In my podcast, I talked about the observations I made about the 1st round matchups in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. In this blog, I will give the 3 keys to victory for Each team.
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BOS vs FLA
BOS
- Taylor Hall needs to continue to play like an impact player; he has been really noticeable whenever he is on the ice.
- Trade Deadline acquisitions like Tyler Bertuzzi and Dmitry Orlov need to step up and play more prominent roles on the team as long as Bergeron and Krejci remain out.
- Linus Ullmark needs to be consistent in net.
FLA
- Aleksander Barkov has to be better; he has been shut down the entire series and if he doesn't have an exceptional game 5, the Panthers will lose.
- Florida needs to be better at moving the puck through the neutral zone; the Bruins feed off transition chances and will make.
- Florida wants to play with a Physical edge but they can't keep giving Boston powerplays because they have killed them on the Man advantage.
CAR vs NYI
CAR
- Stefan Noesen has been the unsung hero for the Carolina Hurricanes, scoring 2 goals and 2 assists in this series; in the absence of key players like Svechnikov and Teravainen, Stefan Noesen will need to continue to produce like this.
- Jordan Staal's line has outplayed the Barzal line; they will need continue being one of the top shutdown lines in the league.
- The Defense has to continue to chip in offensively like they have so far in the postseason.
NYI
- Mat Barzal and Bo Horvat have to be a factor; they have been completely nullified by the Jordan Staal line.
- The Islanders will need their defenseman like Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock to chip in offensively.
- Ilya Sorokin has to steal games and be the goalie that got them to the playoffs.
NJ vs NYR
NJ
- Nico Hischier and Timo Meier have been held pointless through the first 3 games of the series; this has to change.
- Dawson Mercer and Tomas Tatar, both who had tremendous years, have been invisible this series; they both need to make their presence felt.
- The defensive structure has to be better than in the previous three games, they simply give the Rangers too much time and space to operate.
NYR
- Chris Kreider needs to continue to score at an otherworldly rate, and Adam Fox needs to continue his stellar play.
- Trade deadline acquisition, Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko need to make their veteran presence felt.
- Igor Shesterkin has be Igor Shesterkin
VGK vs WPG
VGK
- Jack Eichel and Mark Stone need to continue to be their best players and drive the offense.
- William Karlsson and Chandler Stephenson need to provide secondary scoring.
- With Laurent Broissoit in goal, Vegas has to be better defensively.
WPG
- Blake Wheeler and Adam Lowry need to continue to score at the rate they have been scoring.
- Josh Morrissey's availability for Game 4 and on.
- Connor Hellebuyck has to steal a game or two
COL vs SEA
COL
- Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar need to show up and leave their stamp on the series.
- Role players like Artturi Lehkonen and JT Compher need to step up and chip in offensively
- Alexandar Georgiev needs to play better in net; he let in a couple soft goals in this series.
SEA
- Seattle needs to continue to play a team game and set the tone with physicality.
- Seattle's Defense has to be more involved in the offense if they are to match Colorado's offensive output.
- Philipp Grubauer has to play like he did in Game 1.
DAL vs MIN
DAL
- Jason Robertson has to be a more impactful player in this series.
- Roope Hintz and Miro Heiskanen need to continue to carry the load offensively.
- Jake Oettinger has to be the Jake Oettinger in game 4 the rest of the series.
MIN
- Kirill Kaprizov has to have one of those games where he just takes over and dominates.
- Minnesota needs to continue to play with a physical edge.
- Filip Gustavsson has the play the rest of the games in the series.
EDM vs LA
EDM
- Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have to be the best players on the ice and play a full 60 minutes.
- Ryan Nugent Hopkins and Zach Hyman need to start contributing offensively.
- Goaltending has to be consistent and the Defense has to a lot tighter.
LA
- Kevin Fiala made his impact felt in Game 4; he is a game-breaker which makes the LA Kings depth a whole let better. He is a welcomed addition to the line with Vilardi and Trevor Moore.
- Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe need to continue to come up with clutch plays like they have so far this series.
- LA has to stay out of the box because Edmonton's PP is absolutely lethal.
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