The Seattle Kraken edged the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 in overtime on Monday to square their first-round playoff matchup at two wins apiece. These three questions will shape the Avalanche's fate in the series and determine how close they come to repeating as Stanley Cup winners.

Can Avalanche score first and often?

Certain pillars of the Avalanche's 2022 Cup team either signed elsewhere last summer (Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky) or missed the full year recovering from knee surgery (captain Gabriel Landeskog). The Avs reigned atop the Central Division anyway, despite scoring 32 fewer goals than last season.

Colorado's offense was electric in the '22 playoffs. The Avalanche potted 4.25 goals per game over 20 matchups, the most by a team whose run lasted that long since the 1983 New York Islanders. They outscored the Nashville Predators 21-9 in the first-round sweep that initiated the onslaught.

Seattle's a pluckier opponent, but Colorado's big guns came to play. The forwards who log the heaviest minutes - Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon, J.T. Compher, Artturi Lehkonen, and Valeri Nichushkin (who remains out for personal reasons) - have bagged 10 of the club's 12 goals to date. Rantanen's Game 4 equalizer was his fifth tally of the series and ended the Avalanche power play's protracted drought. Of course, Jordan Eberle's power-play goal for the Kraken in overtime was bigger.

Winning offensive-zone faceoffs has sparked the Avalanche at times. Lehkonen and Devon Toews scored off draws to power Colorado's Game 2 comeback. Alex Newhook, a 38.6% faceoff taker for his career, snapped one back to tee up Cale Makar's missile from the point in Game 3. Colorado only controlled 44% of the draws in Game 4, a series low.

Per Natural Stat Trick, MacKinnon leads the series in shots and individual scoring chances, predictably establishing himself as a force. He paced all NHL regulars this season in five-on-five scoring per 60 minutes, producing 3.28 points (for context, Connor McDavid's per-60 rate was 2.71). Outshot 43-22 on Monday, the Avalanche didn't drum up any momentum until MacKinnon's sweet backhand feed helped Rantanen score off the rush.

Colorado's depth diminished up front when Kadri and Burakovsky departed, and Landeskog was shelved. The main cast remained formidable through the rash of injuries that sidelined MacKinnon, Lehkonen, Nichushkin, Makar, and Bowen Byram for weeks at a time. The Avs scored the first goal in an NHL-high 54 games this season, posting an .824 points percentage in those contests.

Pouring it on early and consistently is how they'll contend for the Cup again. Credit the Kraken, who've wrongfooted Colorado by striking first in all four games.

Can Avs manage puck in the D-zone?

Puck-movers abound on Colorado's back end. Makar is a wizard, Toews' decision-making is sound, and Byram and Samuel Girard are renowned for their mobility. Despite this strength, careless puckhandling has stung the Avalanche every time they've started slow in the series and dug a two-goal hole.

Many Seattle tallies have stemmed from failed Colorado breakouts, takeaways in the Avalanche zone, or bounces the Avs mishandled behind the net. A few minutes into Game 4, Rantanen's blind back pass wound up on Brandon Tanev's stick, and Will Borgen promptly wired a one-timer over Alexandar Georgiev's mitt.

The Kraken's offensive approach is no-nonsense. They lack superstar creators but send pucks deep, forecheck doggedly, win one-on-one battles, and attack downhill in transition. That happened in overtime Monday when Lars Eller's offensive-zone turnover enabled Jaden Schwartz to race behind two Colorado defenders and compel Josh Manson to trip him.

Seattle's finishing ability is elite, but the stupendous goals in this matchup - both MacKinnon's breakaway burst and undressing of Ryan Donato in Game 3 come to mind - largely belong to the Avalanche. Conjuring highlights is their domain. Taking greater care of the puck would limit glorious chances against and help spring Colorado's stars up ice.

Can Georgiev shut the door?

Last spring, Darcy Kuemper's .902 postseason save percentage was high enough for him to win the Stanley Cup. He saved minus-7.29 goals above expected in the playoffs, per Evolving-Hockey. Injured in multiple rounds, Kuemper ceded the net at points to backup Pavel Francouz. Colorado was the rare champion that never needed its starting goalie to dominate.

Signed to succeed Kuemper, Georgiev's save percentage has slipped from .919 over 62 regular-season starts to .908 so far against the Kraken.

That said, he's been dependable at key junctures. Georgiev thwarted Yanni Gourde's breakaway attempt and Eberle's odd-man chance in Game 2 with huge pad saves, keeping the Avalanche afloat when they trailed in the series. He stoned Jared McCann in Game 4 a beat before Makar injured the Kraken sniper by ramming him into the boards. Georgiev saved 29 consecutive shots and denied 40 overall before Eberle struck in sudden death.

Philipp Grubauer's .895 save percentage this season was poor, but the Kraken netminder has experience shining in the clutch. Grubauer foiled shots at a .920 rate over 29 playoff starts for Colorado from 2019-21. Georgiev was the busier and better goalie on Monday, a silver lining he'll have to duplicate to submerge Seattle.

Nick Faris is a features writer at theScore.

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

The Edmonton Oilers rebounded on the road Sunday, erasing a large deficit to stun the Los Angeles Kings 5-4 in overtime and tie their first-round playoff clash at two wins apiece. The series is a best-of-three now, and the answers to these Oilers-centric questions will decide which team prevails.

Will Hyman, Kane, RNH step up again?

Besides Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, five Oilers players have fired the puck past Joonas Korpisalo in the series. Evan Bouchard, Klim Kostin, and Derek Ryan all got on the board before Game 4, during which Zach Hyman saved Edmonton from facing elimination and Evander Kane resembled the shooter who menaced the Kings a year ago.

Upstaging Jonathan Quick, Korpisalo's predecessor in the L.A. net, Kane potted seven goals in the Oilers' Round 1 triumph in 2022. Hyman scored twice in that series and added nine tallies over the rest of Edmonton's playoff run. This year, Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins both obliterated their previous season highs in goals and assists.

Quieted for a few games, the stars of Edmonton's supporting cast finally broke out Sunday. Nugent-Hopkins fed Draisaitl in the slot to set up his power-play goal. Kane's equalizer in the third period exposed Korpisalo's glove hand. The Kings outchanced the Oilers 18-10 in Hyman's five-on-five shifts, per Natural Stat Trick, but Bouchard's pinpoint outlet pass in overtime sprung him to beat Korpisalo through the goalie's blocking arm.

