Home teams 2-6 in Stanley Cup Playoffs, marks worst start in 20 years

Home ice was not so nice in the first two days of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Home teams went 2-6 in series openers — marking the worst record for higher-seeded squads to open the playoffs in 20 years.

In 2003, home teams lost seven of eight series openers.

The only home team to win its opener that year was the New Jersey Devils, who went on to capture the Stanley Cup in Game 7 over a heavy underdog — the Western Conference’s seventh-seeded Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

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Five of the seven home losers in the 2003 openers came back to advance to the second round.

This year, the Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes triumphed at home in the first two games of the playoffs before six consecutive road teams won.

Upsets, of course, can come in many forms during the playoffs.

Just four years ago, all four division winners lost in the first round.

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