The Boston Bruins will draw a lot of attention after their record-setting season, but there are plenty of other stories in the first round.
The defending champion Colorado Avalanche overcame major injuries to surge to the Central Division title. The Tampa Bay Lightning will try to reach the Stanley Cup Final for a fourth consecutive year and will start again on the road.
The Seattle Kraken made the playoffs for the first time, the New Jersey Devils ended a four-year drought and the Vegas Golden Knights, Winnipeg Jets and New York Islanders are back after one-year absences.
FULL NHL PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS: Who wins Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe? Experts weigh in.
NHL PLAYOFF POWER RANKINGS: Historic Bruins No. 1, but what other teams are good Stanley Cup bets?
The puck drops on the 2022-23 NHL playoffs Monday with four series getting underway. USA TODAY Sports’ NHL experts make their predictions:
Boston Bruins vs. Florida Panthers
Bruins in five. Thirty-year-old journeyman Alex Lyon has taken the net for the Panthers and performed quite well (.914 save percentage). But these are the Bruins we’re talking about here … and a third-string goalie doesn’t seem to stand much of a chance. — Jimmy Hascup
Bruins in six. I think, the Bruins will largely cruise to the Stanley Cup. But there’s undeniably a lot of pressure on them and weird things can happen in a first-round series. These Panthers are just one season removed from winning the Presidents’ Trophy, and while their follow-up campaign has been disappointing, they still have plenty of talent and players who can at least make things annoying for the Bruins for a few games. — Jace Evans
Bruins in five. Alex Lyon stole a game for the Panthers in the regular season series. He will steal another game in this series, but eventually the Bruins’ talent and superior depth will win out, even if Patrice Bergeron isn’t 100%. — Mike Brehm
Bruins in five. This will probably be the easiest gentleman’s sweep in Bruins’ history. The Bruins are on another level right now and I don’t see their season being stopped by a Panthers team that just doesn’t have the goaltending to keep up. — Mary Clarke, For the Win
Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Islanders
Hurricanes in six. New York does not have the firepower, but has an edge with goalie Ilya Sorokin. Ultimately, Carolina’s depth will win out. — Hascup
Islanders in seven. Carolina has gone 9-9-1 since March 11, the date of Andrei Svechnikov’s final game of the season. The Canes will almost certainly dominate possession but will they be able to turn that into goals without the dynamic young forward? I have my concerns, especially going against a goalie as good as Ilya Sorokin and a team in the Islanders that has shown the ability to really muck it up in recent postseasons. — Evans
Hurricanes in seven. Ilya Sorokin is the better goalie in the series and the Hurricanes are missing Andrei Svechnikov while the Islanders look like they’ll have Mathew Barzal back. But Rod Brind’Amour’s coaching is what will make the difference in the series for Carolina. — Brehm
Hurricanes in six. The Islanders backed into the playoffs, so I’m going to take the Hurricanes here, even though it’ll probably be closer than expected. Carolina’s defense and goaltending are just better than New York’s, but Ilya Sorokin can steal games, so I can see him being the difference for the Islanders for a game or two. — Clarke
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
Maple Leafs in seven. Total gut-feel call here. It’s hard to pick against the Lightning and their stout playoff history of late, which is to say nothing of the Maple Leafs’ disappointment. But Tampa Bay has shown more cracks this year. — Hascup
Maple Leafs in six. Last year I picked the Lightning in seven on the basis that I’d been burned too many times by the Maple Leafs. I am ready to be burned again. It just seems literally impossible for the Leafs to lose seven consecutive first-round series. They’re too good and these Lightning have been too inconsistent of late. — Evans
Maple Leafs in six. Normally, I would pick the Lightning’s successful history (11-1 in their last 12 playoff series) over the Leafs’ lack of success. But Toronto beefed up at the deadline and the Lightning have had three separate losing streaks of four games or more since the All-Star break. It might be hard for Tampa Bay to turn it around. — Brehm
Maple Leafs in six. Yes, this is finally the year the Maple Leafs make it past the first round. Toronto is just too dominant of a team and Tampa Bay has been lagging hard in recent weeks. If I do end up jinxing this for Maple Leafs fans, just know I am truly sorry. — Clarke
New Jersey Devils vs. New York Rangers
Rangers in six. The Rangers ended the season unevenly after going all in with several moves, but this is now a more experienced group with stars all over the ice and a team that plays a more physical, playoff style. The Devils’ time is coming, but they will need to endure the bumps of this ouster. — Hascup
Rangers in six. Perhaps I should believe in the Devils more. It shouldn’t matter that this is just their second playoff appearance in the last 11 years; they just put together the greatest regular season in team history. They have home ice. Then I look at the goaltending battle: Igor Shesterkin, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, vs. Vitek Vanecek, whose forays into the playoffs with the Capitals did not go great. Give me the more experienced Rangers, who loaded up at the trade deadline. — Evans
