Good morning. The New Jersey Devils have failed again to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, marking three out of the last five years that they have been on the outside looking in. After the 2022-23 season, though, I had really thought the Devils would be on a four-year playoff berth streak.
But before we look too deeply into how Sunny Mehta is going to run the team, there is still hockey around the league to watch. The road to the Stanley Cup is not only difficult, but it is one of the longest playoffs in professional sports. This is the time for unlikely heroes, or likely ones, but also the time for survivalists. When the intensity ramps up and the players seem like they are past the point of hatred, it turn into a matter of who will outlast the other. Let’s dive into it.
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The Schedule: Here is the First Round schedule from NHL.com.
The Preview
The Eastern Conference Matchups
Buffalo Sabres (A1/2) vs. the Boston Bruins (WC1/5)
The Buffalo Sabres, guided behind the bench by Lindy Ruff, have had an excellent season, finishing just four points back of the Conference lead with a 50-23-9 record. With a top-5 ranked offense and top-10 defense, the Buffalo Sabres have a deep scoring attack with 14 players scoring 25 or more points this season and 13 of those players having 10 or more goals. Led on the ice by Tage Thompson (40G, 41A, Gold Medal in February), Rasmus Dahlin (19G, 55A), and Alex Tuch (33G, 33A), the Sabres also have the top-end players to keep up with the best in the league. We will see how they split the goaltending between Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (22-9-3, .909 SV%) and Colten Ellis (8-4-2, .903 SV%), but they did not have a clear number one in goal when Alex Lyon (20-10-4, .906 SV%) was healthy.
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The Boston Bruins are a more traditional hockey group. Backed by first-year head coach Marco Sturm, the 45-27-10 Bruins are driven by David Pastrnak (29G, 71A), Morgan Geekie (39G, 29 A), Pavel Zacha (30G, 35A), and Charlie McAvoy (11G, 50A). In net, they have a true number one in Jeremy Swayman, who went 31-18-4 with a .907 save percentage this season. The depth of Boston is still strong, but not quite as high-scoring as the Sabres. Only 10 Bruins hit the 10-goal mark this season, but they are a rather tough team. Between the solid defense of Nikita Zadorov and the forechecking of Tanner Jeannot and Mark Kastelic, the Bruins have that secondary element backing their more skilled players that makes them tough to play against.
Tampa Bay Canadiens (A2/3) vs. the Montreal Canadiens (A3/4)
Jon Cooper might never oversee a bad team. The 50-26-6 Lightning are as good a bet for the Stanley Cup as any this season despite difficult seasons for veteran defensemen Ryan McDonagh (21 points in 48 games) and Victor Hedman (17 points in 33 games). Filling the void has been 30-year old Darren Raddysh, who had 70 points in 73 games, which is remarkable for a guy who only played his first full NHL season at age 27 in the 2023-24 season. The usual suspects are still up to their scoring up front, though, with Nikita Kucherov reaching 130 points for the second time in his career. Jake Guentzel (38G, 50A), Brandon Hagel (36G, 38A), and Anthony Cirelli (52 points, Selke-level defense) have been outstanding. However, Brayden Point (50 points in 63 games) seems to have slowed down a bit with a career-low shooting percentage of 14.0. The Lightning are not a very deep team beyond their seocnd and third lines, though, and they will need to continue relying on their scorers and Andrei Vasilevskiy, who went 39-15-4 with a .911 save percentage this season.
The Montreal Canadiens have taken their first leap. Attention will surely be on Nick Suzuki, who had a 101-point season for them, though he was certainly boosted along the way by a ridiculous season by Cole Caufield, who had 51 goals. Those two took a lot of pressure off of the even-younger trio of Lane Hutson (12G, 66A), Juraj Slafkovsky (30G, 43A), and Ivan Demidov (19G, 43A), allowing them to have excellent seasons as well. Thanks to some malpractice on Long Island by Mathieu Darche, the Canadiens have also been stabilized by Noah Dobson (12G, 35A), who eats a ton of minutes (22:29) alongside Hutson (23:46) and Mike Matheson (7G, 30A, 24:10). Like the Lightning, this is a team driven by the top players. I would hope that the 21-year old Jacob Fowler gets the nod in net, given his .908 save percentage down the stretch after replacing Sam Montembeault (.873 SV%), but it is certainly possible that the Canadiens lean on the somewhat Jakub Dobes and his .901 save percentage in this series.
