It's a rare thing when the incumbent Cup winner meets a playoff debuttante. First of all, because not many times we have a playoff debuttante. But this year we are having the fourth occurrence of such a pairing since the Original Six expansion in 1967/68.
In the first three encounters the underdogs had nothing to write home about:
1980: Incumbent MTL won vs. Debuttante HFD in 3
1983: Incumbent NYI won vs. Debuttante WSH in 4
2009: Incumbent DET won vs. Debuttante CBJ in 4
For the sake of due diligence I'll note that the Capitals did win ONE game against the Islanders, since the first round was back then still best of 5. And the Whalers were debuttantes in the same way Sergei Makarov was a rookie when he won the Calder Trophy.
But still, this season the Kraken, defying history, have pushed the defending Stanley Cup Champions to the brink of elimination!
GAME 5 - Cape Breton Eagles @ Baie-Comeau Drakkar - Baie-Comeau Drakkar leads series 3-1Wagers: 2Staked: $75.00Event closes
Game 3 Rochester Americans @ Syracuse Crunch - Series tied 1-1Wagers: 3Staked: $535.00Event closes