Stanley Cup Playoffs Articles - Page 18

The Ottawa Senators have clinched their spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2017. Their long rebuild saw changes on the ice, behind the bench, and in the front office. But it has finally paid off in a playoff appearance. Senators forward Tim Stützle spoke about the long road to the […]

The Toronto Maple Leafs are headed to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the ninth consecutive season. Since Auston Matthews, John Tavares, and Mitch Marner joined forces, they have been dominant in the regular season. But the playoffs have been a different story, with just one series win in those eight attempts. The Maple Leafs are […]

The Boston Bruins knew that their run of regular-season excellence wouldn’t last forever, but they had no way of knowing that it would end so soon. The proud franchise has been experiencing a rapid fall from grace, punctuated by trading their captain, Brad Marchand, to the Florida Panthers at the trade deadline. It hasn’t been […]

The Colorado Avalanche have as good a chance as any team of winning the Stanley Cup. Nathan MacKinnon may win his second straight MVP award, Cale Makar has 30 goals, and their trade-deadline acquisitions are starting to pop. They have playoff experience and elite talent, just like a lot of Western Conference contenders. But their […]

The Vegas Golden Knights still sit at the top of the Pacific Division with a healthy lead, but they’ve been struggling as of late, losing back-to-back games to the Edmonton Oilers and the Winnipeg Jets. Thursday’s defeat to the Jets was worrisome considering they had a backup goaltender in between the posts instead of Vezina […]

The Vegas Golden Knights are eyeing a second Stanley Cup championship in three seasons in 2024-25. After making a cinderella run to the Finals in their inaugural campaign back in 2017-18 — and eventually losing to Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in five games — the Knights got over the hump two years ago, […]

The Edmonton Oilers enter this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs with plenty of internal optimism. Why wouldn’t they? Edmonton returns mostly the same roster as last season, when they advanced to Game 7 of the Finals. Sure, it took a legendary performance from Connor McDavid to get them there. However, in the playoffs, your best players […]

The St Louis Blues beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 in overtime on Friday to notch their 11th win in a row. It moved them ahead of the Minnesota Wild in the Wild Card standings and put distance between them and the playoff line. After firing Drew Bannister and hiring Jim Montgomery, this seemed like a […]

The San Jose Sharks are spending another season in the NHL’s basement, but there is optimism entering the offseason. San Jose has an exciting crop of young players who are breaking out this season, and there are still more on the way. It’s a good time to be a Sharks fan, but some trades this […]

The New Jersey Devils are gearing up for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and they could have their top defenseman back in the mix before the regular season concludes. While Dougie Hamilton wasn’t expected to return until the postseason due to an injury on March 4, there’s reportedly hope he could be back in the mix […]

The Vancouver Canucks face an uphill battle to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs and unfortunately, they took a step in the wrong direction on Wednesday night. The Canucks were hammered 5-0 by the Seattle Kraken and now sit eight points out of the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Following the stiff defeat, […]

The Minnesota Wild are on the verge of getting a massive piece back in the lineup ahead of the Stanley Cup Playoffs later this month. Kirill Kaprizov, who has been sidelined for 25 games after suffering a lower-body injury, could return as soon as next Wednesday after being cleared for contact. Via The Athletic: “While […]

The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Washington Capitals 5-1 on Wednesday night. Although they gave up goal number 892 to Alex Ovechkin and there were 142 penalty minutes in the game, Carolina clinched a playoff spot. This is their seventh consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but one writer did not think it was going […]

The Washington Capitals’ on-the-fly rebuild has them dreaming of big things heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It has been an exciting season in the nation’s capital, as the Capitals are battling for the President’s Trophy. At the same time, Alex Ovechkin attempts to become the all-time leading goalscorer in NHL history. With good vibes, […]

The Dallas Stars are among the favorites to dominate the playoffs and win the Stanley Cup. Thanks to their savvy acquisition of Mikko Rantanen, the Stars have been rolling since the trade deadline. He fits in much better with Dallas than with the Carolina Hurricanes, and the team’s results show that. They are just four […]

The Carolina Hurricanes are closing in on their seventh consecutive playoff appearance. They have made the dance every year under head coach Rod Brind’amour and will likely face the New Jersey Devils in the first round. In this run, they have not reached the Stanley Cup Final or won a game in the Eastern Conference […]

The Los Angeles Kings are staring down the barrel of a fourth consecutive meeting with the Edmonton Oilers in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The two Pacific Division rivals first met in the 2020s back in 2021-22, which ended up being a hard-fought seven-game series. The Oilers got the better of the Kings […]

The Vegas Golden Knights have held onto first place in the Pacific Division for most of the 2024-25 regular season. Vegas doesn’t have many reasons for concern, but injuries have taken a toll on the Knights. They’ve lost Shea Theodore and William Karlsson at times this season, but the consensus was always to wait and […]

The Carolina Hurricanes have had no shortage of drama this season, but the Stanley Cup chase is still on. The Hurricanes have been on a roll since the trade deadline, and are 8-2-0 over their past 10 games. If the Washington Capitals hadn’t built such a big cushion, the Hurricanes could’ve been challenging for the […]

