2023 NHL Playoff Bracket and Results: Vegas Wins the Cup

The completed 2023 bracket at a glance

The Vegas Golden Knights won the 2023 Stanley Cup, defeating the Florida Panthers four games to one in the Final. The postseason began on April 17 and ended on June 13, 2023. Vegas completed four series victories against Winnipeg, Edmonton, Dallas and Florida to secure the first championship in franchise history.

This is the completed bracket for the 2022-23 NHL season. The calendar-year label matters: a page describing the 2023-24 season belongs to the 2024 playoffs, even if a search engine places it beside these results. All outcomes below are historical results. For the present slate, use today's NHL games.

A series result such as 4-2 means four game wins against two, rather than the score of the deciding game. Every round was best of seven, so a club advanced by winning four games. Eight first-round series became four second-round series, two conference finals and one Stanley Cup Final. That produced fifteen series overall and required sixteen playoff wins from the eventual champion.

Why Florida stayed in Boston's bracket lane

The Panthers entered as the Eastern Conference's second wild card. Their first opponent was Boston, the Atlantic Division winner with the conference's best record. The other Atlantic lane matched Toronto and Tampa Bay. Once Florida eliminated Boston, the Panthers inherited the route to the winner of Toronto-Tampa Bay; they were not assigned a new opponent according to the records of the remaining Eastern teams.

That distinction explains the whole chart. The bracket was fixed, while the identity of the survivor changed. Carolina and New Jersey occupied the other Eastern second-round matchup; Vegas-Edmonton and Dallas-Seattle formed the Western side. Our playoff-format guide explains the mechanics, and the playoff-standings guide explains how teams earned their original places.

Reading the tournament in this order keeps two different questions clear: the regular season established the opening assignments and home ice, while the playoff games determined which team advanced along each established route. A wild-card entry could therefore reach the Final without ever becoming a newly numbered top seed.

Eastern Conference first-round results

Matchup	Series winner	Result
Boston Bruins vs. Florida Panthers	Florida	4-3
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Tampa Bay Lightning	Toronto	4-2
Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Islanders	Carolina	4-2
New Jersey Devils vs. New York Rangers	New Jersey	4-3

The Eastern opening round removed both Boston and Tampa Bay before the tournament reached May's later rounds. The result was an unusually open route for the survivors: the regular-season benchmark was gone, and the team that had reached the previous three Stanley Cup Finals was gone too. Yet the two surviving Metropolitan clubs followed their original bracket positions, with division winner Carolina and second-place New Jersey meeting next.

Florida ends Boston's record-setting season

Florida's 4-3 victory against Boston was the bracket's most consequential opening upset. Boston had finished with 64 wins and 135 points, but the Panthers recovered from a 3-1 series deficit. They won three consecutive elimination games, including the seventh game in Boston. That sequence matters more than simply marking Florida as the winner: the Panthers were one loss from elimination repeatedly before beginning a run that ultimately reached the Final.

Game 7 ended 4-3 in overtime on April 30. Carter Verhaeghe supplied the deciding goal. For anyone reconstructing an old prediction bracket, Florida's advance needs to be marked through the Boston slot, followed by the Toronto matchup. A regular-season standings table cannot reproduce that route by simply sorting the remaining clubs.

The series also illustrates a limitation of retrospectively calling the champion's path inevitable. Florida's later success did not make the Boston matchup comfortable. Surviving three elimination games was a very different task from controlling an opening series from the start, and the final 4-3 line preserves that tension.

Toronto, Carolina and New Jersey advance

Toronto defeated Tampa Bay 4-2. John Tavares scored in overtime in the 2-1 Game 6 victory, completing the Maple Leafs' first series win since 2004. Their reward was Florida, rather than a scheduled rematch with Boston. Toronto's achievement and the Panthers' upset therefore converged on the same second-round lane.

Carolina also advanced in six games, beating the Islanders 4-2. The clincher was another 2-1 overtime game, with Paul Stastny scoring the winner. The identical series lengths do not imply identical matchups: Carolina was a division winner protecting its route, while Toronto was trying to break through against an opponent with an extensive recent postseason record.

