The chase for the Stanley Cup is back underway, with the left to duke it out through four gruelling rounds.
It鈥檚 also arguably the most post-season has been in years, if not decades. Nearly everyone who qualified with no prohibitive favourite as the first round begins on Saturday:
The matchups
In the East: The New York Rangers vs. the Washington Capitals; the Carolina Hurricanes vs. the New York Islanders; the Boston Bruins vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs; and the Tampa Bay Lightning vs. the Florida Panthers.
In the West: The Dallas Stars vs. the Vegas Golden Knights; the Winnipeg Jets vs. the Colorado Avalanche; the Vancouver Canucks vs. the Nashville Predators; and the Edmonton Oilers vs. the Los Angeles Kings.
How to watch
Every game of the Stanley Cup playoffs will be televised or streamed. The NHL schedule is and a streaming guide Many games will be carried nationally, either in the U.S. on an ESPN or Turner network or in Canada on Sportsnet or both.
Who to watch
and go into the playoffs after becoming just the fourth and fifth players in league history to record 100 assists in a season. Toronto鈥檚 Auston Matthews scored 69 goals, of any player since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96, and Colorado鈥檚 and the Rangers鈥� Artemi Panarin each had calibre.
While McDavid, Kucherov, MacKinnon and Panarin are in their primes, there are plenty of for who haven鈥檛 yet won the Cup, from Dallas鈥� Joe Pavelski to Carolina鈥檚 Brent Burns.
Who are the favourites?
The betting favourites to win the Stanley Cup are Carolina, Florida and Dallas (in order), according to
When is the Stanley Cup Final?
The playoffs begin April 20 to open three rounds of seven-game series before the final starts in early June. If the final goes the distance, Game 7 could go as late as June 24.
Go deeper
The Hurricanes won 16 of their final 21 games, after acquiring Jake Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov at the trade deadline. They鈥檙e in the playoffs for a sixth consecutive year under Rod Brind鈥橝mour, their 2006 Cup-winning captain who has .
Dallas, the top seed in the West, is among the top contenders of veterans and young players clicking at the right time. The Stars could face a second-round challenge from Winnipeg, a and the league鈥檚 stingiest in terms of goals allowed.
Expect full buildings after a and fans filling arenas to 97% of capacity this season. It鈥檚 another result of the . Fans who like have watched the brawls dwindle in recent years and they are a rarity in the post-season.
Like tradition? Rest easy: The NHL has no plans to
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