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Carolina Hurricanes (M1/1) vs. the Ottawa Senators (WC2/6)
The Devils’ bane will look for a different victim this playoff series, and this time they have to deal with an Atlantic Division opponent. In five of the last seven years, the Hurricanes have been eliminated by Atlantic opponents, beating only the Bruins in the 2022 First Round during that time. But the Hurricanes are good. With the 2nd-ranked offense and 5th-ranked defense in the league by total goals, their 53-22-7 record was no accident. Their weakness, though, is goaltending. Despite few goals against, their team save percentage was .886 this season. The forwards are very solid, though. Seven players hit the 20-goal mark, and Taylor Hall was just behind at 18. On the blueline, Shayne Gostisbehere is a monster (13G, 37A in 55 games) when he is actually ion the ice, and rookie Alexander Nikishin has fit in well in Rod Brind’amour’s system alongside fellow Carolina newcomer K’Andre Miller, who reached 35 points (37) for the first time since the 2022-23 season.
The Ottawa Senators have had a roller coaster season. From wild, slanderous rumors about the locker room to borderline slanderous AI use after Brady Tkachuk won a Gold Medal with Team USA, they should be applauded for staying together this long. But they are a talented team with a mix of young stars and still-productive veterans. Tim Stutzle led them with 83 points, while Drake Batherson hit the 70-mark for the first time in his career. With Gold Medal winners Brady Tkachuk (59P in 60GP) and Jake Sanderson (54P in 67GP), alongside veteran scorers Claude Giroux (14G, 35A) and David Perron (25P in 49GP), the Senators have a rather interesting mix. As long as they can get some vintage Linus Ullmark (.891 SV%, 28-12-8), they will be a threat to Carolina.
Pittsburgh Penguins (M2/7) vs. the Philadelphia Flyers (M3/8)
After years of coaching malpractice, first-year Head Coach Dan Muse has turned the Pittsburgh Penguins around. And, yes, some will complain that the Penguins got in with a lot of loser points at 41-25-16. However, they are dangerous. They went 34-25-23 in regulation this season, going just 7-16 in three-on-three and shootouts. However, the playoffs should be expected to reward better regulation teams, and the Penguins would have finished even better had Sidney Crosby not been hit in the knee in the Olympics Semi-Final game, which caused him to miss a couple weeks. But Crosby (29G, 45A in 68GP), along with Erik Karlsson (15G, 51A), Bryan Rust (29G, 36A in 72GP), and Evgeni Malkin (19G, 42A in 59GP) are all still excellent players. Even Kris Letang, with 34 points in 74 games while playing nearly 22 minutes a game, is still a player to watch. But now, the Penguins have reinforcements. Anthony Mantha, a buy-low shot by Kyle Dubas, scored 33 goals and 64 points for them. Ben Kindel, the 10th overall pick in 2025, had 35 points in his rookie season. Egor Chinakhov, who fell out of favor in Columbus, was traded for relative peanuts and put up 36 points in 43 games with the team. The big mistake for them was likely trading Tristan Jarry for Stuart Skinner, as Skinner put up an .885 save percentage in 27 games with the team, meaning that Arturs Silovs (.887 SV% in 39 games) might get more play.