New Jersey needed seven games against the Rangers and overcame an 0-2 start. Akira Schmid's shutout helped finish the deciding game 4-0. The Devils' recovery is easy to overlook beside Florida's larger upset, but it supplied the other Eastern comeback from a serious early deficit. The four survivors had earned sixteen combined game wins; their different paths to those wins set up a second round with two entirely different stories.

Western Conference first-round results

Matchup	Series winner	Result
Colorado Avalanche vs. Seattle Kraken	Seattle	4-3
Dallas Stars vs. Minnesota Wild	Dallas	4-2
Vegas Golden Knights vs. Winnipeg Jets	Vegas	4-1
Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings	Edmonton	4-2

Seattle supplied the Western counterpart to Florida's opening upset. The Kraken defeated defending champion Colorado in seven games, with Oliver Bjorkstrand scoring both Seattle goals in a 2-1 deciding victory. An expansion club's first playoff appearance ended the reigning champion's title defense. It also changed the Central bracket lane: Dallas would face Seattle, even though the Kraken normally belonged to the Pacific Division.

That crossover is an especially useful detail when drawing the bracket by hand. Put Seattle beneath Colorado's original position and connect the survivor to Dallas-Minnesota. Moving Seattle toward Vegas because of division membership would produce a second-round matchup that never happened. The opening wild-card assignment had already fixed Seattle's route.

Dallas defeated Minnesota 4-2 and closed the series with a 4-1 Game 6 win. The Stars avoided a seventh game and progressed into a matchup with the Kraken. Both clubs had won away from home to finish their opening series, but Seattle had needed an additional game to advance.

Vegas beat Winnipeg 4-1, the shortest Western first-round series. The Golden Knights could move directly toward their Edmonton matchup while the other side of the conference still had a Game 7 to resolve. That does not establish that rest caused later victories; it simply shows that the eventual champion's opening workload was smaller than Seattle's.

Edmonton eliminated Los Angeles 4-2, winning the sixth game 5-4 with Kailer Yamamoto supplying the late deciding goal. The Oilers then encountered the Pacific's division winner, Vegas. A series win against the Kings did not alter Edmonton's lane or bring a fresh draw against the conference's weakest surviving regular-season record.

By the end of the round, the Western field contained two division runners-up, one division winner and a wild card. The mix is a reminder that a bracket is both a record of achievement and a record of opportunity. Each surviving club had won four games; the opponents it could face next had been established before the opening puck drop. For current club names and division membership, consult the NHL team directory.

Second-round results and the final four

The second round produced Florida-Carolina in the East and Vegas-Dallas in the West. No new draw was required. The eight opening winners moved along their existing lanes, and four more series reduced the field to the final four clubs.

Florida and Carolina emerge in the East

Florida defeated Toronto 4-1, and Carolina beat New Jersey by the same series score. Both Eastern survivors therefore finished their second-round work in five games. Florida had taken seven games to escape Boston; against Toronto, the Panthers advanced with two fewer games, showing why a club's first-round difficulty cannot be projected unchanged onto its next matchup.

The Panthers closed Toronto out with a 3-2 overtime victory in Game 5. Carolina's clincher against New Jersey also finished 3-2 in overtime. Those narrow deciding scores are useful companions to the 4-1 series totals. A five-game result records who collected four wins first, but it does not show how close the decisive evenings were.

For Toronto and New Jersey, winning the first round remained a meaningful achievement, yet neither team reached the conference final. An accurate historical bracket needs both facts. Stopping at the opening breakthrough would exaggerate the depth of their runs; dismissing those victories because of the next round would erase what they actually accomplished.

Vegas and Dallas advance in the West

Vegas defeated Edmonton 4-2. Combined with the five-game Winnipeg series, that put the Golden Knights through the first two rounds in eleven games. Their next opponent, Dallas, needed the full seven games against Seattle after taking six to beat Minnesota. Dallas therefore arrived at the conference final with thirteen games played.

The Stars closed out Seattle 2-1 in Game 7. Seattle's first postseason ended one win short of the conference final after two successive seven-game series. The Kraken had already eliminated the defending champion; Dallas then prevented that breakthrough from becoming an even deeper run.

For a replay itinerary, these four series create two distinct viewing paths: Florida and Carolina's short second rounds, and the longer Western tests culminating in Dallas-Seattle's decider. The extra games describe the workload, rather than proving a particular fitness advantage. The next series still began at 0-0, and each team needed four new victories to reach the Final.

