Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Thanks to the whacky scheduling by the NHL to start the Stanley Cup Playoffs, two Eastern Conference series will be done with Game 2 before the final two Western Conference series even get started on Monday.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will take on the Boston Bruins trailing 1-0 in that series, while the New York Islanders visit the Carolina Hurricanes also trailing the series, 1-0.
After those games, the defending Stanley Cup champions begin their defense of their title in Dallas against the Stars, while the Los Angeles Kings open their series with the Oilers in Edmonton.
The Stars were the best team in the Western Conference this season, and finished one point behind the New York Rangers for the Presidents' Trophy. They get to play the Stanley Cup champs for their efforts, because Vegas finished as the second Wild Card team in the West and 14th overall in the NHL.
Vegas won all three games against the Stars in the regular season, giving up only four goals.
Dallas was able to score goals against everyone else, as they were third in the NHL, averaging 3.59 goals per-game. This is a team that spreads the scoring around, as they had two 30-goal scorers and eight 20-goal scorers.
Jason Robertson led the Stars in scoring with 29 goals and 51 assists for 80 points.
Joe Pavelski is amazing at age 39, as he put up 27 goals and 40 assists for 67 points. Pavelski has played in 182 playoff games, scoring 73 goals and 66 assists for 139 points.
This season, Wyatt Johnston had 32 goals, while Roope Hintz had 30.
There have been playoff series where Stars goalie Jake Oettinger has almost stolen it for them. He’s going to have to be a little better than he was in the regular season, where he was 35-14-4 with a 2.72 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.
Dallas comes at you with the sixth-best power play and eighth-best penalty kill.
Dallas comes into the playoffs having won four of its last five games.
The two teams met last year in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with Vegas winning in six games in the Western Conference Final. They also met in 2020, where Dallas won in five games, also in the Conference Final.
The Golden Knights come in, once again, taking advantage of the long-term injury loophole in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Vegas captain Mark Stone is expected to come off LTIR, because there’s no salary cap in the playoffs. He missed 26 games to close the regular season, and Vegas is the best when it comes to finding loopholes to keep players.
One of the reasons Vegas had trouble this season is because of injuries. Former Sabres captain Jack Eichel missed 19 games, while William Karlsson missed 12, Shea Theodore missed 35, and Alex Pietrangelo missed 18.
Eichel still found time to score 31 goals and 37 assists for 68 points in 63 games played.
Last year’s Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Marchessault followed up his 2023 postseason success with 42 goals and 69 points during the 2023-24 regular season.
When healthy, Logan Thompson and Adin Hill led the way in goal. They shared the crease in the last five games.
Vegas won three of its last four games just to get into the playoffs in the Western Conference.
Noah Hanifin played 19 games with Vegas after coming over in a trade with the Calgary Flames at the NHL Trade Deadline, and has already signed an eight-year contract extension that will average $7.35 million per-season.
They also acquired Tomas Hertl from the San Jose Sharks, but he only played six games due to injury.
Anthony Mantha came over from the Washington Capitals, scoring 10 points in 18 games.
All of this was possible because, again, the Golden Knights are experts at getting around the cap and doing it legally.
The final series has the No. 12 overall Kings against the No. 9 overal Oilers.
Back on Nov. 12, Edmonton fired head coach Jay Woodcroft after a 3-9-1 start. Kris Knoblauch was hired from the AHL’s Hartford Wolfpack, and helped lead the Oilers to a 46-18-5 record.
With Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in your lineup, you’re not surprising anyone by being fourth in the NHL in goals. McDavid was third in league scoring with 32 goals and 100 assists for 132 points. Draisaitl was seventh with 41 goals and 65 assists for 106 points.
It’s funny that Edmonton had one 50-goal scorer, and it wasn’t one of their two superstars. Zach Hyman netted a career-high 54 goals, which ranked third overall in the league.
What is a surprise this season is goalie Stuart Skinner, as Edmonton is 10th in team defense. Skinner went 36-16-5 this season with 2.62 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.
Evan Bouchard leads the Oilers' power play from the point. He had 18 goals and 64 assists for 82 points this season. To give you a comparison, Rasmus Dahlin had 59 points.
Edmonton took the season series with Los Angeles, 3-1-0. McDavid had seven points in the four games.
This is the 10th time overall these two teams have met in the playoffs, and also the third-straight year. Edmonton has won seven of the nine times they’ve played to this point.
In 49 playoff games, McDavid has 29 goals and 46 assists for 75 points.
The Oilers slipped at the end of the season, though, losing 4-of-5 games.
Los Angeles was also a team that fired their head coach in season, as Todd McLellan was let go on Feb. 2 and replaced by Jim Hiller. Hiller went on to lead the Kings to a 21-12-1 record under his tutelage.
The Kings are third in team defense, and will spend their time trying to jam up the middle of the ice and turn the game into a crawl.
They don’t put stress on their goalies, as Cam Talbot was 27-20-6 this season with a 2.50 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. David Rittich went 13-6-3 behind Talbot with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage.
Talbot played five of the last six games.
The Kings won six of their last eight games to close the season.
Los Angeles was 1-2-1 against Edmonton in their season series.
The Kings had three players at 70 points or more this season: Adrian Kempe had 75, Kevin Fiala had 73 and Anze Kopitar had 70.
Trevor Moore never had more than 17 goals in a season, but netted 31 during the 2023-24 campaign.
The Kings started the season with 11-straight road wins, breaking the Sabres' NHL record of 10 road wins to start the 2006-07 season.
