Well, it appears I owe the Colorado Avalanche a mea culpa. Contrary to my prediction, they defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games and hoisted the Stanley Cup as champions of the 2021-22 season. While I’m on the apology tour, I also owe a big one to Darcy Kuemper, but that’ll come later. Weekly
2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs
The Stanley Cup playoffs are always full of excitement and surprises, and as the best players tend to lead their teams deep into playoffs, the supporting cast and unexpected players are the ones who help push the team to the next level. We are going to look at five players who had breakout performances during
The Tampa Bay Lightning suffered an extremely difficult 3-2 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday for a few reasons. In falling behind 3-1 in the Stanley Cup Final, it appears that Nazem Kadri’s game-winner should not have been allowed because the Avalanche had too many men on the ice. Yet, it was not
There is a reason why three-peats are rare in major sports. However, the Tampa Bay Lightning are looking to be the first team since the 1980-83 New York Islanders to win three consecutive Stanley Cup championships. The last team to accomplish this feat in all of major sports was the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers from
With the conclusion of the Eastern Conference Final, the matchup for the 2022 Stanley Cup Final is set. The Colorado Avalanche are set to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are looking to become the first organization to win three consecutive Stanley Cups since the New York Islanders of the early-1980s. The Lightning represent
The New York Rangers fought to earn their place in the Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning and will play Game 5 tonight at Madison Square Garden. The series is knotted at 2-2, and the Rangers will rely on their home-ice advantage to eliminate the Lightning. Though the Rangers face perpetual struggles on
Now that the dust has settled, I can acknowledge that head coach Jay Woodcroft turned the Edmonton Oilers’ season around when he took over the bench on Feb. 11. The Oilers were outside of a playoff spot when he took over, and the team went 26-9-3 the rest of the regular season, and he guided
With the 4-1 win on June 7, the Tampa Bay Lightning have tied the Eastern Conference Final at two games apiece. After going down 2-0 in the series, the Lightning have completely turned it around and head to New York City Thursday with all the momentum. Tuesday night featured a patented performance by the Lightning,
Whether or not the Tampa Bay Lightning move on for a chance at a third straight Stanley Cup, Sunday’s dramatic victory is just one more example of a team that showed a lot of resiliency this season. For a great deal of the 2021-22 regular season and the playoffs, there was doubt that this team
In the opening stanza of Game 3 of the 2022 Western Conference Final, the Colorado Avalanche’s Nazem Kadri was on the receiving end of a dangerous hit, the ensuing headfirst impact eliminating him from the rest of the series at minimum. For a player who was producing at an elite level and finally looked to
The Colorado Avalanche have had lofty goals of ‘Stanley Cup or Bust’ for the last couple of seasons. They’re one win away from getting that chance. The Avs moved to 6-0 on the road in the postseason, downing the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 on Saturday in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final. The win put
The Edmonton Oilers have started the 2022 NHL Western Conference Final best-of-seven series against the Colorado Avalanche with back-to-back losses, the latest being a 4-0 drubbing in Game 2 at Ball Arena in Denver on Thursday (June 2). As the series shifts to Rogers Place for the next two games, Game 3 on Saturday (June
The Tampa Bay Lightning have moved one step closer to their third straight Stanley Cup but will have to deal with the New York Rangers, who defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 6-2 in Game 7 of their series to advance to the Eastern Conference Final, before moving one step closer to that goal. If the Lightning
The Colorado Avalanche overcame history to defeat the St. Louis Blues 3-2 on a last-minute goal Friday night, advancing to the Western Conference Final for the first time in 20 years. Colorado won the second-round series four games to two. The Avalanche, who outshot the Blues 39-20, didn’t lead in the game until there were
The Florida Panthers showed why they were the Presidents’ Trophy winner by taking their first-round series against the Washington Capitals four games to two. This is Florida’s first playoff series win since June of 1996, in which they beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games to claim the Eastern Conference title and move on to
Game 1 between the Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night was one of the craziest playoff games the league has seen in some time. It was an extremely ugly performance for the Oilers, who appeared out of sync from the get-go and gave up nine goals on the evening. Admittedly, the Flames
The St. Louis Blues will attempt to even their second-round series against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night before heading back to St. Louis. After an overtime loss in Game 1, the Blues will look to reassert the authority that powered them over the Minnesota Wild in Round 1. 2 Storylines: Blues Blues Ready for Game 2
As Game 1 is set to take place against their bitter rival, the Edmonton Oilers, the Calgary Flames announced that they have recalled Juuso Valimaki from the Stockton Heat of the American Hockey League. The Heat do not start their third-round playoff series until Monday, which means this could simply be an insurance move by