Heading into the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, theScore's Kyle Cushman, Kayla Douglas, Mike Dickson, Josh Gold-Smith, John Matisz, Sean O'Leary, and Josh Wegman make their picks for the first round, conference finals, Stanley Cup Final, and Conn Smythe Trophy winner.

Boston Bruins vs. Florida Panthers

The Bruins had arguably the most dominant regular season of all time, and their reward for such an incredible run is to face last season's Presidents' Trophy winners in the first round. It was a close season series as Boston just eeked out a 2-1-1 edge over the Panthers. But despite how close it was, our editors expect the Bruins to advance.

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning and Maple Leafs meet in the opening round for the second straight year, with Toronto looking for its first series win since 2004. The Leafs took the season series 2-0-1 over Tampa, and the consensus among our editors is Toronto will get its revenge and finally earn that long-awaited series victory.

Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Islanders

One thing is guaranteed from this matchup: Sebastian Aho will advance to the next round. That's because, in addition to Carolina's star forward Sebastian Aho, New York has a Sebastian Aho of its own on defense. The Hurricanes took three of the four meetings during the regular season. However, they won't have the injured Andrei Svechnikov, and the Isles will have stellar goalie Ilya Sorokin. New York has a legitimate shot at knocking off the Metropolitan Division champs, which explains why we gave them a slight edge here.

New Jersey Devils vs. New York Rangers

This will be the seventh Battle of the Hudson in the postseason, with the Rangers winning the series four times. The Devils prevailed in the most recent playoff meeting (2012 Eastern Conference Final) and took the season series with a 3-0-1 record. This will likely be one of the closest opening-round matchups, so it's no surprise that most of our editors believe it'll go the distance.

Colorado Avalanche vs. Seattle Kraken

The Kraken had quite the turnaround. They went from a last-place finish in the Pacific Division during their inaugural season to making the playoffs in their second year. However, Seattle is up against the defending champions, who enter the postseason playing their best hockey of the campaign. The Avalanche erased a 14-point deficit over the season's final three months to capture the Central. Even though the Kraken won the season series, our editors think Colorado's experience and talent will prove too much for the upstarts from Seattle.

Dallas Stars vs. Minnesota Wild

You can't blame a longtime hockey fan in Minnesota if they feel a little conflicted with this one since it's a meeting of the old team that used to play in the state - the North Stars, now Stars - against the current group, the Wild. Most fans from the Land of 10,000 Lakes are likely rooting for the Wild, but our editors lean toward the Stars winning this matchup after Dallas took the season series with a 2-0-2 record.

Vegas Golden Knights vs. Winnipeg Jets

After missing the postseason for the first time in their short existence last campaign, the Golden Knights are back in the playoffs following a Pacific Division title. The Jets are in a similar situation, missing the postseason in 2021-22 after making four straight playoff appearances. But Winnipeg earned its spot this year by claiming the final wild-card berth in the West. Vegas swept the three meetings during the regular season, but some of our editors see the Jets pulling off an upset.

Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings

Here's another rematch from last year's first round in which the Oilers emerged from a hard-fought seven-game series and made a run to the Western Conference Final. Connor McDavid took his game to another level this season, becoming just the sixth player in NHL history to top 150 points in a campaign. That factor, plus an improved Oilers team that enters the playoffs red-hot, has each of our editors expecting another Edmonton victory in this matchup. The two teams split the season series with two wins each.

Eastern Conference Final

After their incredible regular season, it shouldn't come as a big surprise that most of our editors expect the Bruins to keep up their stellar play and emerge as the East representatives in the Stanley Cup Final. Who they'll face is split between the Rangers and Devils despite neither winning the Metropolitan Division.

Western Conference Final

Unlike the East, the West is a little more up for grabs, though it still likely comes down to two teams - Oilers and Avalanche. Both enter the playoffs playing incredibly high-level hockey, and our editors expect that to continue through the postseason, giving a slight edge to Edmonton here.

Stanley Cup Final

A season like the Bruins put together in 2022-23 is hard to bet against, and most of our editors see them as the favorite to lift Lord Stanley's mug. Between allowing significantly fewer goals than anyone else in the league and scoring more than anyone other than Edmonton, Boston really was in a league of its own. But they play the games for a reason, and maybe, just maybe, this is Toronto's year.

