John Buccigross examines the historical run the Tampa Bay Lightning have had over the past two seasons. NHL betting best bet and free pick analysis. Deadline decisions: What will Avs, Kraken and others do? We're down to the final four teams of the 2021-22 NHL season. That, combined with St. Louis being one of the NHL's worst teams in 5-on-5 possession totals, puts a lot more pressure on Husso -- a rookie appearing in his first postseason -- at the toughest time of year. Darcy Kuemper has been solid if unspectacular in the playoffs, posting a 6-2-0 record, .904 save percentage and 2.44 goals-against average. Player to watch: McAvoy. The Lightning have done it the past two seasons, under less-than-ideal pandemic-related circumstances to boot. on the season, while still finding time to amass 68 penalty minutes. You can say the Rangers haven't faced a goalie like Vasilevskiy, and that's true. Matiash: Flames in seven Why? McDonough: Hurricanes in seven All we know for sure is that the real winners here are those of us watching the action unfold. Rush to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. . Tim Kavanagh: Lightning in six Bold prediction: Coach Dean Evason bucks tradition by not naming a playoff starter in net, opting to alternate between Fleury and Talbot instead. Colorado has shown it can win all types of games, whether big-time blowouts or tightly contested grinders. Buccigross: Avalanche in seven A limited if intense calendar, combined with the reality of losing players every round, and a simpler scoring system set . Lawrence-Riddell: Flames in seven The edge, though, probably belongs to Edmonton. But teams win with depth in the playoffs, and there's been some falloff here for the Flames. 3 in . Make Your Picks. Hilary Knight: Lightning in seven Returning contributors Alex Killorn and Ondrej Palat can play up or down the lineup with effectiveness. Its defense has been a little better than Edmonton's (giving up a playoff-low 27 shots against per game versus the Oilers' 37.5) and its depth is impressive. We just don't go away, regardless of the score and regardless of where the game is. We've got all the angles covered to get you ready for the playoffs as ESPN hockey reporters Greg Wyshynski and Kristen Shilton take a look at each of the 16 postseason teams, offering the reasons each team could win it all, along with their (potentially) biggest flaws, players to watch and a bold prediction for every contender. Hextall: Flames in six Kristen Shilton: Lightning in six Philadelphia Flyers (MP) Atlantic Division 1. Trail Blazers vs. Pelicans Game Info. But right around the trade deadline, the Rangers' play started to pick up and continued to trend upward through the final month of the season under first-year coach Gerard Gallant. Tortorella: Hurricanes in six Subscribe to ESPN+ Read on for predictions for every game involving a Top 25 team on the schedule over the next seven days. And yet, here we are. But forwards Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie saw their offensive output drop during seasons impacted by injuries and illness. We've also learned that two straight Stanley Cups haven't made the Bolts fat and happy; the hunger to win another, and the killer instinct to close out teams, remains for Tampa. All of those little things add up when they're coming top down through the lineup. We've graded all 32 teams -- including one A+ and two F's -- and announced the winners of our own batch of awards . They could use some more from him, especially at five-on-five. Wyshynski's NHL trade deadline tiers: From elite game-changers to bargain beauties, NHL trade deadline guides for all 32 teams: Players, picks in play, cap space, team status. Meanwhile, MacKinnon will be leading the charge up front. Heiskanen can set a tone for how the entire team approaches its defensive strategy. Sixteen teams entered the postseason tournament, but only four are left in the bracket, as the New York Rangers will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in the East, and the Colorado Avalanche will square off against the Edmonton Oilers in the West. In general, Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft has been leaning on the same eight forwards up front and limiting the use of his fourth-liners. The Panthers repeatedly fell into multiple-goal deficits they were able to erase because, well, see above. Only four teams had a lower expected goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 than the Rangers this season: the Sabres, Kraken, Coyotes and Blackhawks. The 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs on ESPN presented by GEICO continue into the second round with exclusive doubleheaders this Wednesday, Friday, Sunday and Tuesday on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. That said, they'd like more than one goal off 18 shot attempts in 11 games from a player who had 25 goals in the regular season. That's been the disconnect before, and those demons won't be overcome until Toronto has success when it matters most. Saros missed the last two games of the season with a lower-body injury, and his status is uncertain heading into the postseason. Tocchet, most recently head coach of the Arizona . Because he picked this opportunity. Since being acquired at the trade deadline, the former Blackhawks winger hasn't produced. ET ESPN, SN; . We don't roll out the term "juggernaut" for just anyone around here. But he's not unbeatable. The Stars need to be more than just a one-line wonder. Their second-leading scorer is defenseman Victor Hedman, who is doing as Victor Hedman does: He has 10 points in 11 games and is skating 25:03 per game. After Pavelski, Hintz and Robertson (who all tallied 70 or more points), Dallas' offense has been streaky. For example, we've learned that they've effectively rebuilt their bottom six after the offseason exodus of their celebrated checking line of Yanni Gourde, Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow. Victoria Matiash: Panthers in seven The NHL playoffs get underway Monday, with all four games on ESPN networks. And of course, there's Boston's core. How well Colorado's back end -- led by Makar, Devon Toews and Bowen Byram -- can manage those assignments will go a long way in