Around the NHL: Conference Finals Set with Vegas, Winnipeg, Tampa Bay, Washington

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

And then there were four.

Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs came to a close with the Vegas Golden Knights, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets advancing to the Conference Finals.

This week, in Around the NHL, we look at the four remaining teams and the upcoming matchups in the Conference Finals.

Eastern Conference Final: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Washington Capitals

The Tampa Bay Lightning suffered a 6-2 defeat in Game 1 against the Boston Bruins, then swept the next four games to advance.

The Lightning really got balanced scoring throughout the series. The line of Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Brayden Point was stellar. Tampa’s third line, featuring Anthony Cirelli, Yanni Gourde and Alex Killorn also made an impact.

It was pretty telling that the Lightning were able to advance in five games without getting near as much from their top line as their secondary lines. The top line of Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and J.T. Miller scored four goals in the series, but three came in the deciding Game 5.

It helped that as the series went on, the Bruins became more and more shorthanded with injuries and were forced to rely on youth. Jake DeBrusk had an excellent series and the Bruins top line of David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand remained a huge threat. Andrei Vasilevskiy stepped up in a big way, as you would expect from a Vezina Trophy finalist.

The Lightning have been on this stage before, as recently as 2015 when they advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.

For the Washington Capitals, there is a sense of relief in this series win. Finally, Alex Ovechkin is going to play in the Eastern Conference Final. Finally, the Capitals were able to exorcise their second-round demons.

The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions weren’t a less skilled team than the Capitals. Both teams demonstrated great depth and had the goaltending at times in the series. The difference-maker was mistakes made by Pittsburgh.

Down the stretch in Game 5 and again in Game 6, the Penguins made the crucial mistake that can sink any team, even a team on their way to becoming a dynasty.

Again, it’s about balance for Washington. They got top-line contributions from Ovechkin and Game 6 hero Evgeny Kuznetsov. Their second line of T.J. Oshie, Jakub Vrana and Lars Eller was tremendous in Game 6 and throughout the series.

So there will be a new champion this season after back-to-back Cup wins for the Penguins. Washington and Tampa face off in a matchup of two high-powered offenses, two elite goaltenders and two teams that paced their divisions from the start of the season.

The Eastern Conference Final between the Lightning and Capitals begins on Friday night.

Western Conference Final: Vegas Golden Knights vs. Winnipeg Jets

The amazing story of the Vegas Golden Knights continues. Vegas defeated the San Jose Sharks in six games to move on to the Western Conference Final in their inaugural season.

What more can you say about Vegas at this point? There really are no bounds to what they are capable of this season, even for their first in the league.

It wasn’t quite the dominant series as against the Los Angeles Kings, but again the Golden Knights got balanced scoring, solid defense and tremendous goaltending.

It's no question that Marc-Andre Fleury has been the star of the playoffs. But Vegas also has an excellent top line with Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith and William Karlsson and tremendous depth players like Alex Tuch, Erik Haula and David Perron.

The other series between the Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators was just the second of the playoffs to go the distance and reach a seventh game. Throughout, the two teams traded wins, right up to the end.

Winnipeg took a 1-0 series lead with a win in Nashville. The Predators evened the series in Game 2 as the series shifted to Winnipeg. After the Jets won Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead, the road team won every game the rest of the way.

In Game 7 from Nashville, the Jets outplayed the Predators in a 5-1 win to claim the series.

In a matter of days, not only were the defending back-to-back Stanley Cup champions out of the playoffs, but so were the defending Western Conference champions.

Winnipeg certainly packs an offensive punch with strong depth and two tremendous top lines. It’s saying something when Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers aren’t starring in the scoring for the Jets and Mark Scheifele, Paul Stastny and Kyle Connor are.

The Jets got tremendous defensive play on the road in this series and the goaltending was superb with Connor Hellebuyck continuing a Vezina-quality season.

So a pair of first-time Western Conference finalists take the ice with a trip to the Stanley Cup on the line. Game 1 of that series begins on Saturday.