The first-round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs was as unpredictable and chaotic as any in recent memory, with the NHL's best ever regular season team and defending Stanley Cup champion both losing in the first round — and it was also the round of the road warrior.
Visiting teams went 31-19 in the first round, setting an NHL record for most wins in a single round, according to NHL.com. Six of the eight first-sound series were clinched on the road, including incredible Game 7 victories by the Florida Panthers and Seattle Kraken.
A few NHL coaches tried to explain why the road team had so much success in the first round.
“I'm not sure. Parity in the League No. 1, for sure,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “When you have two teams that are equally matched in a lot of the series, to me, venue doesn't make as big of a difference.”
“I think it is parity,” New Jersey Devils coach Lindy Ruff agreed. “You look at our series, it's a tough battle. When you look at it overall, I think it's just that teams are that close. Maybe when playing at home you have a few more distractions.”
“It's happened around the league quite a bit. It's the same as trying to explain 3-0 leads and 4-1 leads,” New York Rangers bench boss Gerard Gallant echoed. “They're tough. It's a different game. There's lots of scoring opportunities…The crowd is excited for your team and you can't build momentum off of it.”
“The other thing is the game is so much different than it was 15 years ago, 20 years ago,” Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “It's just not even as loud in some of these buildings. It's just not the same. There's not five heavyweights on either team that if the score runs up it's on. There's not that kind of intimidation in the game anymore.”
All 16 teams in the NHL postseason won at least one game on the road in the first round; it's the second time in the NHL expansion era (since 1967-68) in which each playoff team had at least one road win.
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