From start to finish, the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs were an epic spectacle – a perfect cover for one of the best regular seasons in recent memory.
It was the best postseason in a long time, full of entertaining games, memorable series, outstanding plays, superstar performances, outstanding players and intriguing narratives. On several occasions, we witnessed evolving history. The 2022 playoffs had it all, a postseason I’ll remember for long time.
The 2022 playoffs were great for a myriad of reasons. Now that a champion has been crowned, it’s a good time to look back on what made this year’s postseason so special.
Fantastic finale
The hype and excitement for a Colorado final against Tampa Bay began two years ago: two of the most exciting teams in the league looked like the team to win at their conference. The Lightning kept their promise, but the Avalanche lost a heartbreaking round in round 2.
It seemed like a missed opportunity to see two of the best teams face off, but a year later there they were both, again, at the top of the league. When Colorado won 2-0 against Las Vegas in the second round, it was starting to look like a real possibility, but four games later there was a disappointment. This is how it happens in hockey sometimes, as the best teams don’t always reach the distance. . Both teams entered the season as co-favorites to win the Cup, but once again only one team was able to deliver on its promise, and that was Tampa Bay.
We went one more year and finally got what we wanted: an epic showdown between two of the most exciting teams in the league. In one corner was undoubtedly the most talented group of skaters, and in the other, the now two-time Cup defenders. In fact, a clash of titans. Before even starting the series, Cale Makar said it all:
“They are a team that seeks to have a dynasty. We are a team that is trying to start a legacy ”.
Cale Makar. (Geoff Burke / USA Today)
The hype of the pre-series was immense, but somehow those two lived up to what was the best Stanley Cup final in a long time. These were two teams at the top of their power swaps, which led to four instant classic one-goal games and two bursts where each team’s sheer ferocity was felt. I still can’t believe Colorado beat Tampa Bay 7-0, and the Lightning responded with a 6-2 own was legendary.
The intensity of each game was palpable across the screen and I can only imagine how it felt to be a witness in meats and orders. In a sport where luck can often lead to the race in the final, it was a pleasure to see how these two giants faced off.
Coronation of Colorado
Only one team could win it all, and in the end, the beginning of a legacy meant the end of a dynasty. For every team that stood in their way, the avalanches were too much. They passed the first round easily and faced some adversity in the second, but once Colorado overcame their hump, it seemed that the Stanley Cup celebration was almost inevitable. The Avalanche dragged the Oilers and, although Tampa Bay was able to push the series to six games, it was Colorado who had firm control during the final.
For three rounds, Tampa Bay again seemed unstoppable, but that was only until the Lightning met the Avalanche. Colorado dominated this series and left no doubt as to who was the best team in the league. In five-on-five, the Avalanche won 60 percent of the expected goals against the Lightning, an impressive figure against an elite team.
That win seemed like a destiny, one that began last year when Colorado entered the season as a Stanley Cup favorite. When the playoffs took place, the team’s chances of winning it all were overwhelming compared to the field. This caused a necessary disappointment, which only made this year’s victory even sweeter. They came back stronger, better, faster, stronger, seeming a force to be reckoned with over the next few years.
This was his year and it’s always nice to see how a team lives up to that destiny. The Avalanche was a Stanley Cup favorite from day one and never lost control all season, until the end with a title. They deserved that victory.
Redeemer return
“And for everyone who thought it was a responsibility in the playoffs, you can kiss me.”
Microphone drop. Closed curtains. Role credits. A perfect expulsion of Stanley Cup champion Nazem Kadri.
For me, there was no better story in these playoffs, and really, this season, than Kadri. At 31, he finally had his big break, playing at the high level of talent he has always had. Prior to this season, Kadri was a second-line center-back who showed something more, and scoring 87 points in 71 games was something more.
But he still had more to show where it mattered: in the postseason, mostly, to stay there. It was Kadri’s four-match suspension in the 2019 playoffs that marked the end of his stay in Toronto. Two years later came an eight-man player who was probably the start of the end of Colorado’s playoff hopes that season. It wasn’t enough for Kadri to be good, he had to stay on the right side of the line to help Colorado win.
