STANLEY CUP UPDATES

What The Puck?!

Written by Chase Howard

Photo from Adam Glanzman/Getty Images

1st Branch Honda

Colorado Avalanche vs Vegas Golden Knights

This was a confusing series and has to sting for the Avalanche almost as much as it is sweet for the Golden Knights. To start the Avalanche jumped out to a convincing two-to-nothing lead after dominating game 1 and pulling out game two despite the Golden Knights outplaying them for large stretches and almost outshooting them by double. In those first two games, the Avalanche managed ten goals then only eight in the remaining four. This is the team that led to the regular season in both points and goals scored on their way to a President’s trophy. Huge respect to Vegas for winning this series as they did not let the manhandling they experienced in game one, or the tight game two loss that seemed to be there for the taking get to them. They stayed confident, composed, and in control on the way to four straight victories. Game three felt a lot like game two except in the last five minutes Vegas refused to quit and put two to the net in less than a minute to secure the win and keep themselves off the executioner's block. The next thing you knew the Avalanche fell off a cliff and the Golden Knights only shined brighter, the series was 3-2 Vegas. Soon it was all over and Vegas became just the third team to make the final four in three of its first four seasons.

What makes this even more impressive is the other two teams, The New York Rangers and the St Louis Blues did it quite differently. The New York Rangers did it in each of their first four seasons, from 1926-30, but the NHL had 10 teams and the playoffs did not even remotely resemble the physical free for we have now. The St. Louis Blues did it in each of their first three, from 1967-70, but that was when the NHL expanded from six to 12 teams, and the format at the time guaranteed an expansion team would make the Stanley Cup Final. The Golden Knights sure have had some nice breaks but they entered a 30 team NHL where parity is paramount.

• Final record Knights in 6

• Original Prediction Avalanche in 6

2nd Branch Discover

Carolina Hurricanes Vs Tampa Bay Lighting

Not to discredit the high-quality play and coaching of the Lighting organization but the biggest wounds to the Hurricanes in this series were self-inflicted. Firstly key forward injures to Hurricanes top-six forwards, Nino Neiderieter missed the first four games, Vincent Trochek missed part of game two then all of three and four before returning for game five, despite their returns both forwards seemed less than 100%. On top of this Warren Foegele was injured in game three and after trying to play through in-game four sat out game five; however, injuries happen and are not the fault of the Hurricanes. However, the stagnant offense and persistent poor penalties are the faults of the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes managed only nine goals in the five-game series scoring one goal or less in three games.

The Lighting took advantage of this finishing the series 7-for-16 with the extra man (46.7 percent). Not that the Lighting slacked on defense especially when the chips were down, look no further than the 22 blocked shots by the Lighting in the series-clinching game five wins. Interesting note after the series Hurricanes defenseman Dougie Hamilton lamented the Tampa is “18 million over the cap”. This is due to Nikita Kucherov missing the regular season allowing him to be put on long-term IR; this cleared almost 10 Million in cap room for the season. Then Kucherov was activated for the playoffs without penalty due to the cap no longer applying in the playoffs. “I didn’t make the rules, I didn’t do anything on purpose said the seemingly annoyed Kucherov. Well I don’t blame Kucherov or the Lighting it must be frustrated for the Hurricanes, if not for this cap alleviation the Lighting likely loses a valuable player such as Alex Kilorn or spend solid assets shedding fourth-liner Tyler Hihnsos five million caps.

• Final record Lighting in 5

• Original Prediction Hurricanes in 7

3rd Branch Scotia

Winnipeg Jets vs Montreal Canadiens

Who saw this coming especially to this degree? In the first period of game two, I started to get quite concerned as the Jets looked frustrated and frazzled well the Canadiens looked cool and collected. No stat demonstrates what happened in the series more than the fact that Montreal never trailed on the score sheet, not even for a moment. Yes, you read the right throughout the entirety of this series Montreal never trailed Winnipeg meaning they scored first every game and never looked back. In this series, the Jets were only able to manage six goals and consistently lost the time of possession battle. Perhaps Jets Captain Blake Wheeler put it best “They're playing at a really high level right now, you just have to give them all the credit. He specifically highlighted the goaltending saying “With the goaltending they have, any breakdowns, he's(Price) putting out those fires. And we just couldn't get the first goal. We just couldn't do it all series. That plays right into their hands.” Wheeler is dead on the Jets played right into the Canadiens' hands letting them execute their game plan, if Montreal can get Tampa to do the same I'll be very impressed.

