The 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs are now through the first round. There were some absolutely huge surprises, including a record-setting Boston Bruins team falling to the Florida Panthers in the first round.
Out west, the expansion Seattle Kraken took out the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in the first round. These are among the five things we learned from the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Related: Boston Bruins suffer professional sports’ most humiliating first-round losses
Having a home-ice advantage in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs means nothing
Top-seeded teams in the Stanley Cup Playoffs earned home-ice advantage, hosting the series’ first two contests and potential elimination games like games 5 and 7. Historically, playing in front of the hometown crowd is something players work all season to achieve. However, losing at home in critical games has disadvantages.
Thus far in the 2022-23 playoffs, home ice has meant nothing as the away teams have played well, going 20-30, including 2-1 in game 7. Moreover, the visitors are 11-3 in overtime games, forcing hometown fans to go home disappointed.
Conversely, the only series which featured a winning record for the home team (4-2) was the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders matchup. Meanwhile, two series, Los Angeles Kings/Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars/Minnesota Wild split their series evenly at 3-3. Finally, the home team went 1-5 in the Toronto Maple Leafs/Tampa Bay Lightning series, hammering home the fact hosting playoff games had no advantages in the first round.
Vezina Trophy candidates hurt their candidacy with sub-par first-round performances
When discussing potential Vezina Trophy candidates, let’s discuss the elephant in the room, Linus Ullmark. As one of two goalies to win 40 games this year, the Boston Bruins netminder led the league in goals-against average (GAA) at 1.89 and save percentage (SV%) at .938, backstopping the Bruins to the best regular season record of all-time.
Unfortunately, this year’s best goalie had a playoff series to forget, posting numbers like 3.33 GAA and .896 SV%, not even starting the critical game 7 on home ice.
Shockingly, he wasn’t the only star goalie to have a tough first-round. Additionally, the Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy (34 wins), Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin (.924 SV%), Colorado Avalanche’s Alexander Georgiev (40 wins), and Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck (2.49 GAA) were all eliminated in in the initial round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Meanwhile, rookies like the Oilers’ Stuart Skinner (four playoff wins) and New Jersey Devils’ Akira Schmid (1.72 GAA) have shined in their postseason debuts, carrying their teams to first-round victories.
Regular-season statistics didn’t mean a thing in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs
The Bruins strolled through the regular season with 65 wins while setting a list of NHL records during their journey. As the top seed in the playoffs, they bowed out unceremoniously in the first round at the hands of the Florida Panthers.
Meanwhile, the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche battled through significant injuries all season to win the Central Division title, only to lose in game 7 to the wild card Seattle Kraken on home ice.
Statistically, Connor McDavid (Edmonton) and David Pastrnak (Boston) combined for 125 goals during the regular season. Still, with just eight goals between the two in 13 playoff games, they watched teammates like Leon Draisaitl (11 points) and Tyler Bertuzzi (10 points) carry most of the offense for their teams in winning and losing efforts.
Meanwhile, the leading scorer in the playoffs is currently Stars’ forward Roope Hintz with 12 points in six games, which accounts for 32% of his regular season production, 37 points in 50 games. Realistically, the first round has produced major upsets and surprising, feel-good stories.
Related: NHL power rankings in the Stanley Cup Playoffs
Golden Knights and Kraken prove expansion teams are no longer easy eliminations
After the NHL expanded from six to 12 teams in 1967, an expansion team didn’t win the Stanley Cup until the Philadelphia Flyers achieved the feat in 1974. As the league continued to grow through the decades, most of the teams who came into the league in the 1990s and early 2000s had difficulty finding success, with several clubs from those years still looking for a championship.
Then, the Vegas Golden Knights came into the league in 2018 and were instant contenders, finishing with the third-best record before losing in the Stanley Cup Final in five games. Since their inception, they have missed the playoffs just once and already have three division championships.
Obviously, the Golden Knights set an extremely high bar for future expansion teams, which the Seattle Kraken should have measured up to in their inaugural season in 2021-22. However, after finishing with a losing record in year one, they improved by 40 points and qualified for the playoffs in their second season.
Historically, they became the first expansion team to eliminate a defending Stanley Cup champion en route to winning their first-ever series. Although they are not the favorites to win, they have proved that being a young club is no longer an easy elimination in the postseason.
Related: Sportsbooks celebrate Bruins upset; Leafs seen as favorites in Stanley Cup Playoffs
The Toronto Maple Leafs prove that spending big at the deadline can be rewarding
Leading up to the NHL trade deadline, the Maple Leafs went all-in, acquiring former Conn Smythe Trophy winner Ryan O’Reilly to bring a championship pedigree to the dressing room. Surprisingly, the deals the team swung to restructure their lineup paid off with their first playoff series win since 2004.
Interestingly, the Bruins were big players in the trade market, acquiring three players to boost their impressive lineup, although those moves didn’t work out for them. Furthermore, the New York Rangers suffered a similar fate in their first-round series. After going out to acquire future Hall of Famer Patrick Kane from the Chicago Blackhawks and Vladimir Tarasenko from the St. Louis Blues, two of this generation’s elite players, the Rangers fell to the Devils in Game 7, New Jersey’s first series win since 2012.
Since the introduction of the salary cap in 2005-06, it’s been more challenging for teams to buy a championship, forcing management to construct their rosters with care. However, franchises who are smart with their spending habits can find the missing pieces to go on surprising runs to the Final. Sometimes those gambles pay off, while others leave fanbases questioning what happens next after going all in and coming up short.
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