The Stanley Cup Final will be epic. The Tampa Bay Lightning are going for a three-peat. A three-peat hasn’t happened in almost forty years. The Lightning will be taking on the Colorado Avalanche. 
The Avalanche have been one of the best teams in hockey for the last few seasons. The Avs hope they are finally going to win the Stanley Cup Final after recent disappointing post seasons. Tampa and Colorado’s lineups are filled with stars.
This series reminiscent of the 1983 when the Edmonton Oilers were trying to dethrone the New York Islanders.
The Oilers had the skill but they didn’t yet have the will to be Champions.
Eastern Conference-
The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New York Rangers in six games to win the Eastern Conference. New York won the first two games at home and held a 2-0 in Game 3. The back-to-back champs warmed to the challenge and won Game 3 3-2 with an Ondrej Palat late game miracle.
Tampa won the next three games.
Rangers apologists claim the Rangers were tired.
Everyone is tired in the playoffs. New York benefited from Tampa’s rust early in the series. You’re going to look tired when you can’t get through the neutral zone and forecheck effectively.
Tampa’s defense led by perennial Norris finalist Victor Hedman never let New York set up in their zone.
Tampa’s Anthony Cirelli’s line shut down New York’s top line of Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Tampa did not stupid penalties thus New York killer power play never got fully unleashed.
New York’s kid line cooled off too the point that Kaapo Kakko was scratched in Game 6.
Side show clown Ryan Reaves was scratched for games 5 and 6 proving he’s worthless when the games count the most. New York also faced healthy starting goaltending for the first time all spring. Not just any starting goaltending either, Hall of Famer Andrei Vasilevskiy. It’s not about what New York couldn’t do it’s what Tampa could do.
Tampa’s forwards got inside New York defense and made New York net minder Igor Shesterkin’s life more difficult than their previous playoff opponents.
Pat Maroon and Corey Perry took the physicality to the rugged Rangers. Captain Steven Stamkos continued to write his legacy with clutch goals.
Nikita Kucherov was his usual playoff puck genie. Palat had miraculous goals, but his biggest miracle was avoiding Ranger Jacob Trouba’s flying elbow.
Western Conference –
The Colorado Avalanche swept the Edmonton Oilers.
This series taught us nothing we didn’t already know.
The Avalanche are the most talented team in the NHL.
The Avs are fully committed to playing the brand of hockey you need to play to be successful in the playoffs.
Nathan MacKinnon is Sidney Crosby 2.0. The Avs top defensive pairing of Cale Makar and Devon Toews is the best in hockey. Makar is a superhero. Toews is not far behind. Colorado has scoring, size, depth and toughness.
They also had enough goaltending with Paval Francouz to beat Edmonton. It was easy for Francouz to win the goaltending battle because Oilers Mike Smith stinks. He’s old, emotional, and prone to terrible mistakes.
Edmonton’s best defenseman Darnell Nurse was playing with a severely injured hip.
The Oilers already porous defense could not stop the Avalanche.
The Oilers all-world superstars are tremendous, but Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl need help. Dirtbag Evander Kane showed his true colors injuring Nazeem Kadri with a senseless dirty hit.
Prediction-
I never thought winning three straight Stanley Cups in the salary cap era was possible.
Now I do.
This Lightning team is beyond special. The Avs will be missing their valuable 2nd line Nazem Kadri while Lightning will be getting theirs back, Brayden Point.
The Avs will have one-eyed, rusty Darcy Kuemper in net.
The Lightning will have the best goaltender of this generation, Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Pat Maroon is four-peating.
Tampa in 6.
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