9. Unpredictability
Carrying over from the intensity factor, there are no glorified first round byes in the first round in the Stanley Cup playoffs unlike the NBA where the bottom half of the Eastern Conference has been a relative joke in recent years and a pushover in the first round.
The chances of an upset are about as likely as a No. 14 seed beating a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It’s not an automatic berth to the second round, but it’s pretty darn close and when the lower seed beats the higher seen in the NBA, it’s an epic upset.
That’s not unusual in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The No. 8 seed can get past the big, bad No. 1 seed. Heck, the No. 8 Edmonton Oilers beat the President’s Trophy-winning Detroit Red Wings in six games behind Dwayne Roloson’s heroics in net. It’s not routine, but you can also see teams come back from two and three-game deficits to take the series.
The Kings made it a habit in last year’s playoffs when they stunned the San Jose Sharks with four straight wins after falling down 3-0 in the series and then came back from a 3-2 deficit to win the last two games to advance to the Conference Finals where they won in overtime in Game 7 on the road against the defending champions, nonetheless to get to the Final and win the Cup.
Picking the winners to get through each round in the NBA is pretty much straight chalk, but in the NHL you can get an epic No. 5 vs. No. 6 matchup with the Blackhawks and Kings like we saw last year and it’s arguably one of the best playoff series in the last quarter-century.
Next: Unsung Heroes