Is 3 a good number for Canadian teams in the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs? There were many who thought Edmonton was tired and had no goaltending. Many thought Vancouver or Winnipeg would be in but not Calgary. Toronto in with Montréal and Ottawa out: not a genius to determine that outcome.
Last year's automatic 4 brought interest in whether Les Habs would be that 4th team. The Canadiens ended up in the Stanley Cup finals, the first Canadian team to get that far in a decade (2011 Vancouver Canucks).
As for the 3 teams, the Maple Leafs may spend a lot of time in the state of Florida if they can advance through 2 rounds. Calgary and Edmonton will play each other if they both advance to the second round. Edmonton won that playoff battle in 1983, 1984, 1988, and 1991. Calgary won in 1986.
The Canadian teams were punished in 2021 with back-to-back games in the playoffs. The playoff scheduling is kinder so far.
The yearly reminder: 1993 Last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup (Montréal).
NHL Network, TNT, and ESPN/ESPN+ games in 2022 season analysis
2022 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs scoreboard
The Toronto Maple Leafs drew the 2-time Stanley Cup champs from western Florida. Dave Randorf gets to spend some time back on Canadian soil as he is the Tampa Bay TV voice. Calgary Flames got Dallas instead of Nashville thanks to a seismic collapse on the final game on Friday.
Edmonton has known for a relative while that Los Angeles is the first round opponent. California was shut out of the 2020 and 2021 playoffs. The Kings are the only California playoff team this season.
The Toronto Raptors had a 3-1 advantage over the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA regular season. That didn't help much in the 2022 NBA playoffs.
Calgary went 2-0-1 against Dallas this season.
November 4 Dallas 4, @ Calgary 3 (OT)
February 1 Calgary 4, @ Dallas 3
April 21 Dallas 2, @ Calgary 4
Toronto split with Tampa Bay 2-2 in the regular season.
November 4 Tampa Bay 1, @ Toronto 2 (OT)
December 9 Tampa Bay 5, @ Toronto 3
April 4 Toronto 6, @ Tampa Bay 2
April 21 Toronto 1, @ Tampa Bay 8
Edmonton went 3-1 against Los Angeles in the regular season.
December 5 Los Angeles 5, @ Edmonton 1
February 15 Edmonton 5, @ Los Angeles 2
March 30 Los Angeles 3, @ Edmonton 4 (SO)
April 7 Edmonton 3, @ Los Angeles 2
This Rogers Sportsnet graphic is a year old or maybe longer. We will run this every year until the Toronto Maple Leafs win a playoff series.
Every Canadian NHL team has won several playoff series since the Maple Leafs won one. The Ottawa Senators won 2 series in the same postseason not that long ago, when Erik Karlsson was on the squad.
Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Montréal have played for the Stanley Cup since Toronto won a playoff series. Winnipeg played for a conference title in 2018.
Last year, we reported that Auston Matthews was 6 the last time Toronto won a playoff series. Matthews is a year older as we all are.
A mixed sports analogy: the Cincinnati Bengals hadn't won a NFL playoff game in over 30 years. The Bengals snapped a few streaks early in 2022 and made it to the Super Bowl. Maybe the Maple Leafs can take some inspiration, though the Bengals lost the Super Bowl.
The Maple Leafs had 115 points this season, a new franchise record. Regular season is nice but postseason is what matters.
Sorry, Leafs fans. Win a series. We will be thrilled when you prove us wrong.
NHL notebook: Wrapping up the end of the 2022 regular season
Where the NHL Canadian teams stand in the Stanley Cup playoffs chase
How to consume NHL trade deadline coverage on the U.S. side
The Rogers Sportsnet pattern is pretty much set for the opening round. Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson (Kyle Bukauskas and Shawn McKenzie) will have the Maple Leafs series. John Bartlett and Garry Galley (Caroline Cameron) will cover U.S. games in the East for CBC, likely from the Toronto studios.
