Who Plays Who in the NHL Playoffs?
The NHL playoffs are in full swing, and there are some great match-ups taking place. Here’s a look at who’s playing who.
Eastern Conference
In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins will take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins are the reigning Stanley Cup champions and are looking to repeat this year. The Maple Leafs are a young team on the rise and are looking to dethrone the Bruins. This will be a matchup to watch.
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
The Tampa Bay Lightning finished the regular season as the best team in the NHL, racking up 128 points. They will face the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round of the playoffs. The Blue Jackets finished tied for second in the Metropolitan Division with 102 points.
The Lightning will have home-ice advantage in the series, and they will host Game 1 on Wednesday night. The Lightning are one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup this year, but they cannot take the Blue Jackets lightly. The Blue Jackets have a lot of talent and they proved that they can compete with anyone when they swept the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Washington Capitals in the first round last year.
The Blue Jackets will need to play their best hockey if they want to have a chance to upset the Lightning, but stranger things have happened in the playoffs. Anything can happen in a seven-game series, so we will have to wait and see how this one plays out.
Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
In the first round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Boston Bruins will face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Bruins are coming into the playoffs as the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference, with 112 points. The Maple Leafs are right behind them as the 3rd seed, with 105 points.
This will be the first time these two teams have faced each other in the playoffs since 2013, when the Bruins won in 7 games.
The Bruins and Maple Leafs have a long history dating back to their first meeting in 1924. They have played each other a total of 346 times, with Boston winning 176 of those games and Toronto winning 155. The Bruins have outscored the Maple Leafs 2134-1969.
The series will start on Thursday, April 12th in Boston.
Washington Capitals vs. Carolina Hurricanes
The Washington Capitals finished the regular season with the best record in the NHL, but that won’t stop them from facing a tough matchup in the first round of the playoffs. The Carolina Hurricanes are a dangerous team that is more than capable of pulling off an upset.
The Caps are led by Alex Ovechkin, who is one of the best goal-scorers in the league. He’ll need to be at his best if the Capitals want to advance.
The Hurricanes are led by Sebastian Aho, who is a dynamic young player. He’ll need to have a big series if the Hurricanes want to pull off the upset.
This should be a great series, and it’s definitely one to watch out for.
New York Islanders vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
The New York Islanders will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Islanders are the No. 6 seed in the East and finished the regular season with a record of 35-23-10. The Penguins are the No. 3 seed and finished with a mark of 42-20-8.
This will be the first playoff meeting between these two teams since 2013, when the Penguins defeated the Islanders in six games in the conference quarterfinals. The Islanders have not won a playoff series since that same year.
The schedule for this series has not been released yet, but it is expected to begin sometime next week.
Western Conference
The Western Conference is made up of two divisions, the Central and the Pacific. In the Central Division, the first place team is the Nashville Predators and they will take on the Colorado Avalanche, the Wild Card team. The second place team, the Winnipeg Jets, will take on the Minnesota Wild.
Nashville Predators vs. Dallas Stars
The Nashville Predators are set to take on the Dallas Stars in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. The best-of-seven series begins with Game 1 in Dallas on Wednesday night.
The Predators (47-29-6) are coming off a disappointing loss to the Colorado Avalanche in their final regular season game, but they still managed to clinch the No. 4 seed in the West. They’ll be looking to make a deep run in the playoffs after being eliminated in the first round last year.
The Stars (42-32-8) entered the final day of the regular season with a chance to win the Central Division, but they ultimately fell short and had to settle for the No. 6 seed. They’re a dangerous team, though, and they’ll be looking to pull off an upset in the first round.
This should be a close and exciting series between two evenly matched teams. It’s tough to predict who will come out on top, but we’ll give the slight edge to the Predators in seven games.
Winnipeg Jets vs. St. Louis Blues
The Winnipeg Jets will take on the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. The Jets finished the regular season with a record of 47-30-5, good for second place in the Central Division. The Blues, meanwhile, went 45-28-9 to finish third in the division.
The two teams met four times during the regular season, with the Jets winning three of those contests. One of those wins came in a shootout, while another was an overtime victory. In their most recent meeting, on March 23rd, the Jets won 4-1.
Winnipeg will have home-ice advantage in the series, as they had a better record than St. Louis during the regular season. The first game of the series will be played on Wednesday night in Winnipeg.
Calgary Flames vs. Colorado Avalanche
The Calgary Flames and Colorado Avalanche will meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Flames finished the regular season with a 50-25-7 record, good for 107 points and second place in the Western Conference. They’ll face a Colorado team that went 38-30-14, amassing 90 points to earn the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.
It’ll be a tough series for both teams, but the Flames will have home-ice advantage thanks to their better regular-season record. The first two games of the series will be played in Calgary, with games three and four shifting to Denver. If necessary, game five would be back in Calgary, followed by game six in Denver and game seven back in Calgary.
San Jose Sharks vs. Vegas Golden Knights
The San Jose Sharks will take on the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Sharks are the better team on paper, but the Golden Knights have proved they can compete with anyone. This should be a great series.
