HURRICANES FINALLY BREAK THROUGH TO WIN THE STANLEY CUP

For seven straight years, the Carolina Hurricanes were good, but never quite good enough. They always made the playoffs and usually won a series, but could never get over the Conference Finals hump to reach the Stanley Cup Finals. This year, that changed. The ‘Canes made it to the Stanley Cup Finals and defeated the Vegas Golden Knights, four games to two, to win their first championship since 2006. Center Jordan Staal took home the Conn Smythe Trophy, adding an important honor to his résumé and making debates about his future Hall of Fame case a bit more interesting. He scored six goals in the series, with arguably his biggest performance coming in Game 4 as the Hurricanes evened the series at 2-2 before going on to win Games 5 and 6.

The Hart Memorial Trophy race did not include a player from either the Hurricanes or Golden Knights. Instead, the top two candidates were Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid. Kucherov ultimately won the second Hart Trophy of his career, but the results were remarkably close.

Kucherov received 72.53 percent of the overall vote share, while McDavid received 72.02 percent. They earned 72 and 68 first-place votes, respectively.

Statistically, the stars had similar seasons. Kucherov recorded 130 points with 44 goals and 86 assists, while McDavid finished with 138 points on 48 goals and 90 assists. The vote likely came down to team performance, as Kucherov’s Lightning earned 106 points while McDavid’s Oilers finished with 93.

It was a decorated season all around for the Lightning, as Andrei Vasilevskiy secured his second Vezina Trophy one year after finishing second for the award. He was once again nearly impossible to score against, posting a .911 save percentage and a 2.31 goals-against average.

Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders finished second in the voting. Although he produced an excellent .906 save percentage and 2.68 goals-against average, the vote was decisively in favor of Vasilevskiy. Still, the Islanders saw plenty of promise from rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who impressed throughout the season on his way to winning the Calder Memorial Trophy.

The Colorado Avalanche had a very strong season all around, leading the NHL in both goals scored per game at 3.63 and goals allowed per game at 2.40. Their 121 points were far and away the best total in the league, as was their plus-99 goal differential.

Nathan MacKinnon’s 53 goals led the NHL, as he was one of only two players to eclipse the 50-goal mark this season. Montreal’s Cole Caufield scored 51. Colorado goaltender Scott Wedgewood also led all qualifying goalies with a 2.02 goals-against average and .921 save percentage, although he appeared in only 45 games.

Despite that regular-season dominance, the Avalanche were ultimately swept in the Western Conference Final by a Golden Knights team that had been the least successful of the division winners. Vegas entered the playoffs with only 95 points and a plus-15 goal differential but got hot at the right time before eventually falling to Carolina.

In addition to Kucherov and McDavid, six other players reached the 100-point threshold this season: MacKinnon with 127, San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini with 115, Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele with 103, Montreal’s Nick Suzuki with 101, Boston’s David Pastrnak with 100 and Colorado’s Martin Nečas with 100.

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