It's vital they keep producing. L.A.'s Adrian Kempe (three goals in the series) remains an Edmonton killer. Alex Iafallo, Gabriel Vilardi, and Trevor Moore have provided additional scoring. Viktor Arvidsson has dished four assists, all of them in clutch moments. By supporting Anze Kopitar, the Kings' offensive fulcrum, these players compensated for the absence of point-per-night dynamo Kevin Fiala through the first three games.

Can Oilers triumph on special teams?

Edmonton's record-setting power play paces the playoffs in efficiency. The Oilers have scored on six of 11 chances throughout the series (54.5%), dwarfing their own 32.4% regular-season conversion rate that made NHL history. Bouchard's bomb from the point and Draisaitl's short-side snipe keyed Edmonton's three-goal comeback Sunday.

L.A.'s power play has clicked on five of 17 attempts (29.4%). Avoidable stick infractions have put Edmonton a man down before every crushing goal the Kings have scored, including the tying tallies in Games 1 and 3 and each of L.A.'s subsequent overtime game-winners. Draisaitl might regret slashing Drew Doughty during a goal celebration if the Oilers don't advance.

The Kings are equipped for this battleground. Their power play ranked fourth in the NHL this season. Only six teams league-wide drew more penalties. Arvidsson's seam passes have eluded Oilers sticks and caused trouble throughout the series for Stuart Skinner, who yielded the net to Jack Campbell in Sunday's first intermission after Kopitar deked him during five-on-four play.

If Edmonton is to pull ahead, leveling the penalty differential is imperative. McDavid has drawn a series-high three minors, and he's done damage when L.A. visits the sin bin: Both of his goals came on the power play 100 seconds apart in Game 3 when he ripped wristers past Korpisalo from the left faceoff circle.

Will McDavid burn L.A.'s defense?

A lot of the offense McDavid creates stems from his charges into the offensive zone. Handling the puck on a string, the Oilers captain dangles defenders at top speed to create space to score. To emerge unscathed from those terrifying sequences, a team has to get sticks and bodies - ideally five at a time - in his way.

The opposing goalie is the last line of defense. Korpisalo, whose save percentage for the series remains solid at .918, has denied all 11 of McDavid's shots at even strength. Some were tuck-in attempts off solo rushes that would have expanded McDavid's highlight reel.

Poised and fleet of foot, the Kings' defensemen have mostly stayed in sync with each other and in front of McDavid when he pressures them in transition. The notable exception was Mikey Anderson in Game 1. Kempe and Kopitar slipped up late in regulation of Game 4, letting McDavid gain the zone and sneak the puck through their sticks to facilitate Kane's equalizer.

McDavid's 30:22 of ice time on Sunday led the team and was his highest mark this season. Edmonton has effectively played with 10 forwards in back-to-back games, scratching one more than usual and benching Kostin for prolonged stretches. For the first time in the series, head coach Jay Woodcroft deployed McDavid with Draisaitl throughout Game 4, and the Oilers outscored the Kings 3-0 during their shared five-on-five minutes.

Can Edmonton sustain a lead?

No lead is safe in this series.

The Oilers bagged two rapid goals to open Game 1 but failed to preserve the advantage and fell short in OT. Edmonton squandered another 2-0 edge in Game 2 before Kostin's third-period winner made the difference. Game 3, the first contest to see the Kings hold a lead, went back and forth until Moore struck in sudden death. The clubs exchanged three-goal periods in Game 4 to set the stage for Hyman's heroics.

Like most teams, the Oilers rarely lose when they score first (32-8-4 in the regular season for a .773 points percentage) or lead entering the third frame (34-1-5, .913). They ranked first in the NHL in both first-period goals (1.12 per game) and second-period tallies (1.56 per game). Controlling the game from wire to wire, as they're capable of doing, reduces angst and demoralizes the opponent.

Composed and dogged, the Kings don't fret when they start slow, trail late, or lose a lead at any point. Coolheadedness helped them rally to tie the opener, tighten up in Game 3 following McDavid's power-play eruption, and score in two of three overtime sessions.

The Oilers laughed last on Sunday. If they net the icebreaker in Game 5, maybe they'll maintain the lead this time and push L.A. to the brink.

Nick Faris is a features writer at theScore.

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

The Golden Knights bounced back at home Thursday, topping the Jets 5-2 to knot their first-round playoff series at a win apiece. Keep an eye on these seven important players when the matchup moves north for Games 3 and 4.

Mark Stone

The downside of activating a star from long-term injury reserve as the playoffs begin, conveniently enabling his team to blow past the salary cap, is the player may need time to ramp up to his peak.

Stone looked rusty in Game 1, his first appearance in three months following back surgery. He forced some giveaways, flashing his signature defensive skill, but Vegas was severely outplayed and got outscored 2-0 in his five-on-five shifts.

Game 2 was different. Stone shone in the third period, firing a smart feed that led to Chandler Stephenson's winner before he drove the net and slipped open in the slot to pot a pair of insurance goals.

Stone scored efficiently this season before he went under the knife. He ranked third on the Golden Knights in points per 60 minutes at five-on-five and almost cracked the top 50 league-wide. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Stone building on his Game 2 breakout in his hometown would be massive for Vegas.

Pierre-Luc Dubois

Adam Lowry's three goals lead the series, but it was Dubois who set the tone for Winnipeg's opening 5-1 win.

The top-line center threw eight hits, saucered passes into scoring areas, and either set up or tallied the Jets' crucial first two goals in Game 1. Feeling himself, Dubois chirped Vegas goalie Laurent Brossoit as he left one celebration circle.

The most noticeable Jet in the opener was quieter Thursday, though Dubois, Kyle Connor, and Mark Scheifele did create 11 of Winnipeg's 20 scoring chances at five-on-five, per Natural Stat Trick. The Jets owned the neutral zone in the first period and attacked with speed, enabling the Dubois line to pelt Brossoit with shots during the squad's finest spell of play.

Dubois has been a beast in the playoffs before. Bullying the Maple Leafs in the 2020 bubble, he scored a hat trick in one memorable Blue Jackets win but entered this round mired in an 11-game playoff goal drought. Dubois oozes confidence when he's at his best, supplying the swagger the Jets lacked as they slid to eighth place in the Western Conference.

Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault

The Golden Knights' offensive headliners personify the two phases of the franchise's growth. An original Golden Misfit, Marchessault's star turn in the 2017-18 expansion season helped Vegas knock off Winnipeg to reach the Stanley Cup Final. Eichel was a blockbuster trade addition brought in to make Vegas a perennial contender.

Lacking urgency, Eichel posted poor shot metrics in Game 1, his career playoff debut. Marchessault produced a secondary assist but didn't put a shot on target. The agitated home crowd booed a futile late power-play attempt when Eichel and a few teammates cycled the puck aimlessly.

