation and once more in a shootout.
The Senators currently sit six points out of the East's final playoff spot and would make a fascinating first-round foe for the powerful Bruins, but outside of them, precisely no one is actively seeking out a trip to TD Garden come April.
Carolina Hurricanes: New York
2 of 6
The Carolina Hurricanes had it all going for them last spring.
Until the New York Rangers came calling.
The Metropolitan Division's second-place team rallied from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round, but they'd lost three of four to the Hurricanes during the 2021-22 regular season while allowing 14 goals. Nevertheless, the Rangers managed to flip the script and end Carolina's would-be run in another seven-game series in which each team won its first three home games before New York won 6-2 at PNC Arena to end matters in Game 7.
The Hurricanes still haven't solved the puzzle.
Carolina is winless in a pair of 2022-23 matchups and has been outscored by a ghastly 11-5 margin, losing 5-3 at Madison Square Garden in January and 6-2 at home on February 11.
The second game was the debut of new Ranger Vladimir Tarasenko and came weeks before New York picked up prolific sniper and three-time Cup champion Patrick Kane from Chicago.
The Rangers could have a daunting enough task in facing New Jersey in the opening round of the tournament this season. But if they get past the Devils and find themselves in a second-rounder heading to Raleigh, it won't be them doing the panicking.
Edmonton Oilers: Colorado
3 of 6
The Edmonton Oilers are a known commodity.
They have the league's best player in Connor McDavid and one of its most prolific snipers—and another former Hart Trophy winner—in Leon Draisaitl.
And by the time they'd eliminated the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames in the opening two rounds of last season's playoffs, the hardcore fans of the league's northernmost franchise were convinced a "City of Champions" reprise was imminent.
Until it wasn't.
The Oilers faced a deep, talented and hungry Colorado Avalanche team in the Western Final and never got on the board, surrendering 22 goals in four games on the way to a competitive but still decisive sweep against the eventual Cup champs.
Fast-forward a year and there's optimism in Edmonton again.
General manager Ken Holland swung a deal to acquire a defense-first defenseman in Mattias Ekholm, and the Oilers entered Saturday night having gone 4-1 in five games with him on the blue line.
They were nine points above the Western cutline heading into the weekend, prompting the optimists to once again map out a course to a sixth Cup parade.
But the Avalanche threat remains real.
Though Colorado has struggled to find consistency amid injuries all season, it sits third in the Central Division and seven points ahead of the cutline. And assuming each team gets by two rounds' worth of interim challenges, the Avalanche would enter a final four rematch having won both regular-season matchups this year, both in OT—3-2 in Edmonton and 6-5 at home.
Would Ekholm's presence be enough to reverse last season's outcome?
New York Rangers: New Jersey
4 of 6
Yes, it's possible to both be a nightmare and have a nightmare.
The Rangers are certainly not the first team that Carolina will want to draw when the eight-team Eastern bracket is constructed a few weeks from now.
But New York won't exactly be itching to cross the Hudson either.
The New Jersey Devils have been the most consistent surprise of the 2022-23 season, finally seeing a core of talent jell around recent free-agent and trade acquisitions to create a juggernaut that's earning points at a 70 percent clip and scoring 3.55 goals per game.
The high-flying Devils are fourth in the league with 34.6 shots per game, and they've been particularly troublesome for the Rangers, beating them twice and going to OT in a 4-3 loss. They've beaten incumbent Vezina winner Igor Shesterkin 11 times on 109 shots, which translates to an .899 save percentage, well below his .910 mark for the season.
And that was all before GM Tom Fitzgerald acquired forward Timo Meier from San Jose at the trade deadline. The 26-year-old winger scored in his debut with the team last week and has a goal and six assists in his career against New York, including points in both games this season while still playing for the Sharks.
It was going to be a difficult enough matchup, likely in the first round, for the Rangers even before Meier's arrival. But his presence on an already young and fast team could create full-blown night terrors for an older New York squad.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Tampa Bay
5 of 6
Stop us if you've heard this before.
The Toronto Maple Leafs haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1967.
Not only that, they haven't advanced past the first round since 2004.
And though they held a 3-2 series lead last spring, they were nevertheless eliminated in seven games by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Oh, guess what? If the playoffs ended today, they'd play the Tampa Bay Lightning.
You know, the three-time defending conference champions who won two straight Cups before losing in six games last season to the aforementioned Avalanche.
The Lightning haven't been particularly dominant in 2022-23, but they still have a core of players who know the way to the finals, they still have the league's best money goalie in Andrei Vasilevskiy, and they still have gone 24-5-5 at their Amalie Arena home.
So beating them in April won't be an easy task. Particularly for a team whose biggest task in a generation has been, well...winning a series in April.
To be fair, the Maple Leafs have earned three of a possible four points against the Lightning this season, losing a 4-3 OT decision in Tampa before winning 4-1 at home 17 days later. They've also lost just six regulation games out of 33 on home ice this season and held a two-point lead in the Atlantic standings entering Saturday, which makes hosting Game 7 a priority.
But you can't blame a Toronto fan for hoping it's someone else on the other bench.
Vegas Golden Knights: Dallas
6 of 6
The Vegas Golden Knights entered Saturday atop the Pacific Division, and they've been a pleasant Western surprise after both missing the 2021-22 playoffs and having their goaltending ranks this season racked by injuries.
The likes of Logan Thompson, Adin Hill and others have held down the fort in admirable fashion, and now that veteran Cup winner Jonathan Quick has arrived via trade, it's no surprise that optimism in the Nevada desert is high for a return to championship contention.
But it won't be an easy road.
Not only will the Golden Knights be faced with challenges through the early rounds in a tightly bunched conference, a would-be conference final (based on pre-Saturday seeding) would match them with a Dallas Stars team that's got some significant plusses.
Stars goalie Jake Oettinger is among the league's best in nearly every meaningful statistical category and would be perceived as clearly superior to anyone Vegas starts. Dallas is a clearly capable offensive club, too, and entered Saturday seventh in the league in per-game scoring (3.42) compared to Vegas in 17th place (3.14).
And, well...let's just say Peter DeBoer would relish the opportunity, too.
DeBoer was the Vegas coach for two full seasons and part of a third, reaching the conference finals in both 2019-20 and 2020-21 before a 94-point season in 2021-22 was only good for fourth in the division and resulted in the franchise's first playoff miss.
He was fired on May 16, 2022, and hired by Dallas just 36 days later.
The Stars have won both games with Vegas this season, outscoring them by a 7-2 margin, including a 27-save shutout by Oettinger in January and a 3-2 shootout win in which he stopped 41 shots to defeat journeyman Laurent Brossoit.
Advantage Dallas.
.jpg?w=600 "Report: Lawrence Wants Out of NY")
.jpg?w=600 "Zay Calls Out Harbaugh 🤨")
