Make picks throughout the postseason for a chance at $14,000 in prizes. Not exactly the best offensive company to keep. 4 NHL Trade Deadline Sellers Looking to Bounce Back in 2023-24. NHL playoff fantasy competition is its own brand of compact, focused fun. Emily Kaplan: Lightning in seven Colorado's penalty kill (only 73.1%) and goaltending (see above) have underwhelmed, and would be the most likely potential issues against Edmonton. The team also had strong seasons from veterans Trevor Moore, Alex Iafallo, Adrian Kempe and Alex Edler, a resurgent campaign from Jonathan Quick and an outstanding season from Drew Doughty before he went out with a wrist injury. Case for a Stanley Cup run: Let's start with the best goalie in the world. Portland Trail Blazers. If he's diminished, so are the Caps' Cup chances -- significantly. The Eastern Conference finals series is on ESPN and ESPN+, while the Stanley Cup Final will be on ABC and ESPN+. Game 3: Florida Panthers at Washington Capitals 1 p.m. Biggest flaw(s): Minnesota's special teams are less than awe-inspiring. Biggest flaw(s): Being a top-heavy offensive team is a good problem to have when the top of one's lineup is filled with players who have more than 35 goals. Granted, that included 12 overtime losses, a middling even-strength offense and goaltending issues galore. The Avs' Norris Trophy finalist defenseman projects to draw Edmonton's toughest matchups, and as the Oilers proved against Calgary, its top line is tough to contain. Rantanen must be exactly that for Colorado in the series ahead. How do the Avs slow down the McDavid-Draisaitl-Kane line? These are the playoffs. But that doesn't mean the playoffs haven't enlightened us about some aspects of this Lightning team. Case for a Stanley Cup run: History has a funny habit of repeating itself. Case for a Stanley Cup run: Nashville is a great underdog -- back the Predators into a corner and wait to see some of their best hockey. Mleczko: Hurricanes in seven Levy: Rangers in seven Messier: Avalanche in seven Playoff position: M2 Games left: 3 Next game: vs. The Lightning have done it the past two seasons, under less-than-ideal pandemic-related circumstances to boot. Note: Profiles for the Atlantic and Central playoff brackets were written by Shilton, while Wyshynski analyzed the Metro and Pacific brackets. The 2022 college football season doesn't kick off until August 27, but it's never too soon to look at possible College Football Playoff matchups. We just didn't go away. Same with its overall consistency. Biggest flaw(s): The fact that the Kings still managed to make the playoffs without Doughty is a testament to how well they played before his injury. The Bruins' top blueliner hasn't garnered the same attention as some of the league's flashiest defenders this season, but he has been excellent in his own right. Being involved to that degree clearly works for the netminder, and he has thrived under the pressure. He has added 10 assists to his point total, but Rantanen has still fallen short of expectations to date in terms of output. Coach Jon Cooper says his standout center -- the team's leading goal-scorer (30) over the past two postseasons -- is progressing from a lower-body injury he suffered in Game 7 against the Maple Leafs. James O'Brien, NHL writer: Bruins in 6. Buccigross: Flames in six How they got here: Defeated Los Angeles Kings 4-3, defeated Calgary Flames 4-1. He had 23 goals and 28 assists and led all Capitals forwards in goals scored above average. Case for a Stanley Cup run: Colorado is a beast. cal: Rangers in seven Yes, but that doesn't mean he can't flip the switch when it's time. Callahan: Hurricanes in six Forwards Viktor Arvidsson and Phillip Danault, GM Rob Blake's key offseason pickups, were in the top four in scoring. Ferraro: Avalanche in six La Greca: Hurricanes in six Those matchups are plenty intriguing. The Nashville Predators, at No. They're not the Maple Leafs or the Panthers, crushed by the weight of expectations and entitlement. Also note that wild-card teams are listed according to which playoff bracket they're playing in (the Capitals, for example, are in the Atlantic). Or was it symptomatic of the Blues' inconsistent attack? Kristen Shilton: Lightning in six His .925 career playoff save percentage ties him for third all time (minimum 60 games) with Hall of Famer Dominik . The other thing we've seen from Edmonton is a real commitment to the defensive side of the puck from its top players. The 13th overall pick in 2020, Jarvis had 11 