The Frozen Tundra: The Playoffs Everyone Expected... Right?

Dude…

It’s been a wild ride keeping track of the road to the Stanley Cup in the NHL Playoffs, and it’s still nowhere close to normal. Between the madness we saw in the first round and the onslaught, for the most part, in the second round it’s tough to know what to expect now. From two games that involve either familiarity or David vs. Goliath, there’s a lot to discuss within the last four teams remaining in the 2022-2023 NHL season.

- How Did Everyone Get Here?:

Florida Panthers:

It’s shocking to many that the Florida Panthers are still here and their path is even wilder. They started in the first round being down 3-1 in the series to the Bruins who had a few slip-ups, yet still looked like a team that won a record-breaking 65 games and had 135 points in the regular season…until they didn’t. Sergei Bobrovsky was not a name that has been brought up much since 2017 before the playoffs, but he has done a better job in the net in these playoffs than the highest-paid person working Miami nightclub security. This brings up the second round which was more of an embarrassment for the Maple Leafs than an achievement for the Panthers in their gentleman’s sweep clinching the Eastern Conference Semifinals. No matter how you believe Toronto played last round, the Panthers have the best resume in the entire tournament taking down two giants and looking for their biggest task since 1995 in reaching the Stanley Cup Finals.

Carolina Hurricanes:

To make a little sense into the stellar path of the ‘Canes I’m gonna jump back to whatever you wanted to call their playoff preparation going into the end of March which, to keep it simple, was not what teams who win the cup usually look like. Now with the season-ending injury to another one of their top wingers in Andrei Svechnikov, it’s understandable to see why they had to make a change in how they played for 80% of the season and their struggle in doing so. The playoffs have been a whole different story for Carolina as their defense has been their anchor point along with arguably the best player in this tournament Sebastian Aho (the Finnish one just so there’s no confusion). They had the New York Islanders in the first round which gave them a tougher task than most expected with solid goalie play from Ilya Sorokin and their defense, the only problem is that you have to make efforts to score goals to win in hockey which the Islanders were not the best at. Similar to their foes they also had a gentleman sweep against the “fiery” New Jersey Devils which had almost no sign of a spark compared to the Hurricanes in the second round.

Dallas Stars:

Although they’ve been a part of two series totaling 13 games played, the Stars have had a few players that have been some of the best performers seen in these playoffs so far. Before saying anything further it would be one of the many scenarios that are illegal in Texas to not talk about how they would probably not be in this situation if it wasn’t for the goalie play of Jake Oettinger. Both his stonewall efforts of 327 saves on 362 shots attempted at him and the electric “Ace of Spades” Roope Hintz up at the center position have helped their success in the first two wars they went through. The first round against the Minnesota Wild seemed more back and forth in the first three games before Dallas won the next three straight in nearly dominant fashion. The second round against the playoff newborns in the Seattle Kraken was not as good for Oettinger especially going up against another top goalie in Philipp Grubauer and having two games of allowing four or more goals in regulation (partially bad defense), but Joe Pavelski playing like he was back in San Jose after his head injury and the story of Hintz was enough to conquer the monsters of the sea in seven games.

Vegas Golden Knights:

When the Knights are playing five-on-five out on the ice they’ve looked better than most teams in the playoffs historically, yet no one is talking about them compared to the other three teams. The team from the “City of Sin” have blown a lot of expectations and has a true star in the man playing in his first career playoffs Jack Eichel who only has fewer points than Hintz and the Florida Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk. At even strength and with Eichel on the ice the Knights have outscored their first two opponents 10-4, which is a big factor in their first two series which have a similar explanation as the crazy stories you hear after a night on the main Strip. Game one in the first round against the Winnipeg Jets started their path in the worst possible way being obliterated on their home ice, but they found themselves offensively after that scoring at least four goals in every game after that in a 4-1 series win. The Knights weren’t looked at as the audience favorite against the Oilers as many people thought this would be the team that McDavid could at least reach the Stanley Cup Finals with, yet Edmonton proved that Canadian teams still aren’t to be trusted during this time of year as they were just flat out outscored in the four games they won as the defense and most importantly goalie play was beyond pathetic. Now that each of the remaining teams’ road to the Stanley Cup has been summarized up to this point, let us go through the two series that will consist of these players being familiar with each other for the next minimum of four games to determine the kings of the east and the west.

- Conference Finals Previews and Predictions:

Florida Panthers vs. Carolina Hurricanes (Eastern Conference Finals):

This is a series that if you looked at how both teams played before the postseason or went off by their regular season record you would think the Hurricanes should win in no more than five games. Not only did the Panthers prove against the Maple Leafs that their win against the Bruins was a one-time fluke, but they’ve also shown that they can hang with anyone having a goalscorer like Tkachuk and a stonewall between the pipes like Bobrovsky. Meanwhile, Carolina may be weak on paper in terms of their injuries yet they can get a goal from just about anyone with a team total of 40 goals in just two playoff series along with limiting their last two opponents to 28 goals total. Game one should be a huge pivotal point to how this series will go as the Panthers stealing another early road game could put the Hurricanes in the unfamiliar territory being 5-1 at home. I don’t expect this series to be over quickly, but it would shock me for the Panthers to be in control of a very impactful atmosphere such as Carolina for more than one game, or maybe even just one, and the Hurricanes have been in this kind of atmosphere recently.

Prediction: Hurricanes in six games

Dallas Stars vs. Vegas Golden Knights (Western Conference Finals):

Unlike the last series, both teams are familiar with this territory as we get a rematch of the 2020 WCF where both teams’ lineups were much different (not including Mark Stone). Pete DeBoer gets a chance of putting out the team that fired him a year ago with a front-line duo of Hintz and Pavelski taking the second round by storm. With everyone in the lineup for the Stars playing their role and Oettinger being impossible up to this point to outduel the Knights will have difficulty pulling it off, but they won’t be an easy out either. Vegas contained the Oilers' offense which everyone thought would carry Edmonton to the finals, regardless of their defense and goalie play, and along with Bruce Cassidy being very good in the past at winning chess matches in the past it should be another headache for the Stars to win this one. Although the Knights are very good out on the ice at even strength and getting solid production from Eichel along with it, having to stick with Adin Hill (although he held it down in the second round) is too much of an uncertainty to say he can keep up with Jake Oettinger for at least the first few games and every game counts in a series such as this. Prediction:

Stars in 7 games