Results from the First Games of Round Two of the Stanley Cup Playoffs
RThe GIST: Time moves quickly inside the bubble. Without the need for travel and the distraction of women (cue eye roll here), the NHL moved from the first to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in less than 24 hours. Here’s #thegist on the four conference semifinals.
The West: The Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche kicked off the second round on Saturday, but, funny enough, it was actually their second meeting of the postseason. They already met during the round-robin seeding tournament a few weeks ago, where the Avs won 4–0, but this time the Stars took Game 1 with a 5–3 win.
- After booting the reigning Stanley Cup champs, the Vancouver Canucks became the only Canadian team and only Western qualifying team to advance to round two. Last night, they started their series against the Vegas Golden Knights, who might be a bit distracted after dealing with some weird AF goalie drama this weekend.
In the East: Despite leading the league during the regular season, the Boston Bruins are the underdogs in their series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa beat Boston in their round-robin seeding matchup, as well as in three of their four regular-season games, but Boston came out firing last night, winning Game 1 3–2.
- And last and kind of least, the New York Islanders — the only Eastern Conference team to move on from the qualifiers and the current lowest-seeded team — have something to prove against the No. 1 Philadelphia Flyers. They’ll look to continue their underdog journey when their series starts at 7 p.m. ET tonight.
Catch the action: Follow all the matchups here and check out the full bracket here. And if you miss any of the action, just meet us back here on Thursday. We’ll fill you in.
