LIGHT SHOW

Evan Davis

The Tampa Bay Lightning are fresh off completing the sweep of the President Trophy winning Florida Panthers, in a very convincing fashion by conceding just three goals during the entire series. Being the President Trophy winner hasn’t treated teams too kindly, with the Chicago Blackhawks being the only team since 2013 to hoist Lord Stanley.

With that being said, the Florida Panthers did everything they could to sneak away at least one win vs the back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions, but Andrei Vasilevskiy had other plans. Since Game 7 vs Toronto, Vasilevskiy stopped 181 of 185 shots, including 79 shots in a row going back to Florida’s power play goal in Game 3. For all of you stat nerds out there, Vasilevskiy had a 12.37 GSAx (Goals Saved Above Expected), compared to the -0.15 GSAx he had vs Toronto. To go along with the incredible play of Vasilevskiy throughout the entire series, he capped the series off with his sixth shutout in his last seven series clinching games.

The hunger of the Tampa Bay Lightning is what stands out to me the most. Guys are playing like they are trying to go for their first Cup ring, and not their third. It became evident in Game 2, when Tampa had 7 players go back to the locker room with injury and still fight through the pain in order to secure the win. They played with so much grit throughout the entire series and the issue with Florida was the fact that they didn’t play with as much hunger defensively as they did in Game 4.

There were so many positives for the Lightning in this series and another one of those would be the depth scoring of the team. 9/13 goals in this series came from players not named Stamkos, Kucherov, or Point. Corey Perry and Ross Colton played big roles in this series offensively, with Perry contributing three goals and Colton contributing two. The disposal of picks have definitely paid off well for the Lightning as well, with Nick Paul contributing six points in 11 games and Brandon Hagel contributing on the PK.

Tampa will now be able to kick back, relax, and wait for the winner of the Hurricanes/Rangers series, with the Hurricanes up 2-1. With the long break ahead for them, could we possibly see the return of Brayden Point, who was sidelined the entire series vs Florida? If the Hurricanes do pull away with the series victory, it would be a great test for Tampa, who would be playing a top 3 defensive team in the NHL.

I would argue that Carolina matches best, both top to bottom with Tampa Bay. The Hurricanes currently have nine players with 5+ points in the playoffs, and they have been dominant on the PK (80.6%). To go along with that, Raanta currently has the second best GAA and third best SV% among goalies still playing meaningful hockey. The one area that might hurt the Hurricanes in a potential series vs Tampa is their power play, which currently stands at 11.6% (second worst among teams remaining). When playing a team like Tampa, you need to capitalize on your chances and that has been a struggle this postseason for the Hurricanes.

The back to back champs currently look like the best remaining team in the playoffs, and they have the hottest goalie on their side as well. They are the winners of 10 straight playoff series, after unexpectedly getting swept by Columbus a few years ago. They are just the third team to complete this feat of winning 10 or more consecutive series, joining the Islanders (1980-1984) and Montréal (1976-1980; 1956-1960). Vasilevskiy will carry a .978 save percentage in his last 5 games, conceding four goals over that span. I just don’t see a team beating Tampa four times before Tampa does and for that reason, I believe a dynasty is being born in Tampa.

The last time a team won three or more Stanley Cups in a row was the Islanders (1979-1983). I believe a new team will be joining the club, and it’s the Tampa Bay Lightning. They risked their future to build a dynasty and it will continue to pay off when they hoist Lord Stanley yet again.

My prediction for the Cup Final is Avalanche vs Lightning, and I will gladly take the Lightning to win the Stanley Cup in six games.