NHL playoff recap

Every year, hockey fans from all over the country look forward to National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs. The NHL playoffs are known for exciting, fast-paced play. Playoff teams enhance their style of play and strategy after the regular season, particularly on the offensive front. The playoff series is best of seven games, which makes every game crucial to get the win.

AHS Junior, Dominic Lanese watches almost every playoff game and can see the transition in the style of play the teams use after the regular season.

“I love watching playoff hockey. The first round of this year’s playoffs was insane. There are so many crazy things that happen throughout each game. You don’t even have to play hockey for it to entertain you for hours,” Lanese said. “Its super cool to pick a team and see how they do and how far they make it through the post-season.”

There are four different divisions in the NHL that teams compete in, based off of where they play. The Tampa Bay Lighting are the top seed in the Atlantic division; the Washington Capitals lead the Metropolitan division, the Nashville Predators are first in the Central division, as well as the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the Pacific division.

AHS senior, RJ Peshek roots for the Golden Knights to bring the Stanley Cup back to Las Vegas, for the first time.

“I’m a huge Golden Knights fan. They’re a new team as of this year, but they have a plethora of great players, as well as a great coaching staff. I didn’t want them to win at first, but I think it would be cool for a first-year team to win it all,” Peshek said. “I never really watched hockey on TV until this year because I thought playing it was a lot more fun. It’s astonishing to see the level of talent displayed by players in the NHL. It’s also super exciting to see your team go far into the playoffs.”

The NHL playoffs only come around for about two months a year, so don’t miss it. You don’t need to like, or even play hockey to have fun watching it. Even if you don’t know the sport that well, the athleticism of the players is remarkable to see.