Top forwards Mitchell Marner, William Nylander, Auston Matthews and John Tavares have made steady contributions all season and know - from years of experience - what it feels like to fall short. The Leafs fortified their depth scoring, stocked up on capable defensemen to play in front of an actual stud goaltender in Ilya Samsonov, and the team's power play is one of the league's best. Storming through the regular season with (relative) ease leaves Boston without enough killer instinct and it falls short against a more desperate opponent.Ĭase for a Stanley Cup run: Toronto finally has all the tools in place. He'd be hard to hold back for long in any series.īold prediction: The Bruins don't win the Stanley Cup. The Bruins are a total package of elite elements and no one can trump Pastrnak as an effective threat in each phase of the game. Boston is fortunate to have a 60-goal scorer - the franchise's second ever - in Pastrnak, who plays like a man possessed to get the job done every night. Every team inevitably needs a star in tightly contested postseason games. The Bruins are poised to seemingly defy those odds, though. Teams that earn top billing through 82 games more often than not see their postseasons cut short. Scoring is always at a premium come playoffs those power-play chances will be critical.Īnd we'd be remiss not to mention the Presidents' Trophy curse, of course. While Boston dominated in seemingly every other category, it finished with the NHL's 11th-ranked man advantage, one that toggled from hot to cold in the second half of the regular season. Enough said.īiggest flaws: The Bruins' power play might be the closest thing to an Achilles' heel. Oh, and projected Jack Adams Award-winning coach Jim Montgomery has been pushing all the right buttons from behind the bench. The Bruins have enviable depth scoring, a killer top-four rotation on the back end, excellent goaltenders (in both Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman) and the league's most potent penalty kill. Stats are collected from sites such as Natural Stat Trick, Hockey Reference and Evolving Hockey.Ĭase for a Stanley Cup run: Boston produced a record-setting, history-making regular season that kept it atop the NHL standings - by a good margin - from start to finish. Also note that wild-card teams are listed according to the playoff bracket in which they're playing (so the Seattle Kraken are in the Central, for instance). Note: Profiles for the Atlantic and Metropolitan playoff brackets were written by Shilton, while Clark analyzed the Central and Pacific clubs. Clark and Kristen Shilton take a look at each of the 16 postseason teams, offering the reasons each team could win it all, along with the (potentially) biggest flaws, players to watch and a bold prediction for every contender. We've got all the angles covered to get you ready for the playoffs as ESPN hockey reporters Ryan S. Is this the year the Toronto Maple Leafs finally get past the first round?ĭo the Edmonton Oilers get good enough goaltending so the Connor & Leon Show can reach the Stanley Cup Final? Will the New York Rangers' strategy of loading up at the trade deadline pay off? But the Bruins' chase of the perfect capping of a record-breaking season is not the only storyline this spring:Ĭan the Colorado Avalanche repeat as champs? While the Boston Bruins set all sorts of records during the regular season, their total in the win column is back to zero along with those of the 15 other clubs looking to win the sport's ultimate prize. The 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs are upon us. NHL, Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Seattle Kraken, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights, Winnipeg Jets Stanley Cup playoffs: Breaking down all 16 teams for 2023 You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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