Seven weeks to the day after the NHL returned to play, we are getting Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final from Edmonton. Tampa Bay, fresh off a Game 6 series clinching win against the New York Islanders on Thursday night, join the Dallas Stars in what is each team's third trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Dallas is the more rested team having not played since they closed out their Conference Final series against Vegas in 5 games on Monday. It should be a great series between two teams in non-traditional hockey markets, something hockey fans everywhere should be hoping can grow this great game.
How They Got Here
Dallas is the Western Conference Champion for the first time since 2000 after getting through Vegas in 5 games. They finished as the third seed coming out of the Round Robin and matched up against the Calgary Flames in the first round. They beat a tough Calgary team in a tight series, highlighted by their 7 unanswered goals in Game 6 to advance. It took them 7 games to get past the Colorado Avalanche in the second round, a team most people had winning the Western Conference at the beginning of the tournament. The defensive structure and timely goal-scoring of the Stars proved too much for the top-heavy Avalanche, and they advanced to play Vegas in the Conference Final, who they turned aside in 5 games.
Tampa Bay, who finished second in the Eastern Conference standings at the pause, finished Round Robin play as the East's 2 seed, opening up the playoffs against the Columbus Blue Jackets. This same Blue Jackets team swept the Lightning last season after Tampa had won the President's Trophy as the team with the NHL's best record. This time around, Tampa wanted redemption and their persistence ultimately got them past Columbus in 5 games, sending them off to face this year's President Trophy winning Boston Bruins in Round 2. Their series with the Jackets was one for the history books, as Game 1 of the series went to 5 overtimes and was the fourth-longest game in NHL history. Their series with Boston was less historic, but still saw the Lightning piece together 4 straight wins after dropping Game 1 and advance to the Conference Final a year after their upsetting first round exit. The Bolts went up 3 games to 1 in their Conference Final matchup with the Islanders, but had fans holding their breath after allowing New York to win Game 5 and keep Game 6 tied until overtime. Anthony Cirelli was the hero Thursday night, sending Tampa Bay to its first Stanley Cup Final since their loss to the Blackhawks in 2015.
Top Performers
Dallas
Those who picked Dallas to make a run certainly didn't foresee them being led by Anton Khudobin, the 34-year-old backup goalie who has never been a #1 goaltender in his long NHL career. He has, however, formed one of the NHL's top goaltending duos with Ben Bishop over the past few years and even led the NHL with a .930 save percentage during this shortened season. Khudobin is 12-6 in the playoffs with a .920 save percentage, including a .950 save percentage in his team's 5 game ousting of the Golden Knights.
Offensively, Dallas is being led by their defensemen, with an NHL-leading 53 points coming from their blueliners. Leading the way for Dallas is 21-year-old Miro Heiskanen, who has 22 of the 53 points coming from Dallas defensemen. He is quickly making his case for the Conn Smythe Trophy and establishing himself as a top defensemen in the league. Captain Jamie Benn is leading forwards in scoring with 8 goals and 18 points in the team's 21 games, with key goals from Denis Gurianov and Joel Kiviranta providing much-needed depth for a Dallas team that has relied on its top line for most of the season.
Tampa Bay
There have been no surprises when it comes to who's producing for the Bolts, as their top talents have been just that all postseason long. Brayden Point, who was only healthy enough to play in what equates to about nine total periods in the Islanders series, had seven points. Seven points in nine PERIODS. That's still over two points per game, despite leaving two different games and not being nearly 100%. He has about 1.5 points per game throughout the entire playoffs. Even with Point out, Nikita Kucherov was still dominating, as he has 26 points in the team's 19 postseason games to this point. Defenseman Victor Hedman is tied for the team lead with 9 goals and has been playing big minutes, with over 26 minutes per game over the playoffs. And let's not forget the consistency of Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is the only goalie in the playoffs to start every game, and has posted stellar numbers while doing so. He had the highest save percentage and lowest goals against average of any starting goalie that made it past the first round. Production could still somehow increase for Tampa if Captain Steven Stamkos finds a way to make an appearance in the series. He's not playing tonight, but he has been skating and hasn't been ruled out. As if Tampa needs more dynamic playmakers.
What to Expect
In short, expect a great series. This is one of the best defensive teams in hockey against arguably the most explosive and talented. Tampa put up 8 goals in Game 1 against the extremely stingy Islanders, so only time will tell how well the Stars' defensive structure will hold up. The Stars have been getting key goals at the most crucial of times, so it could come down to who pots the important goals. Either way, it should make for some entertaining playoff hockey in September. Didn't think that would ever happen.
Schedule
Game 1 - Tonight, 7:30 PM
Game 2 - Monday, 8 PM
Game 3, Wednesday, 8 PM
Game 4, Friday, 8 PM
Game 5 (if necessary), Saturday, 8 PM
Game 6 (if necessary), Monday 9/28, 8 PM
Game 7 (if necessary), Wednesday 9/30, 8 PM
NHL Draft - October 6-7
NHL Free Agency - Begins October 9th at 12PM
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