4. Florida Panthers vs. 1. Vegas Golden Knights

By all measures of success, the Florida Panthers should not have even clinched a playoff spot. Yet, here they are, appearing in their second Stanley Cup Final in franchise history. The same goes for the Vegas Golden Knights who will be making their second appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.

Florida’s path was not easy as they had to overcome a 3-1 series deficit to the Boston Bruins who had a historical regular season. Then they made it look easy against Toronto in a series that only lasted 5-games. Carolina was swept away in the Conference Finals as the Panthers look like a different team than the one that played 82-regular season games.

Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky has been playing the best hockey of his entire career. The two-time former Vezina trophy winner has had a 2.21 GAA with a .935 save percentage during the playoffs. Newcomer Matthew Tkachuk has made his presence felt leading the team with 21 points (9 goals, 12 assists), including quite a few overtime game winning goals. Carter Verhaeghe and Aleksander Barkov have been consistent contributors with Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart being spark plugs at key times. Brandon Montour has been phenomenal scoring 6 goals, leading all defensemen during the playoffs. Florida’s last go round in the Final was in 1996 and were swept out of it. They look to hoist it this time around.

Vegas is used to being in the playoffs. They’ve only missed the playoffs one time in their six years of existence. In their first year they did the unthinkable and made it to the Stanley Cup Final, but were ousted in 5-games. Most of the roster has changed since that inaugural season, but they are stacked with top flight talent on multiple lines.

Like his counterpart in Florida, goalie Adin Hill has been playing out of this world. A 2.07 GAA and a .937 save percentage with two shutouts during the playoffs. His performances against Edmonton and Dallas are why Vegas is back in the Final. The Golden Knights offense has been scoring at will and that’s led by six forwards with 14 points or more during the playoffs. William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault, two holdovers from their inaugural season, lead the team in goals with 10 and 9 respectively. Mid-season acquisition Ivan Barbashev has tallied 15 points and Jack Eichel’s first playoff run has him lead the team in points with 18. Their defense is anchored by Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore who can act as forwards if need be. This series can’t be underestimated for the Knights, but they’ve made it look easy during this playoff run.

Players to Watch: G Sergei Bobrovsky and F Jack Eichel

Who Wins: Golden Knights in 6 games