Apr 17, 2023 - Sports
The quest for the Stanley Cup
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The Boston Bruins just completed the best regular season in National Hockey League history. Now comes the most grueling postseason in sports.
By the numbers: Boston has a 37% chance of winning this year's Stanley Cup, per FiveThirtyEight's projections. Or a 63% chance of not winning.
- The Presidents' Trophy has been given out 36 times to the team with the best regular season record, and only eight of them went on to win the title.
- Of the past nine Presidents' Trophy winners, only one has advanced past the second round (the 2015 Rangers, who lost in the conference final).
Matchups:
- East: Bruins vs. Florida Panthers; Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Tampa Bay Lightning; Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Islanders; New Jersey Devils vs. New York Rangers
- West: Vegas Golden Knights vs. Winnipeg Jets; Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings; Dallas Stars vs. Minnesota Wild; Colorado Avalanche vs. Seattle Kraken
What to watch:
- Repeat bid: The Avalanche are vying to become just the fourth repeat champion in the past 30 years, joining the Detroit Red Wings (1997-98), Pittsburgh Penguins (2016-17) and Lightning (2020-21).
- Scoring boom: There were 6.4 goals per game this season, the highest since 1993-94 (6.48). Will the surge in scoring carry over into the playoffs?
- The curse: Can Toronto finally get past the first round? To win their first playoff series since 2004, the Maple Leafs will have to get past the Lightning, who eliminated them last year.
- New York/New Jersey: For the first time since 1994, all five of the greater New York City area NHL and National Basketball Association teams (Rangers, Islanders, Devils, New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets) made the playoffs. At least two (Rangers-Devils) will go head-to-head.
🎰 Play: Bracket challenge (NHL)