points in a nine-game stretch near the end of the season, running shotgun with Aho for a lot of it. The NHL offseason formally begins with the 2022 NHL Draft in Montreal, starting with Thursday's first round (6 p.m. CT, ESPN).. That's where depth will come into focus, and the Oilers will want to be sure theirs is on point. NHL Playoff Predictions 2022 Matchups EASTERN CONFERENCE Playoff Round 1 #1 seed Florida Panthers vs #8 seed Washington Capitals Florida wins (4-1) #2 seed Carolina Hurricanes vs #7 seed Boston Bruins Carolina wins (4-2) Metropolitan Division Match-up #2 New York Rangers vs #3 Pittsburgh Penguins New York wins (4-2) Atlantic Division Match-up Colorado has to frustrate the Oilers' top skaters, make it difficult for them to find space or get in a rhythm early. Their head-to-head matchup will be a primary talking point in the lead-up to Game 1. The Bruins have just about everything you can want in a contender: a deadly top line, an elite defenseman, and a great goalie. After a bumpy road through February and most of March, the Blues caught fire into April and have been unstoppable of late. Case for a Stanley Cup run: What if a team had its best regular season in franchise history and no one noticed? Watching all of it from the crease is Vezina contender Jacob Markstrom. But equally as ominous is the Capitals' goaltending. Player to watch: Tkachuk's best offensive season arrived, to no one's surprise, as he's headed into restricted free agency this summer. Under coach Dave Tippett, the Oilers were 13th in the NHL in expected goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5; under interim coach Jay Woodcroft, who took over Feb. 10, the Oilers jumped to fourth in that category. Lawrence-Riddell: Avalanche in six Maintaining that intensity each night in the playoffs will be a task in itself. We've graded all 32 teams -- including one A+ and two F's -- and announced the winners of our own batch of awards . ET, ESPN), followed by Lightning-Leafs (7:30 ET, ESPN2), Blues-Wild (9:30 ET, ESPN) and Kings-Oilers (10 ET, ESPN2). Back for 2022 is the usual playoff format with the top team in the conference facing the second wild card, the other division winner playing the first wild card and N. 2 going up against No. That killer instinct has been a hallmark of Boston's play in the past and hasn't always been at the forefront of late. Cassie Campbell-Pascall: Lightning in six Also on a roll: St. Louis' power play, which has been top three in the NHL since late March. Well, unless it's because of their opponents' goaltending. 2022-23 NCAA Basketball Regular Season Game; North Carolina (17-11, 9-8 ACC) vs. No. The uptick of physicality in McDavid's game has been well-documented. Boucher: Flames in six Chandan: Flames in six The Panthers' depth of electric scoring ability has the potential to carry this team a long way into spring. . Sure, Penguins center Nick Bonino scored the winning goal against the Sharks in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals. 17 overall, should be able to select . Case for a Stanley Cup run: Toronto has got the talent in all three phases of the game. That's always been ingrained in the culture of every good team I've been on here. NHL Matchups 2022-2023 - Today's Hockey Previews, Scores & Schedules NHL Scores & Matchups Odds Free Picks News & Analysis NHL Contest Stanley Cup Injuries Teams Players Standings. The 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs begin Monday night on the networks of ESPN, . . Defenseman Adam Fox said he's looking forward to the battle between Andrei Vasilevskiy and Shesterkin. How they got here: Defeated Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3, defeated Carolina Hurricanes 4-3. There hasn't been a ton of that for the Oilers; most of their key tallies have come from the same group of four or five guys. The second round against Calgary couldn't have started any worse with a quick 3-0 deficit for Edmonton in Game 1 and another 2-0 hole to start Game 2. Player to watch: There was a time, not too long ago, when Jonathan Quick was considered one of the best big-game goaltenders in the NHL. When Kuemper was tested, he didn't always look sharp; St. Louis caught him in bad positioning and decidedly flat-footed on a few occasions. We muse, one last time, on the league stages of the 2022/23 Indian Super League (ISL) season: Odisha slip through, somehow It was in their hands going into the final week. We've graded all 32 teams-- including one A+ and two F's -- and announced the