Random thoughts, surprises and observations from the Stanley Cup Playoffs (so far)

The first round has been a little one-sided in most series

Let’s talk about what we have seen so far in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs as of Sunday afternoon.

1. I expected way more — WAY MORE — from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Not only did I pick them to beat Florida, I thought they had a shot to make a little bit of a run in the Eastern Conference. They played some of their best hockey down the stretch and were one of the league’s best teams over the final 25 games of the season, and I guess I was banking on the possibility of Andrei Vasilevskiy turning into playoff Vasilevskiy and helping to put the team on his back.

That has not really happened.

While this series was a Game 2 overtime away from being tied at this point, Florida has clearly been the better 5-on-5 team in the series and Sergei Bobrovsky has mostly outplayed Vasilevskiy, with Tampa Bay’s Game 4 win being the lone exception.

I knew Florida was good, but I thought this was a bad matchup coming in for the first round.

Maybe Florida is better than I thought.

Maybe Tampa Bay’s run at the top is winding down.

It’s probably a combination of the two.

We can address this when Tampa Bay gets eliminated, which seems to be a matter of when and not if at this point.

2. The one series that is not surprising me at all has been the New York Rangers-Washington Capitals series. While I think the Rangers do still have some flaws that might hold them back in the later rounds against better teams, this was the one first round series where a certain result (Washington winning) would have truly shocked me.

The Capitals are just … not great.

There is a reason a team gets outscored by 37 goals over the course of an 82-game season. Making matters worse for the Capitals is they have not been able to get Alex Ovechkin going, with this being one of the least impactful playoff showings I have ever seen from him.

I don’t think they are doing him — or themselves — any favors by playing him next to Connor McMichael for most of the series when he was at his most productive during the regular season next to Dylan Strome.

The power play has also been an absolute nightmare for the Capitals.

For all of the flaws the Rangers might have during 5-on-5 play they do have two big things working in their favor — an incredible power play, and a franchise goalie that has been playing out of his mind for the entirety of the second half of the season.

That might take them a long way if they keep getting this sort of production out of both parts of their team.

The goaltending is the real game-changer because when Igor Shesterkin is on, he is a season-changer. Right now, he is on.

Since February 1 the Rangers are 20-5-1 when Shesterkin is the goalie of record (including playoffs), while he owns a .931 save percentage during that stretch.

It’s a cheat code when you have a goalie playing at that level.

Speaking of the Rangers….