Blackhawks Daily: Bruins, Hurricanes Waste No Time in Stanley Cup Playoffs

The Carolina Hurricanes opened up the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at home against the New York Islanders. This was the first game of the entire postseason as the league was idle on Friday night.

A lot of people are expecting the Carolina Hurricanes to be one of the powerhouses during the playoffs because of their depth and system. They play a version of man-on-man that makes it very hard to score against.

The New York Islanders, who are already short on offense as it is, had an even harder time putting the puck in the net than we thought they would in game one. Evgeny Kuznetsov gave the Canes a 1-0 lead early and then did his famous bird celebration. It appears that the guy that always shows up big in the playoffs is back. He was incredible for all of those years with the Washington Capitals and now he’s dominating with Carolina.

The Islanders showed some life though and tied it back up. Kyle MacLean scored to get the game evened up at one. Unfortunately for the Islanders, who kept this game tight against a very good team, the Hurricanes pulled ahead in the third period when Stefon Noesen gave them the lead back.

Martin Necas scored into the empty net and the Hurricanes took the 3-1 final. They now have a 1-0 series lead in the series that most expect them to win.

That game was a nice little appetizer but most people were more excited for the one that followed. The Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs have played each other a lot over the last decade or so which makes this Original Six rivalry special.

Boston has won the last three playoff matchups (2013, 2018, 2019) in seven games. Now, they are looking to continue their dominance again. That includes the regular season where the Bruins have won 7 straight.

This game wasn’t nearly as competitive as the first one despite the expectations coming in. The Bruins were outplayed at times in the game but Jeremy Swayman shut down the Maple Leafs and Boston won 5-1.

The Bruins power play was on fire in this one and they didn’t allow the Maple Leafs to get going when they had their chances with the man advantage.

William Nylander, one of the best players on the Maple Leafs, was missing from game one after playing in all 82 regular season games. That is a brutal loss when it comes to the offense but he wouldn’t have made them win this game with all the mistakes that everybody else made.

Carolina and Boston have both been making deep runs for a few years now but neither has a Stanley Cup championship in the last 10 years. Both of them would like to get that done sooner or later while the window is still open. They are both good enough.

That sends us into Sunday. There are going to be four incredible games on this day as the playoffs now turn to a few other matchups. With how great the regular season was in 2023-24, it is only fair to have an epic finish in these playoffs.

Blackhawks In Case You Missed It:

• Connor Bedard and Philipp Kurashev are both going to represent the Chicago Blackhawks at the IIHF World Championships in Sweden/Denmark.
• Chicago Blackhawks prospects Nolan Allan and Ethan Del Mastro have each earned honors with the Rockford Ice Hogs.
•  The Chicago Blackhawks have a very important offseason ahead of them. There are a lot of moving parts.

Hockey Now Stanley Cup Playoffs

• Colorado Hockey Now: The Colorado Avalanche are going to be without Jonathan Drouin against the Winnipeg Jets in round number one.
• Florida Hockey Now: The Florida Panthers are ready for the playoffs to begin. Sam Reinhart is going to be a big part of any potential run that they may make.
• Vegas Hockey Now: The Vegas Golden Knights are getting healthy right in time for the postseason. They are very dangerous heading in.
• Nashville Hockey Now: The Nashville Predators are ready to try and pull off a first-round upset over the mighty Vancouver Canucks.