winners of our own batch of awards. Here's a player who requested a trade out of St. Louis and instead has thrived there this season. Linda Cohn: Panthers in seven It's hard to imagine the Kings doing anything of consequence in the postseason without Doughty, an accomplished playoff performer who had 31 points in 39 games this season, averaging 25:44 per night. Patrice Bergeron is still Patrice Bergeron. Because he picked this opportunity. The 24-year-old forward had 103 points and was a plus-58 (!) The best that can be said of them is that the Kings found ways to win: While their divisional rivals flailed about trying to qualify for the postseason, Los Angeles won four straight critical games in regulation down the stretch. A rundown of 1 to 8 in all four divisions, plus the 16-team postseason field for this upcoming season. Kavanagh: Blues in seven Case for a Stanley Cup run: This is Edmonton Oilers Version 2.0. Both stood out late in the second round with an individual highlight performance (MacKinnon with his Game 5 hat trick, McDavid with the overtime game-winner in his own Game 5). FiveThirtyEight's 2021-22 NHL forecast predicts the winner of each hockey game and calculates each team's chances of advancing to the playoffs and winning the Stanley Cup. history but they get to host a game . One problem Biggest flaw(s): Ovechkin missed the Capitals' final three games after appearing to injure a shoulder in an April 24 game. Lessons from Round 1 Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn have underperformed much of the season, and the Stars don't get much scoring help from their defensemen (John Klingberg leads Dallas blueliners with six goals). UPDATED Jun. It nearly did not happen, as both teams were pushed to the brink in the first round. He is the Russian Machine, and seeing him play in the first round would not be a surprise, although coach Peter Laviolette said that Ovechkin would not have been able to play had the playoffs started last week. Lawrence-Riddell: Hurricanes in seven DiPietro: Flames in six The Oilers' top trio will be a confident bunch going into the series -- as they should be -- and Colorado can send a message early by staying on top of them and standing up to that top line's speed in the middle of the ice. Bold prediction: The Avalanche flip the season script, struggling to score in the early going of the playoffs and relying on team defense to step up and move them along. How to watch Levy: Flames in seven Can Georgia pull off a repeat? Long playoff runs result in short offseasons to follow. A trade to move Miller out of Vancouver would be surprising considering he signed a fresh seven-year, $56-million contract ($8 million AAV) in September 2022 a deal that won't even kick in until next season. There is no such problem for the Lightning. The Predators can score well enough, but how well they can execute team defense and keep the puck out of their own net will be the key. Expect more great performances from him. The format is a set bracket that is . He worked through his emotions during the Rangers' first two games in Pittsburgh, where he was pulled twice. Back in 2019, St. Louis went from flailing to thriving at the end of the regular season and carried a hot streak all the way past Boston for the franchise's first Cup title. He was fourth on the team in goals scored above average. John Buccigross: Panthers in seven But the catalyst for their first playoff berth since 2018 wasn't the kids, but rather the established veterans. Heiskanen missed time this season with illness but is an invaluable asset to Dallas' overall success. The Bruins' goalie tandem of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman deserves credit in this area too, providing consistently good performances that have more than assuaged fears about how the team would move on from Tuukka Rask. Washington lives and dies on the performance of its franchise star, especially on the power play. cal: Avalanche in five Colorado's big winger has one goal in these playoffs, which he scored on an empty net in the Avs' 6-3 victory over St. Louis in Game 4. Hagel took a puck off one of his feet in Game 2 against the Panthers, though he appeared in Games 3 and 4. That formula doesn't generally work in the postseason. Central: COL | MIN Is that a sign that Tampa is losing its legs? Luckily for the Blues, that deja vu high they're currently riding is a good one. Colorado is every bit as good as we thought it was, and could be. Biggest flaw(s): Fatigue. This Western Conference