At the end of the day, it doesn\u2019t matter that the Tampa Bay Lightning played an almost perfect Game 7.<\/p>\n
The Lightning put up a masterclass in defensive structure when it mattered most, limiting the Canadiens to zero shots on goal in the second period, and only nine in 60 minutes.<\/p>\n
Blame poor puck luck in Game 7 or Jakub Dobes\u2019 excellence \u2014 both were unquestionably difference-makers here.<\/p>\n
But those aren\u2019t the only reasons why the Lightning\u2019s season ended on Sunday night.<\/p>\n
What if Nikita Kucherov made better puck touches with the clock ticking on the season? What if Andrei Vasilevskiy had a better start to the series? What if Oliver Bjorkstrand was trusted to play in Games 1-2, since his line with Dominic James and Gage Goncalves was the most effective in Game 7? What if Victor Hedman were ready to return sooner?<\/p>\n
What if this version of the Lightning showed up more consistently throughout the series?<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay has all the time in the world to \u2018what if\u2019 the elimination away, but it won\u2019t change the final result: a fourth consecutive first-round exit. And now it\u2019s time to face the reality that their Stanley Cup window is closing.<\/p>\n
As much as the winning side of every matchup should get the spotlight, there is something to learn about the losing side after every series, whether it\u2019s the good and promising, or the bad and ugly that put the team in that position.<\/p>\n
So as eight teams shift into offseason mode, let\u2019s take a look at what we learned about them from Round 1.<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Lightning<\/b><\/p>\n
The window is closing<\/p>\n
The Lightning\u2019s strategy has revolved around its star-studded core. But despite putting up game-breaking regular seasons, versions of this core haven\u2019t gotten it done in four straight postseasons now.<\/p>\n
Kucherov and Brayden Point didn\u2019t hit that next gear in Round 1. It took six games for Playoff Vasy to round into form, too. And despite some real efforts from the supporting cast, it wasn\u2019t enough to advance to Round 2.<\/p>\n
So the question isn\u2019t just what\u2019s next for Tampa Bay, it\u2019s whether there is still a way to maximize this core for another run before it\u2019s too late. The problem is, there\u2019s a cost to contending: a depleted pipeline<\/a>, limited trade assets and little cap flexibility.<\/p>\n Some teams spend all that with less to show for it, while the Lightning have two Stanley Cups plus a third trip to the final. And to Tampa Bay\u2019s credit, management has found creative ways to deal with a rotating cast of substitutions. The Lightning may not have a ton of draft capital, but they still find hidden gems to develop through the system. James was the latest example of that, along with Darren Raddysh and J.J. Moser.<\/p>\n But even if Tampa Bay spots and develops that talent, retaining it is another challenge. Raddysh\u2019s glow-up may be the most recent price-out of Tampa Bay, with Moser\u2019s extension kicking in next year.<\/p>\n Even with more graceful aging curves for star talent, Father Time spares no player or team. So the pressure is on to find a way to extend this window, or take a step back altogether to reset before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n Edmonton Oilers<\/b><\/p>\n The clock is ticking<\/p>\n When Connor McDavid signed a two-year extension, it put the Oilers on the clock. It gave management up to three years to build a real contender around the best player in the world, or at least prove this team is trending in the right direction.<\/p>\n Instead, as Leon Draisaitl succinctly put it on breakup day<\/a>, this team is \u201cnot trending in the right direction\u201d and has taken a \u201cbig step backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n The star players seem to grasp both the team\u2019s current standing and the pressure surrounding McDavid\u2019s contract. But does the front office?<\/p>\n As easy as it is to chalk up this year\u2019s disappointing Round 1 exit to injuries, their shortcomings stemmed a lot deeper than that. The defense, which only improved post-Olympics after Paul Coffey returned behind the bench, collapsed in front of an incredibly cautious goaltending tandem. A lack of footspeed was glaring, too. But it\u2019s going to be incredibly difficult to get out of this jam.<\/p>\n Bringing in a full-time defensive coach would help. Shaking up the personnel on the back end would go a long way, too. But the Oilers don\u2019t have a lot of cap space or trade assets. And there aren\u2019t a ton of movable contracts, either. This year\u2019s moves \u2014 from acquiring Tristan Jarry and two more years of his contract, to extending Trent Frederic for eight years, to sending out draft picks to move Stuart Skinner and Andrew Mangiapane \u2014 put the Oilers in an impossible situation. So before figuring out how to get out of this jam, it\u2019s worth talking about who should be trusted to spearhead this.