Wednesday, June 01, 2022

Down To The Final Four: Who Will Advance To the Final?


 We are now down to the final four teams left to compete for the 2022 Stanley Cup! The defending Cup champion, Tampa Bay Lightning will face-off against the New York Rangers in the Eastern final, while the Colorado Avalanche will battle Canada's last hope, the Edmonton Oilers in the West final.
 

  • Lightning vs Rangers: Tampa Bay beat the Florida Panthers in a stunning sweep in 4 games. It seemed to be over before it started, as the top scoring team in the league crumbled and folded so easily the Lightning haven't played since May 23, over a week ago. They should be rested and ready for the Rangers, who just finished a 7 game series for the second time this playoffs. The players to watch in this series will be the Russians, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Nikita Kucherov, Igor Shesterkin and Artemi Panarin. Vasilesvskiy and Shesterkin have been the best goalies so far in the playoffs! For the Rangers to have a chance, Shesterkin has to flawless, because the Rangers can't score a lot of goals. Kusherov is the top scorer in the East and has raised his game further with the loss of Point. So far, Panarin hasn't been a factor, so he has to elevate and contribute more offensively. He's not known as great playoff performer. Compared to the series in the West, this will be a low scoring series and don't be surprised if there are a few shutouts and overtimes.
Lightning in 6 games 

  • Oilers vs Avalanche: This is billed as the McDavid/MacKinnon showdown, but in reality the key will be who's supporting cast will perform better. The Oiler's have no Russians so, Leon Draisaitl who is point-for-point with McD for the playoff scoring lead, will need to continue to be McDavids's wing-man. Evander Kane has 11 goals in 11 games and Zach Hyman surprisingly has 9 goals, so far in the playoffs. For the Avs, Cale Makar has 13 points in 10 games, while Rantanen and Landeskog each are over a point a game pace. Goaltending could be a factor because as usual, Mike Smith has been hot or cold (which he has shown game-to-game) and Darcy Kuemper might not be fully healed from the injury in sustained in the Nashville series. (Full disclosure: I did just watch the game one, 8-6 score-fest, so I'm writing this as if I wrote it before the game) Yes, Kuemper might be out for a while with his mystery ailment, so this could be an even bigger factor...or not? So far, the series has delivered on the promise of a lot of goals. This is the series to watch!

Avalanche in 7 games

 

Conference final schedule:

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