Stanley Cup Finals Preview

After a fantastic month of playoff hockey, the Stanley Cup Finals begin this Wednesday, June 15. Out of the Eastern Conference are the reigning champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning. They seek to win their third straight championship, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since the Islanders did so in the early 80s. From the Western Conference is the Colorado Avalanche, who swept the Oilers in the conference finals. It’s the team’s first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals since 2001, where they beat the New Jersey Devils. They’ll be hoping to spoil the Lightning’s three-peat and bring the cup back to Colorado. This series promises to be highly entertaining and a true clash of powerhouse teams this postseason. 

Offense

The Avalanche offense has been tremendous throughout this postseason. They average an astounding 4.6 goals per game with a 31.1 power play percentage. They’ve scored five or more goals seven times throughout this postseason, their highest total being eight in game one against the Oilers. Cale Makar leads the Avalanche with 22 points and Nathan Mackinnon leads the team with 11 goals. While Makar and MacKinnon have been the most notable playmakers, the Avalanche have a number of talented weapons at their disposal. Players like Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen have also been highly productive options this postseason. This Avalanche offensive unit has been nearly impossible to stop, and are going to be a great challenge for the Lightning. 

However, the Lightning have the offensive talent to be able to hang with the high scoring Avalanche. They’re led by Nikita Kucherov’s 23 points and Steven Stamkos’ team high nine goals. Ondrej Palat has been a big part of the Lightning offense this postseason as the team’s second highest point scorer. He notably scored two game winners against the Rangers in the conference finals. They’ll also be getting a boost with the expected early return of Brayden Point, who hasn’t played since the first round. While their power play lacks the same efficiency as the Avalanche’s, the Lightning still are dangerous with a man advantage and have gotten 14 power play goals this postseason. This experienced offensive unit has what it takes to compete against one of the league’s best offenses. 

Goaltending

Behind the crease is where the Lightning have a very clear advantage. Andrei Vasilevskiy has been stellar as usual with a 2.27 GAA and a .928 save percentage. After stumbling in the first two games against the Rangers, he was rock solid the rest of the series. And of course, you’ve probably heard of his series-clinching performance numbers. He continued that stretch of quality play in that scenario by making 20 saves on 21 shots in game six of the conference finals. He’s coming into this series hot and the Lightning are going to need him to stay that way to slow down the high-scoring Avalanche. 

Two different injuries to Darcy Kuemper have led to a split in net between him and Pavel Francouz for the Avalanche. To this point, it has not been decided which of the two will be the game one starter. Both are serviceable options, however, there is the concern of rust if Kuemper gets the starting nod with a two-week difference between starts. No matter who goes, the Avalanche are going to need them to step up if they hope to win it all. Against an experienced and dangerous opponent, they’re going to need to make some big saves in this series. 

Keys To The Series

For the Avalanche, the key to winning this series is getting the early jump on the Lightning. The Lightning are very experienced and play particularly well when defending a lead. The way to throw them off their game is to score early and often to put pressure on them. This also helps the Avalanche to try and further tire out the Lightning skaters. Their several deep postseason runs and previous six-game series are already going to cause some level of exhaustion.

Making them work harder to try and come back from a deficit is going to make that exhaustion more profound. With the Avalanche being well-rested coming off of their sweep, this could make a big difference later in the series. As we saw happen to the Rangers, the Lightning could find themselves getting outpaced later on. It will be important for the Avalanche to try and make the Lightning uncomfortable and tired in order to dethrone them.

For the Lightning, the key to winning this series is playing disciplined. Even though they won the conference finals, the Lightning were burned by the Rangers’ power play. The Avalanche are equally effective on theirs so it’s going to be important for the Lightning to stay out of the box. Mistakes as a whole have to be cut down as the Avalanche are highly capable of capitalizing on good opportunities. If the Lightning maintain the same level of play they had in the last three games against the Rangers, they’ll be in good shape. It’s just a matter of being able to control the puck, control the pace and play smart, as a team with their level of success should be able to do well. 

Credits

Featured image courtesy of NHL

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