Stanley Cup Playoff Takeaways: Conference Finals
Photo by Matias J Ocner from the Miami Herald
The Stanley Cup Final is set, and despite the fact that one was projected to be here while the other was deemed to have no chance at all, it should be a very fun series.
Let’s discuss how we got here.
Panthers defeat Hurricanes 4 games to 0
In 2003, Jean Sebastien Giguere won the Conn Smythe trophy as MVP of the whole postseason.
In 2011, Tim Thomas likely would have won Conn Smythe even if the Bruins lost game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
There are some years where a player is simply so dominant, it’d be foolish and quite frankly irresponsible to give it to anybody else.
That’s the run Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is on.
No disrespect to Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, who was incredible in this series, but the Panthers are not through to the Cup Finals without Bobrovsky.
Every game was a one goal game. The Panthers were outshot by the Hurricanes in every single game. Bobrovsky has 19.7 goals saved above expected so far this postseason.
As long as Bobrovsky doesn’t revert to a sub .900 save percentage in the Cup Final, the Russian goaltender should be the Conn Smythe winner, win or lose.
For the Hurricanes, they learned the tough reality of facing a team with their star while you lack yours.
Andrei Svechnikov was a crucial miss for the Canes this postseason run, and Matthew Tkachuk completely took over the series for the Panthers.
C’est la vie…
Golden Knights defeat Stars 4 games to 2
I want to talk about the Golden Knights after this series.
I want to discuss how Jack Eichel, a player many considered a generational talent but had been overshadowed by injured seasons and not being Connor McDavid, is going to his first Stanley Cup Final.
I want to discuss Adin Hill, a goaltender given away for basically nothing by the San Jose Sharks and going to a team with some very good goaltenders in their short history and potentially leading them all the way to the promised land.
I want to talk about that.
But I can’t.
Because the only thing I can think of is about how the Dallas Stars need a change in captaincy.
The Stars lost games 1 and 2 in overtime.
Tough, but not the end of the world. They were going back to Dallas, and they were one goal away from having a 2-0 series lead themselves. They were very much so in it.
And then, less than 2 minutes into game 3 and already down 1-0, Stars captain Jamie Benn decided to take one of the most ridiculously boneheaded penalties I’ve ever seen, cross checking Mark Stone in the neck while he was on the ice.
Benn was ejected, Vegas scored on the ensuing powerplay, and the Stars now had to climb a 2-0 hole without their captain who scored over 30 goals this year.
Vegas went on to win and take a 3-0 series lead.
The Stars won game 4 and 5 before losing the series in game 6, and you just need to wonder what could have happened in game 3 if not for Benn’s penalty.
Maybe the Stars win, and the loss they suffered in game 6 leads to a game 7 instead of sending them home.
Regardless, after that penalty, his refusal to talk to the media after the game, and then a ludicrous half-assed statement the next day, the Stars need to make a change.
Tyler Seguin answered for it. Joe Pavelski answered for it. Jamie Benn danced around it, when he might have lost his team the chance at playing for the Stanley Cup.
Stanley Cup Finals Prediction
Runs like the ones the Panthers are on just don’t happen.
Sure, teams make the Cup Finals out of the blue, but that’s when they run into a team who runs them over.
In fact, the only lowest ranked seed to ever win the Stanley Cup was the 2012 Los Angeles Kings, who got there after an underwhelming regular season due to phenomenal goaltending from Jonathan Quick, breakout star Anze Kopitar having a great postseason and being led by a coach who had plenty of playoff experience but hasn’t been able to get over that final hump.
Sound familiar?
Panthers defeat Golden Knights 4 games to 2
