Stanley Cup Playoff Takeaways: Round 2

Photo by Chris Young from The Canadian Press

Three of the final four teams remaining are southern teams, and the fourth is a Canadian team who named their team after oil.

Gary Bettman’s American NHL dream has come true!

Hurricanes defeat Capitals 4-1

The Canes have consistently been one of the best teams in the league since Rod Brind’Amour took over as head coach.

The thing that kept them from the Cup has been star power and goaltending.

But Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, and Seth Jarvis are stepping up, Jaccob Slavin has established himself as the best stay at home defenseman in the game, and Frederik Andersen is standing on his head in net.

Put all of that with Brind’Amour’s system, and the Canes are looking better than ever.

Panthers defeat Maple Leafs 4-3

This was the best Leafs season in 23 years.

Game 7 of the second round is the farthest they’ve gone since 2002, and they did it with a new head coach, some goaltending injuries, and the team they lost to is the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

There should be no reason to chastise them.

And yet, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner were no shows.

They lost game 5 and game 7, both home games, 6-1.

Only the Toronto Maple Leafs would find a way to make the best season in almost a quarter century, justifiably, a clear cut sign that they need to tear things down to the studs.

It’s an art form.

Stars defeat Jets 4-2

Connor Hellebuyck, after a horrendous round 1, was actually really solid in round 2 against the Stars.

But the Stars got Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen back, and however good Hellebuyck was in net, Jake Oettinger was even better for the Stars.

Oettinger has consistently been an excellent playoff goaltender, and that may be crucial to get the Stars back to the Cup Final.

Oilers defeat Golden Knights 4-1

Sometimes, you just need a breather.

Stuart Skinner had a good season overall.

Then the playoffs began, and he was absolutely atrocious.

So bad, in fact, that he got benched for Calvin Pickard.

But when Pickard got hurt, the Oilers had to go back to Skinner.

How did he respond?

Just a couple of shutouts in game 4 and 5 to win the series for the Oilers.

Maybe a brief stint on the pine is what he needed to get a quick rest and his mind right.

Or maybe it was a total flash in the pan.

Either way, he’s done enough to get the Oilers back to the conference finals for the third time in the last four years.