Conn Smythe Trophy winner

With most of our editors selecting the Bruins to win it all, Pastrnak becomes the pretty clear choice to take the Conn Smythe. There's no shortage of talent on the Bruins, and Linus Ullmark had a remarkable season in goal, but Pastrnak scored 46 more points than anyone else on the team. If Boston is going to succeed in the playoffs, it'll require a lot of scoring from Pasta.

Interestingly, despite the Oilers not being selected to win the title, McDavid got a Conn Smythe vote here. That would make him only the sixth player ever and the second forward to take the trophy while losing the Cup Final. If any player is capable of such a feat in today's game, it's McDavid.

Copyright © 2023 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Drew Doughty made it clear the Los Angeles Kings haven't forgotten Connor McDavid's controversial hit on Mikey Anderson.

McDavid was penalized for boarding Anderson back in March but avoided supplemental discipline. Doughty is adamant his squad will use the saga as motivation to make life difficult on the MVP favorite throughout their upcoming playoff rematch.

"We didn't feel good about it, that's for sure," Doughty said, per TSN. "I mean, (Anderson) was out for a week, week-and-a-half. We lost some games without him ... It's not something we'll forget.

"Like I said earlier, we don't want to be going to the box, so I don't know that we're going to be taking dumb penalties on them or anything like that. But if we get a chance to smack (McDavid), we're going to try to do that."

The Oilers set an NHL record this season with a 32.4% conversion rate on the power play, and McDavid led the league with 71 points with the man advantage. Leon Draisaitl (62) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (53) finished second and third.

The Kings' penalty kill ranked 24th at 75.8%.

Edmonton and Los Angeles finished five points apart in the Pacific Division standings this season. In last year's playoffs, the two sides went seven games in Round 1, with the Oilers prevailing. Game 1 begins Monday.

Copyright © 2023 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Calgary Flames and general manager Brad Treliving have agreed to end his tenure, the club announced Monday.

Don Maloney will take over as president of hockey operations and interim GM. The 64-year-old had been the team's senior vice president of hockey operations.

Treliving's contract expires June 30. The Flames hired the 53-year-old in April 2014.

The Flames fell two points shy of a playoff berth following an offseason in which they lost Johnny Gaudreau in free agency and were forced to trade Matthew Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers. Treliving was lauded at the time for acquiring prolific winger Jonathan Huberdeau, dependable defenseman Mackenzie Weegar, and prospect Cole Schwindt in that deal.

Copyright © 2023 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

A slight smile formed on Pete DeBoer's face Saturday as he nodded along to a reporter's question about Jake Oettinger, the Dallas Stars' starting goalie.

The veteran head coach was being asked if the 24-year-old Oettinger - a native of Lakeville, Minnesota, set to face off against the Minnesota Wild in an opening-round NHL playoff series - needed any help managing his emotions.

"I'm just trying to manage his bank account, make sure he's not buying a couple hundred tickets every game there," DeBoer replied with a chuckle. "I talked to him about that this morning: 'At some point, you can't buy everyone in Minnesota a ticket to come watch you play.'"

DeBoer didn't inject humor into his press conference to avoid answering the question directly. The bench boss simply knows Oettinger will be locked in for Game 1 on Monday night. The netminder's ascension, underlined by an epic 64-save performance against the Calgary Flames in Game 7 of last year's opening round, has been quick and convincing. He's left no doubt in Dallas.

"When you're drawing up what you want in your starting goalie, honestly, he checks all of those boxes," DeBoer told theScore in a recent interview.

"He's the backbone of our team," Stars forward Jason Robertson said.

In a toss-up of a Western Conference playoff bracket, there might not be a bigger X-factor than the gregarious goalie who's made a habit of rising to the occasion. Oettinger is fresh off a regular season worthy of down-ballot Vezina Trophy votes and holds a .956 save percentage in nine career playoff games.

"He absolutely loved every minute he played," Stars goalie coach Jeff Reese said of the Flames series, which ended in heartbreak for Dallas despite Oettinger's Herculean efforts. "He loved the hostile environment. He loved the pressure of the playoffs. And, guess what, he was smiling the whole time."

Dallas, the Central Division's No. 2 seed with a 47-21-14 record, is in this position today thanks to four slick moves at the draft table in Chicago six years ago.

