Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 2 Takeaways

Photo by Sergei Belski of USA Today Sports

The final four is set, and we have a 75% chance of a team winning their first Stanley Cup in at least 20 years.

Unfortunately, that 25% that have won back to back years are standing in the way as well.

Let’s discuss what we learned from round 2.

Tampa Bay defeats Florida in 4 games

Back in 2019, it was stupid how much better Tampa Bay was than the rest of the league.

Everyone picked them to win the Cup.

So you can imagine our surprise when they got swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round.

It was hilarious. Everyone made jokes about it.

Turns out Jon Cooper and his squad didn’t like those jokes, because they went on to win the 2020 Stanley Cup, the 2021 Stanley Cup and just swept the President’s Trophy winning Florida Panthers on route to another conference final.

Maybe it was a deal with the devil that their humiliating loss in 2019 would be rewarded with hockey world domination.

Whatever it is, it’s hard to see the Lightning as anything but the favorites.

New York defeats Carolina in 7 games

If the Rangers got a little bit lucky by beating Pittsburgh despite being outplayed in round 1, they made up for that in round 2.

They had scoring woes in games 1 and 2, but were by far the better team for 4 of the next 5 games on route to moving onto the conference finals.

Granted, they had to face another round of backup goalies which they likely won’t do against the Lightning, but you can only beat who is in front of you and they were worthy winners in round 2.

Colorado defeats St. Louis in 6 games

St. Louis losing Jordan Binnington in game 3 didn’t help their odds, but their fate was sealed when they, outside of the 3rd period in game 5, were completely outplayed by the Avalanche the rest of the way.

Obviously Binnington would have done better than Ville Husso did, but in the grand scheme of things I’m not sure what difference it would’ve made.

Edmonton defeats Calgary in 6 games

Connor McDavid is going to drag the Oilers through the playoffs whether they like it or not!

Actually, that’s not entirely true because the Oilers actually are getting some help.

Mike Smith, apart from game 1, didn’t Mike Smith it up. Zach Hyman and Evander Kane have provided good scoring. Obviously Leon Draisaitl is a world class player as well.

But it all centers around Connor McDavid.

The undisputed best player in the world.

And starting tonight we get to watch an entire series where he goes up against Nathan Mackinnon and the Avalanche.

Merry Christmas to us all.