All eight first-round matchups in the NHL playoffs are set after the last day of the regular season flipped two of the biggest series in the Western Conference.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights will open against the top-seeded Dallas Stars. Connor McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers will face the Los Angeles Kings, a team they defeated in the first round each of the last two years.
In the Eastern Conference, the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers begin their championship pursuit against the Washington Capitals. The Stanley Cup favorite Carolina Hurricanes face the New York Islanders in the first round, but any of nearly a dozen teams could win it all.
Here’s a glance at the first-round series.
Rangers vs. Capitals
Game 1: Sunday at New York, 2 p.m. CDT, ESPN
The Rangers were the best team in the league. The Capitals needed to win their regular-season finale to get into the playoffs, doing so with an unusual empty-net goal.
The Rangers are heavily favored, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. But Capitals center Dylan Strome pointed out the teams not only split four games but each scored and allowed nine goals in the season series.
“Anything can happen in playoffs,” Strome said. “You saw what happened last year: The best team in regular-season history (the Boston Bruins) loses to Florida because they had a good end of the season and they kind of carried it toward playoffs. We’ve won three in a row, we’re feeling good. The momentum’s kind of with us, and obviously we feel good.”
Hurricanes vs. Islanders
Game 1: Saturday at Carolina, 4 p.m., TBS
This is a rematch from last year, when the Hurricanes beat the Islanders in six games. It’s also another series pitting Carolina’s Sebastian Aho (a Finnish forward) against New York’s Sebastian Aho (a Swedish defenseman), no relation.
What has changed: The Islanders upgraded at coach, hiring Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy midseason, and won seven of eight games down the stretch to make a surprise run to the playoffs. Speaking of goaltending, Hurricanes starter Frederik Andersen is 9-1-0 with a 1.30 goals-against average and .951 save percentage since returning from blood-clotting issues.
Panthers vs. Lightning
Game 1: Sunday at Florida, 11:30 a.m., ESPN
The defending Eastern Conference champion Panthers looked on track to play the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round until they came back to beat the Maple Leafs on Tuesday while the Bruins lost to the Ottawa Senators. So now the Panthers will face cross-state rival Tampa Bay.
The Lightning have 2019 Vezina Trophy winner and 2021 playoff MVP Andrei Vasilevskiy in net, while Florida has two-time Vezina winner Sergei Bobrovsky. The play of the Russian goalies could decide the series.
Bruins vs. Maple Leafs
Game 1: Saturday at Boston, 7 p.m., TBS
A year removed from setting NHL records for most wins and points in a season and then losing in the first round, coach Jim Montgomery hopes the Bruins learned “how to handle adversity when it smacks you in the face.” That could come in the form of 69-goal scorer Auston Matthews or any of the Leafs’ other elite offensive players.
Facing Boston is a chance for Toronto, which has one playoff series victory with its current core, to slay a dragon that has tormented the team. The Bruins eliminated the Leafs in 2018 and ’19.
Stars vs. Golden Knights
Game 1: Monday at Dallas, 8:30 p.m., ESPN
Congratulations on clinching the top seed in the West, Dallas. Your reward is the reigning champs getting captain Mark Stone back from a lacerated spleen just in time to make another run.
The Stars, who lost to the Knights in the West finals last year, have been “a wagon” down the stretch, in the words of Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar, looking like the class of the conference with a deep roster and a mountainous goalie in Jake Oettinger. Starting with Vegas is a steep test.
Jets vs. Avalanche
Game 1: Sunday at Winnipeg, 6 p.m., ESPN2
The first matchup to get locked in was Winnipeg vs. Colorado, a classic clash in styles. The high-octane Avalanche tend to overwhelm opponents but went 0-3 against the Jets this season, getting outscored 17-4, never putting up more than two goals in any game and looking absolutely smothered by the best defensive team in the league in terms of goals allowed.
The most recent game was a 7-0 Jets rout in Denver, but the Avalanche, with their core mostly intact from their 2022 Stanley Cup run, know how to flip a switch when the playoffs arrive. That starts with MVP candidate Nathan MacKinnon, who finished second to Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov in the scoring race and is motivated to win another championship.
Colorado’s biggest question is in goal, where Alexandar Georgiev has been up, down and inconsistent. The same cannot be said of his standout counterpart, the Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck.
Canucks vs. Predators
Game 1: Sunday at Vancouver, 9 p.m., ESPN
The Rick Tocchet-coached Canucks were one of the biggest surprises of the season. In October, making the playoffs would have made it a good year for the Canucks, but now they’re Pacific Division champions and have their sights set on making it through the West.
The Predators stand in the way after a late-season 16-0-2 surge propelled them into a wild-card spot in their first year under coach Andrew Brunette and with Barry Trotz in charge as general manager.
Oilers vs. Kings
Game 1: Monday at Edmonton, 9 p.m., ESPN2
Here we go again. This is the third consecutive year Edmonton and Los Angeles have played in the first round. The Oilers won both previous series and are favored to advance to face the Canucks or Predators after winning 46 of 69 games since the coaching change from Jay Woodcroft to Kris Knoblauch.
This could be three-time MVP Connor McDavid’s chance to carry the Oilers to their first title since 1990. McDavid and Leon Draisaitl talk and look a lot like MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog did before the Avalanche won it all two years ago.
