Day Three Recap Of The 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs

The Carolina Hurricanes came into this game with a 1-0 series lead over the New York Islanders after winning game one 2-1. Paul Stastny would score the games opening goal. His goal would give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead. His goal would also be the only one in the first period. The Hurricanes had a 1-0 lead after the first period.

Stefan Noesen would score on the powerplay to increase the Hurricanes lead. Kyle Palmieri would for the Islanders to cut the Hurricanes lead in half. Matthew Barzal would score late in the period to tie the game. The game was tied at 1-1 going into the third period.

Brock Nelson would score to give the Islanders the lead. Jacob Slavin would score to tie the game back up. The game would go into overtime. Jesper Fast scored in overtime to win the game for the Hurricanes. The final score was 4-3 Hurricanes. The Hurricanes now have a 2-0 series lead over the Islanders as the series shifts to New York.

It was another tightly contested game. The Hurricanes found a way to win it. There has been a lot of complaining about the officiating in this series. I do think it is well deserved. While game one saw both teams get four powerplays, in last nights game the Hurricanes got six powerplays while the Islanders zero. There was also a no call in overtime that lead to the game winning goal for the Hurricanes. Around this time every year the officiating across the league comes into question. Every year it seems that the NHL does very little to improve their officiating. What I have heard from officials is that the development path for NHL officials is broken. From what it looks like the NHL will do nothing to change that anytime soon. So we can look forward to countless more years of poor officiating from the NHL.

Game three will be on Friday April 21st at 4:00pm PST.

Going into game two the Boston Bruins had a 1-0 series lead over the Florida Panthers after winning game one 3-1. There were no goals in the first period. The score would be tied at 0-0 after the first period.

Sam Bannett would open up the scoring in the second period. He would give the Panthers a 1-0 lead. Brad Marchand would tie the game after scoring a short handed goal. Eric Staal would regain the lead for the Panthers. Late in the second period Tyler Bertuzzi would score to bring the game level again. The score was 2-2 going into the third period.

Brandon Montour would score the first goal of the third period. His goal would give the Panthers a 3-2 lead. Carter Verhaeghe scored to expand the Panthers lead. Brandon Montour would score again to put the Bruins in a deeper hole. Eetu Luostarinen would score for the Panthers to put the game well out of reach of the Bruins. Late in the game Taylor Hall would score for the Bruins last goal but it didn’t matter the game was already over. The final score was 6-3 Panthers. The series is now tied at 1-1 as it heads to Florida.

The Florida Panthers are not going down without a fight. It is huge that they were able to split the first two games in Boston. Game two was getting a little chippy at the end. I expect a hard fought for aggressive game three. If one team starts to run away with the game I expect the other team to just start laying people out.

Game three will be on Friday April 21st at 4:30pm PST.

The Minnesota Wild won game one 3-2 over the Dallas Stars in double overtime. That gave them a 1-0 series lead. Roope Hintz would score the opening goal to give the Stars a 1-0 lead while short handed. Tyler Seguin scored on the powerplay to give Stars a 2-0 lead. Oskar Sundqvist would score to get one back for the Wild. The score was 2-1 after the first period.

Jamie Benn would score on the powerplay to get the Stars lead back to three goals. Evgenii Dadonov would then score for the Stars. Marcus Jjohansson would score on the powerplay for the Wild to cut the stars lead down. Frederick Gaudreau would score for the Wild a few seconds later to bring the Stars lead down to one goal. Evgenii Dadonov would score again to bring the Stars lead back to two goals. Roope Hintz would than score again to get the stars up by three goals. After the second period the score was 6-3 Stars.

Roope Hintz would score the last goal of the game to secure his hat trick. It is the first hat trick in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. His goal was on the powerplay. The final score was 7-3 Stars. The series is now tied at 1-1 as the series shifts to Minnesota.

After an upsetting double overtime loss, the Stars bounce back by dominating game two. At this point it seems like anything can happen in this series. Right now I think this series has a good chance to go for the whole seven games.

Game three will be on Friday April 21st at 6:30pm PST.

The Los Angeles Kings shocked the Edmonton Oilers with a 4-3 overtime upset in game one to take the series lead. Derek Ryan would score the games opening goal. His goal gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead. Leon Draisaitl would than add to that lead with a powerplay goal. For the second game in a row the Oilers had a 2-0 lead after the first period.

Philip Danault would score for the Kings. That would be the Third time in two games that the Oilers gave up a two goal lead. Gabriel Vilardi would then score for the Kings to tie the game. The score was tied at 2-2 going into the third period. This would be the second game in row where it was tied going into the third period.

Klim Kostin would score early in the third to get the Oiler back up. Late in the period Evander Kane would score to seal the win for the Oilers. The final score was 4-2 Oilers. The series is now tied as it heads to Los Angeles.

The Oilers special teams came up big in this one. they didn’t allow a goal on four penalty kills and scored on their one powerplay of the game. This is a solid win for the Oilers. The Kings have been right with the Oilers all series so far. The main thing is the Oilers have not been able to keep a lead. That could become a big problem for them in this series.

Game three will be on Friday April 21st at 7:00pm PST.

Round one game twos finish up tonight. The Tampa Bay Lightning have a chance to take a 2-0 series lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Will the Lightning continue to dominate the Leafs? Will the Leafs continue to underperform?

The New York Rangers will have a chance to take a 2-0 series lead over the New Jersey Devils. Will the Rangers destroy the Devils again? Do the Devils have anything in store for the Rangers?

I expect a lot of physicality if the Lightning and/or Rangers start to run away with their games.

The Seattle Kraken have a chance to take a 2-0 series lead tonight over the Avalanche. Can Seattle keep it up? Will the Avalanche offense show up for game two?

The Winnipeg Jets have a chance to take a 2-0 series lead over the Vegas Golden Knights. Can the Jets continue to play at the same level? Will Vegas get the offense rolling or will their goaltending issues be too much to overcome?