Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 1: Wild, Flyers make statements in series openers
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are back, which means that for the next two months, we’ll get non-stop action as we witness 16 teams get whittled down to the one that will be crowned as the 2026 Stanley Cup champions. Here at Daily Faceoff, we’ll be keeping you in the loop on everything that happens in the playoffs, every day until the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June.
Freddie Andersen shuts out the Senators
For one game, at least, Rod Brind’Amour looks like a genius. Despite Brandon Bussi having the better overall numbers this regular season, the Carolina Hurricanes‘ head coach opted for veteran goaltender Freddie Andersen to be his Game 1 starter against the Ottawa Senators. On Saturday, Andersen silenced anyone who may have questioned that decision, as he made 22 saves en route to Carolina’s 2-0 shutout victory. It may not have been the most work-intensive shutout we’ve ever seen, but Anderson made a couple of ten-bellers, including a spectacular glove save againt Drake Batherson on a play that was initially ruled a goal but ultimately called back. Taylor Hall and Logan Stankoven were the goal scorers for the Hurricanes.
The game started out with a bang, as Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk dropped the gloves against Carolina’s Jordan Staal in a “my captain can beat up your captain” bout off the opening faceoff. The fight didn’t seem to have the intended effect for the Senators, as they failed to create significant pressure and generated just 1.31 expected goals according to Natural Stat Trick. Ottawa will have to play higher-event hockey if they want to pull off the round-one upset.
Dallas gets star-struck by Minnesota
What was supposed to be the most competitive series of the first round is looking like the most lopsided after one game. The Minnesota Wild seemed intent on starting fast on Saturday, outshooting the Dallas Stars in each of the first two periods and scoring the first four goals of the game en route to a 6-1 victory. Perhaps even more encouraging for the Wild was the performance of their top forwards. Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson-Ek, and Mats Zuccarello all had multi-point games. Goaltender Jesper Wallstedt, who was named Minnesota’s starter just prior to the game, looked steady stopping 27 of the Stars’ 28 shots, including an athletic flurry of saves on an important penalty kill early in the third.
Dallas simply failed to match the intensity of Minnesota, and they’ll need a big response from their high-end players, such as Wyatt Johnston, Mikko Rantanen, and Jason Robertson, if they want to even the series up on Monday. There also has to be some concern around goaltender Jake Oettinger, who admittedly saw a couple ricochet goals get past him, but was also beaten cleanly on a few occasions.
Martone plays hero for Flyers
In another predictably chippy edition of the Battle of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Flyers topped the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 thanks to rookie winger Porter Martone’s game winner with just a few minutes left in the third period, going bar down after curling up on the right side of the offensive zone. Martone’s goal put the Flyers up 3-1 at the time, providing the requisite insurance to withstand Bryan Rust’s goal scored with just over a minute left and Pittsburgh’s net empty
Philadelphia had the territorial edge in the first period, but couldn’t solve Stuart Skinner after having a Christian Dvorak goal waived off due to goaltender interference. In the second, defenseman Jamie Drysdale opened the scoring for the Flyers, taking a low-to-high pass from Trevor Zegras and beating Skinner from the right faceoff circle. Evgeni Malkin scored the Penguins’ first goal later in the second, picking up a loose puck at the right dot and finding the five-hole on Dan Vladar. Defenseman Travis Sanheim put Philadelphia up 2-1 exactly halfway through the third period, stepping around Elmer Soderblom at the blue line and firing home a wrist shot from the slot.
The Penguins simply couldn’t crack the Flyers’ stifling defense, as they managed just 0.96 expected goals according to Natural Stat Trick. They’ll need to find a way to be more incisive offensively the rest of this series.