The Stanley Cup Playoffs are almost here and, even before the last games of the season have been played, the entrants have stamped their tickets to the postseason.
However, the 82nd game of the season for the Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils, Florida Panthers, Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, and Seattle Kraken could still change the matchups.
The story of the season has been the Boston Bruins, a team which holds strong as the +300 favourites in the NHL odds, but will they live up to expectations?
Here’re the storylines you need to know coming into the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs and which teams the odds are siding with for the championship.
Top Teams from the Eastern Conference
On the Eastern side of the bracket, the Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, and New York Rangers are in the NHL playoffs.
As noted, the Bruins are the team to beat this season. With a game to go, Boston had a record of 64-12-5 with a goal differential of a massive +127 from 300 goals for and only 173 against.
By getting their 63rd win of the season, Boston forged a new record for the most wins in a single season, and their 133rd point– which was earned in their penultimate game – beat a record that stood since 1976/77.
Facing the Bruins in the First Round will either be the Panthers or Islanders, depending on the Sunrise club’s final result of the season.
It’s an unenviable position to be in, but equally strange results have come up in recent playoffs, with the seemingly unbeatable Lightning of 2019 losing from a similar position in the First Round to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Of course, the Bruins aren’t the only powerhouse team in the Eastern Conference.
The Carolina Hurricanes have made it as a top team in the Metropolitan Division again, toting assured play and a strong defence that should prove to be very difficult to break down as they seek to capitalize on their +1000 odds.
Also in the Metro is the retooled New York Rangers. Seemingly on the ascendency and happy to go as far as they could this season, the Rangers turned on the afterburners before the trade deadline to land elite-tier snipers Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane.
Igor Shesterkin’s had a fine season with a 2.48 GAA and .916 save percentage through a merciful 58 starts, which should keep him fresh and ready to be the backbone of their +1250 shot at the title.
In the Atlantic Division, the Tampa Bay Lightning are lurking once again. It’s sometimes overlooked that the Bolts have been to each of the last three Finals and have won twice in that spell.
Steven Stamkos has strangely only missed two games and put up 84 points, Brayden Point’s hit 92, Nikita Kucherov blazed past the century-mark weeks ago, and Victor Hedman may yet get his half-century in points; so, this is clearly still a mighty team.
Tasked with getting past the +1800 Lightning in the First Round are the far more favoured Toronto Maple Leafs at +800 to go all of the way this season.
This is a bit bizarre when you look past the Buds’ superb 49-21-11 season, as Toronto hasn’t been able to get past the opening stage in any of the last six seasons of qualification.
You have to go back to 2003/04 to see the Maple Leafs win a postseason series.
FOR A RECORD 63RD TIME!#NHLBRUINS WIN!!! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/b2xFsgBrCA
— p - Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) April 10, 2023
Top Teams from the Western Conference
From the Western Conference, the Dallas Stars, Seattle Kraken, Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights, Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers, and Los Angeles Kings will battle in the postseason.
Just as they did in 2020, the Stars have been riding high on resolute defensive play and strong goaltending, only this time, from Jake Oettinger, who’s gone 36-11 from 60 starts for a save percentage of .918 and 2.41 GAA.
Dallas is ready to go deep once more, but at +1250, it’s clear that the lurking, surging threat is counted as a much more viable Stanley Cup Finals candidate.
In the opening stages of the season, the Colorado Avalanche struggled greatly, with major and long-term injuries being the primary culprits. Since a six-game winning streak in January, they’ve looked like the reigning champions again.
Since January 15, the Avs have only lost ten of their 40 games and never more than three in a row. Colorado is here to defend the crown, is injury free, and at +650 to retain the Stanley Cup.
While entering via a divisional spot, perhaps the scariest wild card in the hunt from the Western Conference is Edmonton.
Entering the 82nd game of the season, the Oilers were flying on a 9-0-1 last-ten record. In fact, since March 2, the Oilers have won 17 of their 20 games, with one loss coming in overtime and the other two being 5-7 and 4-7 road defeats.
The Oilers can be volatile, and their goaltenders are very inexperienced in the postseason, so on a game-to-game basis for betting, it’s better to see how they start and then jump on the live betting online.
With a game to go, the Oilers were, by far, the highest-scoring team in the NHL with 320 goals (20 more than the next closest, Boston), but the 258 goals against ranks them 16th.
Either way, Edmonton will be very fun to watch – especially if they go deep to make their +700 odds of bringing the Cup back to Canada look a tad long.
Who Will Win the 2023 Stanley Cup?
The Presidents’ Trophy is notoriously a poor indicator of playoff success, with only 22.2 percent of regular season champions going on to win the Stanley Cup.
With this reason giving some grounds to make this section a bit more interesting, we’re looking past the all-conquering Boston Bruins.
From the Eastern Conference, this finally looks to be Toronto’s year. The team is performing incredibly well as a unit now, and the superstars have enough experience to finally pull the Buds past the First Round.
To get there, though, the Maple Leafs will have the most difficult path imaginable, needing to get past the Lightning and probably the Bruins before matching up against the Metro side of the bracket.
If they can do that, the Buds would surely be the favourites in the Stanley Cup Finals. Likely there to stop them, or just one series away from doing so, looks to be the Colorado Avalanche.
The Avs have been hurtling toward the divisional places since becoming healthy, and there doesn’t look to be much in the Western Conference that could stop them from making it to the Finals.
As noted before, though, the Oilers might just be the wild card that could do exactly that. Sure, the Stars, Jets, and Wild are far better defensively, but as they say, the biggest games are decided by the biggest stars.
McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and even Ryan Nugent-Hopkins have breezed beyond the 100-point mark this season, while Stuart Skinner has been surprisingly reliable in his first campaign as a designated starter.
If the defensive lines can step up a bit and play a clean, conservative game, the offensive onslaught up top could be too much for opponents to handle.
LEAFS WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWIN!!@LGCanada | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/XJgkn3nRa8
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) April 12, 2023
The Stanley Cup Playoffs always throw out a few surprise results regardless of the perceived difference in strength in each series, so really, any attempt to predict the Finals this far out is bound to go awry in the coming weeks.
*Credit for all images in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 13th April 2023