Eichel awakened on Thursday. He scored on a dexterous tip, his drives to the net induced multiple penalty calls, and he rang a slapper off Connor Hellebuyck's mask that cut the goalie on the eyebrow.

A dozen Vegas skaters netted 10-plus goals this season, but besides Reilly Smith, only Eichel and Marchessault bagged more than 20. It's vital they drive play when head coach Bruce Cassidy deploys them together.

Josh Morrissey and Dylan DeMelo

Morrissey, Winnipeg's power-play conductor and most dynamic defenseman, scored 76 points out of the blue in 2022-23 to double his previous career high. DeMelo, the Jets' top pair's defensive conscience, helped tilt the ice (53.7% expected goals share) when he skated with Morrissey at five-on-five over the past two years.

Steady in the series, they've only been on the ice for one Vegas goal apiece. Both defensemen have recorded an assist. Beautifying the little things, Morrissey dislodged pucks from sticks and completed short, savvy passes that sparked Jets breakouts, but he didn't bend either game in Vegas to his will.

Vegas' defense corps is big, battle-tested, and fairly skilled. Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore earned downballot Norris Trophy votes in recent seasons. That Morrissey leveled up to vie for the award himself this year means he's capable of being this matchup's best blue-liner. Now's the time to make it happen.

Connor Hellebuyck

Back when Brossoit was Hellebuyck's teammate, he received all of 45 starts over his three seasons as the Jets’ backup goalie. Durable and dazzling, Hellebuyck denies his partners regular playing time and can win a series practically by himself.

Hellebuyck’s .920 save percentage was fourth-best this season among NHL regulars, per Natural Stat Trick. However, his save percentage on the penalty kill (.884) was pedestrian and his save rate on high-danger shots (.828) ranked 28th league-wide.

The Golden Knights need to exploit those vulnerabilities. They're 0-for-7 overall with the man advantage, but they lit up Hellebuyck in Game 2 by continually getting the puck to the goalmouth or other dangerous areas.

Hellebuyck is credited with every postseason win in Jets franchise history. No Western Conference playoff goalie is as experienced or formidable. By the standings, the Jets entered this series as 16-point underdogs, but it won't feel that way if Hellebuyck rebounds to dominate on home ice.

Nick Faris is a features writer at theScore.

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

Alexandar Georgiev rode the pine last spring as Igor Shesterkin backstopped the Rangers to the conference finals. The Lightning eliminated New York, then lost the championship series to the Avalanche, who dealt draft picks to land Georgiev so that he could help them defend the Stanley Cup.

Filip Gustavsson pondered returning to his native Sweden when his North American pro career got off to a middling start. Shaky for much of his time with the Senators, Gustavsson was traded to the Wild last summer, and his stock has soared ever since.

Stuart Skinner wears the unconventional jersey number 74 because his older brothers Stephen, Scott, and Sheldon sported similar digits, he told The Athletic's Daniel Nugent-Bowman. The youngest of nine siblings, Skinner was the Oilers' second-choice netminder back in the fall, but the spotlight now beams on him alone.

Unproven goaltenders control postseason destinies in the Western Conference. Puck-stoppers with scant playoff experience, like the above trio, Stars prodigy Jake Oettinger, and Kings deadline acquisition Joonas Korpisalo, could wind up deciding who competes for the Cup if they shine or stumble in pressurized moments.

Fans of rival teams are still getting to know them. Half of the West's Game 1 goalies never started in the playoffs before this week. Oettinger and Korpisalo had yet to reach 10 playoff appearances. Gustavsson and Skinner, the West's postseason debutants, are 24 years old - six years younger than Panthers journeyman Alex Lyon, the East bracket's lone newcomer.

Golden Knights rookie Logan Thompson would've been part of this cohort if he didn't aggravate a lower-body injury in March. Vegas is starting Laurent Brossoit in his place instead of Jonathan Quick, the aging former Conn Smythe Trophy recipient whose decline in 2022-23 hastened a broader generational turnover.

Quick and Mike Smith manned the creases in 2022 when the Kings and Oilers clashed in the opening round. Marc-Andre Fleury split starts with Cam Talbot to ill effect as the Wild crashed out of the playoffs in six games. Darcy Kuemper won the Cup with Colorado the month after he turned 32, then departed in free agency when the Avalanche tapped Georgiev as a cheaper, fresh-faced replacement.

The Stars leaned on grizzled thirtysomething goalies - first Kari Lehtonen, then Ben Bishop, then Anton Khudobin - when they won rounds in recent postseasons. Wasting little time, Oettinger, who's also 24, inherited the top job from Khudobin by his second NHL campaign.

West contenders believe in the kids for good reason. Dallas coaches and teammates assured theScore's John Matisz that Oettinger's confidence never wavers. Heroic in defeat against the Flames last year, Oettinger's 64 saves in Game 7 forced double overtime in an epic contest and increased his save percentage in the series to .954.

Oettinger and Georgiev were two of the seven workhorses across the league who made 60 starts in net this season. That duo, Gustavsson, Skinner, and Korpisalo all ranked in the top 15 in goals saved above expected, per Evolving-Hockey. Jack Campbell's .888 save percentage alarmed Edmontonians, but Skinner's .914 denial rate over 48 starts helped restore faith in the Oilers and strengthened his Calder Trophy candidacy.

Skinner has slumped in Edmonton's rematch with Los Angeles, though not egregiously. A one-timer trickled under his glove as Game 1 waned, permitting the Kings to tie the score and eventually prevail in overtime. His inability to seal the post multiple times in Game 2 induced jitters before the Oilers rebounded to win. Both Skinner and Korpisalo have given up six goals in the series despite Edmonton aiming 18 more shots on net.

Korpisalo's playoff exploits include making 85 saves one night in the 2020 bubble - the Lightning beat his Blue Jackets in the fifth OT period - and holding Connor McDavid scoreless on 11 shots in this round. The Kings ranked 31st in team save percentage when they swapped Quick for him on March 1, then ranked fifth in the stat from Korpisalo's debut onward, according to Natural Stat Trick. Leon Draisaitl (three goals) is the only Oiler who's troubled him consistently.

Over in the Stars-Wild matchup, Oettinger's .919 save percentage through two games is strong, while Minnesota's decision to stick steadfast to its goalie rotation backfired Wednesday.

Benching Gustavsson after his 51-save masterpiece keyed a win in double overtime, Wild head coach Dean Evason watched Fleury let in seven goals, some of them stinkers, on 31 shots as Dallas knotted the series. Fleury said postgame that his performance was embarrassing.

