What Should This Tell us moving forward?
When we combine everything about the makeup of the Tampa Bay Lightning, they are the best team in the NHL and no team in the league should be in favor of facing them in the playoffs over any other team. EVEN the Boston Bruins.
The only thing that Tampa does not find themselves elite at is goaltending and penalty killing, both of which they are above the average team in these departments.
Since Keefe took over the Toronto Maple Leafs record has been 4th in the league, in this time Tampa Bay has gained 15 points on the Leafs, that is how phenomenal they have been in this stretch.
The Toronto Maple Leafs should be praying they will not have to run into this team in the first round because the team will have to rely on a lot of luck if they are to win this series. At the minimum, everything will have to turn out perfect which I don’t believe is something that is smart to bet on being the case.
Again, a seven-game series doesn’t tell the whole story and anything could happen just like it did last year with Tampa Bay against Columbus. So we never know what the outcome could be, but the idea is that the best team will win most of the time.
Cheering to face Tampa in the first round is not something that any fan should be doing unless you want your team to lose in the first round that is. I recommend if you ever get a chance to watch a couple of Tampa games because they are a great team to watch.