Wyshynski - Picks for every series in the Stanley Cup playoffs bracket

Before I reveal every series winner in the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs and the exact number of games in which the series will be won, I'd like to just offer a small reminder to establish a baseline for your expectations:

I picked the New York Islanders to win the Cup before the season.

But that was before the season. Now I have 82 games of data, observation and results on each team to rely on for my prognostications, rather than just vibes. Although, in fairness, sometimes vibes work too.

The brackets are set, and so are the rosters. The 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs commence beginning Monday night, with June 30 as the last possible day for the Cup to be raised. Who will win? Who will lose? Who will shock the hockey world, either in victory or in defeat?

Here is how the Stanley Cup playoffs will play out, from the opening round through the last game of the Final. I apologize in advance for spoiling the next two months for you, as obviously all of this is going to happen exactly to script.

Jump ahead:East: 1st | 2ndConference finalsWest: 1st | 2ndConference finalsStanley Cup Final

It's a tribute to the Bruins' postseason prowess that they had two possible first-round opponents on Friday night both screaming at the heavens, «Please… not Boston again!»

The Maple Leafs avoided their tormentors, but the Hurricanes were not so lucky. The Bruins eliminated Carolina in two of the past three postseasons, winning 4-0 in 2018-19 and 4-1 in 2019-20. (The Hurricanes earned a brief reprieve when the teams were separated in last season's COVID-necessitated realignment.)

Those Bruins aren't these Bruins. Gone are names like David Krejci, Tuukka Rask, Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara. But seeing David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and