• Final record Canadiens in 4

• Original Prediction Jets in 7

4th Branch MassMutual

Boston Bruins Vs NY Islanders

I will admit this was not my round for predictions. I was surprised by a lot of the play in this round, particularly by the Canadiens and the Golden Knights but the Islanders came out and did what I thought they would, maybe more. The Isles controlled the series by controlling the puck and frustrating the Bruins with their clever and seemingly constant defensive pressures. The Islanders should be specifically proud of their play in this postseason and the moves they made to allow for it. Deadline acquisitions Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmeri played large roles in the playoffs so far, both scoring in the series-clinching game six. The Islanders gave up forwards A.J. Greer and Mason Jobst, a first-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft and a fourth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft in the trade, but the value is looking good so far. On that note this is becoming a trend as last season, they acquired Jean Gabriel Pageau from the Ottawa Senators and defenseman Andy Greene from the Devils. Pageau leads New York with 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in 12 playoff games this season after scoring 11 points (eight goals, three assists) in 22 games last postseason. Greene has been a steadying presence on the blueline and penalty kill while averaging 18:18 in ice time in 12 playoff games. Now the Islanders are on to the Tampa Bay Lighting. Although the Islanders and Lightning didn't play each other during the regular season with no games outside the divisions due to the coronavirus pandemic, they know each other well. New York has 19 players remaining and Tampa Bay has 18 who played at least one game in the semi-final last year between these clubs.

• Final record Islanders in 6

• Original Prediction Islanders in 7

Quick Hits

• Brad Larsen was hired this week as coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Larsen, who turns 44 on June 28, replaces John Tortorella after the Blue Jackets announced May 9 he would not return after six seasons. Larsen was an assistant under Tortorella and Todd Richards for seven seasons and coached Springfield of the American Hockey League from 2012-14. The Contract Larsen signed was for a three-years. Larsen who played eight seasons in the NHL split between the Atlanta Thrashers and the Colorado Avalanche had this to say “I've been extremely proud to be a Columbus Blue Jacket and be part of this wonderful community for the past seven years, and I am humbled and honoured to be the head coach of this hockey club,” Congratulations Mr. Larsen good luck on the new gig.

• Looking forward to the semi-finals, which will arrive June 13th starting with Islander @ Lighting 3 pm Est. At this point, we all know it is going to be tough talented hockey so let's quickly take a look at each series

A- Vegas Golden Knights vs Montreal Canadiens

Well, this is bound to be a physical series and is likely to be dictated by who controls the neutral zone. It seems going into that the Vegas Golden Knights have an advantage based on their impressive play so far in the postseason and incredibly advanced metrics such as finishing with the highest SRS on the season. Montreal has proved to be more than comfortable as the underdog and not willing to go down without a fight if they continue to control the start of games and get on the board first as they did against the Jets they might give Vegas a lot more trouble than they bargained for.

• Official Prediction Vegas in 6

B- Tampa Bay Lightning vs NY Islanders

Oh man, here we go nice little rematch of last year's semi-final. While there is a part of me that is never quite thrilled to see the same stuff year after year this did indeed intrigues me because you could tell the Islanders want a second chance at this matchup and both teams are a little different from last year especially with the notable deadline acquisitions of the Islanders addressed above. Tampa however seems to have hit their stride at just the right time. They finally have a fully healthy team and are possibly playing better than they were last year when they won the Stanley Cup. Nikita Kucherov who returned just in time for the playoffs leads all players in scoring with 18 points. I'm having a really tough time picking this series. I think it's going to go down to the wire.

• Official Prediction Islanders Lighting in 7