original post was at 2:38am on 4/19/2024

Below you will find the matchups for the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

I've made it easy for you to copy and paste and entries should be in by Saturday at 3pm ET.

Non-members can post their picks on X and I will add them to the comment section.

via the NHL PR department,

It started with the highly-anticipated debut of an 18-year-old No. 1 pick, was filled from startto finish by star-powered performances not seen in generations, spanned three countries (and four continents when including the preseason) and culminated with “sweet, beautiful, end of the season mayhem” that featured down-to-the-wire scoring and playoff races that had people calling 2023-24 the “greatest regular season in NHL history.”

via the NHL PR department,

via the Detroit Red Wings YouTube page,

Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde and executive VP/general manager Steve Yzerman speak to the media following the 23-24 Detroit Red Wings season.

Live now, watch below.

10 goals in just over 10 minutes.

The audio will start with the Kane talk, it's a short one.

via TSN's YouTube page,

On the eve of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Michael Farber examines the season-long resiliency of the four Canadian teams gunning for a championship.

I'll have the embed code up at the appropriate times.

from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,

Brady Tkachuk is as sick of this same old song and dance every spring as you are hearing him talk about another early summer.

As the Ottawa Senators gathered at the Canadian Tire Centre to hold exit meetings with Steve Staios, the president of hockey operations and general manager, the club’s captain was trying to come to grips with another spring of missing the playoffs.

This departure day was the most difficult to swallow because this season started with promise and hope, but ended in a disastrous fashion.

“We took a couple of steps back, it’s frustrating and it’s difficult,” Tkachuk said Wednesday. “I’m not going to lie to you, I had high hopes coming into this year and, for it not to happen, it’s pretty disappointing. I’m sad, frustrated and all the words you can use here.”

“Whether you want to be vocal or not, everybody knows I just finished year six and I haven’t done a thing,” Tkachuk said. “I haven’t played in those meaningful that I’ve imagined and the rest of the group has imagined.

“But in saying that, I have full faith and trust in Steve, the rest of management and (owner Michael) Andlauer.”

read on

from Dave Stubbs of the NHL's website,

Wally Harris, a former NHL referee who in retirement became the League’s first Director of Officials and subsequently an influential, highly respected supervisor of game crews, died Thursday in a Montreal-area hospital following a short illness.

He was 88.

Harris refereed 953 regular-season games and another 85 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs between 1966-83, working Stanley Cup Final series in 1973, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1982 and 1983. He also officiated in two NHL All-Star Games -- the League’s 28th in 1975 at the Montreal Forum, and the 34th in 1982 at the Capital Center in Landover, Maryland.

The native of Montreal-suburban Lachine took ill during a recent trip to Florida. He returned home and was hospitalized in late March, remaining in the facility’s care until his passing.

“With a personality that would light up the room, Wally Harris was respected and revered by all officials he managed,” said Stephen Walkom, NHL Senior Vice-President and Director of Officiating. “There was an assuredness and confidence that he instilled in his people and an absolute love for the game of hockey.

“Wally understood the importance of officials in hockey and worked non-stop to pass along his great wisdom to the next generations. When he needed to be serious and get his point across, he did this exceptionally well, with both team executives and the rank and file on the ice.”

continued

* The final two First Round matchups were confirmed thanks to a tying goal with 81 seconds remaining in regulation during the 1,312th and final game of the regular season, with the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs bracket highlighted by several rematches from 2023 and beyond.

* The NHL announced the dates, starting times and national television coverage for the First Round, which begins Saturday, April 20. Click here to read more.

* Nikita Kucherov and Auston Matthews won the Art Ross and Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy, respectively, while Connor Hellebuyck took home the William M. Jennings Trophy after the Jets allowed one fewer goal than the Panthers.

* The NHL’s Board of Governors approved the establishment of a franchise beginning with the 2024-25 season in Utah, that will be owned and controlled by Smith Entertainment Group, which is led byRyan and Ashley Smith.

NEW YORK (April 19, 2024) – The National Hockey League today announced the dates, starting times and national television coverage for the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round, which begins Saturday, April 20. All times listed are ET and subject to change.

NEW YORK (April 19, 2024) – The 2023-24 National Hockey League regular season concluded with Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov capturing his second career Art Ross Trophy as the League’s scoring champion, Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews winning his third career Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the NHL’s goal-scoring leader and the Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck earning his first career William M. Jennings Trophy as the goaltender who plays at least 25 games for the team allowing the fewest goals.

The NHL's Board of Governors approved the establishment of a franchise beginning with the 2024-25 season in Utah. In addition, a plan was approved that renders the Arizona Coyotes franchise inactive, with a right to reactivate if owner Alex Meruelo has fully constructed a new, state-of-the-art facility appropriate for an NHL team within five years. The TSN Hockey Insiders have more.

Watch at TSN

added 8:02pm, or watch it below.

NEW YORK (April 18, 2024) – The National Hockey League’s Board of Governors today approved the establishment of a franchise beginning with the 2024-25 season in Utah, that will be owned and controlled by Smith Entertainment Group, which is led by Ryan and Ashley Smith. In addition, the Board approved a plan that renders the Arizona Coyotes franchise inactive, with a right to reactivate if owner Alex Meruelo has fully constructed a new, state-of-the-art facility appropriate for an NHL team within five years.

from Damien Cox at the Toronto Star,

Of course, Toronto’s ugly playoff drought against the Bruins also could have ended in Game 7 in 2018, but it didn’t. It could have ended with the Leafs holding a 3-2 series lead in 2019, but then Toronto’s finest could only score three goals in the final two games and went down to defeat again.

