Each series of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs has made it through its first two games. Some are tied, some have seen the home team win both games, and one has seen the visitors return home with a 2-0 lead.
There has been the usual mix of controversial calls, goaltending drama and overtime heroics. But what are some of the larger themes our reporters have witnessed through the first 16 games of this year’s tournament? And what does it all mean looking ahead to the rest of the first round — and beyond?
ESPN reporters Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski chime in with their top takeaways as the series shift to the lower seeds’ home buildings:
“The reason that we have these expectations is because we stuck with our process all season long to win 65 games, doing it in the fashion that we did it. Why would we change, right?” he said.
But things have changed for the Bruins in their series against the Florida Panthers, which is tied 1-1 heading into Game 3 on Friday night. The Panthers had a higher expected goals than Boston in those two games, earning the majority of the high-danger chances at 5-on-5. The Bruins allowed them to carry play for stretches in their Game 1 win. Boston’s Game 2 loss to Florida was even more uncharacteristic: 15 turnovers, some created by the Panthers but most gifted away by Boston through sloppy puck management.
“I think it was just trying to make plays when plays weren’t there to be made,” coach Jim Montgomery said.
But the biggest change for the Bruins through two games has been the absence of star captain Patrice Bergeron. At first, the team said he was suffering the effects of an illness that had swept through the team, but he also left the team’s regular-season finale against the Montreal Canadiens with an upper-body injury. Before Game 2, Montgomery defined the reason for his absence as “not an illness,” although the Bruins haven’t specified the nature of his injury. His status for Game 3 is questionable.
Bergeron contributes offensively on their top line. He’s considered the greatest defensive forward in NHL history, winning a record five Selke trophies and favored to add a sixth this season. He wins 61% of his faceoffs; against the Panthers, the Bruins are sub-50% in the dot. While he’s been a presence in the coaches’ room behind the scenes, they desperately miss him on the ice.
The Bruins are a machine that rolled through the regular season. It’s a 1-1 series that they’re still favored heavily to win. But the pressure on the best to finish the season as the best is real. Players like Brad Marchand acknowledged there were nerves in Game 1. What happens if the Panthers’ upset bid continues? — Wyshynski
Toronto and Tampa Bay: Blowout series?
The Maple Leafs and Lightning knew they’d be meeting in the first round for seemingly four months. All that pent-up energy appears to be manifesting in lopsided, high-scoring affairs.
In Game 1, the Lightning jumped all over the Leafs with a goal less than two minutes in and finished with a 7-3 victory.
In Game 2, the Leafs notched a power-play marker just 47 seconds into the first period and wound up winning 7-2.
Is that the direction this series will continue taking? Each side trading multi-goal victories until the final buzzer hits on Game 7?
Individual performances are fitting a pattern, too. Morgan Rielly notched four assists in Toronto’s Game 2 win, making him the fourth player in the 2023 playoffs to produce a four-point effort. That also tracks with the number of lopsided scores we’ve seen early in this postseason, including six games already determined by a four-goal margin.
From a purely competitive standpoint it’ll be interesting to see if that trend continues and how it impacts the outcomes ahead — Shilton
Hey, it must be the money
At some point, every front office throughout the NHL will encounter this problem if they haven’t already. There will come a time when they go from trying to find ways to spend their cap space to the challenge of trying to build a winner with limited funds.
One of the ways to solve that problem is finding contributors on cheap deals. It’s another reason why players on entry-level contracts offer value in several different ways. And as this postseason has already shown, there are a number of them who’ve already made an impact.
New Jersey is known for many things, but two of them are “The Sopranos” and the NHL’s Devils. So credit to star center Jack Hughes for finding a way to spiritually marry the two in his comments after the Devils’ 5-1 loss in Game 2, saying his team got “whacked for the second straight game” by the rival New York Rangers.
“We’re not playing to our standard, and it’s biting us in the a– right now,” he said.
No team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs looks less like their regular-season selves than the Devils. Consider:
The fun, puck-rushing team was fourth in the NHL in even-strength goals; against the Rangers, they’ve yet to score one.
The Devils used their speed to control pace and opponents; against the Rangers, they’ve climbed into the trenches to engage with them physically, amassing 71 penalty minutes in Game 2.