The first move: selecting Miro Heiskanen with the third pick. The second: sending the 29th (acquired via trade a year earlier) and 70th picks to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for No. 26. Third: using that 26th pick to select Oettinger. Fourth: selecting Robertson at No. 39.

Those wide-eyed teenagers - one defenseman, one goalie, one forward - have since blossomed into foundational pieces of the Stars' present and future.

"You're just trying to get the best player at the time," general manager Jim Nill recalled of the 2017 draft. "We knew we had a cornerstone in Miro, and we were hoping the goalie would be something. After that, it's all about how they develop, and they've developed better than we ever thought they would."

Hitting home runs off three picks in the same draft is like strapping a jetpack onto a team's trajectory. Now in their early 20s, Oettinger, Heiskanen, and Robertson are surrounded by an over-30 cohort led by Jamie Benn, Joe Pavelski, and Tyler Seguin and an under-30 group headlined by Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, and Nils Lundkvist. Meanwhile, blue-chip prospects Logan Stankoven and Mavrik Bourque could be on the roster as early as this fall.

Oettinger turned pro in 2019 after three years at Boston University. He then split three seasons between the AHL and NHL, sharing the big-club load with Anton Khudobin, Braden Holtby, and Scott Wedgewood after Ben Bishop's career-ending knee injury hastened a new era. But the No. 1 spot on the Stars' goaltending depth chart wasn't his out of training camp until this year.

He recorded a .919 save percentage (tied for sixth in the league) and five shutouts (tied for second) over 62 games this season. He also posted impressive underlying numbers despite playing behind a strong defensive group. For one, his 0.16 goals saved above expected per 60 minutes ranked seventh out of 66 goalies with 1,000 minutes played, per Sportlogiq.

"Where has he improved? I'd say just his consistency," Nill said. "He's got a level of play he can get to, and now he's learning to do that every game."

"We think we're set in net for the next eight, nine, 10 years," the GM added.

At 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, Oettinger is a presence between the pipes. He's also athletic, smart, and technically sound. His current scouting report lacks a glaring weakness, especially after he made a concerted effort over the past 12 months to narrow his stance and sharpen his puck-handling skills.

"It's helped with my reads, and I'm a lot more patient than when I first got to the NHL," Oettinger said of his narrowed stance. "I was always like, 'Oh, I've got to be way out because these guys are so good.' Now I know I can make saves from everywhere. I'm confident that I can stop anyone. If that means I have to be back in my net a bit more so I can get over to a pass, no problem."

Oettinger's mental makeup is, to circle back on DeBoer's comment, another box checked on the "what you want in your starting goalie" list. It begins with his daily interactions with Stars personnel.

"I'm pretty laid back, in general," Oettinger said. "I like to hang out with the guys and be amongst the group. I don't isolate myself on the road or on game days with superstitions. I have a couple of things I do, but it's nothing out of the ordinary that you wouldn't see from a forward or a defenseman."

Dante Fabbro, the Nashville Predators defenseman and Oettinger's teammate in college, found Oettinger to be a magnetic force in the BU dressing room. "Almost immediately, you gravitated towards him, with how likable a guy he is," said Fabbro, who remains close friends with Oettinger.

"Most normal goalie you'll ever find. Almost the opposite of what you would think of with a goalie," said Stars forward Ty Dellandrea.

Reese has been an NHL goalie or goalie coach nearly every season since 1988. He's worked with plenty of oddballs, including the legendarily eccentric Ilya Bryzgalov. "Jake's as normal as they get," Reese said.

Oettinger, who's in the first season of a three-year deal carrying a $4-million annual cap hit, tries not to take himself too seriously. "When I'm not at the rink," he said, "I try to not think about goaltending." Whether it's spent on the golf course, at a restaurant, or whatever, time with family and friends is sacred.

"It's in the goalie's job description to ride the highs and the lows," Oettinger noted. He later added, "It's a long season. Unplugging is how I stay sane."

Danton Cole, Oettinger's coach at the U.S. National Team Development Program from 2014-16, used a golf analogy to describe Oettinger's mindset.

"An elite goalie kind of has to be like a golfer. Hit one in the woods? You have to forget about it. You have to focus on the next shot or you'll lose your mind," Cole said. "Jake, in that sense, was outstanding when he was with us at the program. He was rarely fazed, and that carried over to the rest of the team."