<\/p>\n Dallas Stars<\/b><\/p>\n Jason Robertson is a star<\/p>\n Robertson was on another level all season long, answering any questions on whether he was truly franchise-caliber. He shot the puck more often and efficiently, and boosted his puck-moving play between his breakouts and primary passes. It just had to translate in a playoff environment, especially with looming contract talks ahead.<\/p>\n The narrative around Robertson\u2019s playoff pedigree tends to get overblown because he has legitimately made an impact in postseasons past for Dallas. Even last year, coming off an injury, he gave his team a much-needed spark.<\/p>\n Making an impact isn\u2019t the same as having clutch signature performances to help the Stars move further than years past, though. And that\u2019s pretty much fueled the question around whether he has the chops to truly be a No. 1 forward \u2014 and paid like one.<\/p>\n Robertson answered any lingering questions this spring, though. He was by far the Stars\u2019 best and most consistent player in Round 1. Not only did he contribute on the power play, he was one of the few much-needed five-on-five producers despite being without his mainstay center. That added up to a 2.63 average Game Score that not only leads Dallas but ranks 10th among all players in Round 1.<\/p>\n That should be enough to answer any questions around his game, and whether he\u2019s worth a raise this summer \u2014 especially since it\u2019s only getting harder to acquire stars around the NHL.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Penguins<\/b><\/p>\n It\u2019s the end of an era<\/p>\n There were basically two ways for this to play out. If the Penguins went on a deep run after unexpectedly reaching the playoffs, it was going to be this magical Last Dance moment for Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. But if Pittsburgh flamed out early, it was always going to open the door to questions about the long run.<\/p>\n It could have been worse this spring; the Penguins were almost swept by a rebuilding Flyers team that went on a late-season push to make the postseason. Pittsburgh, at least, won two games to make it a series. But extending the series doesn\u2019t do enough to change the big picture. It could be time to officially turn the page on this chapter and look forward to the next.<\/p>\n The Penguins really didn\u2019t mortgage their future this year by competing, at least. Kyle Dubas and the front office made forward-thinking moves along the way that improved the team on the fly; the Stuart Skinner and Egor Chinakhov trades were prime examples. Elmer S\u00f6derblom looks like a low-key savvy add, too. But it may be time to take a more drastic approach.<\/p>\n Crosby isn\u2019t going anywhere unless he chooses to. The Letang contract may be unmovable, too. Erik Karlsson had a fantastic regular season; could this be a chance to sell high on the last two years of his deal? Then there\u2019s the Malkin situation; he had a resurgent regular season, but was a step behind in Round 1, which will be front-of-mind when his contract expires on July 1.<\/p>\n Los Angeles Kings<\/b><\/p>\n Safe is death<\/p>\n To the Kings\u2019 credit, management did try to address its offensive woes. The team probably would have looked a lot different with Kevin Fiala and Artemi Panarin in the lineup at the same time. The Fiala injury situation was completely out of L.A.\u2019s hands and just terrible luck.<\/p>\n But that Panarin trade doesn\u2019t erase the team\u2019s missteps to that point, like the decision to run it back with Jim Hiller despite last postseason\u2019s failures. It doesn\u2019t take away all of Ken Holland\u2019s one-dimensional signings that made the blue line older and slower with Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin, while trading away Jordan Spence.<\/p>\n Holland didn\u2019t build the Kings\u2019 foundation or core. But in Year 1 of his tenure, he didn\u2019t do enough to change what was broken, either. He leaned further into it, and it unsurprisingly burned L.A. It landed them in the worst possible playoff position for a Round 1 matchup against an even deeper and dynamic opponent. And it ended the Kings\u2019 playoff hopes even quicker than years past. That\u2019s why the Round 1 lesson is the same for L.A. two years in a row.<\/p>\n As on-brand as this direction was for an old-school GM like Holland, he of all people should have some understanding of what\u2019s gone wrong for the Kings in the past, seeing as he was on the other side of three of those four Round 1 eliminations to the Oilers.<\/p>\n Boston Bruins<\/b><\/p>\n The Big Bad Bruins aren\u2019t cut out for 2026<\/p>\n Led by an elite core trio and a high PDO, the Bruins reached the playoffs against the odds \u2014 only to crash out early against the Buffalo Sabres.<\/p>\n The good news is management seemed to recognize this team\u2019s ceiling and didn\u2019t overpay at the deadline for Band-Aids in exchange for future assets. Even if the team didn\u2019t do anything to further a retool started last spring, the front office didn\u2019t do anything to hamstring it, either.