Beyond Center Ice

 The Kraken upset the defending cup champions... can they upset the Stars now? Dallas handled Minnesota in 6, while the Kraken surprised everyone by not only keeping up with the Avs, but taking several series lead and winning the winner-take-all game 7 by a score of 2-1. The Kraken put up an incredible team effort, while the Stars also had decent play from everyone but relied heavily on solid defense and goaltending.  Jake Oettinger carried the Stars into round 2. That much is obviously known, and he has been the best goalie of the first round. He put up a 4.3 GSAx with a .929, and he outmatched Filip Gustavsson, who tried his best to bolster the Wild into round 2. Oettinger's numbers are incredible also when you take into account that he had a rough game 2 that definitely made his numbers a lot worse. The Wild played better in most senses of the word, but I said before this series that Oettinger would be the difference, and he was. But, he was not the only one who stepped up....

 As heavily predicted, this Pacific showdown is going to occur. Vegas trumped the Jets in 5 games, while the Oilers defeated the Kings in a close series in 6. Winner moves on to the West Finals.  It would have been disappointing if this were not the Round Two Matchup. Connor McDavid and his Oilers take on the unit that is the Vegas Golden Knights. How did they get through Round One, though? Vegas had probably the easiest matchup of the first round, as they took on the Winnipeg Jets. I correctly predicted this series to go easily in favor of Vegas, but after game 1, things didn't look to great. The Jets looked better, looked like they wanted it more, and they won. Vegas though, rebounded and took a really good game 2. Then, they go back to Winnipeg and takes two close games facing the whiteout. And then, in Game Five, they dominated. Winnipeg looked like they lost all desire to move on, and so Vegas took it handily. As of now, they lead all playoff teams in G%, and this makes s...

 This is it. Our final First Round Playoff Preview. And this is my 2nd rated series to watch, as this one will be great. It's the Dallas Stars (2 seed central) vs Minnesota Wild (3 seed central).  The Stars narrowly missed out on the Central Division title after having it for most of the season. The Wild were doing great too, but trailed off of a bit once they clinched the playoffs, seemingly not taking games as seriously. This series though, will have a little bit of everything. Explosive offense, lockdown defense, stellar goaltending, physicality, everything. It's a matchup between rivals, and it's going to be an exciting one. And, for this final preview, I am going to format things a bit differently. Instead of talking individually about each team, how they got here, and top performers, I feel it more fitting in this serious to compare and contrast the teams as I go through the team play, forward core, defensive core, and goaltending. It will show you just how evenly mat...

 Our 3rd Preview from the West will see the 2 seed in the West Colorado Avalanche take on the WC1 Seattle Kraken.  The defending champ Avs will look to start their train towards a repeat, and their first test is going to be against the Seattle Kraken. The Avs have dealt with a lot of injuries this season, but they came back and fought it anyway to get the top spot in the Central. Meanwhile, the Kraken are just about to play their first playoff series ever, after missing it badly last season. Both of these teams look optimisitic about their chances, while the Avs are going to have to deal with the playoffs without their captain, who is injured for the rest of the playoffs. The Kraken have gotten the best out of each of their playoffs, and now let's take a look at these teams. The Avalanche came into their season looking to repeat, and they had a slow start and a lot of injuries, but ramped everything up after the break. They've fought hard and clinched the division in the last ...

 Our 2nd Western Conference preview pits the LA Kings vs the Edmonton Oilers! This series is a rematch of last season, where the Oilers won. The Kings will look to revenge, and they have a solid team to do it. On the other hand, the Oilers come into the playoffs on a 9 game win streak, have the best player in the world, and look unstoppable. They're the hottest team in hockey and some people's pick to win the Stanley Cup. This series should be an exciting one, and let's take a look at the teams.  The Edmonton Oilers are, as I said, the hottest team in the NHL going into these playoffs. They're on a 9 game win streak and are 22-5-5 since the All-Star Break. They lead the NHL in Goals For (325), and are 2nd to the Bruins with a 69 GD. They're 4th in the NHL with 55.94 G% and 3rd with 56.07 xG%. Their Corsi% is 52.07, top 10 in the NHL, so consistently offensively they are top 10. Their Shooting% is top of the NHL, above even the Bruins. The reason why they're not ...

 Here we go starting the Western Conference! Our first matchup: the Vegas Golden Knights vs the Winnipeg Jets! Vegas is the 1 seed in the West and widely considered one of the better teams in the entire NHL, while Winnipeg started out fantastic, then faltered down to almost falling out of the playoffs, before steadying the ship and clinching that WC spot with a few days to spare. This series is a rematch of the West Finals back in 2018, which the VGK took home en route to their Finals loss to the Capitals. The Jets would love to seek revenge - and as the underdog, it would be certainly something, but this may be the best possible matchup for Winnipeg. Certainly better than the Avs or Oilers... We'll start with the Underdog Jets this time. At a 52.35 G%, the Jets finish just 4 spots below Vegas, while they come in middle of the pack in xG%, again just 4 spots below VGK. They just miss out on a top 10 Corsi% at 11th with a 51.49, which is actually far ahead of Vegas. They've scor...

Our final series out east: The Hurricanes vs the Wild Card New York Islanders! The Canes and Isles are going to have a fun series. The Canes barely, and I mean BARELY, held on to the top spot in the Metro, and their reward is a date with the Isles. The Isles snuck in to WC1 on the last game of the season, saving them from the terror that would be a Round One series versus the Boston Bruins. This series is probably not as hyped as any other series out east, but I think it should be. The Islanders have a top 3 goalie while the Hurricanes have a top 3 offense. It's a matchup as old as time. And I think this series really could go the distance.  The Hurricanes this season were really, really good. They were top 10 with a 55.5 G%, while their xG% was best in the NHL by a lot, at 58.2. Their Corsi% was 59.87, best in the NHL, and it wasn't close on that either. This Hurricanes team boasted some of the best numbers under the hood, but their main issue has always been converting that d...