We now know the eight teams left that have a chance of winning the 2020 Stanley Cup. On Friday, the Vancouver Canucks beat the St. Louis Blues 6-2 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario. Both the Canucks and Flyers got series-clinching victories as they won each of their series four games to two.
The Canucks win over the Blues could be considered a significant surprise. Even though the Blues were seeded fourth and the Canucks were seeded fifth heading into the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Blues led the Western Conference during the regular season with 94 points (42 wins, 19 regulation losses, and 10 losses in extra time). St. Louis had 16 more points than Vancouver, who only had 78 points (36 wins, 27 regulation losses, and six losses in extra time).
The Canucks got significantly better goaltending than the Blues throughout the series. Jordan Binnington struggled mightily for St. Louis after being a difference maker during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs when St. Louis won the Stanley Cup. In three games, Binnington had an ugly goals against average of 5.21 and a poor save percentage of .800. Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom looked significantly more confident, as he had a goals against average of 2.54, and save percentage of .930.
The Canucks now will face the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Semi-finals. Vegas is coming off a relatively simple series win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Meanwhile, the Colorado Avalanche will play game one of their second round playoff series against the Dallas Stars starting on Saturday.
In the Eastern Conference, the Flyers got one goal and one assist from Kevin Hayes of Boston, MA, on Friday. Like Vancouver, Philadelphia had solid goaltending in their series as Carter Hart notched two shutouts. The other Eastern Conference semifinal has the Boston Bruins against the Tampa bay Lightning.
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