Virtually every person interviewed for this story brought up Oettinger's demeanor around the team. It's some blend of composure and confidence.

"What is the difference between a backup and a No. 1?" Reese asked rhetorically. "Some of it is physical, of course, but so, so much of it is mental. And Jake's a special individual mentally. Very mentally tough. Very special in that department. And the bottom line is, he has a great perspective on life."

Being mentally tough doesn't mean Oettinger isn't hard on himself. Case in point: In late March, he pointed the finger inward following a disappointing 5-4 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken.

"Let in 10 goals in the last two games. Something's got to change," a frustrated Oettinger told reporters. "The guys have scored like crazy, so it's on me to keep the puck out of our net, and I haven't done that."

How Oettinger bounced back after the Kraken game didn't go unnoticed internally or around the league. He saved 180 of 191 shots for a .942 save percentage over his final eight regular-season contests, seven of them victories.

"If there's anything I know about him," Fabbro said, "he's never satisfied."

It can be easy to forget Oettinger's relative youth. He wears No. 29 because as a kid he idolized Marc-Andre Fleury, who at 38 may start for Minnesota on Monday. A Fleury Fathead cutout hung on Oettinger's bedroom wall until his mid-teens and last year he met the affable veteran before a head-to-head matchup, receiving a souvenir goalie stick from Fleury in the process.

Fleury, with 544 regular-season wins and three Stanley Cup rings, has earned a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Nothing's guaranteed in hockey, let alone goaltending, but Oettinger's ceiling is just as high.

"There's still parts of his game we want to improve. He wants to get better. (Tampa Bay Lightning superstar) Andrei Vasilevskiy is the ceiling," Reese said. "Winning championships is what's next. That's when you're at the pinnacle. He looks at a guy like Vasi and wants to get to where Vasi's at. We've got a long way to go. But, as far as upside, if he continues with this attitude and wants to get better every day, he will get better every day."

Stars assistant coach Steve Spott has joked about how easy Reese's job is these days. By all accounts, Oettinger is a goalie coach's dream.

"Spotter thinks it's a crime to get paid to do this," Reese said with a hearty laugh. "He's probably right. I probably shouldn't get paid to coach this kid."

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

Copyright © 2023 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The quest to hoist the Stanley Cup begins Monday. These storylines will affect the championship hopes of the eight teams in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket. (Click to read our breakdown of the Western qualifiers.)

Boston Bruins
Can they avoid the Presidents' Trophy letdown?

The regular-season champion hasn't won the Stanley Cup in a decade or advanced past the second round since 2015. Juggernaut Capitals, Lightning, and Panthers teams reached the 120-point plateau in that span but crumbled when adversity struck in the postseason, most infamously when the Columbus Blue Jackets swept Tampa Bay four years ago.

Those squads weren't the 2022-23 Bruins, whose dominance (65 wins, 135 points) broke NHL records. At plus-128, their goal differential almost doubled that of the second-place Dallas Stars at plus-67. No team in the cap era has iced more 50-point scorers than Boston's eight, according to Stathead. The Bruins' edge in team save percentage over the second-place New York Islanders - .929 to .915 - was as vast as the gap between New York and the 15th-ranked club.

Boston is bulletproof if Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, who have started a combined seven career playoff games, keep shining in net. The Blue Jackets lit up Andrei Vasilevskiy for 15 goals in four games at the bitter end of his 2019 Vezina Trophy season. Only a comparable - and comparably surprising - barrage would trouble the Bruins.

Florida Panthers
Can the defensemen keep scoring?

Three blue-liners are especially important to the Panthers' playoff hopes: Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling, and emergent sniper and power-play quarterback Brandon Montour. Florida ranks second in the NHL behind the Carolina Hurricanes with 53 goals by defensemen, and those three combined for 43 of them. No other team has three 10-goal players at the position, according to Stathead.

The Panthers rely heavily on this trio, with each member playing more than 23 minutes nightly. Capitalizing on MacKenzie Weegar's departure, Montour scored 73 points to double his previous career high and surge to fifth among NHL defensemen. Erik Karlsson, the 100-point supernova, recorded fewer points than Montour since March 1.

