Most productive player
Mikko Rantanen in the colours of Dallas against his former club, Colorado - that was the juicy draw of the first days. And it was obvious that the Finnish forward was a bit weighed down by the difficult situation. He didn't score in the first two games, and after four games, he had only one assist.
But then he got going, scoring for the first time in the fifth game and becoming the seventh player in history to score in the playoffs against a club for which he had previously amassed over 100 points in a season. The last man to do so was Jaromir Jagr in 2012.
Rantanen was unstoppable after that, scoring a hat-trick and getting an assist in Game 7 (4-2) to help the Stars advance to the next round and become the first player in the NHL to score three goals in one period in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He also had a four-point period in Game 6, which Dallas lost 4-7 - no one had done that before him, either.
He scored 11 points in the last three games of the series, filling the role of the injured Jason Robertson, the club's star who did not appear in action against Colorado.
Best goaltender
He doesn't have the best numbers, or even close to them. He hasn't even pulled his save percentage up to 90% (it's only 89.3%), and his goals-per-game average has stalled at almost three (2.93). But when Edmonton needed a boost, 2016 World Champion Calvin Pickard stepped up.
The Oilers unexpectedly took a beating from Los Angeles in their first two games at home, and after losses of 6-5 and 6-2, even the most devoted fans were losing faith in their club.
In the third game, though, Pickard was on from the start, and the 33-year-old veteran did enough to keep Stuart Skinner on the bench. Whether he'll be a fixture in the playoffs, we'll see soon enough.
Highlight of the round
Whoever predicted that the series between Dallas and Colorado would be the best in the opening round (and there were not many such opinions) was not wrong. Over seven games, it was eventually dominated by the Texans, but after the first three battles, the Stars led the series for less than 70 seconds. Still, it was 2-1 at the time for the unit built around captain Jamie Benn.
One of the main stories was the return of Gabriel Landeskog, who, after many health complications, had been waiting for his next game since June 2022. The Avalanche leader appeared in the second game and became the first captain to take the ice in the NHL after a layoff of more than a thousand days.
Syl Apps and Sid Abel had such a long break back then because they were fighting in World War II.
The Swede eventually scored one goal and assisted three in five games, and his two young children were in the stands cheering him on. "I think they thought I was lying to them the whole time and that I never actually played hockey," Landeskog said with a smile on his face.
In the end, he had to swallow a bitter 4-3 defeat, even though Colorado were up 2-0 in the 47th minute in the deciding game. The Denver-based club did not break the curse of seven games, failing to win such a series for the seventh time in a row.
The opposite is true for the coach of the winning team, Peter DeBoer, who celebrated his ninth career win in seven games, something no coach in the NHL, NBA, or MLB has ever done before. His record in those key battles, moreover, is 9-0.
One of the best players in the competition, Nathan MacKinnon, scored eleven points against the Stars, failing to score in just one game.
"They were missing their best defenseman, Miro Heiskanen, and one of their most important forwards, Jason Robertson, for the whole series. And we still couldn't beat them," he said.
Stats of the round
The Minnesota Wild couldn't keep up with the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round, losing 4-2 on the road and sadly making American League history. They are the first team in the NHL, NBA, NFL or MLB to make the playoffs eight times in ten seasons but never make it past the first round.
One interesting statistic also delivered in the series was regarding Marc-Andre Fleury, the Canadian veteran for whom elimination meant the end of his active career. He appeared in action for only 24 minutes, but by pitching in, he made his 18th career playoff appearance and became the franchise record holder - it's a record he shares with Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur.
Social media highlight
Breaking away from your default media-trained answers mode is not easy for athletes during interviews with reporters, as Washington goalie Logan Thompson demonstrated. After one of the wins over Montreal, he praised himself for how well the game went and that it was nice for his team to get two points.
Fortunately, his teammate Dylan Strome, sitting next to him, put things right: "This is the playoffs, there are no two points here."
Photo of the round
In the regular season, Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck was absolutely indestructible, but in the playoffs, the classic crisis played out.
The American goalie wilted: in seven games, he conceded 26 goals out of 153 shots, which comes to an average of 3.85 goals per game.
In important Games 3, 4 and 6, he was even substituted. He will have to work hard in the second round against Dallas, that's for sure.
Ladislav Smid's take
"I really enjoyed the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Evenly matched battles, lots of attractive overtime periods, lots of goals and physical play - it must have been great for the spectators.
"I'm sorry to see Colorado, which is my favourite team after Edmonton, go out, but I liked how Mikko Rantanen played. He took a lot of criticism, but now he has shown again how good a player he is. A difference maker. He pulled it all off in Game 7 and showed why Dallas offered him a multi-year deal. After the seventh battle, it was clear to see why the Stars made it to the next round.
"What I didn't like, on the other hand, were some of the referee's statements and judgments on certain interventions. Especially with the physical play, there was a lack of consistency. We saw good and clean hits, but also plenty of ones that were out of bounds and often aimed at the head. The refs missed them at times.
"I understand they are only human too, but sometimes the gaps were unnecessarily large. Some games were significantly affected by the officials not punishing players enough."
