5 matchups we’re looking forward to most in the NHL’s 24-team playoff
The NHL’s 24-team playoff format has made us excited for these five matchups.
The NHL is coming back, and we’re skipping the formalities and getting right to the good stuff with the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Well, kind of.
The NHL announced on Tuesday that it has approved a plan to resume the 2019-20 season, and will forgo the rest of the regular season in favor of giving bubble teams just outside the playoffs a fair chance at making Stanley Cup Playoffs. It might also have to do with bringing in big markets like Chicago and Montreal into the mix in order to make for some lost revenue, but that was to be expected in some capacity.
For those that are unfamiliar, here is how the newly approved NHL 24-team playoff format will work. The top four seeds in each conference will have a first round bye, while seeds five through twelve (5 vs. 12, 6 vs. 11, 7 vs. 10, 8 vs. 9) will play a best of five series to qualify. It’s far from perfect, and has room for improvement, but it’s what we’ve got right now.
Regardless of how you feel about the NHL’s playoff format, the fact of the matter is that hockey is coming back and there are real matchups to be looking forward to. Here are the top 5 matchups that we’re excited for in the NHL’s new play-in round.
NHL playoffs: Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Montreal Canadiens
On paper, this is seemingly the least even matchup of all eight play-in round matchups. The always dangerous Pittsburgh Penguins, who were competing for the top seed in the Metropolitan division, against the Montreal Canadiens who were ten points out of the playoffs when the season ended, but there is serious potential for an exciting series between these historic franchises.
The winner of this series will face the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, currently the Philadelphia Flyers.
The the danger of the Penguins needs no introduction. The duo Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin is enough to strike fear into any opponent. Outside of them, Pittsburgh has also put together one of the deepest teams in the league on both offense and defense around them, but have suffered through major injuries throughout the season. Now the Penguins are getting fully healthy, getting back one of their most dangerous weapons in Jake Guentzel who underwent shoulder surgery at the end of 2019 and missed the rest of the regular season.
An interesting story to keep track of in this series is who is going to get the start in goal for the Penguins, whether it be Matt Murray or Tristan Jarry. Murray has struggled this season with a .899 save percentage, while Jarry meanwhile has been spectacular in relief with a 0.921 save percentage, as well as getting sent to the All-Star Game in January. Still, having two solid starting goaltender options is yet another strength for this Penguins team. Outside of a skid heading into the season pause, this Penguins team has all the pieces for a deep playoff run.
While Pittsburgh is justifiably the favorite here, Montreal should not be written off so easily. The Canadiens were 12th in the Eastern Conference, and it’s easy to look at their place in the standings and conclude that this is just a bad team, but the underlying numbers suggest otherwise. Montreal has the third best expected goal rate in the NHL and is just outside the top ten in expected goals against according to Charting Hockey, but were sunk by poor shooting and terrible special teams.
Of course, the real X-factor for the Canadiens in this series is Carey Price, as it always is. Price is still revered by several of his peers as the best goaltender in hockey, a reputation that was earned after carrying the Canadiens farther than they deserved for so many years, but his drop off in performance over the last few years points to decline. Ever since last making the playoffs in 2017, Price has not been the same while dealing with injury, and his .909 save percentage just isn’t good enough to take Montreal where they want to go.
The Canadiens cannot succeed if Price isn’t up to the task, but if somehow this time off is able to awaken the old Price for just a few games, there is a real chance at an upset brewing here. At 32 years old, who knows if this could be his last chance at a playoff run while the Canadiens take the slow and steady road to building a contender?
Even if the Canadiens are unable to pull off such a dramatic upset over the Penguins, this has the makings of a solid five game series. Make no mistake, Pittsburgh has Montreal outgunned in just about every sense, but after having hockey shut down for two months and brought back with this crazy format, is it really that hard to believe?