Those who strike first getting the last laugh

Quick starts have been crucial so far in this year's tight NHL playoff races

What's more important, winning home ice advantage in the playoffs or scoring the first goal of the games when you get there?

So far, in the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs, it isn't even close.

As the first-round series switched venues after the opening two games, six of the eight top-seeded hosts for openers — Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, New York, Minnesota and Florida — headed on the road for Games 3 and 4 tied 1-1.

When it came to scoring the first goal of the game, the teams that did it were 15-1 combined.

It's interesting. I mean, take the Calgary Flames. Very few people picked Darryl Sutter's team to finish first in the Pacific Division. How did they do it?

The Flames scored first in 54 games. On Tuesday in Game 1 in Calgary, the Flames' Elias Lindholm scored early. They won 1-0. On Thursday in Game 2, Joe Pavelski of the Dallas Stars scored early. An empty-netter won it 2-0.

Take the Edmonton Oilers. They might be the poster boys of the league when it comes to this.

The Oilers were 32-2-1 this season when scoring the first goal of the game, 31-0 when leading after one and 36-1-1 when leading after two. The problem was that it's an 82-game schedule and Edmonton gave up the first goal more often than scoring it.

The Oilers headed to Los Angeles tied 1-1 in the series for

Game 3 on Friday.

Edmonton gave up the first two goals in Game 1. The Oilers never managed to get the lead and when Mike Smith gave up likely the most ghastly goal of his career to cost them the game with a little more than five minutes to play, the fingers were pointed at him.

The Oilers, I believe, proved a lot in their must-win playoff performance in winning 6-0 at Rogers Place in Game 2. For Jay Woodcroft's team, it wasn't just another playoff game.

Much was made of perhaps the most complete physical, two-way game in the career of Connor Mcdavid. It was like the entire lineup followed the lead of the captain to play dominating, totalice, involved, attention-to-detail, defence, big-boy hockey to win. And that's where most of the credit went.

But two things happened early that came into play. Smith allowed the first shot to trickle behind him and Darnell Nurse managed to clear it just before it crossed the goal-line. Not long after, Leon Draisaitl fired his patented bullet one-timer into the net on the power play to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead that stood up as the game-winner. Smith, at age 40, went on to play perfectly and become the sixth-oldest goalie to register a playoff shutout, behind only Gump Worsley, Johnny Bower, Dominik Hasek, Dwayne Roloson and Jacques Plante.

If the Oilers are going to take their Game 2 Stanley Cup statement game to further prove their worthiness to go deep in the playoffs this year, it figures they'll need to do it by bringing that game they played Wednesday from the opening faceoff and score those first goals.

Among the challenges the Oilers face going forward is to prove they're a club that can also win five-on-five overtime playoff games.

The Oilers lost three consecutive overtime games last year in getting swept by the Winnipeg Jets.

Mcdavid and Draisaitl thrive on the NHL'S three-on-three, five-minute overtime games. If you think you detected a movement to go to one period of traditional OT and then from there to three-on-three OT after the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers went to triple overtime in Game 1, forget about it.

Prior to Game 2 in Edmonton, I was afforded some one-on-one time with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and he told me not to hold my breath.

“I think everybody in the hockey world, whether it's fans or executives or players, don't want us to change that,” he said.

“People want to see us continue the games in the playoffs to their conclusion. There has been no discussion and no consideration of changing the format.”

This year, with the NHL adding a 32nd franchise in Seattle to make it an even 16 teams in the playoffs and 16 out of the playoffs and the NBA going to a new playoff system, there are suggestions the NHL should follow.

The NBA included the teams finishing from seventh to 10th place in each conference in a play-in format. Is the NHL likely to qualify 20 teams for post-season play?

Bettman believes being one of 16 post-season teams in the playoffs should continue to be an achievement on its own. But making it 20 teams with play-in miniseries like the NBA isn't being considered either.

“We have no interest in it at all,” said Bettman.

So going forward, the Oilers have to continue to construct a title team that can finish the regular season in the top half of the league. Scoring first and winning overtime games, like the Colorado Avalanche did against Nashville Thursday, are items to monitor.