NHL Playoffs 2023: Top Storylines for May 3 Schedule

The Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights played one of the most exciting head-to-head series in the NHL regular season.

All four of their meetings featured at least seven goals, and that should set high expectations for their second-round clash in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Edmonton will try to follow in the footsteps of the Florida Panthers and Seattle Kraken, who opened the second round with road wins on Tuesday.

The Oilers beat the Knights on three occasions in the regular season. Connor McDavid and Co. put up 18 goals on the Vegas defense in four games, and their highest total came in the most recent win on March 28.

The offensive expectations are just a bit lighter for the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes, who open Wednesday's slate in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Carolina and New Jersey only conceded more than two goals once in the eight combined games they won.

May 3 Stanley Cup Playoffs Schedule

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ELMONT, NEW YORK - APRIL 28: Sebastian Aho #20 of the Carolina Hurricanes celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal in the third period against the New York Islanders in Game Six of the First Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at UBS Arena on April 28, 2023 in Elmont, New York. (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images)

Game 1: New Jersey at Carolina (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)

Game 1: Edmonton at Vegas (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)

Offensive Fireworks Expected in Vegas

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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JANUARY 14: Logan Thompson #36 of the Vegas Golden Knights blocks a shot by Connor McDavid #97 of the Edmonton Oilers in the first period of their game at T-Mobile Arena on January 14, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The Edmonton-Vegas regular-season series set high expectations for the playoff matchup that begins Wednesday night in Nevada.

Of course, the postseason series will be played at a higher intensity, but that does not mean there will be a lack of scoring chances.

The Oilers finished off the Los Angeles Kings by scoring 16 goals in three straight victories.

They would love for McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Co. to continue that scoring run against the Golden Knights.

Draisaitl and McDavid combined for 21 points in the opening round. Draisaitl had seven goals and four assists, while McDavid produced three goals and seven helpers.

Evan Bouchard's emergence as a playmaker helped the Oilers gain an upper hand against the Kings as well. The defenseman totaled two goals and eight assists in the first round.

Edmonton will need Bouchard and its other supporting pieces to contribute throughout the series so that Vegas does not solely focus on shutting down the two stars to earn victories.

Vegas' first-round production was more spread out, as it had seven players earn at least four points against the Winnipeg Jets. Chandler Stephenson and Mark Stone led the squad with eight points each.

Stephenson, Stone, Jack Eichel and William Karlsson all had three or four goals in the opening round.

The Knights may need Eichel to take over a few games in the Edmonton series to balance out the star power in the matchup with Draisaitl and McDavid.

A low-scoring Game 1 is always possible as the two teams look to avoid mistakes and feel out the matchup, but this series has the makings of multiple back-and-forth offensive affairs.

Edmonton may receive more time in the spotlight for its Round 1 output, but Vegas comes into Wednesday off four straight wins over Winnipeg in which it scored at least four times.

New Jersey, Carolina Should Be Locked in Defensive Battle

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NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - MARCH 12: Tomas Tatar #90 of the New Jersey Devils and Jesperi Kotkaniemi #82 of the Carolina Hurricanes fight for the puck during the second period at Prudential Center on March 12, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

You will most likely have to stay up late if you want to see a game full of goals.

New Jersey and Carolina advanced to the second round because of their tremendous defensive performances, and we should see more of the same throughout their second-round matchup.

The Devils finished off their first-round win over the New York Rangers with a shutout led by Akira Schmid's 31 saves.

Schmid produced shutouts in Games 5 and 7 and conceded a single tally in his team's Games 3 and 4 victories.

The 22-year-old's only defeat in five playoff starts came in Game 6 against the Rangers, when the eliminated side scored on five occasions.

Carolina scored five goals in one of its four victories over the New York Islanders. The Canes are more than comfortable with playing a low-scoring game dominated by strong defensive play and goaltending.

The Hurricanes picked up a pair of 2-1 wins over the Isles and did not allow their first-round foe to score more than three goals in a single victory. New York scored more than three goals once in the six-game series.

The first three regular-season meetings between the Devils and Hurricanes had at least five goals, so there is some hope for both offenses to break through, but the most recent matchup on March 12 only featured three tallies.

That is more like the scores we should expect to see across the series because both sides played so well in their defensive zones to get to this point of the postseason.