Sixth in scoring but 21st in goals allowed, the Panthers need to pop offensively to orchestrate an upset. They scored five goals or more in 20 games this season, winning all but one, and conceded that many in 24 contests, losing all but one. The forwards who skate with Matthew Tkachuk are safe bets to produce, but the defense corps also has to chip in.

Toronto Maple Leafs
How will the new additions perform?

Five forwards and the netminder who dressed in Toronto's 2022 playoff finale are no longer with the Maple Leafs. On defense, Ilya Lyubushkin also moved on, and Jake Muzzin is out for the season. General manager Kyle Dubas' raft of acquisitions could either no-show against the Lightning or power a long-awaited breakthrough.

Ilya Samsonov put up career numbers (.919 save percentage, 21.24 goals saved above expected) this season, inspiring confidence over his 40 starts. Defenseman Jake McCabe will be counted on to hound Tampa Bay's top scorers. Beyond college signee Matthew Knies, the forwards to watch include 20-goal winger Calle Jarnkrok and former Conn Smythe Trophy winner Ryan O'Reilly, who will center either the second line or a checking trio.

Toronto's core tends to buckle in the biggest moments. Ousted in six straight opening rounds and losers of five consecutive winner-take-all games, the Maple Leafs potted one goal or fewer in each of their last four elimination defeats. Failing to advance with this revamped lineup could get Dubas fired - and trigger many more changes.

Tampa Bay Lightning
Will Vasilevskiy play to his peak?

Consistently indomitable, Vasilevskiy posted a save percentage of .930 or better in seven of Tampa Bay's last 12 playoff series. No team has shelled him in the postseason since 2019, and the defending champion Avalanche alone managed to beat him four times.

The Maple Leafs have reason to believe he's vulnerable. In defeat last spring, they inflicted his worst save percentage in a playoff round (.897) since the Columbus debacle. The Lightning fell from sixth place in goals against last season to 14th in 2022-23. Losing nine of Vasilevskiy's 15 starts in March and April exacerbated their late-year slide and handed Toronto home-ice advantage in Round 1.

By one key metric, though, the seven-year starter just authored his greatest season. Vasilevskiy saved 26.41 goals above expected, according to Evolving Hockey, signaling that he could offset the Lightning's defensive slip and be the MVP of any matchup.

Carolina Hurricanes
Can defensive structure make up for losing Svechnikov?

The Islanders were the only Eastern playoff club to score fewer goals than the Hurricanes this season. Injuries are partly to blame: Back-to-back Achilles tears befell Max Pacioretty, limiting him to five games, while Andrei Svechnikov bowed out for the year in mid-March with a torn ACL.

The rare dynamo for a defensive powerhouse, Svechnikov is the Hurricanes' second-leading goal and point producer over the past five seasons, trailing Sebastian Aho. Without him, Carolina must constrict and dispirit opposing shooters. The Hurricanes permit the fewest shots and scoring chances in the league, per Natural Stat Trick, which is why they ranked second in goals allowed despite a middling .902 team save percentage.

Head coach Rod Brind'Amour's vaunted defensive structure has shown cracks. Carolina ranked 12th in goals against per game after Svechnikov got hurt. They were 26th in scoring in that period and went 9-8-1.

New York Islanders
Are improvements made without Barzal sustainable?

Mathew Barzal, raiser of the Islanders' offensive ceiling during recent deep playoff runs, is about to return after missing two months with a lower-body injury. New York took off when he went down, recording a .534 points percentage before Barzal exited the lineup on Feb. 18 and improving to .652 ever since.

Tightening up keyed the turnaround. Before Barzal's injury, the Islanders allowed more five-on-five scoring chances and high-danger shot attempts than every team except the lowly Anaheim Ducks, according to Natural Stat Trick. Ilya Sorokin's .928 save percentage propped them up. But New York has limited such chances at a top-10 rate since the injury, and Sorokin's five-on-five save percentage in the span has climbed to .934.

Sorokin astonished this season by saving 51.36 goals above expected, the most league-wide since 2010, per Evolving-Hockey. The Islanders, meanwhile, scored 0.19 more goals per game without Barzal despite their power play running on fumes (10.9% conversion rate after Feb. 18). Kyle Palmieri, Hudson Fasching, and Pierre Engvall are among the forwards who elevated their play to support Brock Nelson in his 75-point career year.

