Stanley Cup Second Round Preview

 We have past the first test in the march for the Stanley Cup Playoffs We started with sixteen teams in the chase, now were down to eight. We do know one thing, and that is there will be a new Stanley Cup champion in 2020, as the defending champion Blues were knocked out in the last round. Who's going to be the team to take the next big step? Can teams like the Islanders keep rolling? We shall find out over the next two weeks. Here's what round two is looking like.

We start it off with the Eastern Conference as the one seed Philadelphia Flyers take on the six seeded New York Islanders. The Flyers got here by beating the Montreal Canadiens in six hard fought games. This was the first playoff series win for the Flyers since 2012 and Philly is looking for its first conference finals appearance since 2010. As for the Islanders, they got by the Washington Capitals in five games in the opening round. This is the second year in a row the Isles will be playing in the second round. They're looking for their first conference finals appearance since 1993. This will be the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams, with Philadelphia winning three of the four previous series. They last met in the 1987 Patrick Division Finals, which Philadelphia won in seven games. New York won all three games in this year's regular season series.

Here's the date and times for every game in this series:
August 24 New York Islanders 7:00 p.m. Philadelphia Flyers Scotiabank Arena
August 26 New York Islanders 3:00 p.m. Philadelphia Flyers Scotiabank Arena
August 27 Philadelphia Flyers 7:00 p.m. New York Islanders Scotiabank Arena
August 29 Philadelphia Flyers 12:00 p.m. New York Islanders Scotiabank Arena
August 31 New York Islanders TBD Philadelphia Flyers Scotiabank Arena
September 2 Philadelphia Flyers TBD New York Islanders Scotiabank Arena
September 3 New York Islanders TBD Philadelphia Flyers Scotiabank Arena

The Flyers have been surprising a lot of people in the playoffs. Carter Hart has been playing outstanding goaltending . He's been really really good and he keeping the Flyers in this playoff thing.  What's been gotten the Flyers game going Giroux hasn't done much of anything and Voracek had two goals in the last round. Its been mostly the role players that have stepped up for the Flyers so far. The Flyers came in with a bit of a chip on their shoulders and haven't stopped. The Islanders got everybody healthy and played their system to a T against the Caps. Semyon Varlamov has looked pretty good in net for the Islanders. They've gotten some balanced scoring, with all four lines contributing. Anthony Beauvillier and Josh Bailey have been the ones to really lead the charge. The only thing that has me worried for the Isles in this series is their trouble staying out of the box. It cost them game four when they couldn't get out of their own way. Same thing early in game one against the Caps. Control that and they stand a pretty good shot in this series

Pick: Islanders in 6!

Next up, we have the second seeded Tampa Bay Lightning taking on the fourth seeded Boston Bruins. Tampa Got here by beating the Columbus Blue Jackets in five games. This is the first Lightning series win since 2018, which was also the last time they made the conference finals. As for the Bruins, they're coming off a five game win over the Carolina Hurricanes. This is the third year in a row the Bruins made it past the first round and the Bruins are looking to get to the conference finals for the second year in a row. This will be the third playoff series between these two teams with both teams splitting the two previous series. They last met in the 2018 Eastern Conference Second Round, which Tampa Bay won in five games. Tampa Bay won three of four games in this year's regular season series.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:

August 23 Boston Bruins 8:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Scotiabank Arena

August 25 Boston Bruins 7:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Scotiabank Arena

August 26 Tampa Bay Lightning 8:00 p.m. Boston Bruins Scotiabank Arena

August 28 Tampa Bay Lightning 7:30 p.m. Boston Bruins Scotiabank Arena

August 30 Boston Bruins TBD Tampa Bay Lightning Scotiabank Arena

September 1 Tampa Bay Lightning TBD Boston Bruins Scotiabank Arena

September 2 Boston Bruins TBD Tampa Bay Lightning Scotiabank Arena

The Bruins looked flat during round robin b=play. They were the President's Trophy winners for the best record during the regular season and looked primed to roll in the playoffs. They came out flat during round robin but picked it up against Carolina, despite Tuukka Rask leaving for personal reasons. No matter, Jaroslav Halak picked up the slack and was able to help power the Bruins on to round two. Boston still one of the most balanced and deep teams in the game left, but they're going against a fired up Lightning team who slayed the Jackets dragon that's been haunting them since last season's sweep. Andrei Vasilevski played pretty well in the last round, but some of his rebounds and five hole play have left a few Bolts fans a little suspect. He has more then made up for it at times, which is why the matchup of him against Halak is so interesting. And the Bolts have managed to get timely scoring out of a guy like Brayden Point all last series and they have a balanced attack in Tampa, even without Steven Tamkos still not yet (as of this writing) ready to go.

