Our Stanley Cup Final matchup between the Bolts and the Avs is set but how did these teams get to the big stage? The Avs faced Connor McDavid, Roman Josi, and Ryan O’ Reilly while the Lightning faced Auston Matthews, their rivals the Panthers, and a gritty New York Rangers team.
The Avalanche’s road to the Final might have looked easy but in truth, they played some outstanding teams. Nashville was a good team but the Avs played to their strengths and ended up sweeping the Preds. The power play was fantastic in that series and they just completely dominated the ice.
I felt the next round got a bit trickier. They won that series because they had depth on their roster. J.T Compher scored 2 of the 3 goals in Game 6 and Darren Helm scored the game winning series goal with 5 seconds left in the period. When the top stars weren’t on the scoresheet, the secondary scoring really showed up. I feel like the Avs might have got off the hook a little bit. The Jordan Binnington injury was unfortunate but it significantly helped the Avs. Ville Husso is an extremely good goalie but Binnington was just on another level as of that time. He denied so many goals and made some jaw dropping saves that Husso couldn’t come up with. That was definitely the turning point of the series. Nevertheless, I think that the Avs did a really good job in that series to take care of a very talented opponent.
In the Western Conference Finals, the Avalanche played the Edmonton Oilers. The first game was just crazy but the Avs did a good job toning it down for the next 3 games. What I liked well that they did was playing physical on McDavid and Draisaitl which forced them to give up the puck. They took away their time and space which caused them to dump the puck in and chase. Once again, the depth really showed up for the Avs. Compher continued to score some crucial goals including the 3rd goal in Game 3. This team’s playoff slogan is “Find A Way”, they certainly did that in this series. They won multiple games without Kadri, Cogliano, and Darcy Kuemper. Pavel Francouz, the backup goalie, did an amazing job and even though he gave up some soft goals, he fought through to get 3 wins. Even though it was a 4 game sweep, this series was a hard fought, closely contested series which could have gone either way.
The Bolts 1st series might have been their toughest one so far. In the Maple Leaf series, they had to fight through some tough games and eventually got the 4th win in 7 games. In the close games, they limited space for the Leafs and didn’t allow them many chances. Vasilevskiy was fantastic in Game 7 and he saved 30 out of the 31 shots that came in his way. Toronto was a challenge but the back to back Cup champions found a way to get the job done.
Next up for the Lightning was the battle of Florida. The way they took care of the Panthers in that series was unbelievable. They made this series boring which did not suit the Panthers. Tampa limited the Panthers to 3 goals in 4 games which just shows how good they were structured defensively. Tampa slowed Andrew Brunette’s team down and won the close games. This was the total opposite of last year’s series. This one was low scoring, tight, and Tampa Bay dominated. Jon Cooper’s team did an excellent job to sweep the President Trophy winners.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Lightning played the battered and bruised New York Rangers. In the first two games, the Lightning looked rusty but after that, they activated. They found a way to get past Shesterkin and played harder. The Rangers had played two 7 game series before this so they were probably feeling the tiredness at this point. The Bolts took advantage and for the 3rd time in a row, they lifted the Prince of Wales Trophy.
The road to the Stanley Cup Final wasn’t easy for the Avs or the Bolts. Now, they’ll play for the ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup which so many greats have their names engraved on. Which team can grind through and win 4 more games?
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