Stanley Cup Playoffs: Western Conference packs some familiar games

• The chase for Lord Stanley’s Cup begins Saturday with two games in the Western Conference. The Winnipeg Jets host the St. Louis Blues, and the Dallas Stars will face off against the Colorado Avalanche.
• The Western Conference features several matchups with teams very familiar with one another. The Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers are meeting for the 4th straight time in the first round.
• The Vegas Golden Knights have won five straight games against Minnesota. Do the Wild have a shot at advancing?

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The chase for Lord Stanley’s Cup begins with game one Saturday, April 19, between two Western Conference hopefuls. The eight-seed St. Louis Blues will battle the top-seed Winnipeg Jets in what might be a closer series than many think.

Can the hottest team in the league pull an upset?

The Jets are the Presidents’ Trophy winners. They earned 116 points, the most in the league, and it’s their defense that drives the bus. Even if the Jets make a mistake, the best goalie in the league, Connor Hellebuyck, is in net to save them.

However, they’ll face maybe the hottest team in the league in the Blues. From the 4 Nations Face-off tournament to the end of the season, St. Louis went an outstanding 19-4-3, including a 12-game winning streak.

“Just can’t be happy that we’re in,” Blues center Brayden Schenn said. “Playing Winnipeg, and Winnipeg is obviously a good team. It’s going to present a good challenge for us, but yeah, I don’t think anyone gave us a chance, really, at the end of the day where we were and I’m glad we kept it together.”

Can the Stars overcome some injuries to take out Colorado?

Whichever team advances from that series will meet either the Dallas Stars or the Colorado Avalanche in the next round. Both are perennial playoff teams with big-time playmakers at nearly every position.

The biggest storyline is perhaps Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar going against former teammate Mikko Rantanen, who was abruptly traded away earlier this year. The Avs could also get a boost from captain Gabriel Landeskog’s return. He missed nearly three full seasons because of a knee injury. The Stars, on the other hand, have had some trouble on defense and are hoping Miro Heiskanen can return at some point.

“Saturday’s the first time in probably three weeks where we’re playing, y’know, basically with our season back on the line again,” head coach Pete DeBoer said. “So, that desperation has to be there, that execution has to be there. Y’know, so we’ve gotta make sure we’re ready for that.”

Can Vegas restart the engine after a few weeks of rest?

On the other side of the West bracket, the second-seed Vegas Golden Knights will match up against the Minnesota Wild. Vegas secured the Pacific Division title weeks ago and has been resting up. The Wild secured their playoff spot by winning four of their last five games, all of which went into overtime. Both sides remember their playoff meeting in 2021.

“It’s going to be an exciting series, they are a heavy team,” Vegas forward Keegan Kolesar said. “We played them in the past and it went to seven games. We know they are going to fight tooth and nail. They hit a bit of a rough patch at the end of the season, but they clawed their way back in and now it’s official.”

Is the fourth time the charm for the LA Kings?

Talk about having a playoff history, the Edmonton Oilers have knocked out the Los Angeles Kings in the first round each of the last three seasons. This time around, however, the Kings are the team with home ice advantage and they just might have the defensive chops to slow down Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

“I think the first year we played them, we were the better team and I think we should have beat them,” Kings forward Adrian Kempe said. “I think everybody is pretty confident in how we’re playing right now, and it feels like we’re a better team than we have been in the past.”

Home ice advantage could be a big factor. For the third straight season, the NHL broke their league wide attendance record with over 23 million fans going through the turnstiles. You can bet those fans will be bringing the noise as the puck drops on the playoffs.