The NHL playoffs begin tonight, and the race for the Cup is as entertaining as ever. Hockey fans are treated to intense rivalry games, the powerhouses that are the Nashville Predators and Tampa Bay Lightning, and of course, perhaps a series bestowed upon us by the hockey gods themselves: The Battle of Pennsylvania.
Postseason hockey is a different beast – one that captivates, frustrates, elates its fans. Over these next two months, emotions are sure to run high as beloved teams disappoint, hated teams succeed, and inevitably, brackets are ruined. Below is a ranking of every first round series, based on pure entertainment value, from the games you could recap later to your can’t-miss matchups.
- Nashville Predators vs Colorado Avalanche
Can anyone stop the Preds? The finished the regular season as the best team in the NHL and they show no signs of stopping now. They come storming behind Vezina Trophy candidate Pekka Rinne, one of the league’s most dominant goalies. Colorado in this series is the ultimate underdog. They clinched their playoff berth in the last game of the season, barely sneaking into a Wild Card spot. But with Colorado missing integral parts of the team in starting goalie Semyon Varlamov and elite defenseman Erik Johnson, the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Predators look to quickly complete the series, if not sweep.
- Tampa Bay Lightning vs New Jersey Devils
Like the Predators, the Lightning are a formidable foe for any team. The Lightning finished 16 points ahead of the Devils and they look to take this advantage throughout the series. This matchup is slightly more entertaining though, due in large part to Hart Trophy candidate Taylor Hall and his career year. Hall propelled the Devils to their first playoff appearance in six years with help from his 26-game point streak – the longest in the league. While Jersey pulls the underdog card here as well, they have just a bit more fight in them to at least give Tampa a bit of a run.
- Winnipeg Jets vs Minnesota Wild
While this is a 2/3 seed matchup, the statistics show a bit more disparity. Winnipeg leads in goals for, goals against, power play percentage, penalty kill percentage, and face-off win percentage. Winnipeg also has plenty of offensive options behind Blake Wheeler and Patrik Laine. Though the Wild did have a hot streak towards the end of the season, they still enter this matchup missing their best defenseman, Ryan Suter, who’s out for the season. The Jets should have an easy enough time reaching the second round, but the Wild won’t go down easy against their Northern rivals.
- Washington Capitals vs Columbus Blue Jackets
Columbus and Washington both have the Pens in common, as in they were bounced by the Penguins in playoffs last season. A fairly even matchup, Washington enters notorious for their postseason failures; Columbus enters with only three playoff wins in the team’s history. The success of these teams comes down to their goalies. The Caps have had some issues with inconsistency, primarily from Braden Holtby, and as such, backup Philipp Grubauer gets the start. For the Jackets’ Sergei Bobrovsky, he showed some impressive saves in the regular season, but also has a reputation for flaking in the playoffs.
- Vegas Golden Knights vs Los Angeles Kings
The Knights in their inaugural season quickly captured the hearts of hockey fans everywhere. For an expansion team, they were never expected to have this level of success. The Knights are the first modern-era expansion team to win its division and the only expansion team to hit 100 points in the first season. The Kings boast two Stanley Cup victories since 2012, and have another Hart Trophy candidate in Anze Kopitar. Marc-Andre Fleury, everyone’s favorite goalie, has posted a .927 save percentage, meaning the Kings will have to set a fast, intense pace to get some offense going.
- Anaheim Ducks vs San Jose Sharks
This is the most entertaining matchup in the Western Conference. These two California rivals will be fighting tooth and nail to move on. Both are plagued with recent injuries, as the Ducks goaltender John Gibson is still listed as out for an upper-body injury and defenseman Cam Fowler is out with a shoulder injury while the Sharks are down their alternate captain, Joe Thornton. In the regular season, only one game was decided in regulation: a shootout win for Anaheim – their only victory against the Sharks. This series is looking to be gritty and lengthy as these foes battle for a piece of California supremacy.
- Boston Bruins vs Toronto Maple Leafs
We can’t talk about this matchup without talking about the 2013 series between these teams. Thanks to some late Game 7 heroics in overtime, the Bruins moved on, eventually reaching the Stanley Cup Final, while simultaneously breaking every heart in Toronto. Of course, these are not the same teams as they were five years ago. But this is still an intense Original Six rivalry spurred on by their last playoff meeting. The Leafs boast youth and depth, with a 30-goal scorer on each of their top three lines in Auston Matthews, Nazem Kadri, and James van Riemsdyk. The Bruins boast greater playoff experience, with just enough youth to still surprise. This rivalry isn’t always considered massive, but for this series, don’t be surprised if we see every game come down to the wire.
- Pittsburgh Penguins vs Philadelphia Flyers
This is the most entertaining matchup in the NHL playoffs. No, this is the most entertaining matchup in the NHL entirely. You’d be hard pressed to find a hockey fan who doesn’t want to see this series. The Battle of Pennsylvania is always hard and physical; the fact that it’s the playoffs only exacerbates these expectations of incredible speed and brutal physicality. The Pens and Flyers had comparable regular seasons, as the Pens finished only two points ahead. This will be an offensive onslaught as a third of the league’s top fifteen scorers – Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek, and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Phil Kessel – will take the ice. The most entertaining rivalry in hockey is sure to be a rough series, and if we’re lucky, we’ll see all seven games.
Editor’s Note: NHL shield photo taken by Marlon E on Flikr. Photo under license for use with the CC BY-SA 2.0.