Which brings us to 2024, and another meeting between the two clubs. This time, someone of a conspiratorial mindset might think that this matchup was deliberately orchestrated by the Bruins, another chance to pummel the Leafs.

All Boston had to do, after all, was beat hapless Ottawa at home on Tuesday night to win the Atlantic Division. Instead, the Bruins made Anton Forsberg look like Vladimir Dzurilla and mailed in a 3-1 loss. That allowed the Florida Panthers, who beat the Leafs that night, to win the division and allowed the Bruins to draw the Leafs in the first round.

Was that Boston’s preference all along? If you had Boston’s record against Toronto, wouldn’t you have done the same? The Leafs haven’t bested the Bruins in a playoff series since 1959, and currently are on a seven-game regular-season losing streak against their Atlantic Division “rival.”

Just this season, it’s been all Boston. Four games, four wins. The Bruins held the powerful Toronto offence to nine goals and the vaunted Leafs power play to nine per cent efficiency. Boston goes right at the strengths of the Leafs and takes them away.

If teams were permitted to choose their first-round playoff opponent, we can agree the Leafs would have been Boston’s No. 1 pick. And maybe that’s exactly the preference the Bruins expressed in losing to the Senators.

more

"It should come with an air sickness bag, this whole saga," Burke said. "It's just ridiculous that a city of 6 million people is going to fold and move to a city with 1.5 or whatever Salt Lake City has … so we're going to give up a marketplace of 6 million people for a marketplace of 1.5 million people where they've never had pro hockey other than the IHL and some AHL teams that were there.

"OK, does that make sense to anyone else? … It doesn't to me. Make this guy sell the team, get a new team in the right location and keep playing."

via azcentral

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

When the Wings opened the visitor's locker room at Centre Bell to reporters after Tuesday's events, players looked and sounded devastated. They had done what they could, rallying from a third-period deficit for the 14th time and winning in a shootout, only to find it was moot because the Washington Capitals won their game, ending the Wings' playoff chase.

That it's over is a letdown — but consider where the team was five years ago when Steve Yzerman was named general manager on April 19, 2019: Fourth from the bottom. The next year, the Wings finished at the bottom of the standings, 23 points below the 30th-place team.

To be in contention for a playoff spot all the way to Game 82 just four years later is tremendous progress. These past two weeks, when the Wings took 11 of 16 possible points while facing one opponent after another with something of their own to play for — is something that stands to pay dividends next season.

It was a remarkable finish, especially after what transpired over the past seven weeks. On Feb. 27, the Wings were 13 games above .500 and in the first wild card spot, only two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division. The Wings lost their next three games, but two of those were to the Florida Panthers and Colorado Avalanche, both elite opponents. The team looked deep enough, and had promising prospects in the minor, that Yzerman stood pat at the trade deadline.

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27 years in Arizona for the Coyotes.

* The 2023-24 campaign became just the second in NHL history to feature two 100-assist players as Nikita Kucherov hit the mark in his final game of the season.

* The Stars clinched the top seed in the Western Conference for the fifth time in franchise history and first since 2015-16, which in turn locked in a First Round matchup between the Canucks and Predators.

* The final gameday of the 2023-24 season will see the last two First Round matchups decided as well as a potential faceoff between Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon on ESPN and Sportsnet.

fromm Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

Jeff Carter’s two little ones and his wife, Megan, were waiting Wednesday night when a line suddenly formed near center ice at UBS Arena.

As the Penguins played their season finale against the New York Islanders, a game in which they were competitive but lost 5-4, there were signs throughout the arena the 39-year-old was skating in the final game of his fantastic career.

Carter’s family had flown in from Pittsburgh to be there in person to watch him. They sat in a suite next to Jonathan Quick, his former Los Angeles teammate.

The Penguins made Carter a starter and Sidney Crosby briefly slid over to the wing so Carter could take the opening faceoff, a classy gesture by the captain.

During the third period, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan kept sending Carter over the boards, and his teammates forced passes to him whenever they got the puck. It paid off when Crosby set up Carter for the tying goal during the third period.

And then after the final horn sounded, the Islanders lined up in the neutral zone so they could shake hands with Carter, one of the NHL’s oldest active players.

continued

He joins Orr, Gretzky, Lemieux and McDavid. Kucherov is the first winger to hit the 100 assists mark.

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

"All of these guys never quit," said Larkin, whose leadership as captain was again impressive. "We had a very close-knit group this year. To have the last month, the last two weeks that we had, we just wouldn't go away. Comeback after comeback, just so much fun."

Tuesday's victory was the Wings' 14th third-period comeback victory of the season. It's a staggering number and spoke to the attitude and resiliency of the roster. The Wings' comeback ability was shocking in the final games.

David Perron's game-tying goal, with three seconds left Tuesday in regulation time, was a fitting example to of this Wings' roster that simply would not quit.

"For this team, the way that we battled, whether it was to come back in games or just find ourselves in this position was incredible," Kane said. "It was like nothing I've ever seen. There's no quit in this team. Really had a lot of fun playing with these guys and playing for the team here in general.

"It was a really fun year. It's very disappointing right now, but hopefully we can find some positives in the way we played towards the end of the year. The battle level" of this group was just so impressive."

There's no doubt Tuesday was a gut-wrenching punch. But you couldn't miss the undercurrent of optimism regarding the future given all the positives from this season: The growth of Raymond and Seider, the continued development of Michael Rasmussen and Joe Veleno, and the drive and example of a list of veterans that showed the way.

A continued theme after Tuesday's game was the closeness of the group. The unity was apparent as the season progressed and the success mounted.

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