determining the series. Under coach Dave Tippett, the Oilers were 13th in the NHL in expected goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5; under interim coach Jay Woodcroft, who took over Feb. 10, the Oilers jumped to fourth in that category. All that winning is great at the time, but it cuts into recovery. The Lightning will have to convert some of those to beat "Shesty.". But the catalyst for their first playoff berth since 2018 wasn't the kids, but rather the established veterans. Igor Shesterkin led the NHL in save percentage and goals saved above average, carrying the Rangers for the first two-thirds of the season as New York was near the bottom of the league in even-strength analytics. cal: Oilers in seven Cohn: Oilers in six Do you blame us? The Bruins have just about everything you can want in a contender: a deadly top line, an elite defenseman, and a great goalie. Heading into the playoffs, Craig Custance gets the lowdown on the Vancouver Canucks from rival players, coaches and scouts. Their superstars kept improving throughout the last round and were the difference-makers at critical times. Fantasy hockey owners can expect this to continue, which could be massive this coming week. Make picks throughout the postseason for a chance at $14,000 in prizes. Biggest flaw(s): The fact that the Kings still managed to make the playoffs without Doughty is a testament to how well they played before his injury. Again, the Oilers stayed calm, and refocused. Kane is a future Hall of Famer and arguably the best men's American hockey player of all time. NHL playoff predictions 2022: 1st-round winners, most overrated, dark horse, Stanley Cup champion and more. The Oilers are more resilient than some observers previously thought. One of the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Colorado Avalanche, or Edmonton Oilers will be this year's Stanley Cup champion. Like, ever. They're the NHL's top-scoring team for a reason, having been consistently outstanding offensively since Game 1. The 2021-22 season has been incredibly bizarre for Colton Parayko, who has been a puzzling player since the Blues won the Cup in 2019. 2021-22 NHL Predictions Updated after every game. That can't happen again. That mindset is critical when every team out there is looking to unseat the champions. He has added 10 assists to his point total, but Rantanen has still fallen short of expectations to date in terms of output. Obviously, the Rangers are going to go as far as Shesterkin takes them. They're finding ways to win, finding ways to survive and I think they do it again here. So it works in Nashville's favor to not just go into the postseason as a wild-card team, but to know there's an uphill battle ahead to make its time in the playoffs last. We're learned that fatigue hasn't yet been an issue for a team that's gone all the way in two straight postseasons -- perhaps because they followed truncated regular seasons? When things aren't going Boston's way -- when the Bruins struggle to score a goal or give up a bad one -- can they persevere and push back? New Jersey Devils (MP) 6. Shilton: Avalanche in seven by Fantasy Hockey Staff @NHLFantasy. Biggest flaw(s): Being a top-heavy offensive team is a good problem to have when the top of one's lineup is filled with players who have more than 35 goals. Yet Carolina is not mentioned in the same breath as other Stanley Cup contenders. Venue: Dean Smith Center -- Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Coverage: ESPN . Non-Playoff team from 2021 that will make 2022 Playoffs: Dallas Stars . Luckily for the Blues, that deja vu high they're currently riding is a good one. No one will let the Leafs forget what happened against Boston (twice) or Montreal. 16 teams will qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He battled back and won a Game 7. That could change in a hurry in the postseason, as the Canes flex their impressive depth, stingy penalty kill and offensive power led by Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov. The legend of Mike Smith has only grown this postseason. Los Angeles was 32-19-7 when Doughty went out on March 7. But it's also true that the Lightning haven't faced a goalie like Shesterkin, who is playing out of his gourd right now. That bodes well for Edmonton in this series, since Colorado happens to be a high-volume shot team (39.8 per game); if that continues, Smith will be back under a spotlight early and often in the next round. He's a 40-year-old veteran churning out great numbers, including an 8-3-0 record, .927 SV% and 2.70 GAA. Bold prediction: The Hurricanes get past the Bruins in the first round, but it's a grinding seven-game series. Some teams have improved, while others went into re-build mode. The Predators can score well enough, but how well they can execute team defense and keep the puck out of their own net will be the key. Orchestrating all of it is coach Rod Brind'Amour, for whom the players would skate through a wall. Are we focusing heavily on the best players in this series? He's both their last line of defense and their catalyst, as the Rangers feed off his performances when opponents tip the ice. Cohn: Rangers in seven General manager Doug Armstrong took a major risk in allowing. That wasn't a given before the season and certainly wasn't while Pittsburgh played through its seemingly annual spate of injuries. Look for that to change in the Lightning's second season. Levy: Rangers in seven That's a killer combination. Biggest flaw(s): Beyond McDavid and Draisaitl, the Oilers don't necessarily have the depth that other contenders in the Western Conference can boast in their forward group or on the blue line. Those 5-on-5 opportunities can be -- and almost always are -- limited in the playoffs. When the trade deadline rolls around, there are always teams caught in the middle of the standings . Seven Avs skaters have at least three goals in the playoffs, and five have double-digit point totals. The Rangers still aren't an impressive five-on-five team, relying on Shesterkin to bail them out at even strength, which he has. The Panthers' depth of electric scoring ability has the potential to carry this team a long way into spring. 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