LOS ANGELES – The Stanley Cup Final is set. The Tampa Bay Lightning, the NHL’s best team is playing the NHL’s greatest franchise Montreal Canadiens. Tampa Bay is trying to become the only the second team to win back to back titles in the salary cap 
era. The Lightning are a team of Hall of Famers, award winners and the game’s best role players. Montreal is led by a legendary goaltender and play a defensive system.
The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the New York Islanders in seven games. I thought the Lightning would rue the day they didn’t show up until it was too late in Game 1. The Lightning though won Game 3 on Long Island, no easy task and regained much needed home ice. Tampa was able to withstand New York’s physicality and bring some of their own. Tampa’s number one center Brayden Point score a goal in each of the first 6 games. Top line winger Nikita Kucherov continued to make dazzling plays. The Lightning’s second line woke up in this series. What makes Tampa so tough to beat is not only the ultra-skilled top two lines but lines three and four are tough but also have a scoring touch. Those lines centered by Yanni Gourde and Tyler Johnson never gave the Islanders a chance to regroup. The Lighting defense controlled much of the game play.
The Lightning defense is so deep when underrated Erik Cernak was injured Luke Schenn stepped in, contributed and the unit didn’t miss a beat. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was excellent as always. The Lightning are a machine, and the Islanders took them to a nail biting game seven.
You can’t give the Islanders enough credit for how they played in this series.
The best 4th line in hockey Casey Cizikas, Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin lived up to that billing. Anthony Beauvillier got a lot of chances to score but didn’t bury the puck. Matt Barzal buried some opportunities and was flying but he missed Anders Lee on his wing in this series. I’m surprised HC Barry Trotz didn’t replace Leo Komarov with Kyle Palmieri earlier in the series. Palmieri had cooled off and could have used a jump start. Barzal needed a guy with more offensive instincts to play with. On defense the pair of Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelich showed they are the best all round pair in the NHL. Scott Mayfield showed he’s more than just a big lug. Islander goaltender Semyon Varlamov played well enough to win this series, but his team just couldn’t quite score enough goals for him.
The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Vegas Golden Knights in 6 games. Habs goaltender Carey Price was at his best even though he didn’t have to be. Montreal’s Big 4 ( Weber, Petry, Chariot, Edmundson) on defense kept everything on the outside. Montreal’s old man Corey Perry frustrated the Knights. Perry and his linemates Eric Staal and Joel Armia played better than any Vegas line. Rookie Cole Caufield became a legend in this series. Habs young centers Phillip Danault and Nick Suzuki outplayed whoever they were matched up against.
It must be written the Knights were humiliated in this series, especially HC Peter DeBoer.
The Knights frankly didn’t play hard enough. Alex Pietrangelo was the exception. He was noticeable every shift. Alec Martinez played with a broken foot but what was everyone else’s excuse. You can count on one hand how many times Captain Mark Stone went hard to the net. DeBoer played Robin Lehner in net when he should have play Marc-Andre Fleury and vice versa. The goaltender roulette probably cost the Knights the series.
I’ve picked Tampa in every series and against Montreal in every series. Tampa handled New York’s defensive system. Montreal’s forecheck is constant. They’re always pressuring the puck. Montreal will not be as physical as New York but will fall back into a trap less. Montreal scores almost exclusively on the rush. Tampa must be careful with the puck at the bluelines.
The Habs feed off of their opponent’s mistakes. I think defense and goaltending are a push in this series. 
The Lightning have star power and the edge upfront. Tampa has handled every challenge this post season and are the defending champs. Montreal has all the karma and all the ghosts. Lightning in 7
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