The math suggests the Wild should ride Gustavsson, the substantially better goalie this season. His .931 save percentage dwarfed Fleury's .908 mark, and he saved many more goals above expected (24.54 to 0.86) behind the same defense. Gustavsson and Oettinger are the only goalies aged 24 or younger to record 50 saves in the playoffs since 2010, per Stathead. They'll duel in Game 3 and beyond if Evason smartens up.

As with Brossoit, Georgiev's exposure to the playoffs prior to this week was limited to a few periods of mop-up duty. Neither goalie's first start went as planned. Four of Brossoit's former Jets teammates fired pucks past him in the Golden Knights' Game 1 setback. Kraken veteran Philipp Grubauer outshone Georgiev in Seattle's 3-1 win, stopping 10 of the Avalanche's 11 high-danger shots on net as part of a sparkling 34-save effort.

Favored heavily in that series, Colorado needs Grubauer to wilt or Georgiev to stand taller to avoid digging a deep deficit. Connor Hellebuyck, whose 16 saves against Vegas enabled Winnipeg to cruise to victory, familiarized Brossoit with the standard of netminding required to stifle a talented foe.

Long, exhilarating runs remain in reach if these playoff novices uplift their teams in the clutch. The opponent will advance if they falter. Let's see what they can do.

Nick Faris is a features writer at theScore.

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

The Los Angeles Kings struck first in their playoff rematch with the Edmonton Oilers, rallying to erase multiple two-goal deficits and prevail 4-3 in overtime in Game 1. The outcomes of these three matchups powered L.A. to victory in Monday's spirited series opener.

Draisaitl dazzled, McDavid didn't

Leon Draisaitl produced two points per postseason contest on a compromised ankle last spring. Connor McDavid one-upped him, tallying 33 points in a magisterial 16-game playoff run that gobsmacked fans everywhere. After the Oilers superstars both set personal scoring bests this season, they were positioned to pick up right where they left off in 2022.

Four slipups nearly doomed the Kings on Monday. Moving freely, Draisaitl snuck unnoticed into the slot before rifling the series' first goal past Joonas Korpisalo. McDavid stripped the puck from and then sped by Drew Doughty, then dangled Mikey Anderson to induce two obstruction penalties in the span of 30 seconds, setting up Evan Bouchard to score at five-on-three. Draisaitl scored again later when all five Los Angeles defenders lost track of the puck in a scramble.

Those miscues didn't wind up mattering. Game 1 tightened up when Vladislav Gavrikov's deflection of a McDavid pass sparked Adrian Kempe's backhand goal. Quinton Byfield drew back-to-back penalties and poked the puck to Kempe to tee up his second snipe of the third period, inciting Edmonton's collapse. Admirably resilient, L.A.'s defensemen stayed square to McDavid on many of his rushes, holding him pointless as they bought time to tie the score.

Few teams curbed Edmonton's big guns in 2022-23. Draisaitl's 128 points equaled the previous season high in the salary-cap era. McDavid recorded 153 points, blowing out his sidekick and the rest of the league.

These two stars are unstoppable, so beating Edmonton starts with limiting the damage they inflict. Burned in the first period and showered with boos whenever he touched the puck, Doughty shoved McDavid to the ice as L.A. mounted its comeback, fulfilling his promise to "smack" No. 97 if the chance presented itself. Mission accomplished in Game 1.

Kings delivered on special teams

The tale of the tape in this phase of the game favors the Oilers, whose power play scored every third time it vaulted the boards this season. But L.A.'s power play ranked fourth and is one of few league-wide that can threaten to match Edmonton's unit shot for shot.

Both teams are subpar on the penalty kill, though the Oilers potted 18 shorthanded goals for an NHL high since 2006, per Stathead. Korpisalo stoned Mattias Janmark during an Edmonton penalty kill in Game 1 after backpedaling defenseman Sean Durzi astutely blanketed McDavid to deny a cross-ice pass.

The Kings hung in the game long enough to punish Edmonton's indiscipline. The Oilers' commitment to blocking shots snuffed out four Kings power-play attempts, but Anze Kopitar scored on the fifth try with Bouchard in the box for high-sticking, capitalizing 16.7 seconds before regulation ended. When Vincent Desharnais lost body position and tripped Blake Lizotte in OT, Alex Iafallo sniped from the bumper spot to finish a clinical tic-tac-toe passing play.

How McDavid is officiated in the series is a storyline to monitor. The NHL leader in drawn penalties over the past two seasons, McDavid infamously didn't earn a single call in 2021 when the Winnipeg Jets swept Edmonton in Round 1. The Kings took four minors trying to deal with his speed and shiftiness last year. The same issues arose Monday when Doughty hooked McDavid and Anderson hugged him to avoid being posterized.

McDavid racked up 71 power-play points during the regular season, the most in the league since 1996. He would have ranked 57th among NHL scorers if he never played a shift at even strength or shorthanded. Draisaitl, meanwhile, set a record by netting a power-play goal in 31 different games. Their dominance in such situations should clinch Edmonton some playoff wins, but the Oilers' five-on-three was their only significant opportunity in the opener.

Korpisalo made the extra save

The veteran goalies who previously led these teams on deep postseason runs - Mike Smith for Edmonton, two-time Stanley Cup champion Jonathan Quick for L.A. - have been replaced by fresh faces.

Stuart Skinner might win the Calder Trophy because he stabilized the Oilers when Jack Campbell slumped this season. Acquired for Quick at the trade deadline, Korpisalo established himself as the Kings' steadiest hand in net over 11 appearances. Counting his time with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Korpisalo ranked 13th in save percentage and ninth in quality start percentage among goalies who made 30-plus starts, according to Hockey Reference.

Korpisalo settled in Monday to offset Edmonton's hot start. Beaten just once in the final 56 minutes, he stopped 11 shots in overtime to expand his save total to 37. Skinner, who posted a .951 save percentage over four April appearances, was positionally sound and stopped 31 shots. But he let in four of the last 17 he faced, faltering for the first time in weeks.

Alternately brilliant and beatable - sometimes within the same period - Smith's goaltending in the playoffs was a wild ride. Quick's performance fell off a cliff in his age-37 season. His replacement was marginally better than Skinner on Monday, putting pressure on the rookie to bounce back as this duel continues.

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 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.

"I really didn't have a pass to Stephan Lebeau," LeClair told reporters afterward. "I ended up behind the net with everybody out of the net, so I tried to jam it in myself, and I got some help."

