Chaos is usually the name of the game in the first round of the NHL playoffs, with eight series rolling and plenty of upsets.
are also favoured to come out of the West in another bid to end Canada’s 30-year Cup drought.
With the exception of the 2020 bubble and 2021 season with only in-division play, the league has bracketed its playoffs and not reseeded after the first round since 2014. That system had led to plenty ofbut upsets this year have changed the entire face of the playoffs. More upheaval could be ahead in the second round, which starts Tuesday and features three first-time playoff matchups — just the sixth time that has happened at this stage of the postseason since 1944 and the first time since 2003.
“I think the second round in some ways is almost the prime time, because you still have the interest of the entire hockey world,” said veteran coach Paul Maurice, whose Florida Panthers knocked off the Bruins in seven games and next face the Maple Leafs. “Sometimes two months later, people fall off when it comes down to two cities, right? But now, everybody’s still watching.”Fans in Toronto chanted, “We want Florida!” after the Leafs beat the Lightning in Game 6.
Matthews called it “a monkey off the back for a lot of us that have been here for quite a long time” and acknowledged, “It only gets harder from here.”
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