They were fourth on the penalty kill in the regular season; they’ve given up four power-play goals, all of them to the Rangers’ Chris Kreider, in two games.
They’re down 2-0 and have been outscored 10-2 by the Rangers. The playoff inexperience of many Devils players has been glaring, but it’s also the ineffectiveness of players that have been there before like Ondrej Palat and Timo Meier that’s contributed to this deficit. Goalie Vitek Vanecek has done what he can, but the Devils are seeing the different between having a goalie that might not lose you a series but isn’t designed to win one on his own.
To the Rangers’ credit, their top stars have been difference-makers while the Devils flail about. Kreider has four goals, Vladimir Tarasenko has two and Patrick Kane had his most impactful game as a Ranger in Game 2. Igor Shesterkin has stopped the Devils when they’ve gotten chances against him, leading to the robust collection of Rangers fans at the games in Newark to let their neighbors know that he’s “better” through their chants.
Devils coach Lindy Ruff has kept the faith. “This team has always been up for an incredible challenge,” he said after Game 2. “They’re going to battle to the bitter end. I’ve got a lot of faith in this team.” — Wyshynski
Carolina’s (horrendous) luck with injuries could spell trouble
It was bad enough the Hurricanes lost both Andrei Svechnikov and Max Pacioretty to long-term injuries before the postseason even started.
Now Teuvo Teräväinen is on the shelf too, courtesy of a broken hand suffered in Carolina’s 4-3 overtime win in Game 2. That leaves the Hurricanes down another top-line forward who had 12 goals and 37 points in the regular season.
It’s no wonder Hurricanes’ coach Rod Brind’amour was so frustrated discussing Teräväinen’s injury after the fact, admitting he was “a little ticked” with how Islanders’ forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau “absolutely tomahawk chop[ped]” his player. The silver lining for Carolina is their 2-0 series lead over New York. The dark cloud looming is that it could be 2-2 before the weekend is out. That’s postseason hockey, and Carolina is running out of healthy bodies to put pucks in the net. The Islanders are far from a prolific scoring team, but they are a top-notch defensive one (and boast a spectacular goaltender in Ilya Sorokin).
The Teräväinen injury could serve as a major turning point in what’s rapidly becoming an increasingly intense first-round matchup (the no-call on Scott Mayfield in Game 2 certainly upped the ante in that respect). How will Carolina respond and adjust to this latest bout of adversity? More importantly, is there another offensive threat waiting in the wings to fill the void? — Shilton
Marc-Andre Fleury said he didn’t make any “good key saves” in Game 2 against the Dallas Stars. Dean Evason said “nothing” was on Fleury but “it was all on us.” Clearly blame can be shared, but can the Wild win a playoff series by continuing to share their net between Fleury and Filip Gustavsson?
To Evason’s point, Natural Stat Trick’s numbers show the Wild had fewer scoring chances and high-danger scoring chances in 5-on-5 play in Game 2 compared to what they did in Game 1. Plus, the Stars scored four power-play goals against a unit that was the No. 10 penalty kill in the league. But that also comes with the caveat they had the seventh-most penalty minutes in the NHL.
Evason said after the 7-3 loss that the Wild will follow the same process they’ve used all season to determine who will start Game 3. And while that could hold true, has Evason already reached a point in which he may have to deviate from the tandem approach and name a clear No. 1 starter? — Clark
Tracking toward too many turnovers
Each team is two games into its postseason, and it feels like turnovers have been a hotter topic than years past.
Boston coach Jim Montgomery described the Bruins‘ giveaways in Game 2 as “catastrophic.” The Maple Leafs were practically passing the puck onto Lightning sticks throughout Game 1 — primarily while in front of their own net.
Edmonton has already been credited with 30 (!) turnovers. Minnesota has 29. New Jersey has 28. And on down it goes, to the apparently much more disciplined New York Rangers (only nine for them). Unsurprisingly, the Rangers are up 2-0 heading back to Madison Square Garden.
Self-inflicted wounds are a team’s worst nightmare. It’s one thing to lose; it’s another to see results slip away because of your players’ own sloppy execution. Will the trend continue? Or could this just be an indication of early-series nerves across the board? If some of these clubs don’t tighten up it could be a short spring. — Shilton
Hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski is a National League All-Star replacement, giving the Milwaukee Brewers right-hander a chance to break Paul Skenes‘ record for the fewest big league appearances before playing in the Midsummer Classic.
