National Hockey League Rankings - Wednesday, June 16, 2021

As we are down to the Final Four in the National Hockey League, the rankings do not mean much of anything anymore, as the season will conclude with one team winning the Stanley Cup. The four teams remaining all had interesting quests to get to where they are at today. Let’s review the current Stanley Cup Playoffs series going on and look back at where they ended the season in accordance with the Dunkel Index NHL Rankings, which you can find here.

#3 Vegas Golden Knights 1-0 over #18 Montreal Canadiens

Vegas did the work they needed to do in winning four straight games against Colorado to get to this point. They also did enough in Game 1 to take an early lead in the series. The Golden Knights are glad to be home and playing in front of fans again. That crowd is going to give Montreal plenty of fits all series long. As if the talent of the Golden Knights is not enough, they have to deal with that.

Speaking of winning four straight, the Canadiens did that, plus 3! Montreal needed to win the final three games of their series against Toronto, then came back and swept the Winnipeg Jets in four games. Montreal is undermanned in this series but will battle hard.  The Canadiens have Carey Price, and his talent will be put to the test against the tough Vegas offense.

#4 Tampa Bay Lightning 1-1 vs. #12 New York Islanders

The Islanders are no fluke. They had to go through both the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Boston Bruins to get to this series. We should not be surprised by their strong play, as this is a team that reached this spot last season as well. This team is really well-coached and have four lines that will come at you hard. They play physical and are very intelligent. After the Game 1 win on the road, they may have woke their opponent up, as game two certainly was a different story. The Islanders will play at home in 3 out of the final five games of this series, with both teams winning a game so far.

The defending Stanley Cup Champions just will not go away. Tampa Bay has been battle-tested with series wins over Florida and Carolina thus far. They just keep finding new ways to win hockey games. The Lightning are now seven wins away from winning back-to-back Stanley Cup titles. Tampa Bay is fast and plays with urgency on the offensive from start to finish. They will certainly keep the gas going against the Islanders in this series.

There you have it. Those are the two series that will lead to the Stanley Cup Finals series. We expect both series to remain interesting, with twists and turns. Three games in, they already are. Can the Lightning repeat? Will the Canadiens hang in this series?  Can the Islanders score enough? Is Vegas the team to beat? All good questions in the final weeks of the season. Be sure to check out the final regular-season Dunkel Index NHL Rankings here!