Conference finals: Florida sweeps and Vegas finishes Dallas

Florida won the Eastern Conference Final 4-0 against Carolina. Vegas took the Western Conference Final 4-2 against Dallas. Those results gave each finalist twelve playoff victories and left both clubs four wins from a first Stanley Cup championship.

The Panthers' sweep looks emphatic on a bracket, but all four games were decided by one goal. Florida won the opener 3-2 in four overtimes, followed by 2-1 in overtime, 1-0 and 4-3. The distinction between series margin and game margin is essential here. Carolina did not collect a game win; nevertheless, a single goal separated the teams on each completed night.

For a fan choosing a historical replay, the first game demands special planning. Four overtime periods made it dramatically longer than a normal evening's game. For someone filling in a results chart, however, it contributed exactly one victory, just as the 1-0 third game did. The playoff system rewards game wins rather than total goals or minutes spent ahead.

Vegas established a 3-0 lead against Dallas, then lost Games 4 and 5 before closing with a 6-0 Game 6 victory. Dallas's two wins extended the series but did not force a seventh game. The Golden Knights advanced without facing elimination in that round, in contrast with the situations Florida had survived against Boston a month earlier.

The contrast also sharpens the meaning of a sweep. Florida collected four wins without a loss despite four narrow finishes. Vegas lost twice but ended its series with a six-goal margin. Neither the last score alone nor the overall series score alone tells the entire competitive story. Reading both levels gives a more useful historical account.

The conference finals also completed the two routes into the championship series. Florida had eliminated Boston, Toronto and Carolina; Vegas had eliminated Winnipeg, Edmonton and Dallas. These paths identify the actual opponents, whereas an overall ranking of the league would not. The Final brought the two surviving routes together for the first time.

Stanley Cup Final: how Vegas won its first championship

Vegas defeated Florida 4-1 in the Stanley Cup Final, completing the tournament on June 13. The championship series began on June 3, after both conference champions had been decided. Vegas hosted Games 1 and 2, Florida hosted Games 3 and 4, and the teams returned to Nevada for Game 5.

The five-game Final

Game	Date	Result
1	June 3	Vegas 5, Florida 2
2	June 5	Vegas 7, Florida 2
3	June 8	Florida 3, Vegas 2, overtime
4	June 10	Vegas 3, Florida 2
5	June 13	Vegas 9, Florida 3

The first two games gave Vegas a 2-0 lead. Florida then won Game 3 in overtime, preventing a sweep and ensuring the series would return to Vegas. The Golden Knights answered in Game 4 to move within one victory of the championship, then settled it in the fifth game. Games 6 and 7 were unnecessary; dates once listed for those possibilities should not be mistaken for games that actually took place.

The 9-3 clincher gave Vegas a decisive final evening. Mark Stone recorded a hat trick, and Jonathan Marchessault received the Conn Smythe Trophy. The game score and series score answer different questions: 9-3 describes the championship-clinching game, while 4-1 describes the five-game contest between the finalists.

Home ice also needs to be read as a venue advantage rather than a guarantee. Vegas won all three of its home games in the Final, but the bracket did not award those wins in advance. Florida's Game 3 victory counted just as much as either early Vegas victory, even though it required overtime rather than a large scoring margin.

What the finished bracket tells us

Vegas's complete path was Winnipeg 4-1, Edmonton 4-2, Dallas 4-2 and Florida 4-1. Adding the game counts gives twenty-two playoff appearances and a 16-6 record. Each series supplied four wins, while the six defeats were distributed across four opponents. The champion never needed a seventh game during the run.

Florida's path was Boston 4-3, Toronto 4-1, Carolina 4-0 and a 1-4 loss to Vegas. The Panthers played twenty-one games and finished 13-8. Their first three series supplied twelve wins; the Final added only one. That explains how the runner-up could play fewer games than the champion despite beginning with a seven-game opening series.

For historical comparison, keep the entire route visible. Vegas's first championship included two six-game middle rounds, while Florida's Final appearance included an elimination-game comeback and a conference-final sweep. Those details distinguish the 2023 tournament far more accurately than a champion's name alone.