By Rafay Desautels
The first and second rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs have ended. There have been a lot of crazy and wild things this year. There have been moments of joy, and heartbreaks too, so let's dive into the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
In the 2022 playoffs, the Colorado Avalanche won their third Stanley Cup. This year in the first round, Colorado faced up against the Seattle Kraken. The Kraken played their first season with a record of 46 wins, 28 losses, and 8 overtime losses. In game seven of the first round, the pressure was on. Seattle opened the scoring in the second period with a goal from Oliver Bjorkstrand. Later in the second period, Bjorkstrand scored again on a breakaway, beating Georgiev for his second goal of the night. MacKinnon scored on a one timer from Devon Toews, beating Grubauer, but it wasn’t enough to beat the mighty Kraken. The Seattle Kraken are the first NHL expansion team to beat a defending cup champion in the first round of their first playoff series. Seattle then went on to face the Dallas Stars. They lost in game seven putting Dallas in the conference finals.
As most people know, this season the Boston Bruins set an all time record for the most wins in NHL history. Boston entered the playoffs hoping to get their seventh Stanley Cup as they faced up against the Florida Panthers. After securing a 3 - 1 series lead, The Bruins could not put the nail on the coffin. Eventually the series was tied 3 - 3. Whoever won this next game would go on to the next round, while the other team would be sent home. On a power play, Brandon Mountor opened the scoring for Florida seven minutes and 37 seconds into the first period. Reinhardt scored, beating Jeremy Swayman in the beginning of the second period to make it 2 - 0 for the Florida Panthers. David Kreji then scored off a one timer from Dimitri Orlov making it 2 - 1. In the third period Kreji passed it to Orlov. Orlov’s shot got tipped by Tyler Burtuzi, tying the game at 2 -2. Later in the period, Bobrovski coughed up a nasty rebound from Brandon Carlo which went right to the stick of The Bruin’s best scorer, David Pasternak. “Pasta” buried the puck putting the Bruins up 3 - 2. With about a minute left, Brandon Mountor scored his second shot of the game, tying it 3 - 3. Now the game went to overtime. Halfway through the first overtime, Carter Verhaeghe scored the winning goal for Florida. This must be one of the biggest upsets in NHL history. The Boston Bruins had lost the first round of the playoffs after breaking an all time NHL record! This was an absolutely crushing blow.
You might not believe it, but for the first time in nineteen years the Toronto Maple Leafs have made it past the first round. Toronto fans went crazy, celebrating in the streets. Toronto (50, 21, 11) beat the Tampa Bay Lightning (46, 30 ,6) in six games. The Leafs had done it, they had broken the nineteen year curse. Toronto then went on to face the Florida Panthers in the second round. Toronto put up a good fight but they weren't enough for Sam Bennet’s cross checking people in the head and slamming someone’s head into the ice, giving them a concussion. Florida beat the Leafs 4 - 1, ouch.
In other interesting news, Leon Draisaitl, of the Edmonton Oilers, scored thirteen goals in only ten games. This is the most goals since Mark Messier scored fourteen in 1893. Someone had to put a stop to this streak, which is what Alexander Petrangelo did in game four of the Vegas - Edmonton series. Petrangelo slashed Draisaitl, bringing his stick back like a battle axe and nearly breaking Draisaitl’s hand.
The NHL 2023 playoffs have been something else. Make sure to watch if you’re interested. The Conference finals have just begun and the matchup in the West is the Vegas Golden Knights, vs the Dallas Stars. In the East, the matchup is the Carolina Hurricanes, vs the Florida Panthers. Who makes it to the finals, and who takes home the cup is anyone’s guess.
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