Harnarayan Singh and Louie DeBrusk (Scott Oake) will cover the Edmonton Oilers. Rick Ball and Greg Millen (Ryan Leslie) will cover the Calgary Flames. Cassie Campbell-Pascall is working the first round for ESPN.
Sportsnet will pick up simsubs from local feeds or U.S. national feeds but must produce games that air on CBC. Ice level reporters are in parentheses.
John Shorthouse and John Garrett (Vancouver) will be on standby if there are health-related issues.
Games on Sportsnet can be streamed in Canada via SNnow.ca.
Hometown Hockey is touring through Alberta with Stanley Cup Playoffs viewing parties. Both Edmonton and Calgary are in the playoffs.
The list of gatherings so far: Spruce Grove (May 2); Leduc (May 4); Cochrane (May 7); Chestermere (May 9); and Okotoks (May 11). Like the HH gatherings this season, admission is free but you have to reserve a ticket.
This could get fun if the Alberta teams meet in Round 2 and Rogers continues these gatherings.
We should give an award to the best Canadian NHL team each season
Here is the CBC schedule for the Canadians and those in the States with a CBC feed. This schedule will be updated as needed in the opening round.
CBC won't carry any NHL games on the night of May 15 since the 2022 Junos with host Simu Liu will be on that night on CBC. A potential Calgary Game 7 would be on that day.
Games on CBC can be streamed in Canada via cbcsports.ca.
May 2 Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7:30p
May 2 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p
May 3 Pittsburgh @ NY Rangers, 7p
May 3 Dallas @ Calgary, 10p
May 4 Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7:30p
May 4 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p
May 5 Pittsburgh @ NY Rangers, 7p
May 5 Dallas @ Calgary, 10p
May 6 Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 7:30p
May 6 Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 10p
May 7 NY Rangers @ Pittsburgh, 7p
May 7 Calgary @ Dallas, 9:30p
May 8 Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 7p
May 8 Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 10p
May 9 NY Rangers @ Pittsburgh, 7p
May 9 Calgary @ Dallas, 9:30p
May 10 Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7:30p
May 10 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p
May 11 Pittsburgh @ NY Rangers, 7p
May 11 Dallas @ Calgary, 9:30p
May 12 Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 7:30p
May 12 Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 10p
May 13 NY Rangers @ Pittsburgh, 7p
May 13 Calgary @ Dallas, 9:30p
May 14 Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7p
May 14 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p
U.S. viewers in Detroit, Buffalo, Seattle, and other markets get a great option, even for select U.S. games.
Tracking the NHL 2021 media changes
Our guide to the NHL Canadian teams coverage
We had a bit of fun with this Sobey's Safeway ad in 2019 as part of our quest to showcase quirky Canadian advertising. To our knowledge, this is as close as they have been to working together.
Thanks to ESPN, Gord Miller and Cassie Campbell-Pascall will call the first 2 games of the Edmonton series. Miller is also calling Game 1 of the Calgary series with Dominic Moore.
Miller won't be around for long since he is covering the 2022 IIHF World Championship from May 13-29 in Tampere and Helsinki for TSN.
ESPN is not putting Campbell-Pascall on the Calgary series, at least for Game 1. We don't know if that is because she covers the Flames or that her husband works for the Flames or both.
ESPN and TNT are splitting the first round based on nights and availability.
ESPN produced games also run on ESPN2. TNT produced games also run on TBS. NHL Network might be used for extra games or overruns. At this point, ESPNU (primarily) and ESPNEWS will capture overflow as will TruTV and HLN (Turner). New U.S. TV contract, new rules.
Though you could check out our guide to U.S. TV coverage, you can get ESPN/ESPN2 updates and TNT/TBS updates straight from their corporate PR departments.
We don't consider whether a game is on ESPN vs. ESPN2 or TNT vs. TBS to be anything more than a nuance.