Pick: Lightning in 6!

To the Western Conference we go, as the top seeded Vegas Golden Knights take on the fifth seeded Vancouver Canucks. Vegas has made the playoffs in each of three years in the league and won playoff series now in two of the three after beating the Blackhawks in five games. They're looking to reach the conference finals for the fist time since their first year in the league. As for the Canucks, they knocked off the St Louis Blues in the first round, making it their first playoff series win since 2001. Vancouver is looking to reach the West final for the first time since that 2011 season. This will be the first playoff meeting between these two teams. These two teams split their two-game regular season series.

Here's the date and times of every game in this series:

August 23 Vancouver Canucks 10:30 p.m. Vegas Golden Knights Rogers Place

August 25 Vancouver Canucks 9:45 p.m. Vegas Golden Knights Rogers Place

August 27 Vegas Golden Knights 9:45 p.m. Vancouver Canucks Rogers Place

August 29 Vegas Golden Knights 8:00 p.m. Vancouver Canucks Rogers Place

August 31 Vancouver Canucks TBD Vegas Golden Knights Rogers Place

September 1 Vegas Golden Knights TBD Vancouver Canucks Rogers Place

September 3 Vancouver Canucks TBD Vegas Golden Knights Rogers Place

Credit is due for Robin Lehnar, who's took hold of the starting job in the Vegas nets over Marc-Andre Fleury and run with it. Vegas has a deep, talented and playoff tested hockey club. Mark Stone, Shea Theedore and Alex Tuch were keeping the Golden Knights going. They await a surprising team in Vancouver who's youth movement has been carrying them to this second round playoff matchup. Case in point they just knocked off the defending cup champions to get here. Elias Petterson has the second most playoff points at the start of this second round. Him and Bo Horvat have been the ones that power this club and Vancouver looks like they're going to make noise. This is going to be a tough series, but at the end of the day, its the depth and experience that's going to win out.

Pick: Golden Knights in 6!

Finally, we have the second seeded Colorado Avalanche taking on the third seeded Dallas Stars. Colorado got here by beating the Arizona Coyotes in five games, making it the second year in a row the Avs won their opening round playoff matchup. Colorado is looking to reach the Western Conference Final for the first time since 2002. Dallas got here by beating the Calgary Flames in five games, the second year in a row that they've won their opening round playoff matchup, Dallas is looking to reach the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2008. This will be the fifth playoff series between these two teams, with both teams splitting the four previous series. They last met in the 2006 Western Conference Quarterfinals, which Colorado won in five games. Dallas won all four games in this year's regular season series. 

Here's the Dates and times of every game in this series:

August 22 Dallas Stars 8:00 PM  Colorado Avalanche Rogers Place

August 24 Dallas Stars 9:45 p.m. Colorado Avalanche Rogers Place

August 26 Colorado Avalanche 10:30 p.m. Dallas Stars Rogers Place

August 28 Colorado Avalanche 10:00 p.m. Dallas Stars Rogers Place

August 30 Dallas Stars TBD Colorado Avalanche Rogers Place

August 31 Colorado Avalanche TBD Dallas Stars Rogers Place

September 2 Dallas Stars TBD Colorado Avalanche Rogers Place

We all know the big boys in Dallas of Jamie Benn and Tyler Segin, but the supporting cast stepped it up against the Flames. Alexander Radulov, Miro Heiskanen, Joe Pavelski all stepped up and played a big role in the last round, while Anton Khudobin played big factors in the last round. But looking at it from the other side, Khudobin has been good, but Philipp Grubauer has been just as good, as has Pavel Francouz when called apon. Colorado has been deep and well balanced behind Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon. Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky, Cale Makar, and Miro Heiskanen have all been factors for the Avs in the playoffs. The Avs depth has been their backbone all year. Not gonna lie, as well as Dallas has played, they can pull a couple games off in surprise. Colorado is going to be too much to handle at the end of the day.

Pick: Avalanche in 6!