Lightning and Canadiens Advance in Stanley Cup Playoffs

Brayden Point and Ross Colton each scored a goal and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy had 29 saves as the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning advanced to the Stanley Cup semifinals, shutting out the Carolina Hurricanes 2-0 on June 8th to close out a 4-1 series victory.

With all their key players back, the Lightning are looking like a decent bet to repeat as champion. Stephen Stamkos had gone down with an injury in early April, but returned in time for the playoffs, and has contributed five goals and eight assists in 11 post season contests. Nikita Kucherov missed the entire regular season, but has five goals and 13 assists in the post season and leads the team with 18 playoff points. The Lightning will play the winner of the New York Islanders-Boston Bruins series.

One of the surprise teams in the post season is the Montreal Canadiens, who had the fourth and final playoff berth in the North Division. Montreal was down three games to one in the first round to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but rallied to win the next three and take the series. They didn’t stop there, sweeping the Winnipeg Jets in the second round, including an overtime victory in Game 4 on June 7th. The Canadiens will play the winner of the Vegas-Colorado series next.