East will be a sprint
Two months after the eight playoff teams in the Eastern Conference were locked in before the NHL even reached the All-Star break, Rod Brind’Amour set Carolina’s lineup for a game against Pittsburgh with the future in mind.
“Everything you do is built towards the Stanley Cup,” veteran defenseman Ian Cole said. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
Now, it’s a sprint for the Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals that have made up the top eight in the East since Jan. 2. Florida and Carolina emerged as division winners, the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Panthers are favored to come out of the East and win the Stanley Cup, but no team’s path to the final is an easy one.
Florida vs. Washington —
The Panthers are -355 favorites on FanDuel Sportsbook, which also has a five-game series as the outcome with the lowest odds. Florida has the firepower to blow the Capitals out after leading the league in scoring, and getting through this quickly would be advantageous.
The longer the series goes, the more it benefits Washington, which is a bigger and more physical team that will try to impose its will on an opponent with no recent history of playoff success.
Two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky is Florida’s guy in net, though rookie Spencer Knight has played well especially recently and could also see some action. The Capitals are one of a handful of teams with major goaltending questions and are almost expected to use Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov.
Alex Ovechkin is expected to play for the Capitals after missing the final three games of the regular season with what they’re calling an upper-body injury. Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad also looks in line to return after being out the past six weeks with an upper-body injury.
Toronto vs. Tampa Bay —
The Lightning have won the Stanley Cup the past two years. The Maple Leafs haven’t won a playoff series with this core or even gotten past the first round as a franchise since 2004.
Toronto is due to break through eventually, and much like Florida its success is predicted on scoring. Auston Matthews led the league with 60 goals and he’s just one star among John Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander.
The Maple Leafs go in with Jack Campbell as their projected starting goalie and Erik Kallgren next in line.
Tampa Bay’s core has played more high-level hockey than anyone on earth the past two years, and fatigue may take its toll. But after the Lightning saw the big trophy they hoisted twice again recently at the White House amid a late-season surge, they look poised to make another deep run.
N.Y. Rangers vs. Pittsburgh — Not counting the expanded, 24-team tournament two years ago, the Rangers are in the traditional playoffs for the first time since 2017. New York is ahead of schedule on a rebuild in its first season under new coach Gerard Gallant.
That’s because of the play of Igor Shesterkin, who posted a league-best 2.07 goalsagainst average and .935 save percentage. If he keeps up that kind of play and can steal games, the Rangers could do anything.
They also dominated during the regular season against the Penguins, who will be without injured starter Tristan Jarry for the start of the playoffs and have turned to Casey DeSmith to make his NHL playoff debut Tuesday in Game 1 at Madison Square Garden.