Stanley Cup Playoffs 2017: Unheralded Teams Primed to Make Noise in Postseason

It's easy to look at the NHL standings and make a case for the Washington Capitals finally making their run at the Stanley Cup since they are the Presidents' Trophy winners for the second year in a row.

Perhaps an even better case can be made for the Chicago Blackhawks, who have won three Stanley Cups since 2010. They were beaten in a first-round matchup with the St. Louis Blues last year, so head coach Joel Quenneville should be able to get his troops fired up for long postseason run this time around.

Those are obvious calls, and picking the top seeds is not always the way to go in the NHL. There are good teams further down the track and lower-seeded sides that have gotten hot at the right time in previous NHL postseasons.

One of those teams that could fill that role is the Edmonton Oilers. Heading into their final two games of the regular season, the Oilers are in second place in the Pacific Division behind the Anaheim Ducks. While the Oilers still have a slim chance of catching the Ducks and winning the division, they will most likely finish second and face the San Jose Sharks in the opening round of the playoffs.

Edmonton has a two-point edge on the Sharks and should have home-ice advantage. The Oilers have won eight of their past 10 games and are playing sharp, consistent hockey.

Captain Connor McDavid is clearly the centerpiece of the team and is a strong candidate to win the Hart Trophy as the league MVP. The 20-year-old has 30 goals and 67 assists, but the Oilers are not a one-man show. McDavid has plenty of help from Leon Draisaitl, Milan Lucic and goalie Cam Talbot.

Draisaitl would be the No. 1 player on several other teams, and this emerging star has scored 28 goals and 75 points this season. Lucic has given this team a wide-body power forward who is playing his best hockey at the most important time of year.

Lucic scored a natural hat trick in Edmonton's 4-2 victory at San Jose Thursday night, and he has 23 goals and 25 assists in his first season in Edmonton. The 28-year-old was part of the 2011 Stanley Cup-winning Boston Bruins, and he knows what it takes for his team to win big games in the playoffs.

That's not going to happen unless the Oilers get top-notch goaltending, and Talbot appears to have the ability to steal games when needed. The 29-year-old has a 41-22-8 record with a 2.39 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.

The Oilers are a young team on the rise, and they could cause problems in the Western Conference playoffs.

Mark Zaleski/Associated Press/Associated Press

So could the Nashville Predators, who are in the No. 2 wild-card position, which would set them up with a first-round matchup against the Blackhawks.

The Predators trail the St. Louis Blues by one point for third place in the Central Division, and they could jump over the Blues in the final weekend. That would lead to a meeting with the Minnesota Wild.

The Preds could push the Blackhawks hard in a best-of-seven playoff series, and there's no reason why they couldn't beat the Wild.

Nashville has recorded a 6-3-1 record in its past 10 games and has a slew of talented forwards in Ryan Johansen, Viktor Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg. The Preds also get plenty of support on the back end from defensemen Roman Josi and P.K. Subban.

Peter Laviolette's team has been showing a swagger in recent weeks, and it is not going to be an easy out.

In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins could fill the role as a lower-seeded team that could make some noise, but there is a caveat.

The Bruins are back in the postseason after a two-year absence, and they have responded well to a coaching change that saw Bruce Cassidy take over for longtime bench boss Claude Julien in February. 

Cassidy has given the Bruins more offensive freedom, and the team has responded well. Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and David Pastrnak have given Boston a formidable attack, and goalie Tuukka Rask appears to have returned to top form after some disappointing play in early March.

The issue for the Bruins is the health of spark-plug defenseman Torey Krug, who suffered a lower-body injury in Thursday's shootout loss to the Ottawa Senators, per Joe Haggerty of CSNNE.com. Krug is the quarterback of the team's power play and is a superb passer. If he isn't in the lineup, the Bruins' consistency will suffer.

Nick Wass/Associated Press

The New York Rangers will finish the regular season as the fourth-place team in the Metropolitan Division and the top-seeded wild-card outfit in the Eastern Conference.

They are locked into a first-round series with the Montreal Canadiens, and the Rangers have an excellent chance of winning the series.

Goaltending figures to be one of the key factors, and Henrik Lundqvist should be able to give Montreal's Carey Price an superb battle.

The Rangers appear to have an edge at center, with J.T. Miller, Derek Stepan and Mika Zibanejad, and there's no reason they can't get the best of the enigmatic Alex Galchenyuk, Paul Byron, Andrew Shaw and the struggling Tomas Plekanec.

Look for the Oilers, Predators, Bruins and Rangers to be tough outs in the Stanley Cup playoffs.