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<\/p>\n \u2018AMPED UP\u2019:
\n The 16 teams for the post-season were finalized, with the Pacific Division an example of the challenges teams must face to hoist the Stanley Cup <\/p>\n
The path through the NHL Central Division to the Western Conference Final for Dallas and Minnesota is about as treacherous as it gets, with the Stars and the Wild \u2014 who respectively had the third and seventh-most points this season \u2014 to meet in the first round and the winners potentially facing the league-best Colorado Avalanche in the second round.<\/p>\n
Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger is embracing the challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can get through that and win it all, I think it just makes it that much better,\u201d Oettinger said. \u201cIt just makes it more fulfilling.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Photo: Rob Gray \/ Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Even the Pacific Division side of the Stanley Cup playoffs is no cakewalk, with the Edmonton Oilers, the Stanley Cup runners-up for the past two years, in the mix along with the Vegas Golden Knights, who won seven of their final eight games since hiring John Tortorella.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the most exciting time because everybody\u2019s playing at a different level and it\u2019s a good test to see how high you can get as a team,\u201d Tortorella told reporters in Las Vegas after the regular season wrapped up on Thursday, confirming that they are to face the Utah Mammoth in the first round of the post-season. \u201cEverything\u2019s going to be amped up. As each game goes by in the series, it\u2019s going to be harder and harder, and so it\u2019s a great challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Oilers\u2019 Matt Savoie finished the regular season with his first NHL hat-trick, helping the hosts to a 6-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks and giving them home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs by clinching second place in the Pacific Division.<\/p>\n
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Photo: AFP<\/p>\n
They are to host the third-placed Anaheim Ducks in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series on Monday.<\/p>\n
In Tennessee, Troy Terry drew a high-sticking penalty and scored the tiebreaking goal on the ensuing power play with 2 minutes, 54 seconds left, lifting the Ducks to a 5-4 win over the Nashville Predators, who finished sixth in the Central Division.<\/p>\n
The Ducks made the playoffs for the first time in eight years.<\/p>\n
In Alberta, Arsenii Sergeev made 27 saves in his NHL debut, backstopping the Calgary Flames to a 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.<\/p>\n
Morgan Frost, Zayne Parekh and Joel Farabee scored, while Zach Whitecloud added two assists for the Flames, who missed the playoffs for the second straight season.<\/p>\n
Quinton Byfield tallied for the Kings, who captured the second wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference and are to play the Avalanche in the first round.<\/p>\n
Colorado finished the regular season with a 2-0 win over the Seattle Kraken in Denver.<\/p>\n
The Avalanche set a franchise record for points in a season with 121.<\/p>\n
The Kraken finished the season in sixth in the Pacific Division.<\/p>\n
In Salt Lake City, Robert Thomas recorded his second career hat-trick, lifting the St Louis Blues to a 5-3 victory over the Utah Mammoth, who had already booked a playoffs spot.<\/p>\n
The Blues finished fifth in the Central Division, one place behind the Mammoth.<\/p>\n
In Manitoba, the Sharks\u2019 Macklin Celebrini tallied one goal and two assists to become the franchise leader for points in a single season as he helped San Jose to a 6-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets, who finished seventh in the Central Division.<\/p>\n
Celebrini reached 115 points (45 goals and 70 assists) to break Joe Thornton\u2019s record of 114 points set in the 2006-2007 season.<\/p>\n
The Sharks placed fifth in the Pacific Division.<\/p>\n
The Presidents\u2019 Trophy-winning Avalanche are the favorites to win the West, and with good reason. They have been the best team since October last year, have two of the best players in the world in Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, and filled their center void by reacquiring 2022 Cup champion Nazem Kadri at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n
Home-ice advantage is a plus, but being the team to beat also comes with pressure.<\/p>\n
The Avs, with the Kings waiting, say bring it on.<\/p>\n
\u201cPressure is a privilege \u2014 it\u2019s the old cliche, but it truly is,\u201d forward Logan O\u2019Connor said. \u201cYou just have to be dialed in the whole time, and I think that\u2019s the challenge for any team. There can\u2019t be any lapses. You can\u2019t have any passengers. Everyone all in, all the time. I think we obviously have the capability to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Eastern Conference post-season matchups are:<\/p>\n
The Carolina Hurricanes (first in the Metropolitan Division) take on the Ottawa Senators, a wild-card team after finishing fifth in the Atlantic Division.<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes are in the post-season for the eighth consecutive year since Rod Brind\u2019Amour took over as coach. As the top seed in the East, they have home-ice advantage through to the conference final.<\/p>\n
The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers (second and third in Metropolitan respectively) are to open at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
The Buffalo Sabres, who topped the Atlantic Division, face the Boston Bruins, who got through with a wild card after finishing fourth in the same division.<\/p>\n
The Tampa Bay Lightning (second in Atlantic) are to play the Montreal Canadiens (third in Atlantic).<\/p>\n
Six of the 16 teams in the post-season did not qualify a year ago, including Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Boston in the East. It is the 10th time in 12 seasons under the divisional wild-card format that there have been five or more new teams.<\/p>\n
There will be a new champion and no three-peat after the Florida Panthers were derailed by injuries following three consecutive trips to the final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018AMPED UP\u2019: The 16 teams for the post-season were finalized, with the Pacific Division an example of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5119],"tags":[5,2409,231,5281,4,2410,9512,9511],"class_list":{"0":"post-555052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nashville-predators","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nashville","10":"tag-nashville-predators","11":"tag-nashvillepredators","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-predators","14":"tag-the-taipei-times","15":"tag-9511"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116424277143115141","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}