finals present a hockey feast for the eyes: Colorado's top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin vs. Kane, McDavid and Draisaitl. While Florida's offensive talent is its best asset, if the overall team defense can't hold up (especially if Aaron Ekblad isn't able to return to form due to his knee injury), it could make for a shorter run than the Panthers are aiming for. Tim Kavanagh: Lightning in six We're learned that fatigue hasn't yet been an issue for a team that's gone all the way in two straight postseasons -- perhaps because they followed truncated regular seasons? cal: Oilers in seven In the East, it'll be a battle of the goaltenders with the excellent matchup between Andrei Vasilevskiy and Igor Shesterkin. He hasn't been that guy for a while, and at 36, he might never be that guy again. New York Rangers. NHL predictions: Expert picks for both conference final series in Stanley Cup playoffs Our experts reveal their predictions for which two teams will be moving on to the Stanley Cup Final. Their superstars kept improving throughout the last round and were the difference-makers at critical times. I think we're there with the Rangers. Before I reveal every series winner in the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs and the exact number of games in which the series will be won, I'd like to just offer a small reminder to establish a baseline . Columbus Blue Jackets (WC) 5. But don't underestimate the drive of MacKinnon and McDavid to really show off here. Bold prediction: Shesterkin pitches two shutouts in the opening round as the Rangers advance. Period. If defense wins championships (and history suggests it's a big factor), the Bruins should be feared by any opponent. The puck drops on the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs on ESPN presented by GEICO with 12 first round games on ESPN and ESPN2 over three days beginning on Monday, May 2. Player to watch: Claude Giroux. PIT | BOS Stream the NHL on ESPN. Stanley Cup Playoffs second-round predictions NHL.com staff members make their picks for four series Biggest flaw(s): Defense, and goaltending. They'll help power what could be a last attempt at a Cup for this aging core, with Malkin, Letang and Rust among the team's pending free agents. Keith has been on every big stage hockey has to offer. Now, does that reflect a deficiency in Kuemper's game? Player to watch: Under different circumstances, 22-year-old defenseman Evan Bouchard might have been a Calder Trophy finalist with his 43 points in 81 games. Bold prediction: The Hurricanes get past the Bruins in the first round, but it's a grinding seven-game series. Only four teams had a lower expected goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 than the Rangers this season: the Sabres, Kraken, Coyotes and Blackhawks. Like, ever. Goalie Frederik Andersen had a dominant regular season, finishing third in goals saved above average (38.7). The legend of Mike Smith has only grown this postseason. Coach Darryl Sutter has this team primed to bring the Cup back to Canada for the first time since 1993. Callahan: Flames in five Kaplan: Hurricanes in seven Every first-round Game One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs will be available on ESPN or ESPN2. With the SLING Orange Sports Extra package, get $10 off your first month now with access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, TNT and NBATV. Stats are collected from sites such as Natural Stat Trick, Hockey Reference and Evolving Hockey. But now that the Penguins are in, with a lineup dotted with familiar names sporting Stanley Cup rings, the best case for a championship run is made by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Jeff Carter, Bryan Rust and Jake Guentzel. Case for a Stanley Cup run: The Kings, who flaunt one of the deepest prospect pools in the NHL, had been waiting a few years for their next generation of stars to mature. USA TODAY Sports' NHL staffers make their predictions for the second round: Colorado Avalanche vs. St. Louis Blues Jimmy Hascup: Avalanche in six. Cam Talbot, solid all season, has improved even further riding shotgun with the newcomer. And coach Gerard Gallant is pushing the right buttons when it comes to line combinations. Facebook; Twitter; Facebook Messenger; Pinterest; Email; print; Welcome to the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs!The first round gets rolling on Saturday with Game 1 of the Washington Capitals-Boston Bruins series.. There's plenty of history in many of