Misiorowski was named Friday night to replace Chicago Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd, who will be unavailable for the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Atlanta because he is scheduled to start Saturday at the New York Yankees.
The 23-year-old Misiorowski has made just five starts for the Brewers, going 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA while averaging 99.3 mph on his fastball, with 89 pitches that have reached 100 mph.
If he pitches at Truist Park, Misiorowski will make it consecutive years for a player to set the mark for fewest big league games before an All-Star showing.
Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander getting ready for his second All-Star appearance, had made 11 starts in the majors when he was chosen as the NL starter for last year’s All-Star Game at Texas. He pitched a scoreless inning.
“I’m speechless,” said a teary-eyed Misiorowski, who said he was given the news a few minutes before the Brewers’ 8-3 victory over Washington. “It’s awesome. It’s very unexpected and it’s an honor.”
Misiorowski is the 30th first-time All-Star and 16th replacement this year. There are now 80 total All-Stars.
“He’s impressive. He’s got some of the best stuff in the game right now, even though he’s a young pitcher,” said Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who is a starting AL outfielder for his seventh All-Star nod. “He’s going to be a special pitcher in this game for a long time so I think he deserved it and it’s going be pretty cool for him and his family.”
The New York Yankees‘ Rodón, an All-Star for the third time in five seasons, will replace teammate Max Fried for Tuesday’s game in Atlanta. Fried will be unavailable because he is scheduled to start Saturday against the Chicago Cubs.
In his final start before the All-Star game, Rodón allowed four hits and struck out eight in eight innings in an 11-0 victory over the Cubs.
“This one’s a little special for me,” said Rodón, an All-Star in 2021 and ’22 who was 3-8 in his first season with the Yankees two years ago before rebounding. “I wasn’t good when I first got here, and I just wanted to prove that I wasn’t to going to give up and just put my best foot forward and try to win as many games as I can.”
Mize takes the spot held by Boston‘s Garrett Crochet, who is scheduled to start Saturday against Tampa Bay. Mize gives the Tigers six All-Stars, most of any team and tied for the franchise record.
Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia will replace Tampa Bay‘s Brandon Lowe, who went on the injured list with left oblique tightness. The additions of Estévez and Garcia give the Royals four All-Stars, matching their 2024 total.
The Seattle Mariners announced center fielder Julio Rodríguez will not participate, and he was replaced by teammate Randy Arozarena. Rodríguez had been voted onto the AL roster via the players’ ballot. The Mariners, who have five All-Stars, said Rodríguez will use the break to “recuperate, rest and prepare for the second half.”
Arozarena is an All-Star for the second time. He started in left field for the AL two years ago, when he was with Tampa Bay. Arozarena was the runner-up to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the 2023 Home Run Derby.
Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen, a first-time All-Star, is replacing Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who is scheduled to start Saturday night at Arizona. Rasmussen is 7-5 with a 2.82 ERA in 18 starts.
San Diego added a third NL All-Star reliever in lefty Adrián Morejón, who replaces Philadelphia starter Zack Wheeler. The Phillies’ right-hander is scheduled to start at San Diego on Saturday night. Morejón entered the weekend with a 1.71 ERA in 45 appearances.
Arenado, who was 1-for-3, was replaced in the seventh inning by Thomas Saggese. While it was unclear how Arenado hurt the finger, it is the same injury that kept him out of two games last week during a series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Arenado has 10 home runs and 42 RBIs in 84 games this season.
Pham was trying to get to second on his liner off the wall in right field in the seventh inning of the Twins’ 2-1 victory Friday night. Right fielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr.’s throw beat Pham, whose batting helmet made contact with Correa’s lower leg.
Correa rolled over and stayed on the ground before leaving the game. Brooks Lee moved from second base to shortstop to replace Correa. The team said Correa had a mild ankle sprain.
Correa said X-rays were negative and that he expects to sit out Saturday’s game, adding that he “hopefully” can play on Sunday, according to MLB.com.
The 30-year-old Correa is already in his 11th big league season and has been a mainstay at shortstop for the Twins since signing as a free agent in 2022. He missed about half of last season with a concussion and a plantar fascia injury, the latter of which kept him from playing in the All-Star Game after he was chosen for the third time.