Florida Panthers: (47-31-4, 8-4) HC: Paul Maurice Top Performers: Sam Reinhart (39-42-81 +6), Aleksander Barkov 67 GP (20-51-71), Matthew Tkachuk 52 GP (22-35-57 –3), Carter Verhaeghe (20-33-53 –14), Sam Bennett (25-26-51 -15, Anton Lundell (17-28-45 +17)
Top Defensive Pairings: Aaron Ekblad 56 GP (3-30-33 +11), Gustav Forsling (11-20-31 +33), Niko Mikkola (6-16-22 +12), Nate Schmidt (5-14-19 +4)
Initial Thoughts: With both my Stanley Cup Finals pick now out, I see the survivors advancing. That’s a FLA-DAL final. Too deep and relentless. Take all of the regular season stats and toss them. Add in Seth Jones, Brad Marchand (who knows TOR well) with that core group and I see no weakness. But my outward thought… if Bobrovsky struggles, does FLA even have a backup they can count on? Defeated TB in five, Defeated TOR in seven.
Carolina Hurricanes (47-30-5, 8-2) HC: Rod Brind’Amour Top Performers: Sebastian Aho (29-45-74 +7), Seth Jarvis (32-35-67 +12), Andrei Svechnikov (20-28-48 –8), Jack Roslovic (22-17-39 –10), Jordan Martinook (15-21-36 +16), Jordan Staal (13-23-36 +15)
Top Defensive Pairings: Shayne Gostisbehere (7-38-45), Brent Burns (6-23-29 +7), Jaccob Slavin (6-21-27 +16), Dmitry Orlov (6-22-28 +16); Jalen Chatfield (7-11-18 +22)
Initial Thoughts: Always gets a ton of shots, but are they dangerous? I really like this team, but I don’t think the goaltending tandem of Andersen and Kochetkov is going to get them a Stanley Cup. Yet, I still say the system of Rod Brind’Amour plays in the regular season, but the ECF is the best they can do in my opinion. Defeated NJ and WSH in five games.
Goaltending Matchup: Sergei Bobrovsky (54 GP, 33-19-2, 2.44 GAA, .906 SV, 5 SO) vs. Frederik Andersen (22 GP, 13-8-1, 2.50 GAA, .899 SV, 1 SO); Pyotr Kochetkov (47 GP, 27-16-3, 2.60 GAA, .897 SV, 2 SO)
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