these matchups, as the NHL is using an intradivisional format for the first two rounds, before re-bracketing the final four for the semifinals. But right around the trade deadline, the Rangers' play started to pick up and continued to trend upward through the final month of the season under first-year coach Gerard Gallant. Now we're onto the second round, which features four superb matchups: Florida Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Rangers, Colorado Avalanche vs. St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames vs. Edmonton Oilers. That's the question. Against Carolina, Shesterkin gave up two or fewer goals in six of the seven games in the series and won another Game 7, this time on the road. The Rangers didn't have to face Hurricanes starter Frederik Andersen, who missed the playoffs with a lower-body injury; instead, they saw Antti Raanta for six games and half of Game 7 until his injury, and then third-stringer Pyotr Kochetkov. The Wild have had offensive stars emerging throughout the season, from Kirill Kaprizov to Kevin Fiala to Mats Zuccarello. Biggest flaw(s): Defensive chemistry, and the penalty kill. The first-round pick is conditional on the Kings making the playoffs and would become two second-round picks (2023 and 2024) if they do not . Rick DiPietro: Panthers in seven What will be the key to solving Igor Shesterkin? The next highest scorer, Zach Hyman, had 54 points. Since being acquired at the trade deadline, the former Blackhawks winger hasn't produced. We've already discussed Kuemper. The Lightning will have to convert some of those to beat "Shesty.". Wischusen: Flames in seven There has also been more effort on the forecheck. Igor Shesterkin led the NHL in save percentage and goals saved above average, carrying the Rangers for the first two-thirds of the season as New York was near the bottom of the league in even-strength analytics. Center Ross Colton, who scored the only goal in their Cup-clinching game last summer against the Canadiens, has played the majority of his minutes with Brandon Hagel, whom the Lightning acquired from Chicago at the trade deadline. 6 Virginia (21-5, 13-4 ACC) . The 2021-22 NHL season is winding down towards the final . Bold prediction: Nashville shocks the hockey world by going from wild-card entrant to Western Conference finalist. Editor's Picks. The Avalanche have an excellent power play (34.5%) but weaker penalty kill (73.1%). While offense can sometimes dry up the deeper we get into postseason play, that doesn't necessarily mean it will be the case here. Case for a Stanley Cup run: The Penguins crossed the finish line as a playoff team. My other prediction for this series? They rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 series deficits to defeat the Hurricanes. But the kids were all right too: Forwards Arthur Kaliyev, Rasmus Kupari and Quinton Byfield, as well as defensemen Mikey Anderson and Sean Durzi, also contributed. No disrespect intended to Sebastian Aho, but the Rangers didn't have to face an elite offensive player like Kucherov in their series against the Hurricanes. The Avalanche will require all hands on deck to keep pace with Edmonton. The answer should be clear early on against Edmonton. Yet Carolina is not mentioned in the same breath as other Stanley Cup contenders. . Edmonton really performed well against Calgary on the penalty kill too, coming up with critical stops that frustrated the Flames' attack. New York Islanders (MP) 7. Whether or not he'll again be eyeing a trade out of town this offseason, Tarasenko should take every chance to shine in the coming weeks. He had just two points in the Pens' six-game series loss to the Islanders last playoffs. Make Your Picks. At Pickswise we have expert NHL picks for every game of the 2021/22 season. Kuemper's terrific regular season (37-12-4, .921 SV%, 2.54 GAA) suggests he's up to the task of what's ahead though -- even if his playoff resume to date isn't so dazzling. Why not Dallas? How they got here: Defeated Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3, defeated Florida Panthers 4-0. Their second-leading scorer is defenseman Victor Hedman, who is doing as Victor Hedman does: He has 10 points in 11 games and is skating 25:03 per game. The NHL has passed the mathematical midpoint of the 2022-23 regular season. Player to watch: McAvoy. The Lightning goalie will have to be better than his best to get Tampa over the hump and back into postseason cruise control. 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