The National Hockey League regular season is over and after 82 games the playoffs are set. Now the quest for Lord Stanley’s Cup begins.
Eight teams from the Eastern Conference and eight teams from the Western Conference have a chance to lift the cup come June. Before any team can think of the Stanley Cup Finals, they will have to survive the wild first round.
Discounting the lockout season of 2004-05 there have been plenty of upsets in the first round of the NHL playoffs since 2000. Every year there is at least two upsets in the first round every year, seed wise.
The conference with the most first round upsets since 2000 is the Western Conference with 13 first round upsets; while the Eastern Conference had 11 first round upsets. Also a number one or two seed has lost every year but 2007.
Since 2000, there have been five number one seeds to lose in the first round and there have been seven two seeds that have lost in the opening round. So expect at least two first round upsets and the possibility of a number one and two seed g ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Bryan Flynn