The bounces that decide tense NHL games favored the Canadiens in the spring of 1993. Banking the puck off a backchecker, LeClair bagged Montreal's 10th consecutive goal in playoff overtime. It effectively clinched the championship, the famed franchise's 24th and most recent, a triumph tied to that unfathomable streak of clutch production and Patrick Roy's invincibility between the pipes.

Lacking a 100-point dynamo, different Montreal scorers stepped up in huge moments to deliver the last NHL title celebrated by a Canadian fan base. The national Cup drought turns 30 as a new postseason approaches this month.

The puck drops in the Stanley Cup Playoffs as NBA knockout play begins and as day breaks in baseball. Each sport's spotlight beamed on Canada in 1993. The Toronto Raptors were conceptualized and Joe Carter's walk-off bomb crowned the Toronto Blue Jays as repeat World Series champs.

This is the story of Canada's blissful sports year, a boom time that millions of people around the country relished before the bottom fell out.

Magic in Montreal

Dynastic in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, the Canadiens rocketed to glory in 1986 because of Roy's brilliance as a rookie. Defeats followed to the Calgary Flames in the '89 Cup series and to the Boston Bruins in three straight Adams Division finals. Bench boss Pat Burns resigned, decamping to Toronto to coach the archrival Maple Leafs.

Roy and captain Guy Carbonneau were the lone holdovers in 1992-93 from Montreal's last Cup team. Keen to add weapons, general manager Serge Savard dealt for proven veteran scorers right before training camp started, swinging blockbuster trades to acquire Vincent Damphousse and Brian Bellows. They became two of the Habs' four 30-goal, 80-point producers that season, joining Lebeau and Kirk Muller.

"The Cup was won when Serge made the trades for Damphousse and Bellows," Jacques Demers, Burns' successor as head coach, once opined to Sportsnet. "I really believe as great as Roy was, we needed help offensively."

Owner of the league's sixth-best championship odds in the preseason, Montreal placed fourth in the Prince of Wales Conference following a down year for Roy. The three-time Vezina Trophy recipient slumped to sixth in the voting when his save percentage cratered to .894. Surveyed during the season, 57% of respondents to a Journal de Montreal poll maintained that Savard should trade him.

Hospitalized with chest pains in the midst of a late-year skid, Demers brought his team to a ski resort on the eve of the playoffs to escape media and fan consternation at home. Refreshed, Montreal contained Mats Sundin and Joe Sakic, the Quebec Nordiques' dynamic center tandem, and erased a two-loss deficit in the final installment of the Battle of Quebec.

Roy was beaten on a wraparound in overtime of the playoff opener, but he upstaged Nordiques counterpart Ron Hextall once the series shifted to the Montreal Forum. Damphousse's greasy winner in Game 3 rebounded off a defender's skate through Hextall's legs and was upheld despite the goalie's conniption. Roy gutted out a collarbone injury in Game 5, receiving numbing injections to hold the fort and enable Muller to score in OT.

Montreal benefited from the Buffalo Sabres' stunning sweep of Boston, which Brad May finalized with his "May Day" deke and finish. OT goals by Carbonneau, Gilbert Dionne, and Muller in the Adams final lifted the Canadiens to a string of 4-3 wins. Dionne's goalmouth tip stoked controversy when he tapped his chest twice to signal that he scored. Some replay angles suggested his stick didn't actually graze Patrice Brisebois' point shot.

"But I did score the goal. I know that for sure. I don't care what ESPN's been showing," Dionne said later in the series. "They should stick to baseball and basketball, because they don't really know what's going on on the ice."

The Canadiens unwound at a local hotel as their expected next opponent, the mighty Pittsburgh Penguins, were felled in one of the NHL's great upsets. Mario Lemieux racked up 160 points in 60 games in a season interrupted by treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma. Rewarded with the Hart, Art Ross, and Bill Masterton Trophies, Lemieux's superlative campaign ended in Game 7 of Round 2 when David Volek struck for the New York Islanders.

"We were in our hotel on the seventh floor, and the Islanders won in overtime, and we all got out of our rooms and high-fived," Lebeau recalled to theScore several years ago. "Between Boston and Buffalo, and between Pittsburgh and the Islanders, I think 99% of the players would have chosen Buffalo and the Islanders."

Spent from battling Lemieux, the Islanders conceded OT tallies to Lebeau and Carbonneau that extended Montreal's win streak in sudden death to seven games.

Roy's .932 save percentage in Round 3 was sterling, but New York bemoaned missed calls, arguing Montreal iced too many men before Carbonneau scored to seal Game 3. Legendary Isles head coach Al Arbour accused the NHL of trying to orchestrate an all-Canadian Cup Final between historic foes.

In the Clarence Campbell Conference, memorable OT goals from Nikolai Borschevsky, Doug Gilmour, and Glenn Anderson powered Burns' Leafs to the brink of the final. Toronto was one win from bouncing the Los Angeles Kings when Wayne Gretzky, debunking Arbour's conspiracy theory, notoriously wasn't penalized for high-sticking Gilmour in crunch time of Game 6. Gretzky's OT tap-in and hat trick on the road in Game 7 helped L.A. advance.

"It was agony for Leafs fans … They felt it was their time," Kerry Fraser, the referee of Game 6, acknowledged in a 2016 essay for The Players' Tribune. "If I had one opportunity to turn back the hands of time for a 'do over' it would be to catch that high-stick."

Gretzky scored on Roy and dished three assists to open the Cup Final, prompting Carbonneau to act. Swearing that a persistent knee injury wasn't bothering him, the tenacious checker asked Demers to let him shadow the Great One, who managed a modest three helpers the rest of the way.

Down by a goal with two minutes left in Game 2, Carbonneau convinced Demers to risk a delay-of-game penalty, requesting from Fraser the measurement that confirmed L.A. defenseman Marty McSorley's stick curve was illegal. Habs blue-liner Eric Desjardins scored on the ensuing six-on-four, then blasted a snapshot through Kelly Hrudey in the Kings net 51 seconds into overtime, completing a hat trick.

"These are mistakes that those longtime Stanley Cup party animals, Les Canadiens, chew up and wash down with great gulps of champagne," E.M. Swift wrote about the McSorley incident in Sports Illustrated's recap of the series.

When Games 3 and 4 required extra frames, LeClair ended both, roofing a rebound on his third thwack at a loose puck before he converted the two-on-one rush with Lebeau. Earlier in Game 4, Roy was captured on camera winking at Tomas Sandstrom after he robbed the Kings forward by the crease. The overtime victory was Montreal's 10th in the postseason, the NHL record by a wide margin, per Stathead.

"It's possibly a record that will never be beaten," Demers told reporters postgame.