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The Philadelphia Flyers, I would argue, deserve much less to be in the Playoffs than Pittsburgh. With the 21st-ranked offense and a 27-27-28 regulation record, the Flyers are the only Eastern Conference playoff team to go to overtime more often than they won in regulation. The roster, too, is much weaker. With only two 60-point scorers in Travis Konecny and Trevor Zegras, the Flyers hope for more from Matvei Michkov, Christian Dvorak, and Owen Tippett on the big stage, as they all finished with 51 points. With solid defense from former Brad Shaw and John Tortorella protegees Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen, though, they can slow the game down and make scoring difficult. Dan Vladar, who had a good season in his first year as an NHL starter at 29-14-7 with a .906 save percentage, will play a big part in whether they can hold up to Pittsburgh without three-on-three available.
The Western Conference Matchups
Colorado Avalanche (C1/1) vs. Los Angeles Kings (WC2/8)
The Colorado Avalanche look like they just need to show up for the series this time around. They went 55-16-11. They had two 100-point scorers in Nathan MacKinnon (127) and Martin Necas (100). Cale Makar went over a point-per-game again. Brock Nelson proved foolish Islanders fans wrong with a 33-goal, 65-point season (and a Gold Medal). Veleri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen provide great two-way play and can turn it up in the playoffs. Brent Burns proved foolish Hurricanes fans wrong with a 35-point, solid two-way season at now 41 years old. Gabriel Landeskog is back, and he is still pretty good. And perhaps most importantly, Scott Wedgewood led the NHL in save percentage at .921 this season, backed by Mackenzie Blackwood’s .904 mark. The Avalanche should be Cup favorites.
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The Los Angeles Kings do not deserve to be here, but I will forgive it on the point of giving Anze Kopitar one last show in the playoffs. Even worse than the Flyers, the Kings went 22-27-33 in regulation for a disgusting playoff-bound record of 35-27-20. They have the 29th-ranked offense. They had one 50-point scorer in Adrian Kempe, who put up 73 points. Kevin Fiala is out for the season after an awful Olympics injury. But they do have Anze Kopitar, who is still a great two-way center. They have added Artemi Panarin, who seemed to fit in well after being traded from New York. Drew Doughty is still eating minutes and getting good results despite not being a producer anymore. And, of course, the Kings have the playoff legend, Corey Perry. It will be interesting to see whether Darcy Kuemper (19-14-15, .891 SV%) or Anton Forsberg (16-12-5, .909 SV%) gets the net, but I really do not think the combined magic of Kopitar, Perry, and whatever else they can conjure up will be enough to fell Colorado.
Dallas Stars (C2/2) vs. the Minnesota Wild (C3/3)
The Dallas Stars are dealing with untimely injuries. Miro Heiskanen is questionable, but expected to play Game 1. Roope Hintz will miss the first two games. Tyler Seguin has been out with an ACL tear. And worst of all, Nathan Bastian has been out but may return early in the playoffs. It is a testament to the team that, even without Hintz, they are still massively threatening. Jason Robertson (45G, 51A), Wyatt Johnston (45G, 41A), and Mikko Rantanen (22G, 55A in 64GP) can terrorize any opponent. And with depth in Matt Duchene (45P in 57GP), Mavrik Bourque (20G, 21A), and Jamie Benn (36P in 60GP), they should be able to survive a short time without Hintz. The Stars have one of the most defensively sound top group of defensemen in the league in Heiskanen, Thomas Harley, and Esa Lindell, with all three eating over 23 minutes a night. The big hope in Dallas should be that Jake Oettinger (35-12-6, .899 SV%) amps it up in the playoffs.
The Minnesota Wild are now headlined by Quinn Hughes. Despite only playing 48 games with the club, Quinn was fourth on the team in scoring with 53 points. He was bested only by Mats Zuccarello, who apparently gets better with age at 54 points in 59 games in his age-38 season, alongside fellow Gold Medalist Matt Boldy (42G, 43A) and Kirill Kaprizov (45G, 44A). The Wild have a solid middle group of Brock Faber (15G, 36A), Joel Eriksson Ek (19G, 32A in the 1C role), Marcus Johansson (49P in 75GP), Vladimir Tarasenko (47P in 75 GP), and Ryan Hartman (23G, 20A in the 2C role). But after that, well, just hope that they play good defense. The Foligno brothers should be tough to deal with, and Jared Spurgeon will play good defense, but it is an offensively thin depth group. They are backed, though, by Jesper Wallstedt (18-9-6, .915 SV%) and Filip Gustavsson (28-15-6, .903 SV%), so they should have the advantage in goal.