Rangers in six. Vitek Vanecek did outperform Igor Shesterkin during the season series and the Devils’ speed will be hard to handle, but the Rangers learned lessons from their 2022 trip to the conference final and they’ve added former Stanley Cup winners in Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko. — Brehm
Rangers in seven. When in doubt, place your faith in Igor Shesterkin to show up big when it matters. This series is going to be a long fight between two bitter state rivals and I, for one, am going to enjoy every second of it. — Clarke
Vegas Golden Knights vs. Winnipeg Jets
Jets in seven. The Jets lost all three games to the Golden Knights this year by one goal, speaking to the potential parity in this series despite the regular season standings. Connor Hellebuyck is a difference maker as one of the league’s best goalies, though he was ridden hard with a league-most 64 games played. The Golden Knights, meanwhile, will be going with Laurent Brossoit and Jonathan Quick. — Hascup
Golden Knights in five. The Jets tried their best to miss the playoffs, going 17-19-2 following a 29-14-1 start. This feels like a team on the verge of blowing it up. The Knights could be fully operational if captain Mark Stone returns. — Evans
Golden Knights in seven. Laurent Brossoit, a former Jets backup goalie, was strong down the stretch to clinch Vegas the top record in the West. Winnipeg has been a .500 team since the All-Star break. — Brehm
Golden Knights in six. Connor Hellebuyck is going to be truly tested against this Golden Knights team. While Hellebuyck will be able to keep the Jets in this series, I believe the Golden Knights will eventually win out thanks to their better offensive depth. — Clarke
Colorado Avalanche vs. Seattle Kraken
Avalanche in five. That the Kraken are here in their second season of existence is a win for the franchise. While the Kraken outscored the Avs this season, Colorado’s firepower will be too much to handle for a team that got here despite its goaltending (.890 save percentage). — Hascup
Avalanche in five. I feel like the defending champs are somehow being overlooked entering these playoffs. Gabriel Landeskog’s absence will hurt, but beyond him the Avs return most of the skating core that ripped through the playoffs last year, assuming Cale Makar returns from injury. Seattle has been a great story, but that goaltending scares me here. — Evans
Avalanche in five. Colorado is using a different No. 1 goalie for the third consecutive postseason. Goalie Alexandar Georgiev has the edge over former Avs goalie Philipp Grubauer, the Seattle netminder who will be facing 100-point scorers Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen and a core that got it done last season. — Brehm
Avalanche in five: The Kraken are a feel-good story — and have been playing well to boot — but that will end in the first round against the reigning Stanley Cup champions. Still, that’s nothing to be ashamed of if you’re Seattle, as the Kraken have a lot to build on after a successful second year in the NHL. — Clarke
Dallas Stars vs. Minnesota Wild
Stars in six. This could be a low-scoring series, but Dallas’ overall scoring depth and goalie Jake Oettinger (.956 career save percentage in the playoffs) will be the difference. — Hascup
Stars in four. The Stars are a well-rounded team that has an emerging superstar (Jason Robertson), veterans with loads of playoff experience who still produce (Joe Pavelski and Jamie Benn), a great young play-driving defenseman (Miro Heiskanen) and a solid goalie (Jake Oettinger). The Wild have Kirill Kaprizov and a lot of question marks. They find ways to win mostly with defense but there just doesn’t seem to be enough offense here. — Evans
Stars in five. The Wild were among the bottom teams in five-on-five scoring and the Stars have a better power play and penalty kill. Jake Oettinger was spectacular in last season’s playoffs and Dallas has better scoring depth this season. — Brehm
Stars in six. Jason Robertson is going to be a standout performer in these playoffs. The 23-year-old put up more than 100 points in his third full season and has rejuvenated the Stars offense. The Wild were a good team this season, but never really impressed at much of anything over the course of the year. — Clarke
Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings
Oilers in six. The Kings limit the opposition’s chances, but don’t exactly have a stalwart in net, while the Oilers have the firepower with goalie questions of their own. I’ll pick the team with Connor McDavid and the one that won nine games in a row to end the season, with two of those coming against these Kings. — Hascup
Oilers in six. The Kings are a good team, even better than the group that pushed the Oilers to seven games in last year’s first round. Unfortunately for them, the Oilers are also a better team this year, have the best player in the world in McDavid and enter red-hot, having won 14 of their last 15 games. — Evans
Oilers in seven. Connor McDavid is hard enough to slow down, but if you do, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins have topped 100 points. Evander Kane led all playoff scorers last season while playing in only three rounds, and the Oilers’ power play this season is clicking nearly a third of the time. The Kings will have their hands full. — Brehm
Oilers in six. Playoff Connor McDavid, need I say more? But seriously, I don’t think the Kings will be able to keep up with the high-flying Oilers. The only way I could see this going the Kings’ way is if Joonas Korpisalo completely stands on his head for a full seven-game series. — Clarke
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NHL playoffs bracket picks for first round: Here’s who will advance