Game 5 enthroned the Habs as champions and triggered a riot in downtown Montreal. The Kings barely challenged Roy, mustering a season-low 19 shots on net, zero from Gretzky in a pointless effort. Muller netted the Cup winner by shoveling the puck past Hrudey in a scramble early in the second period.

Montreal wasn't a Cup favorite at the outset of the playoffs, Bob Cole intoned on the CBC broadcast on June 9, 1993.

"But (team president) Ronald Corey got Serge Savard, he hired Jacques Demers, and all together they worked a young team to the top," Cole said as the crowd roared in the waning seconds of the finale. "And now a 24th Stanley Cup banner will hang from the rafters of the famous Forum."

Toronto's time to shine

Toronto never forgot the high-stick that bloodied Gilmour, but the local sports scene rebounded from that blow and expanded. Eager to internationalize under the late commissioner David Stern, the NBA in the summer of 1993 solicited bids to own the new franchise that became the Raptors.

The bidders included Magic Johnson, who explained with characteristic earnestness that he was ready to face Canadian winters: "A little rain, snow, or sleet won't bother me, because basketball is played indoors." Construction magnate Larry Tanenbaum, the Raptors' current governor, submitted a rival bid after vying unsuccessfully to buy and relocate the Denver Nuggets and the San Antonio Spurs. He proposed naming the team the Toronto Thunder.

Prevailing over Tanenbaum in an upset was businessman John Bitove Jr., whose restaurateur family owned the concession rights at Toronto's SkyDome and Pearson International Airport. A college acquaintance of Isiah Thomas, whom he hired to run the Raptors' front office, Bitove had helped attract the FIBA World Cup to Toronto and possessed every issue of Sports Illustrated produced since 1969, the Toronto Star noted when his bid was chosen.

The NBA tapped Bitove's group as the winner in September 1993 on his 33rd birthday. Supporters sang "Happy Birthday" before digging into a celebratory meal as Bitove smiled and buried his head in his palm. He deflected credit for the triumph to his ownership partners.

"I was just the quarterback, the point guard, the playmaker," Bitove said, per the Star.

The Bitove syndicate paid $125 million, a record sum, to join the NBA as Michael Jordan retired for the first time. More than 25,000 Torontonians flocked to SkyDome a year earlier to see Jordan shake off rust in a preseason game. Jordan stepped away at the peak of his powers in October '93, the day after he patronized the Chicago White Sox's playoff opener, bouncing the ceremonial first pitch in the right batter's box.

The Blue Jays saw that happen live. The reigning World Series winner, Toronto secured in 1993 its fourth American League East title in five seasons, setting up the ALCS brush with Chicago that kick-started the club's championship defense.

Five All-Stars batted consecutively at the top of Jays manager Cito Gaston's order. Toronto's fearsome WAMCO quintet - Devon White, Roberto Alomar, Paul Molitor, Joe Carter, and John Olerud - powered the Blue Jays to third place in MLB scoring. Olerud hit .363 in 1993, edging Molitor and Alomar atop the AL batting leaderboard. Fresh off catching the decisive out of the '92 Fall Classic, Carter slugged a team-best 33 home runs.

Deadlocked for the division lead as late as Sept. 9, the Blue Jays rattled off nine straight victories and 17 in 21 to eclipse the New York Yankees in the AL East by seven games. Toronto closer Duane Ward's 45 saves in a 95-win season elevated him to fifth in the AL Cy Young voting.

The Jays rocked the winner of the award, White Sox ace Jack McDowell, for 18 hits over his two starts in the ALCS. McDowell sailed a pickoff attempt into center field in Game 5, permitting midseason acquisition Rickey Henderson to score the opening run. The day before Game 6 was Canadian Thanksgiving, so Dave Stewart, Toronto's scheduled starter, served turkey dinners at a Salvation Army center downtown before he hopped a late flight to Chicago.

"I met Stewart's mother last week at a restaurant," White Sox designated hitter Bo Jackson told The New York Times ahead of Game 6. "I told her the next time we face her son, we're going to kick the beans out of him. I can't lie to his mother."

The prediction didn't take. Stewart limited Chicago to four hits over 7 1/3 innings and Ward induced the final five outs, the last of which Carter snared in right field to retain the AL pennant.

"For some reason, the ball finds my glove for the last out, again," Carter told Sportsnet years later. "Those things just seem to happen to me."

Toronto proceeded to top the Philadelphia Phillies in an epic World Series. Phillies outfielder Lenny Dykstra stroked four homers in defeat, but the Blue Jays outscored the National League champs 45-36 over six barn burners, thanks largely to Alomar and Molitor combining to hit .469.

The matchup teemed with rich storylines. Toronto tagged Phillies ace Curt Schilling for seven runs in the opener, then lost narrowly in Game 2 despite Schilling's dread about the outcome.

Nervous in the dugout, Schilling covered his head with a towel when erratic Phillies closer Mitch Williams took the mound, angering Williams behind the scenes. Before his next start, Schilling pinned a neon green button to his cap that proclaimed, "I survived watching Mitch pitch in the 1993 World Series."

Braving the rain, more than 62,000 fans packed Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia for back-to-back slugfests that lasted past midnight. Gaston benched Olerud in Game 3 so that Molitor, unable to DH in the NL park, could man first base. Molitor tripled and homered, but also urged the commissioner to change the DH rule: "Mr. (Bud) Selig, if you're listening, it just doesn't make a lot of sense."

Game 4 was soggy and thrilling. Jays pitcher Todd Stottlemyre cut his chin in a baserunning misadventure, but Toronto collected 17 of the night's 31 hits and erased a five-run deficit in the eighth inning to win 15-14.

"Two touchdowns is usually safe," Stewart remarked to Sports Illustrated.

Schilling blanked the Jays on 147 pitches in Game 5, ensuring the clincher would be played at SkyDome in Toronto. On Oct. 23, Dykstra's shot to the second deck chased Stewart in the seventh inning of Game 6, sparking Philadelphia to a 6-5 lead that Williams would fail to protect.

Molitor singled Henderson to second base with one out in the ninth right before Carter stepped to the plate. On the fifth pitch he saw, Williams hung a slider down and in that Carter belted over the left-field wall into the Toronto bullpen. Fireworks detonated, jubilant fans and his teammates stormed the turf, and Carter's helmet flew off as he jumped rounding the bases.

Interviewed on TSN as a million revelers filled the streets outside the dome, Carter said he lost the ball in the lights before he realized it cleared the fence. He was living every ballplayer’s childhood fantasy.

