2021 Stanley Cup playoffs skating thread

You could make the argument Tampa eliminated three teams (Florida,Carolina and the Islanders) who are better than anyone Montreal faced

 

Vegas was a pretty good team this season.

 

Vegas?

 

Looks like the only thing that could delay a Lightning championship parade is Elsa.

 

That’s why I qualified it
You can make a case Florida and Carolina were better than Vegas
You might be wrong but you can make the argument

 

I definitely think the Islanders were better than Vegas, at least at that stage of the playoffs where everything is harder to come by and the refs don't call shit. Florida is debatable, definitely more skilled, but without Ekblad their defense was average at best and most nights well below. Carolina was damn good. They lost three games at home and only gave up two goals in each. Brind'Amour's only big mistake was going to Mrazek twice, because his history against Tampa is one that they usually light his ass up and he gave up that 4-2 lead in Game 4 the minute the Lightning realized his glove side is still shit.

 

The Islanders sure as hell weren’t.

The other two, sure.

 

Since the Islanders were Tampa’s toughest out you can say they were
Remember, I said you can make the argument
Isles also benefited from the best trade deadline team in adding Palmieri and Zajac

 

Vegas is tough to figure. They beat the Avs, a team many picked to go to the distance, four straight. But they needed 7 to get past the Wild and looked like a soft perimeter team against Montreal.

I think Montreal is a mid-pack team that got an a lucky run, like Dallas last year.

Bolts look like the class of the league. I don't know how I would rank the rest of the top 5.

 

Less talented, sure. But after watching the Canadiens flirt with a gentlemen's sweep against the Golden Knights, the Islanders would have skated circles around Vegas like they did the Bruins.

 

Sill boggles my mind that Bruce Cassidy is employed. Trotz worked his way into Cassidy's head, built a two-floor guest house and invited his entire family and all his friends to stay there.