The Los Angeles Kings are one of the better teams in the NHL at this time. The Kings started the season extremely well, but they have fallen back down to earth a bit as the season has progressed. Los Angeles is likely to make the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, however. And they are looking to […]

The Tampa Bay Lightning established themselves as a dynasty in the early 2020s, but it took some growing pains to get there. After capturing the President’s Trophy in 2018-19 as the league’s best regular-season team — and winning a ridiculous 62 of 82 games — the Bolts were widely expected to come out of the […]

The Colorado Avalanche’s only hope is that their moves earlier in the season don’t return to haunt them in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. General manager Chris MacFarland was in a tough spot in the middle of this season. Longtime star Mikko Rantanen’s contract expires at the end of this season, and MacFarland feared they’d lose […]

After winning the Eastern Conference in each of the last two seasons — and capturing the franchise’s inaugural Stanley Cup championship last year — it’s hard to pinpoint a fatal flaw for a dominant postseason Florida Panthers team. Besides a behemoth Vegas Golden Knights squad in 2023, no club has been able to best the […]

The Winnipeg Jets are a Stanley Cup contender in 2025. Winnipeg officially clinched a postseason berth recently. And they are likely to head into the playoffs as one of the top seeds in the league. Perhaps it is to be expected for a team led by the likes of Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele, and Nikolaj […]

The Toronto Maple Leafs have plenty to prove in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. Over the past ten years, it has primarily been a disaster for this team’s core, and a Stanley Cup will be the only thing to impress their fans. Toronto believed the first move was to bring in a stricter coach, which […]

The Dallas Stars made the biggest move of the NHL trade deadline. They sent promising forward Logan Stankoven and two first-round picks to the Carolina Hurricanes for Mikko Rantanen. Once they added the former 50-goal scorer, many saw them as a Stanley Cup contender. With Rantanen in tow, the Stars are the most balanced team […]

The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the most storied franchises in all of hockey. In fact, only one team in league history — the Montreal Canadiens — have won more Stanley Cups than the Leafs. However, unlike the Canadiens, the Maple Leafs have had extremely rotten luck in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for nearly […]

The Florida Panthers began their turnaround in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Florida had a disappointing 2022-23 regular season following a franchise-record-setting 2021-22 campaign. However, Florida was able to make the playoffs despite everything. And they made their shot count. The Panthers advanced to the Stanley Cup Final in 2023 against the Vegas Golden Knights. […]

The race for the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs is heating up as the regular season draws to an end. Teams such as the Washington Capitals have clinched a playoff spot already. However, other spots remain up for grabs. That is a bit of an illusion, though. Though many spots are open, teams such as the […]

Last season, the Edmonton Oilers finished one game short of the Stanley Cup when they lost in Game 7. The Florida Panthers took a 3-0 series lead, but the Oilers battled back to force the deciding game. It didn’t finish how the organization or fans wanted, but there was optimism that they’d finish the job […]

The race for the Stanley Cup Playoffs is beginning to heat up in the final weeks of the regular season. For the most part, playoff spots remain open for much of the league. Only two teams have been mathematically eliminated from postseason contention. The Winnipeg Jets — Stanley Cup contenders in their own right — […]

The Winnipeg Jets bowed out early in last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, but there is belief that will change this year. They suffered through a challenging matchup with the Colorado Avalanche in the first round, and Colorado’s high-octane offense ran away with the series. The Jets believe they have the pieces to do it again […]

The St Louis Blues beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in overtime on Thursday night. The game in St Louis featured the two teams battling for the final spot in the Western Conference playoffs. While the Canucks came into this season with higher expectations, the Blues have gotten hot to close the gap. After blowing the […]

The Montreal Canadiens enter Thursday’s action holding down the final spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. They have not made the playoffs since their surprising run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final. This core, led by Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, is in desperate need of playoff experience. General manager Kent Hughes told Daily FaceOff’s […]

The Columbus Blue Jackets, despite being in the NHL for nearly 25 years, have struggled to establish themselves as consistent contenders. With only six playoff appearances and just one trip beyond the first round, their existence has often been characterized by underperformance and turnover in both coaching and management. However, the team has had moments […]

The Edmonton Oilers have made it to the Stanley Cup Final and depending on what side of the fence you look at it from, it was either a long time coming or a complete surprise. The Oilers have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who may be the NHL’s modern version of Wayne Gretzky and Mark […]

The Stanley Cup Final is set as the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers will battle it out for all the marbles. The Oilers just took down the Dallas Stars in the West Final, and the Panthers took down the New York Rangers in the East Final. The Rangers were the best team in hockey […]

New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba is revealing some surprising news after the team’s postseason run. The defenseman says he was playing a good amount of the regular season while being hobbled with a lower-body injury. “That was tough. I broke my ankle. They said a kidney-sized bean chunk of my ankle came off, but […]

The Edmonton Oilers skated their way into the Stanley Cup Final, but there’s a lot going on off the ice as well for the club. The team may possibly need to name a new general manager this offseason. Oilers’ CEO Jeff Jackson says the team isn’t immediately addressing that issue. “We’re not dealing with any […]