What We Learned: The irresistible power play meets the immovable penalty kill

My brilliant colleague Dimitri Filipovic has been analyzing how every team that advanced through the postseason got past their opponents.

And while his breakdowns of the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning series wins were, of course, on point, you don’t have to be as smart as Dimitri to understand the big factor at play in both those semifinal series and the Cup Final that starts tonight.

The Canadiens got by the Vegas Golden Knights because they did not allow a single power play goal in the series. That’s it. For the most part, it’s fair to say Montreal wrestled Vegas almost to a draw at 5-on-5. The Knights had a slight edge in pretty much all full-strength stats except high-danger chances, and actually outscored Montreal 13-11 here in the series.