New Jersey Devils
How much does inexperience matter?

Four of the Devils' most prolific forwards - Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and Dawson Mercer - are between 21 and 24 years old with either minimal or zero playoff experience. Key contributors at every position, from Yegor Sharangovich to Damon Severson to goalie Vitek Vanecek, have never or barely appeared on the stage.

This isn't a roster-wide issue. Timo Meier, Dougie Hamilton, and Ryan Graves all embarked on deep runs with their previous teams. Ondrej Palat and Erik Haula have competed in the Stanley Cup Final. New Jersey is a genuine threat, ranking second behind Boston in Hockey Reference's Simple Rating System. But this is the first significant test for the young core and parts of the supporting cast.

By tallying 99, Hughes put up the ninth-most points in a season for a player aged 21 or younger since the 2005 lockout, per Stathead. Three stars who earned higher spots on the list made their playoff debuts that same year, variously losing in Round 1 (Sidney Crosby in 2007), falling in Game 7 of the second round (Connor McDavid in 2017), and surging to a championship (Eric Staal in 2006).

New York Rangers
Can Kane, Tarasenko summon playoff magic?

Two departed forwards, Andrew Copp and Frank Vatrano, were among the six Rangers players who hit double digits in points during last year's charge to the Eastern Conference Final. Depth scoring can swing a series, and with that in mind, general manager Chris Drury traded draft capital before the deadline to bring in starrier rentals.

New York's .667 points percentage since March 2, the night of Patrick Kane's debut, led the Metropolitan Division in that span. Vladimir Tarasenko, another Stanley Cup champion, compiled a five-game point streak in April. Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, and Vincent Trocheck all continue to produce, giving the Rangers enviable firepower up front.

Kane ranks fifth among active NHLers in career playoff goals and points. Tarasenko is 16th on the goals leaderboard. In Drury's dream scenario, they deliver in the clutch and deliver the Stanley Cup to Manhattan.

Nick Faris is a features writer at theScore.

Copyright © 2023 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The quest to hoist the Stanley Cup begins Monday. These storylines will affect the championship hopes of the eight teams in the Western Conference playoff bracket. (Click to read our breakdown of the Eastern qualifiers.)

Vegas Golden Knights
Will Eichel seize the moment?

Through the ankle sprains and the herniated disk that estranged him from the Sabres, Jack Eichel made 476 appearances over eight years without ever touching the ice in the playoffs.

He finally got there. Eichel mostly stayed healthy as the Golden Knights won the Pacific Division to atone for falling short of the 2022 playoffs. Buffalo's erstwhile captain sparked Vegas offensively with 66 points in 67 games. That made up for trusty load-bearers Mark Stone and Shea Theodore missing months apiece.

The Golden Knights strung together two spells of elite play. They opened the regular season 13-2-0, then compiled a 22-4-5 record after the All-Star break. Their points percentage with Eichel in the lineup was .694. That extrapolates to a 114-point pace over 82 games and positions Vegas for a Stanley Cup push if Eichel can be clutch.

Winnipeg Jets
Can scorers build on late-year resurgence?

Winnipeg's decline from February onward was steep. The Jets played .500 hockey over their final 30 games to rank 12th in the West in that span after placing second at the All-Star break, only outshining teams that tanked for Connor Bedard. Their per-game goals rate plunged from 3.19 before the break to 2.67.

Winnipeg's top forwards slumped en masse. Pierre-Luc Dubois produced 2.05 points per 60 minutes ahead of the break, then managed 1.07 afterward. Nikolaj Ehlers' per-60 splits were 3.49 points and 2.28. Kyle Connor (2.32, 1.48) endured an 11-game goal drought. Blake Wheeler (2.10, 1.95) scored once in his last 27 appearances.

A recent uptick restored momentum and hope. The Jets won five of seven games to end the season as Connor, Dubois, and Ehlers combined with Mark Scheifele to net a dozen goals. Fresh off setting a career high in goals saved above expected (33.62), Connor Hellebuyck could steal a series if he gets enough offensive help.

Edmonton Oilers
Will Ekholm be the best deadline acquisition?

