The 2019-20 NHL season is set to resume on Saturday 1 August after a near five-month hiatus and it resumes with the playoffs.
Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers meet in the first match back, with the early Eastern Conference games set to take place at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, and the early Western Conference games taking place at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers makes a save.
24 teams in all will take place in the playoffs for a shot at the Stanley Cup, due to take place in October. The format otherwise remains the same, with a best of seven series in each round.
Over the years we’ve seen many shocks so don’t be surprised to see more again this year, particularly given that the teams and players have been out of action for such a lengthy period of time.
The Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning both head into the playoffs as the 5/1 favourite, but punters may prefer to back any outright winner with a Sports Interaction bonus given how unpredictable the playoffs could be.
Here are a couple of bold predictions we’re willing to make before the season resumes:
New York Rangers To Cause An Upset
Although they head into the playoffs as the #11 seed in the Western Conference after being down in seventh in the Metropolitan Division with a 37-28-5 record and wouldn’t have even made the post-season under the regular 16-team playoff format, David Quinn’s side have nothing to lose and a good roster available.
The talent that this side has up front is what makes us believe they can cause an upset or two. Artemi Panarin is one of the top players in the NHL this season, and along with Mika Zibanejad they have a real threat in front of goal.
Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers players scramble for the loose puck in front of the Rangers net.
Defensively they have promise too as Igor Shesterkin amassed a 10-2-0 record in 12 starts with a .932 save percentage and a 2.52 goals-against average. If the 24-year-old Russian can pick up where he left off before the disruption then don’t be surprised to see New York turn a few heads.
Boston Bruins Remain the Best
No franchise has shorter odds heading into the playoffs than the Boston Bruins and deservedly so considering they were the best team up until play stopped in March.
Bruce Cassidy’s team are set to play three round-robin games against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals. With a number of veterans on the team the long break may even favour them further.
The Bruins went all the way to the Stanley Cup last year before losing game 7 to the St Louis Blues. Can they go all the way in 2020?
Philadelphia Flyers Crash
The Flyers exceeded a lot of expectations prior to the break, which earned them a place in the round-robin tournament. Whilst this means they could lock in the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference, they’ll need to beat the best to do so.
Noah Gregor #73 of the San Jose Sharks is checked by Tyler Pitlick #18 of the Philadelphia Flyers
However, we expect the long layoff to have burned all of the momentum that Philadelphia has had and find themselves playing mediocre hockey once again. Just look what happened to Lazio in Italy’s Serie A soccer after the restart for an example.
The sides that the Philadelphia Flyers have to face early on isn’t going to help their chances either.
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