With the record-setting Boston Bruins eliminated in stunning fashion in the first round the Eastern Conference is wide open. The two teams that finished behind the Bs in regular season points will battle in one of the conference’s semifinals with the Carolina Hurricanes hosting the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday, May 3 in the opener of that series. Out west the high-flying Edmonton Oilers, who led the NHL in scoring during the first round, will visit the Vegas Golden Knights. The teams are quite familiar with each other competing as division rivals during the regular season. The Canes and Devils split their four games while the Oilers took three of four from Vegas scoring 15 goals in their wins. But, as Boston fans will tell you, anything can happen in the Playoffs.
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NHL Playoffs Schedule for Wednesday, May 3
New Jersey at Carolina, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Edmonton at Vegas, 9:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
NHL Playoffs Picks for Wednesday, May 3, 2023
After a grueling 82-game regular season schedule any player will tell you that days off during the playoffs are a luxury. And the Canes had a few days to recover from a six-game series win over the Islanders with two of those going into overtime. Nobody said winning the Stanley Cup is easy. Carolina did get home ice advantage by finishing the season with one more point than New Jersey, though the teams each had 52 wins.
The Canes ended their opening series prior to New Jersey’s Game 6 with the Rangers. The Devils lost that game forcing a seventh contest which the Devils won 4-0 on Monday night. New Jersey got a boost from netminder Akira Schmid, who took over after his club dropped the first two games by identical 5-1 scores. Over the next five games Schmid was 4-1 with a 1.38 GAA and .951 save percentage with a pair of shutouts.
It’s hard for the club to go back to Vicek Vanacek and it’s also hard to expect the same kind of production from a goalie who started just 18 games during the season. But Schmid was good in those outings boasting a 2.13 GAA and .921 save percentage. The Devils needed the heroics from their young netminder with the offense drying up. Averaging the fourth-most goals during the season, Jersey scored just 17 times against the Rangers with two of those into an empty net.
Based on what happened in the first round and the season series this should be a highly competitive affair. The teams split four games during the season with each winning at home and on the road. And the Devils held a slight 13-12 edge in goals scored. The Canes will come out flying applying pressure on Schmid and taking advantage of the fatigued visitors.
From a pure excitement standpoint no team in the league matches the Edmonton Oilers. Boasting the NHL’s top two scorers during the regular season, Edmonton translated that success into the playoffs knocking off the Kings in six games scoring 25 goals. The duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl did their share of damage, but the Oilers showed they have much more.
Five other players scored multiple goals in the first round series and the league’s No. 1 ranked power play during the regular season was more lethal. The Oilers scored at least one PPG in all six games against the Kings clicking at a 56.3 percent clip.
Vegas got by the banged up and shorthanded Winnipeg Jets in the first round and will face a more determined opponent. Vegas showed resiliency at the start of the series bouncing back from a Game 1 loss to win the next four outscoring Winnipeg 18-9. Edmonton won both game in Vegas during the regular season and the Oilers will be a much stiffer test for goalie Laurent Brossoit, who had a 2.42 GAA and .915 save percentage against the offensively challenged Jets. Both teams lost the opener in their previous series, but man the Oilers are relentless and their special teams shine.
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