Splashy midseason trades routed many of the top forwards on the market - including Bo Horvat, Timo Meier, Ryan O'Reilly, and Patrick Kane - from Western Conference also-rans to Eastern contenders. The West's Cup hopefuls were comparably quiet, but Edmonton's biggest move has been transformative.

Mattias Ekholm, the grizzled longtime Predators blue-liner, has impressed since he swapped places with Tyson Barrie. He ranked fifth on the Oilers in points since the Feb. 28 deal and tilted the ice in the top-pair minutes he shouldered. Edmonton outscored teams 27-8 during Ekholm's five-on-five shifts with partner Evan Bouchard, per Natural Stat Trick. Darnell Nurse's workload lightened, which was a welcome bonus.

Anemic secondary scoring and shaky defensive play in recent postseasons prevented Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl from engineering Cup runs. That could change this spring. Edmonton's .881 points percentage and plus-37 goal differential in Ekholm's 21 games were NHL highs, affirming that these Oilers are a force to fear.

Los Angeles Kings
Will they win the special-teams battle?

There's a chasm in quality between the Kings' fourth-ranked power play in the NHL (25.3% conversion rate) and their penalty kill, which operated at 75.8%. No Western playoff team's kill was worse.

Contributors abound on L.A.'s power play. The Kings led the NHL in 20-point-scorers (six), 10-point-scorers (eight), and seven-goal-scorers (six) in that phase, democratizing who could make a difference. On the PK, the Pheonix Copley-Joonas Korpisalo tandem's .852 save percentage is praiseworthy because it dwarfs the combined .804 mark that Jonathan Quick and Cal Petersen posted before Korpisalo was acquired.

How they fare on special teams could shape the Kings' playoff destiny. Edmonton's power play outscored L.A.'s unit 7-3 in the teams' first-round clash a year ago, when the Kings were shut out and lost narrowly in Game 7.

Colorado Avalanche
Can Byram maintain his scoring touch?

Concussion issues and other ailments limited Bowen Byram to 42 appearances this season and 91 NHL games over his first three years. But he was a pivotal part of Colorado's Stanley Cup defense corps. Byram excelled as the No. 3 guy on the depth chart last year when Samuel Girard was knocked out of the playoffs with a broken sternum.

Almost every key Colorado player missed extended time this season, including Cale Makar recently. Byram stepped up when healthy. Skating for 22 minutes a night, he scored in three straight games toward the end of March to increase his goal total to 10 and rise to fifth among NHL defensemen in goals per contest. The lion's share of his production (17 of 24 points) came at even strength.

Offseason departures and the injury bug didn't stop the Avalanche from reaching 50 wins again. Internal growth in the form of Byram's offensive spark gives them unique scoring depth on the back end. Opponents can't relax even when Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and the Makar-Devon Toews pair are off the ice.

Seattle Kraken
Will they keep scoring prolifically?

Seattle's offense is historically balanced. No team in the cap era iced more 30-point-scorers (13) or more 25-point-scorers (17) than Dave Hakstol's club, per Stathead. Zero Kraken point-producers finished in the top 50 league-wide, but the entire lineup can threaten to light the lamp on any shift.

Seattle ranked 10th in shot attempts and was first by a wide margin at five-on-five in shooting percentage (10.3%), per Natural Stat Trick. Clinical finishers, the Kraken scored 32.6 goals above expected, as tracked by MoneyPuck, the NHL's sixth-highest figure over the past 10 seasons. Burying chances at that rate is paramount because the Kraken's goaltending is the worst among playoff qualifiers (.886 team save percentage).

Only five squads that advanced past Round 1 shot better than 10% at five-on-five over the past 15 postseasons. It'd be abnormal if the Kraken remain this hot, though maybe that's to be expected from a unique team with depth that's a safeguard against individual slumps.

Dallas Stars
Is Robertson ready for his close-up?

Even when Mike Modano was at the peak of his powers, no Stars skater ever racked up 100 points in a Dallas uniform. Jason Robertson's 109-point breakout season pushed boundaries and established the superstar winger as a multidimensional offensive weapon.

Robertson's 46 goals, the NHL's seventh-most, constitute a new career high. His 63 assists shattered his previous personal best. Dallas' first line - Roope Hintz between Robertson and Joe Pavelski - generated a splendid 59.2% expected goals share over a league-high 765 minutes together, according to MoneyPuck. Over the past two seasons, Robertson's been on the ice for 44% of Stars tallies at even strength, per Natural Stat Trick.