"Every dream as a kid that you have, it's always the bottom of the ninth. It's the last game of the World Series. You hit the game-winning home run," Carter said. "I can look back and say for one moment, I did that."

Elsewhere, backup outfielder Rob Butler poured Budweiser onto the coiffed hair of CTV reporter Rod Black. The party raged in the clubhouse as Butler, the lone homegrown Blue Jay, spoke through the camera to family and friends in Newfoundland: “I love everybody in Butlerville. I love everybody in Toronto. I love everybody in Canada!"

The aftermath

Pat Gillick, architect of the Blue Jays' championship lineups, resigned as GM in the afterglow of the Carter bash and wasn't around for the club's imminent collapse. A losing team in the strike-shortened 1994 season, Toronto finished 30 games back of the AL East lead in '95, then played mediocre baseball for the next two decades.

The Montreal Expos' fate was worse. Losers of the "Blue Monday" NLCS heartbreaker in their only taste of the postseason, the Expos infamously owned the best record in the majors in '94 when the strike began and ultimately nixed the World Series. Stars of that team - Moises Alou, Pedro Martinez, Larry Walker - gradually signed elsewhere or were traded. The Expos plunged in the standings and moved to Washington in 2005.

Around the time Bitove named his team the Raptors, unveiling pro basketball's "newest, freshest, and hungriest look," the NBA doubled down on expanding to Canada. The Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies both debuted in the league in 1995-96. Dealing for Vince Carter in 1998 put Toronto on the NBA map, but the Grizzlies posted a .220 win percentage over six seasons, alienating their original fan base before they uprooted to Memphis.

All the while, Canada's Stanley Cup drought persisted. Canadian NHL teams have combined to make 93 playoff appearances since Montreal reigned in '93. They've won 63 series without raising the chalice.

Five Canadian franchises surged to the final in that span, but their collective record in those series is 0-6. In 2004, officials didn't see Martin Gelinas' would-be Cup winner for Calgary cross the goal line. Canada's most recent Game 7 loss incited rioting in Vancouver.

Expansion and the establishment of the salary cap created parity in the NHL, empowering 14 American clubs to split the last 28 titles. Canada's dry spell became historically interminable. The second-longest national Cup drought lasted seven years, between when the Montreal Maroons prevailed in 1935 and the Leafs won in 1942.

The wait could end in June or continue indefinitely. The Oilers and Leafs would stage a stirring Cup Final if both teams ever got that far. The current iterations of the Flames and Jets might already have peaked. Committing to a rebuild like the Senators and Canadiens did could eventually heighten the Canucks' ceiling.

The Raptors bottled magic in the spring of 2019 to hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy before Kawhi Leonard departed. The promise the Blue Jays have flashed since Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette broke onto the scene has yet to translate to playoff victories. They chase what Muller savored 30 years ago, when he described the meaning of the Cup triumph to the Montreal Gazette's Red Fisher.

"Somewhere down the road - next week, next year, 20 years from now - somebody will look at you and tell you you’re a winner," Muller said in 1993. "It’s looking in the mirror and knowing you’re a winner."

Nick Faris is a features writer at theScore.

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

TORONTO - Fifty-seven minutes into a goalie battle last weekend, Michela Cava glided to center ice to try to spoil the Montreal Force's afternoon. Montreal led 1-0 when a Toronto Six teammate of Cava's was tackled on a breakaway and limped to the bench in pain.

Cava stepped up to take the ensuing penalty shot and fired a wrister at chest height. Force netminder Tricia Deguire punched it with her blocker to the corner. Montreal players dapped up Deguire at her crease before potting two late insurance goals to swell the margin of victory.

The Force trail Toronto by 20 points in the Premier Hockey Federation standings. The expansion pro team is below the playoff cutline as the regular season wanes. But the dynamic that explains countless Canadiens-Maple Leafs results - eager to drub a rival, the underdog often wins - is taking hold in the women's game.

"Naturally, there's that fight between the two Canadian teams. They're a good team. Maybe not on paper," Toronto forward Emma Woods said about the Force. "But they fight, and they battle, and they play their systems perfectly."

The Toronto-Montreal hockey feud germinated in the NHL. The Canadiens and Leafs have split 37 Stanley Cup titles, though Montreal's responsible for the last 10. Female superstars also plied their trade in both cities until the Canadian Women's Hockey League folded in 2019.

Known at the time as the National Women's Hockey League, the PHF was the CWHL's competition. The PHF expanded to Canada to fill the void as it aimed to establish itself as the stable pro league of the future.

The Canadian women's hockey scene is resilient. A year ago Friday, Canada edged the U.S. in the dramatic Beijing Games final, triumphing 3-2 when Marie-Philip Poulin netted her third Olympic golden goal. Fellow CWHL alumna Sarah Nurse paced that tournament in scoring and landed on the NHL 23 cover next to Trevor Zegras.

As of this season, the pro game is back in Canada's marquee markets. Toronto ices an emergent championship contender against a pesky Montreal side whose speed and cohesiveness make every game a toss-up.

Six team president Sami Jo Small described what's on the line when they meet: "Canadian supremacy."

"We see the games. We see the stickwork and pushing after the whistle. The players want to be Canada's team," Force president Kevin Raphael told theScore. "The feistiness that's on the ice - hey, Toronto and Montreal have been like that forever. That's not going to change because it's women's hockey. We carry a legacy of hatred."

The Six entered the PHF in 2020 ahead of the league's sixth season, a six-game campaign waged in a Lake Placid bubble environment at the height of the pandemic. Now a third-year franchise, Toronto's pushing the Boston Pride for the top playoff seed. Small, Canada's three-time Olympic goalie, helms the front office alongside Six general manager Angela James, the sport's first superstar player and a Hockey Hall of Fame inductee.

Active legends of the game - the cores of the Canadian and American national teams - don't play in the PHF. They broke off to create the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association after the CWHL shuttered, training in regional hubs while barnstorming to NHL cities on the weekend to put on showcase tournaments.

The PWHPA doubts the PHF is economically sustainable. Seeking a living wage and amenities around the arena that befit their elite skill, PWHPA players plan to launch their own league as soon as next fall, The Athletic's Hailey Salvian reported.

Separately, the PHF has enhanced its product. All seven franchises are privately owned. Games air online on ESPN+ and TSN Direct; ESPN2 televised last year's Isobel Cup final live. The balanced 24-game schedule pits opponents against each other four times, familiarizing each market with the entire talent pool.

"It's Montreal, Toronto, Boston. Whatever (rivalries) we have in the NHL, we have here," Force captain Ann-Sophie Bettez said. "It's good hockey. That's what we want: to put the best product on the ice, and may the best win."