<\/p>\n The bad news is that this roster is extremely flawed and may not be built to thrive in today\u2019s speed and skill game. The Bruins\u2019 1-2-2 neutral zone system, known as \u201cThe Clog<\/a>,\u201d had its moments of efficiency in the regular season and even in Round 1. But if teams like the Sabres were able to cut through with speed, Boston didn\u2019t have the footspeed to catch up. And when there was a speed mismatch, the Bruins couldn\u2019t always stop their opponents\u2019 forecheck with physicality.<\/p>\n A blue line with players like Charlie McAvoy and Nikita Zadorov will always embrace some of that Big Bad Bruin energy, and there can still be value to that playing style even in today\u2019s NHL. But the current trends around the league center around speed, skill and up-and-coming talent \u2014 and the Atlantic Division is the prime example, with the Sabres and Canadiens left standing. So Boston is going to have to go against the grain of some of their veteran players and identity to find defensemen who can address those weak points.<\/p>\n Utah Mammoth<\/b><\/p>\n The future is bright<\/p>\n A Round 1 series between the Mammoth and Vegas Golden Knights was always going to be a mismatch in experience. Unfortunately for Utah, it showed at times. The team didn\u2019t sustain momentum enough, even after resilient comebacks. The wear and tear of lengthy overtimes also hampered the Mammoth\u2019s skaters. So did Vegas\u2019 ability to lock things down with a strong forecheck.<\/p>\n But gaining some much-needed playoff seasoning isn\u2019t the only takeaway from this series. It\u2019s that Utah\u2019s core is the real deal and should have an incredibly bright future.<\/p>\n Clayton Keller\u2019s star power has been a difference-maker for this franchise for years, both in Arizona and Utah. But now he has a dynamic group of young forwards around him to level up the team\u2019s core.<\/p>\n Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley both had breakthrough performances for the Mammoth. Neither one plays prototypical playoff hockey; they use their speed to their advantage to thrive off the rush and move the puck east-to-west to challenge defenders. Some teams try to move away from that style of play in the postseason, where tension amps up, and the game sometimes slows down as a result. But these two played to their strengths and made a real impact, even against Vegas\u2019 best. In almost 38 head-to-head minutes against Jack Eichel, Cooley and the Mammoth went up 47-29 in shot attempts, earned a 72 percent xG rate and outscored Vegas 3-2.<\/p>\n Ottawa Senators<\/b><\/p>\n You need your best players to step up<\/p>\n Hockey is a strong link game, even in the playoffs<\/a>. That puts extra emphasis on star players on both sides of a matchup.<\/p>\n While Ottawa has star power on the back end with Jake Sanderson emerging as one of the best all-around defensemen in the league, Brady Tkachuk and Tim St\u00fctzle are flawed<\/a> No. 1 and No. 2 forwards on a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.<\/p>\n It\u2019s even more challenging when those two leading forwards don\u2019t play their best. Neither player earned a single five-on-five point in four games.<\/p>\n Tkachuk was the offensive spark the Senators needed last spring and even upped his regular-season scoring rate this season. But this time around, his postseason started in the penalty box for five minutes, and it set the tone for the rest of the series. The shots and scoring chances weren\u2019t memorable; the physicality was. St\u00fctzle\u2019s series, on the other hand, will be remembered for missed chances and opportunities.<\/p>\n It\u2019s good to be lucky, but sometimes teams have to create their own luck. So the Senators need to consider if Tkachuk and St\u00fctzle have that next gear to take over games, or if it\u2019s time to rethink the depth chart as currently constructed.<\/p>\n Data via Evolving-Hockey<\/a>, HockeyViz<\/a>, HockeyStatCards<\/a>, All Three Zones<\/a>,, HockeyStats<\/a> and Natural Stat Trick<\/a>. This story relies on shot-based metrics; here is a primer<\/a> on these numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the end of the day, it doesn\u2019t matter that the Tampa Bay Lightning played an almost perfect…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":777417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[3103,1320,2997,2081,293,3105,1334,62,3106,67,132,68,2082],"class_list":{"0":"post-777416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-boston-bruins","9":"tag-dallas-stars","10":"tag-edmonton-oilers","11":"tag-los-angeles-kings","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-ottawa-senators","14":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-utah-mammoth"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116528052380267617","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}