The Road to the Stanley Cup: The NHL Playoffs Begins!

(image courtesy of NHL.com)

On Saturday, April 20th, 2024, the NHL Playoffs kicked off with a Carolina Hurricanes victory over the New York Islanders in Game 1 of the best-of-7 series. The Boston Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-1, to end the first day. The first round continued, and it will end by Sunday May 5th.​
by Ty Cameron and Drew Caraway

First Couple Games    * stats from NHL.com *
Hurricanes vs. Islanders: The Hurricanes beat the Islanders with a score of 3-1. Frederick Andersen ended up saving 33 goals during the game. Evgeny Kuznetsov, Martin Necas and Brady Skjei scored 2 points during the game.

Bruins vs. Maple Leafs: The Bruins beat the Maple Leafs, 5-1. Jake DeBrusk led the Bruins with two goals scored, and also led in points, with three. Bruins Goalie, Jeremy Swayman, did an excellent job, saving 35 of 36 shots, and only allowing one goal.

Panthers vs. Lightning: The Panthers beat the Islanders, 3-2 in a close game. 
Three different players scored for the Panthers, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, and Carter Verhaeghe all scored one each. For the Lightning, Steven Stamkos and Brandon Hagel scored. Both Goalies were respectable in the game. Andrei Vasilevskiy saved 25/27 shots for the Lightning and Sergei Bobrovsky saved 17/19 for the Panthers. 

Rangers vs. Capitals: The Rangers beat the Capitals in a rather lopsided match, winning 4-1. Four different players scored from the Rangers, Jimmy Vesey, Chris Kreider, Artemi Panarin, and Matt Rempe. Rangers Goalie, Igor Shesterkin, did a great job, going 20-21 on saves. 

Jets vs. Avalanche: The game was a close match, but the Jets squeaked out the victory in the end. The Avalanche had a score of 6 and the Jets had a score of 7. The goalie for the Jets, Connor Hellebuyck, saved 40 shots during the game. Kyle Conner and Mark Scheifele scored 3 points during the game.  

Canucks vs. Predators: The Canucks pulled out the victory, winning 4-2 over the Predators. Dakota Joshua led the team in goals with 2, and Elias Lindholm and Pius Suter both sounded the horn. Canucks Goalie, Thatcher Demko, did a good job, saving 20-22 shots. 

Golden Knights vs. Stars: This was another close match, with the Golden Knights scoring 4 goals and the Stars scoring 3. The Golden Knights scored 8 points including goals and assists. The Golden Knights goalie, Logan Thompson, ended up saving 27 shots.

Oilers vs. Kings: The Oilers vs. Kings game was a wild one, but the Oilers prevailed, 7-4. Oilers Zach Hyman had himself a game, scoring three goals. Leon Draisaitl, Adam Henrique, Warren Foegele, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins all scored as well. Oilers Goalie Stuart Skinner played alright. He saved 33-37 goals. 


What are the Odds?
The current odds for the Stanley Cup is a little tight between the Carolina Hurricanes, the Edmonton Oilers, the New York Rangers and the Florida Panthers. All within +250 odds of each other. Here is the full list, from ESPN:

Carolina Hurricanes (52-23-7) +400

Edmonton Oilers (49-27-6) +600

New York Rangers (55-23-4) +600

Florida Panthers (52-24-6) +650

Dallas Stars (52-21-9) +1000

Vegas Golden Knights (45-29-8) +1000

Colorado Avalanche (50-25-7) +1200

Vancouver Canucks (50-23-9) +1200

Winnipeg Jets (52-24-6) +1200

Boston Bruins (47-20-15) +1400

Toronto Maple Leafs (46-26-10) +1400

Tampa Bay Lightning (45-29-8) +4000

Los Angeles Kings (44-27-11) +5000

Nashville Predators (47-30-5) +5000

New York Islanders (39-27-16) +20000

Washington Capitals (40-31-11) +25000

The NHL Playoffs are just kicking off. There is still much more action to come over the next month and a half. The Playoffs should be one of the most entertaining in a couple years, and there are multiple teams who have a great shot at winning. Now the question is, who will win it all?