And he did, playing incredibly inspired hockey. Kadri scored 15 points in 16 games, proving that the regular season was no coincidence, and added an exceptional expected 66 percent goal rate to the book to become one of Colorado’s most impactful players. Everything looked great until Kadri broke his thumb in round 3, an injury that surely sidelined him from another playoff, albeit this time for reasons beyond his control.
Kadri only missed four games, and heroically rejoined the team for a crucial Game 4 in the Stanley Cup final. There was only one way to end the game, and it was with Kadri’s stick for the overtime winner to give Colorado a 3-1 control of the series. The 2022 season was the year of Naz, and that goal was the cherry on top. Redemption.
What a moment. What a victory! 🤩 @ 43_Kadri | @allau | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/MWIpM8SjYY
– Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 23, 2022
Byram’s advance
For every Cup winner, there are always a couple of guys approaching the moment and exploding in an unexpected way before the playoffs start. Colorado had a few such characters, with Valeri Nichushkin being especially important in the final, but the most important story on this front had to be Bowen Byram. The fourth pick in the 2019 draft always had a chance at greatness given his pedigree, and those playoffs saw him reach the biggest stage of the game.
While obviously all eyes were on Makar, it was Byram’s play that was becoming the difference beyond the top pair. Samuel Girard’s absence came very close, but Byram made sure the loss should not be felt. He participated with nine assists, but it was his intelligence and ability to move the puck that made his head spin as he posted an impressive expected goal rate of 65 percent. This led all Avalanche defenders and was second only behind Kadri in the team.
In 2019, it was in the playoffs where we discovered the impact Makar would have on the avalanche. Three years later, Byram showed a vision of his own future stardom on the same stage.
Defeated dynasty
As much as the NHL likes to defend league parity, it’s the greatness that fans often feel most attracted to. Winning a championship is special, but building an unbeatable dynasty is even bigger: it’s what makes teams especially memorable. Tampa Bay is already there with consecutive championships and the series of final places in the team’s conference over the last eight seasons really demonstrates their dominance over the season. But the chance of a three-peat? The first in three decades? That would have been amazing to witness.
There were doubts about starting the playoffs with the Lightning being disadvantaged in the first two series. The lesson: never doubt the heart of a champion, as the team’s winning pedigree prevailed on the way to another final place in the conference. An inferior team could have fallen 2-0 in the third round, but not Tampa Bay, who again won four in a row, marching to their third consecutive Stanley Cup final.
The road there was exciting; there seemed to be history. It was special to see how a team looked totally unbeatable, no matter how downcast they looked. Tough, like no other team I’ve seen before.
But sometimes, even better than watching a winning team make history with championship after championship is watching them fall. There was no more appropriate start to Colorado’s future reign than a win over the previous undisputed best team; a crown is given to his immediate successor. Perfectly won victory.
Cool and clutch
At the center of each Lightning race is Andrei Vasilevskiy between the pipes, an impenetrable fortress that made victory seem useless. In 2020 he saved 14 goals above expectations with a savings percentage of .927. 2021 was even better, saving 18 goals with a .937 savings percentage. This year he brought the heat back, saving nine goals above expectations with a savings rate of .922. The latest numbers may not seem so impressive, but considering the competition featured three of the best offensive teams in the league, it’s a feat to maintain such a high level of excellence.
More special than raw numbers was the moment of Vasilevskiy’s greatness. After a defeat, before the elimination and with the opportunity to close a series, they were the highest leverage points of each series where Vasilevskiy really shone. It’s what set him apart from other elite headlines and made him a gift. We have seen this match for three playoffs in a row and in that time only four more goalkeepers have saved 10 goals above or above expectations, only two above 15 and only one above 20. Vasilevskiy is at 41.
Another fantastic playoff run made many wonder where Vasilevskiy is …