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Vegas Golden Knights (P1/4) vs. the Utah Mammoth (WC1/7)
The Vegas Golden Knights are an odd group. They have five 60-point scorers (and Tomas Hertl at 58). They have great defensemen in Shea Theodore and Noah Hanifin, now alongside Rasmus Andersson. But unlike the early-years Golden Knights, this is not a deep team, and the addition of Mitch Marner did not do as much to boost their top six scoring as they should have hoped. Their only depth scorers are Reilly Smith (16G, 10A in 69GP) and Brett Howden (12G, 10A in 58GP). That is largely why they failed to reach 40 wins, going 39-26-17, in addition to shaky goaltending. Akira Schmid is the most reliable choice in net with his .893 save percentage in 34 games played, while Adin Hill went 10-9-6 with an .870 save percentage. Carter Hart is also an option with his .891 save percentage, but he only played 18 games this season. He has the edge now with a six-game winning streak on a .930 save percentage, though new head coach John Tortorella should take caution in his prior 12 games at an .871 save percentage.
The Utah Mammoth are easier to read. With three 70-point scorers in Clayton Keller (88), Nick Schmaltz (74), and Dylan Guenther (73) and a middle six that should feature Logan Cooley (24G, 19A in 54GP) and JJ Peterka (25G, 22A), with two-way specialists Barrett Hayton and Jack McBain, the Mammoth are solid. A former Devil, John Marino, has a lot to do with it. I do not like using plus/minus as a stat in general, but when numbers get as high as Marino’s +43, well, it looks nice, and his 36 points showed some offensive growth for him from a personal standpoint. Marino, Nate Schmidt, and Mikhail Sergachev (10G, 49A) form a solid top end of the defense that can keep up in both ends, and they are backed by Karel Vejmelka, who played a league-leading 64 games in net (38-20-3, .896 SV%) for the Mammoth.
Edmonton Oilers (P2/5) vs. the Anaheim Ducks (P3/6)
The Edmonton Oilers need to get it together. At 41-30-11, there were times their playoff spot did not even look guaranteed. And this is ridiculous! Connor McDavid scored 138 points after committing to two more years at no raise. Leon Draisailt had 97 points in 65 games. Evan Bouchard turned himself around with 95 points, including an insane 58 points in the second half of the season. But the bottom six is a mess. The third pairing is a mess. And worst of all for Edmonton, their attempt to improve from Stuart Skinner with Tristan Jarry backfired, as Jarry imploded with an .857 save percentage after posting .907 with the Penguins. Connor Ingram, with a 16-10-3 record and .899 save percentage, now looks like their only choice in goal.
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The Anaheim Ducks are the only team other than the Kings in these Playoffs to have a losing regulation record at 26-33-23, winning 17 games in overtime or shootouts. The Ducks do have good players. Cutter Gauthier had 41 goals and 69 points in his second season, while Leo Carlsson (67P in 70GP) and Bennett Sennecke (60) also posted 60-point seasons. Troy Terry, as long as he is on the ice, cna be a threat with his 57 points in 61 games, while Chris Kreider broke 20 goals again for his new club. Led on defense by Jackson LaCombe (10G, 48A), Jacob Trouba (10G, 25A), and now John Carlson (4G, 10A in 16GP), this can be a tough team to read. They have skill. But as long as Lukas Dostal is only putting up an .888 save percentage while the defense gives up over 30 shots a game, they may struggle against a team like Edmonton.
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With that, thank you for reading! I hope to see you all around here commenting on these games.
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