The offense runs through him, but Robertson only scored once on 16 shots when the Flames bounced Dallas in seven games last postseason. A second Cup Final appearance in four years is attainable if Robertson averts another untimely slump and Miro Heiskanen and Jake Oettinger, fellow pillars of the Stars' sublime 2017 draft class, shine in their roles.

Minnesota Wild
Will Gustavsson flourish in playoff debut?

Acquired from Ottawa last summer for a veteran in decline, Filip Gustavsson outplayed his aging tandem partner in Minnesota this season. Gustavsson's save percentage over 39 games was .931. He saved 24.54 goals above expected, per Evolving Hockey, to rank seventh in the league. Gustavsson made a stingy defensive team even harder to beat.

Nominal Wild starter Marc-Andre Fleury saved 0.86 goals above expected. Cam Talbot, who went to the Senators, saved 0.30. They put up pedestrian numbers while Gustavsson flashed star potential at 24 years old, rewarding general manager Bill Guerin's foresight.

Gustavsson made three straight starts twice this year and twice before that in his career, according to HockeyGoalies.org. He's appeared in 66 regular-season games to Fleury's 985 and has no playoff experience. That might prompt head coach Dean Evason to keep rotating his goalies, but Gustavsson has earned the chance to monopolize the crease.

Nick Faris is a features writer at theScore.

Copyright © 2023 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The United States rallied with four third-period goals to win gold at the IIHF Women's World Championship on Sunday, defeating Canada 6-3 in the final.

USA captain Hilary Knight was named player of the game for potting a hat trick. Her second goal stood as the game-winner, coming with 3:10 left in the third period while on a 5-on-3 power play.

Knight buried her third of the contest 27 seconds later off a deflection with USA still on the man advantage. She also became the first player in tournament history to reach 100 career points.

Abbey Murphy, Caroline Harvey, and Cayla Barnes (empty-netter) scored the other goals for the United States.

Marie-Philip Poulin and Brianne Jenner (twice) found twine for Canada.

It's the first gold medal at the event for the Americans since winning five in a row from 2013-19 (the tourney isn't held in Olympic years), and 10th total.

Canada won the previous two tournaments and holds the record with 12 all time.

Copyright © 2023 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Canadian federal government announced Sunday it'll reinstate Hockey Canada's funding, effective immediately.

Canadian sport minister Pascale St-Onge made the announcement ahead of the gold-medal game between Canada and the United States at the IIHF Women's World Championship in Brampton, Ontario.

St-Onge said Hockey Canada met three conditions to have its funding fully restored: become a full signatory to Abuse-Free Sport and the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner, continue to review and implement the recommendations from the independent governance review led by The Honorable Thomas Cromwell, and commit to more frequent reporting to the Government of Canada.

The Canadian government froze Hockey Canada's funding in June 2022, two months after a woman alleged in a lawsuit that eight CHL players sexually assaulted her. The alleged incident included several members of Canada's 2018 world junior team and took place in June 2018 at a London, Ontario, hotel after a Hockey Canada event. The $3.55-million lawsuit was settled out of court.

Hockey Canada then announced in July that the 2003 world junior team was being investigated for an alleged group sexual assault.

Executives within the organization said in July that Hockey Canada paid out $8.9 million in sexual abuse settlements since 1989, excluding the 2018 incident.

Hockey Canada received $7.7 million in federal backing from Sport Canada in the 2022 fiscal year before the funding was frozen.

"Today marks an important milestone for Hockey Canada in our journey to earn and maintain the trust of Canadians," Hugh L. Fraser, chair of the Hockey Canada Board of Directors, said. "While I would like to thank Minister St-Onge and the government for their vote of confidence and for their ongoing efforts to prioritize safe sport in Canada, I also wish to stress that we still have work to do to change the culture of our sport.

"This is a significant moment for the future of Hockey Canada, and hockey in Canada, as it will enable us to further our commitment to supporting all levels of the sport. We thank the minister and the government for placing their trust in us, and we look forward to working with them to make hockey safer from coast to coast to coast."

Hockey Canada elected a new nine-member board in December after the previous regime was ousted as a result of the controversies. The organization has yet to name a new CEO.

Copyright © 2023 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.