Second round of NHL playoffs set

A few minutes after his New York Rangers moved on to the second round of the NHL playoffs by beating the Pittsburgh Penguins, Gerard Gallant had not mentally moved on to what’s next.

“I don’t even know who we play,” Gallant said with a chuckle.

It’s the Carolina Hurricanes, coach. Game 1 is Wednesday night. Shortly after, the Calgary Flames host the Edmonton Oilers in the first playoff rendition of the Battle of Alberta in 31 years.

Carolina and New York last met in the postseason in the best-of-five opening round of the 24-team expanded bubble playoffs in 2020. The fifth-seeded Hurricanes swept the 12th-seeded Rangers.

Before the Rangers beat the Penguins, Carolina captain Jordan Staal said either team would present a major challenge.

New York advanced to the second round for the first time since 2017 by beating the Penguins 4-3 in overtime in Game 7 on Sunday night. It was the third consecutive comeback win for the Rangers, who trailed 3-1 in the series.

“We’re not done,” Rangers center Mika Zibanejad said.

Oilers-flames

Connor Mcdavid carried Edmonton past Los Angeles with 14 points in the hard-fought seven-game series. The previous time the Oilers and Flames met in the playoffs was almost six years before he was born.

Despite playing two seasons for Calgary, Oilers goaltender Mike Smith’s response Saturday night to who he’d rather play was a simple, “I don’t really care.”

The hockey community will gladly take the first Flames-oilers series since 1991. A year after the creation of the North Division guaranteed a Canada-based team in the final four, the same will happen with one from Alberta.

Calgary last reached the Cup Final in 2004 and Edmonton in 2006. Montreal in 1993 was the last team from Canada to win it all.

More work is left to end the country’s Cup drought.

“The job’s far from over,” Oilers defenseman Codi Ceci said. “We’ll just have to refocus and get ready for the second round.”

Lightning-panthers

Florida Panthers deadline addition Brandon Montour may not have had a rooting interest in Game 7 between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

Many of his teammates who got eliminated by the Lightning were happy to see the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champions win to become their next opponent.

“I think a lot of guys wanted to play this team,” Montour said Sunday. “It’s always a battle against these guys, and we’re up for the challenge and everyone’s excited in there.”

Lightning-panthers is one of two second-round series that are rematches from last year. In the Western Conference, the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche face off against the St. Louis Blues they swept out of the playoffs in the first round in 2021.

Just like last time, Florida has homeice advantage. It didn’t matter much because Tampa Bay won the first two games in Sunrise on the way to knocking out the Panthers in six.

The Sunshine State rivals split their four meetings during the regular season.

“People especially in Florida have been begging for the two teams to be contenders and go at it,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said in Toronto after Game 7 against the Maple Leafs. “They’ve retooled their team and brought some big names in there and it should be a ton of fun. They’re fun to play against, they’re competitive as hell and I think it’s really good for hockey.”

Berube said his team would need to defend hard and also score some goals. The Avalanche know the Blues have plenty of depth offensively.