The NHL Playoffs Have Been Historically Competitive -- So Far
The NHL featured a high-scoring regular season in 2021-22, led by an unusually strong group of top teams. But the NHL playoffs are where goals -- and predictability -- usually go to die. Could the regular-season trends translate to the wild world of the Stanley Cup?
One exciting first round later, we have an answer -- or at least a better sense of where this postseason is headed. And it looks like many of the most interesting wrinkles from the regular season are still alive and well.
For one thing, we can confirm that offense was indeed served in Round 1. After the league produced its most goals per game () in a regular season since 1993-94, the first round saw even more fireworks, with teams averaging goals per game. That made this the ninth-highest scoring first round since 1987, when Round 1 was expanded to its current best-of-seven format; the highest-scoring since 1995, period; and only the sixth time since 1987 when goals per game actually increased from the regular season to the first round of the playoffs:
Scoring doesn't usually go up in Round 1. It did this year.
Top 10 scoring averages by goals per game in the first round of the NHL playoffs and 10 highest increases from the regular season to the first round, 1987-2022
Year
Goals per gamein Round 1
Year
Change fromregular season...