The pay's improving, too. The PHF salary cap rose from US$150,000 in 2021 to $750,000 this season and is set to climb to $1.5 million in 2023-24. Most players work second jobs, meaning higher salaries would enable them to concentrate on their craft and make "a true pro lifestyle" newly attainable, women's hockey journalist Mike Murphy wrote at The Ice Garden recently.

Capitalizing on the cap's tenfold increase, the Six in January signed University of Wisconsin superstar forward Daryl Watts to a record contract that'll pay her $150,000 next season.

"If I was still playing, I'd be jumping over here to play to make a salary like that," said Six head coach Geraldine Heaney, the Hall of Fame defender who represented Canada at the 1998 and 2002 Olympics.

Watts grew up in Toronto's west end idolizing Mats Sundin and despising the Canadiens, unaware that women's pro teams existed. The NCAA's No. 2 career scorer, Watts planned to retire when her eligibility lapsed in 2022 to study and make a living in commercial real estate. She recommitted to hockey when the PHF cap spiked, publicizing the salary she and her father negotiated with James for transparency and to inspire players.

Awareness of the league is rising. More than 800 fans filled most of the seats last Saturday when the Force blanked the Six on York University's Olympic-sized ice sheet. Pints flowed upstairs in the Wild Wing restaurant as diners eyed the PHF game through floor-to-ceiling windows.

Six goalie Elaine Chuli splayed out to make 31 saves. Deguire, a rookie out of McGill University, recorded 39 stops to preserve the Force's first shutout. Half an hour after the horn blew, Watts and her teammates sat at folding tables in the arena concourse to sign autographs for a procession of girls in minor hockey sweaters.

"The younger, talented generation is starting to shift to this league," Watts said. She pointed out that three recent winners of the Patty Kazmaier Award as U.S. college MVP debuted in the PHF this season: herself and Boston forwards Loren Gabel and Elizabeth Giguere.

"That represents that this is the league of the future."

Both Canadian teams boast a foundational star who left the PWHPA this season. Six forward Brittany Howard ranks second in PHF scoring, behind Gabel, with 15 goals and 24 points in 16 appearances.

One weekend in January, Howard tallied a shootout winner, then teed up Woods for a power-play snipe as the Six beat the Force twice in their inaugural encounters.

"She's got so much skill out there one-on-one. Teams always double up on her because she's that good," Heaney said. "If she gets a scoring chance, it's usually in the net."

Montreal leans on Bettez, the rare 35-year-old who still lights the lamp professionally. An offensive dynamo at McGill and with Montreal's CWHL franchise (Poulin was her linemate), Bettez suited up for Canada at the 2019 world championship but never stuck with the national program long term.

Financial planning is her day job. She ranks fifth in goals (10) and eighth in points (17) this season as the PHF's oldest player.

"She's the most underrated player to ever play this game," said Raphael, a TV personality who interviewed Bettez on his French-language talk show when she starred in the CWHL. "She's always been viewed as the second fiddle. Now she gets the chance to be the one. Now she gets the chance to be the top dog. She carries the team on her back every shift."

Bettez hugged Raphael and handed him the goal puck when she scored in a shootout in her hometown of Sept-Iles, situated 900 kilometers north of Montreal in remote Quebec.

Bettez shining there is a quirk of the expansion season. The Force played their first home game in Montreal's Verdun borough, a short drive from the Bell Centre, and then set out to contest the remainder in barns spread around the province as a brand-building exercise.

The Force hosted the Six in Rimouski - Sidney Crosby's QMJHL home - and split a weekend series with the Pride in Riviere-du-Loup, whose crowd noise gave Raphael goosebumps. Following road contests in Boston this weekend, the Force face the Buffalo Beauts in Quebec City next Saturday and Sunday afternoons. They wrap up the regular season in New Jersey, home of the Metropolitan Riveters, on March 4-5.

"It's difficult on the body. We're traveling basically every week. But it's like going to a different party with people who are so happy to see you," Raphael said. "They're welcoming us like we're gods in their town. It's riveting to see and to feel that."

Toronto fans got to take in a bonus set of games this winter. The PHF held its recent All-Star tournament at the former Maple Leaf Gardens, where the Leafs and Habs of yore clashed in five NHL championship series. Portraits of the city's Stanley Cup heroes - think Bill Barilko and Punch Imlach - grace a wall of the grocery store that adjoins the rink.

Droves of players have expressed their interest to James and Small about signing with the Six next season.

"There will be a lot of jostling for positions. It's a whole new world for us in women's hockey," Small said. "With the doubling of the salary cap, I think we can see - I hope we see - some of the best players in the world wanting to play here in Toronto."

Unless the Force surge into the playoffs, the Canadian rivalry is done for the season. Toronto won three one-goal games against Montreal, prevailing 2-1 last Sunday - Cava assisted on Six captain Shiann Darkangelo's ice-breaker - to avenge the previous day's shutout defeat. Four players took body-checking penalties, including Watts and Force defender Taylor Baker, a Toronto native who competes for the Hungary national team.

Their cities have met in spirited games before. Initially known as the Stars and then as Les Canadiennes, Montreal's powerhouse CWHL squad won four Clarkson Cup titles and appeared in eight of the league's 11 championship matchups. Montreal beat Toronto 5-0 in the 2011 final, coasting to victory even though Small, a CWHL co-founder and Toronto's goalie at the time, stopped 46 shots.

Small was reluctant to work in the PHF after the CWHL folded. The pang of that loss prompted her to retreat from the industry. However, she kept watching games on either side of the PHF-PWHPA divide. Dipping her toe back in, she was a guest coach at last year's PHF All-Star showcase.

Ultimately, she agreed to run the Six to help elevate the sport. The same aim drives Montreal's first group of players. Force head coach Peter Smith said, "They want to establish something that's going to live on in perpetuity."

"They want to be recognized as the peak of hockey," Raphael said, adding another source of motivation. "If you're the peak of hockey in Canada, you're the peak of hockey in the world."

Nick Faris is a features writer at theScore.

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The sports photographers at Getty Images snap action shots around the world. We illuminate 22 of our favorite images they captured this year.

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Clemson defensive tackle Jabriel Robinson fires up the crowd before a home win over Louisiana Tech.

Las Vegas Aces forward A'ja Wilson celebrates the franchise's first WNBA championship. The Aces topped the Connecticut Sun in four games.

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Uplifted by Argentina teammates and supporters, Lionel Messi raises the World Cup trophy in Qatar.

Click to see more of Getty's top photos from 2022.

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