Stanley Cup Semifinals Preview

A long journey it has been to get to this point. We started with 31 NHL teams, and now we have reached the final four. Over the next two weeks, we will see whos left standing to play for hockey's ultimate prize. Will it be the fourth year team who's already had a big impact on the league, or will it be the winningest team in league history? On the other side, is it going to be the defending champions, or a scrappy team that's made it to the third round for the second year in a row? Let's get right into it, here's how this third round goes down.

Vegas comes in as the best team still standing in the playoffs, having picked up 82 regular season points. they reached this point beating Minnesota in seven and Colorado in six. This is the 2nd straight year and third time in four years that the Golden Knights are in the 3rd round of the playoffs. Montreal finished the season with 59 points, they were the last team in the North division to make the playoffs. They go to this point by beating the Maple Leafs in seven and sweeping the Jets. This is the eight conference finals appearance for the Habs since 1980 and haven't reached the finals since their last title win in 1993. Montreal and Vegas have never met in the playoffs and Montreal has won five of the six lifetime meetings.

Here's the dates and times of every game in this series:
June 14 Montreal Canadiens 9:00 p.m. Vegas Golden Knights T-Mobile Arena
June 16 Montreal Canadiens 9:00 p.m. Vegas Golden Knights T-Mobile Arena
June 18 Vegas Golden Knights 8:00 p.m. Montreal Canadiens Bell Centre
June 20 Vegas Golden Knights 8:00 p.m. Montreal Canadiens Bell Centre
June 22 Montreal Canadiens 9:00 p.m. Vegas Golden Knights T-Mobile Arena
June 24 Vegas Golden Knights 8:00 p.m. Montreal Canadiens Bell Centre
June 26 Montreal Canadiens 8:00 p.m. Vegas Golden Knights T-Mobile Arena

Vegas has been one of the premier teams in the entire league all season long. Montreal right now is coming in hotter than a firecracker. Montreal is coming off the sweep of Winnipeg and have been playing great hockey as of late. Tyler Toffoli has started to come on as of late for the Canadiens. The balance scoring had started to come back for Montreal. And all of this is starting to show more support for what has been outstanding goaltending from Carey Price.

But at the other side, they're going up against the best team standing in Vegas. Marc-Andre Fleury is starting to play like the Fleury of old. It happens during the playoffs I guess, Fleury usually finds another gear come this time of year. Max Pacioretty has started to turn his game up to another level towards the end of the Colorado series. Wlliam Karlsson is starting to show why he one of the Golden Knights best forwards.

There's no denying the fact that the Habs have started picking up momentum as of late. But they are facing the best team left standing and a squad that just came back from down 2-0 against the best team in the league during the regular season. Montreal might be able to steal a game, but the drought for a Canadian team to win the cup will continue for another season.

Pick: Golden Knights in 5!

This is a rematch of last years Eastern Conference Finals. New York finished 4th in the East division with 71 points. To get here, they beat the Penguins in six games and the Bruins in six. As for the Lightning, they finished 3rd in the Central Division with 75 points. in order to get here, the Lightning beat the Panthers in six games and the Hurricanes in five.. This is the Lightning's seventh overall appearance in this round, while its the eight for the Islanders. These two teams have played each other three previous times in the playoffs, with the Lightning winning all three series, including last year.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:
June 13 New York Islanders 3:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
June 15 New York Islanders 8:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
June 17 Tampa Bay Lightning 8:00 p.m. New York Islanders Nassau Coliseum
June 19 Tampa Bay Lightning 8:00 p.m. New York Islanders Nassau Coliseum
June 21 New York Islanders 8:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena
June 23 Tampa Bay Lightning 8:00 p.m. New York Islanders Nassau Coliseum
June 25 New York Islanders 8:00 p.m. Tampa Bay Lightning Amalie Arena

This series is going to be good. Like really, really good. These teams know each other so well, having faced off against each other just last playoffs. The Islanders have come into this series as the highest scoring team in the playoffs. They getting scoring from some of their role players like Kyle Palmari and Brock Nelson. All of it being done with Jordan Eberle being quiet on the score sheet most of the playoffs and Mathew Barzal only just starting to find the back of the net. Semyan Varlamov has been playing fantastic hockey coming off the Boston series win, holding the Bruins in check outside of the top line.

But they are facing a Tampa team that has found its game at the right time and is full tilt. Nikita Kucherov is healthy and has been scoring since the playoffs got going, so has Steven Stamkos. The goaltending has looked suspect at times, according to some, as these playoffs have rolled along. But at the end of the day, Andrei Vasilevskiy is up for the Vezena as top goalie this year, and when he's on his game, he's very tough to beat. The defense, too, can be either hit or miss, but with Victor Headman leading the way for the Bolts, they can shut things down when they get a lead.

Facts are, this is going to be a fun, hard fought series between the two teams. There's no doubt the Islanders offense has found its game again during these playoffs. But the Bolts are just a little bit better of a hockey team. It going to go the distance, and at the of the day, the better team will come out on top.

Pick: Lightning in 7!