will show two NHL playoff games on Sunday, April 23. The match New York Islanders – Carolina can be watched on TV2 and Areena starting at 20:00. After that, we move on to the Florida–Boston match (around 10:30 p.m.).
The NHL playoffs start early Tuesday morning Finnish time. There are a few really hard and interesting series of matches right at the beginning, from which I chose the three most delicious ones.
Toronto Maple Leafs – Tampa Bay Lightning
Here is by far the most interesting series of the opening round. Toronto has 18 consecutive failures in the playoffs. The Leafs last won the series in the spring of 2004.
A year ago, Toronto led Tampa in the series with a 2–1, 3–2 victory and a sixth game in the third period, 3–2. How could the reigning champion silence Toronto’s home arena with a dull 2-1 win.
Now the clock would sound like a different note. Tampa’s season was very broken, and it will come to the playoffs in a bad way.
Tampa’s condition is weak and the key players are far from the glory of recent years. This is also humane, considering the match load of long seasons. And Tampa is no longer as deep as it was in the best days.
In the puck-crazy city of Toronto, there seems to have been an even surprising peace, relative to the chances of success. Toronto is a high-quality and strengthened team in the middle of the season, which has done its own season as if in some kind of silence. Boston’s dominance in the regular season has been a blessing for the Leafs.
Toronto is now truly dangerous if the enigmatic goaltending department holds up. Ilya Samsonov will start with a goal. Samsonov’s good performances from the season promise a quality game, but this is not a sure card yet. Matt Murray has suffered a concussion.
Estimate: For the first time in years, Tampa enters a first-round series as the underdog and knows it. That’s why the head coach Jon Cooper will prepare his troops for the ultimate battle, where all means down to the bottom will be used. However, the Leafs are of better quality, deeper in terms of material and again a bit more mature to overcome their demons. Toronto goes to the playoffs and doesn’t need seven games to do so.
New Jersey Devils – New York Rangers
The ultimate treat straight from the Hudson River! The Devils are the biggest sensation of the NHL regular season and the division winner, which no one could have predicted during the season. From last season, the balance improved unimaginably by 49 points.
The young, fresh, fast and skilled Devils knew how to both win and entertain in the regular season. Now the question is: will youth and freshness be enough in the playoffs against a tough local competitor?
The Devils are the NHL’s elite in quick turnaround play, but does the group have enough toughness to play in the merciless world of the playoffs? It may be that in this respect the Devils are still raw, as it is in many places also in terms of experience.
If you think purely about the game, the Devils will be able to cause difficulties for the Rangers. It defends with quality and comes from the exploits against the strong ones, and there are no problems in playing in special situations either.
Rangers, on the other hand, are among the championship favourites. It strengthened its team with the transfer deadline, among other things Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko with such star individuals, who have adapted well to being part of the team. However, in tough places, the group dynamics is still untested and it gives its own spice to the starting series.
What if things go wrong from the start?
On the other hand, Rangers are a very high-quality team overall. Keeper Igor Shostjorkin is one of the best in the world in its place of play, the defense is mobile, puckish and rough at the same time, and the attack Kaapo Kako high quality up to the triple chain and capable of playing in different ways.
Estimate: This series will spill! Even the Emotion Control itself plays a significant role in this series, because the periods of control can throw a big blow if the emotion starts to control events in the rink. Rangers can be considered a great favorite for the series due to the player material and a better goalkeeper, but purely based on the way they play, the Devils could also be made favorites. Ahead is a seven-match rebellion, where the margins are non-existent. Rangers on.
Carolina Hurricanes – New York Islanders
The situation of the Finnish team Carolina during the playoffs is interesting. Carolina won their division and the playoff spot was secured in time, but at the same time, the play was anything but convincing during the last few weeks and the team’s look was often even painful as a result.
The problems at the end of the season certainly had a part to play with Andrei Svetshnikov and Max Pacioretty severe injuries. Two top-level goal scorers have ended their season already before the playoffs. This has been reflected in a collective pain in scoring and a weak possession game.
For March-April, the team’s best individual point averages can be found From Martin Necas (0.79) and Jesperi from Kotkaniemi (0.75). The readings are modest and the players at the top of the Stanley Cup dreams are perhaps a little wrong.
For the last month, Carolina’s scoring average (53%) was enough for 21st place, the opponent Islanders (65.4%) for 9th place.
Carolina is a team for which only the Stanley Cup is good after all the boom years, but the pieces under the playoffs are not really in the order required for a credible pitcher hunt – and the players are also tattered due to injuries. The setup is delicious for the Islanders, who are entering the series from the position of a big underdog.
Especially when Isles will probably get to play nihilistic brake hockey that suits their own identity in a low-scoring series. The Islanders are not really one of the most entertaining teams in the NHL, but they have excellent players for just such a series of matches.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Bo Horvat, Brock Nelson, Zach Parise as well as top level basic defenders Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech know how to reset the opponent’s best. On the finish line Ilya Sorokin was the second or third best goalkeeper of the finished regular season, depending on the point of view.
Estimate: There’s a lot of surprise in this series. Carolina enters the playoffs without a doubt, limping, and even if the Islanders are not in the best position of the previous years, they will enter the series from a really delicious position and with a top hitter. Especially if the Isles get a head start in the series, the frustration and pain in Carolina could escalate quickly. Islanders on.
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NHL playoff pairings:
Eastern Conference:
Boston Bruins – Florida Panthers
Carolina Hurricanes – New York Islanders
New Jersey Devils – New York Rangers
Toronto Maple Leafs – Tampa Bay Lightning
Western Conference:
Vegas Golden Knights – Winnipeg Jets
Colorado Avalanche – Seattle Kraken
Edmonton Oilers – Los Angeles Kings
Dallas Stars – Minnesota Wild
NHL playoff teams and Finns