NHL Proves Why Stanley Cup Playoffs Are the Best In Sports During Opening Weekend
The NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs started this past weekend, and already with four games in, they showed why they have the most exciting playoffs out of the four major sports in America.
Three out of the four opening games went to overtime. And the game that didn’t go to overtime was the battle for Florida, between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers. It nearly went to overtime, though. The Lightning took the lead with 1:14 to go in the third period.
The crowds that are back in some capacity only add to that excitement. Sure, it’s not 100% yet, but it still is far better than the empty arenas they had last year. There is still no better sound than a home crowd erupting when their team scores a goal in the playoffs. It just hits differently.
The other beautiful thing about the NHL playoffs is that any team can win it all. For instance, the LA Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012 after being an 8 seed. The Nashville Predators were an 8 seed in the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals but fell short in winning it all. The point is, any team can win it. All of these games are razor close and if the right team has the momentum, they can ride that all the way to the Finals.
That’s where the NHL and NBA differ. The two leagues often get compared because they run at the same time of the year and they both play 82 games and have a 16 team playoff format. The NBA is so top-heavy that it is very rare for a team that isn’t in the top 4 seeds to be the one to go to the NBA Finals. It’s much more predictable, and typically, the first two rounds can be quite boring due to the difference in talent from the top seeds to the bottom seeds.
The craziest part of the playoffs in the NHL this year is that the Canadian teams, AKA the North Division, haven’t even started yet due to those teams still playing catch up with all the games they had to reschedule.
We have so many more games to come in the NHL and that only means more excitement, more overtime, and more upsets. And now with more and more fans being allowed into the arenas, it will only amplify the great product that is playoff hockey.