This schedule will be updated for all opening round games.
May 2 Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7:30p John Buccigross/AJ Mleczko/Caley Chelios ESPN2
May 2 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p Gord Miller/Cassie Campbell-Pascall ESPN2
May 3 Dallas @ Calgary, 10p Gord Miller/Dominic Moore ESPN2
May 4 Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7:30p John Buccigross/AJ Mleczko/Caley Chelios ESPN2
May 4 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p Gord Miller/Cassie Campbell-Pascall ESPN2
May 5 Dallas @ Calgary, 10p Dave Goucher/Drew Remenda/Meaghan Mikkelson/Erika Wachter TBS
May 6 Toronto @ Tampa, 7:30p Brendan Burke/Butch Goring/Jennifer Botterill/Julie Stewart-Binks TBS
May 6 Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 10p Randy Hahn/Bret Hedican/Mike McKenna/Alyson Lozoff TBS
May 7 Calgary @ Dallas, 9:30p Brendan Burke/Darren Pang/Butch Goring/Erika Wachter TNT
May 8 Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 7p John Forslund/Eddie Olcyzk/Keith Jones/Julie Stewart-Binks TBS
May 8 Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 10p Randy Hahn/Bret Hedican/Darren Eliot/Alyson Lozoff TBS
May 9 Calgary @ Dallas, 9:30p Brendan Burke/Darren Pang/Butch Goring/Erika Wachter TBS
May 10 Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7:30p John Buccigross/Ryan Callahan/Caley Chelios ESPN2
May 10 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p Leah Hextall/Dominic Moore ESPN2
May 11 Dallas @ Calgary, 9:30p Leah Hextall/Dominic Moore ESPN
May 12 Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 7:30p John Forslund/Keith Jones/Colby Armstrong TBS
May 12 Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 10p Randy Hahn/Bret Hedican/Darren Eliot/Alyson Lozoff TBS
May 13 Calgary @ Dallas, 9:30p Brendan Burke/Shane Hnidy/Darren Pang/Erika Wachter TNT
May 14 Tampa Bay @ Toronto, 7p Kenny Albert/Eddie Olczyk/Keith Jones/Nabil Karim TNT
May 14 Los Angeles @ Edmonton, 10p Bob Wischusen/Brian Boucher/Leah Hextall ESPN
May 15 Dallas @ Calgary, 9:30p Bob Wischusen/Brian Boucher/Leah Hextall ESPN2
2018 Stanley Cup notebook: Winnipeg Jets thrown off by Minnesota blizzard
As we noted, Gord Miller will call the 2022 IIHF World Championship from May 13-29 in Tampere and Helsinki on TSN. Miller will work with Mike Johnson since Ray Ferraro is working the Stanley Cup playoffs for ESPN. The NHL Network will pick up the TSN feed in the United States.
Our favourite Stanley Cup playoffs moment off the ice in recent memory is Miller's journey to get to St. Paul for a Jets playoff game in 2018.
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
If you are relatively new to the NHL, playoff hockey is a very different sport than the hockey you see from October to April. Play is filled with lots of unnecessary violence since referees get strangely peculiar on when (if) penalties are called. Toronto Coach Sheldon Keefe used the phrase "borderline violent" to refer to the opening round series. This might be an understatement.
Any strategy involving creative offence is useless in the playoffs. This is a disadvantage to teams such as the Maple Leafs. Teams that are fun to watch in the regular season suddenly aren't fun.
We cover hockey but we absolutely vehemently hate playoff hockey. Boring, stupid, and the opposite of interesting. Also, there is a general bias against Canadian teams in penalties and cheap hits resulting in major injuries.
Whatever one might think of the 16 teams in the playoffs, most of the hockey world (not Nevada or Gary Bettman) are thrilled that Las Vegas isn't one of those teams.
photo credits: NHL; Rogers Sportsnet; NHL; Rogers Sportsnet; Sobey's/Safeway
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