Which home team asserted their dominance in Game 1?

We’ve seen seven of the eight first-round series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs get underway over the weekend, and home teams went 4-3, as the Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, Buffalo Sabres and Vegas Golden Knights held serve on home ice to take 1-0 series leads.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed which of the home teams that got off to 1-0 starts in their respective series did the most to move toward advancing.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Let me ask you then the flip of that first question. We talked about the home teams that are down 1-0 who like desperately need to even this thing up. What about the home teams who are up 1-0 now? You have Carolina winning game one at home, Colorado one game one at home, Vegas last night… Buffalo’s in that group too. Are there any one of those home teams that you think sort of really asserted their dominance and has you thinking that maybe their series could be quicker than expected?

Carter Hutton: Well, I think, I guess the Colorado Avalanche should be the team that, I just don’t know, it feels like the gates are gonna open. I thought [Anton] Forsberg was good in that game, but I just don’t think there’s any sustainability there. And then the other one for me, it’s gonna be a challenge for the Ottawa Senators, I think, to get through to Carolina. You look at how good Freddie Andersen played. He made some big saves, but that being said, again, it’s that relentless defensive structure. They’re so hard on pucks. There’s no time, there’s no space. And playing from behind, I think is gonna be the storyline of that series. If the Sens fall behind again in game two, I worry about them trying to generate ’cause Carolina is such a good team with the lead.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…