Easiest path so far?

[Blades of Steel]

Vote on which team you believe has had the easiest path in the playoffs thus far. Explain why after voting if you'd like.

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[Dr Pepper]

Vegas has certainly made it look easy.

 

[Spirit of 67]

I feel like it has to be Tampa.

Got New Jersey in round 1. They worked hard but are still a WIP and were pretty inexperienced. At least, their best players were.

Boston round 2. We hear now that they were pretty beat up and it comes as no surprise. They played pretty much every other night for 2 months. I think it caught up to them and was reflective of how the series went. Boston is a better team than they showed.

 

[Blades of Steel]

I feel like it has to be Tampa.

Got New Jersey in round 1. They worked hard but are still a WIP and were pretty inexperienced. At least, their best players were.

Boston round 2. We hear now that they were pretty beat up and it comes as no surprise. They played pretty much every knight for 2 months. I think it caught up to them and was reflective of how the series went. Boston is a better team than they showed.

Picked Tampa as well just because I think the Devils were the softest team in round 1 and though they had potentional to be I honestly don't think the bruins were as mighty as anyone thought

 

[Rschmitz]

My Lightning. Jersey was cake and we got a beat up Boston who looked lethargic. Looks like more of the same with Washington

 

[GJF]

Hard to say, either Vegas or Tampa. I can't say much about Tampa's path since it's the East which I nearly haven't followed at all this season but I do know that I would have LOVED both Anaheim and San Jose as series opponents for the Jets compared to Minnesota and Nashville.

 

[Blades of Steel]

My Lightning. Jersey was cake and we got a beat up Boston who looked lethargic. Looks like more of the same with Washington

Honestly, I kind of worry about that too. I'm not sure how healthy the caps are going in but they showed some resilience so I have hope they'll do it again.

That's the luck of the draw though, takes some luck to get to the big dance, so it is what it is.

 

[bobholly39]

Not Washington. Columbus was a very big threat to anyone in round 1 - they lost last year, improved this year and put up a hell of a fight. And Penguins - love them or hate them they're champs and the team to beat. Washington - very hard road so far.

Jets. Minesotta wasn't the toughest round 1 opponent - but Nashville was definitely the toughest round 2 opponent. So by virtue of that alone, not them.

Tampa. NJ was pretty easy in round 1. Boston was a juggernaut this season - and although i personally didn't have them going far - many people called them a fantastic team, and the fact that Tampa beat them so easily should't mean the opponent itself should be classified as easy.

Vegas. A lot of people picked LA to win that division - and so it's unclear to what extent LA stunk up or Vegas simply dominated, or both. Either way - LA didn't put up much of a fight in round 1. And although SJ made the finals 2 years ago and "on paper" have a decent roster - they're still notorious chokers who in general don't go very far in the playoffs, who had a "meh" season at best. So that wasn't the toughest challenge either.

Vegas had the easiest path so far, very much so.

Then Tampa
Then Winnipeg

Then Washington. Only team who faced 2 very tough challenges so far.

 

[Portable Mink]

Have to go tampa

 

[BMOK33]

Tampa or Vegas for sure

 

[justafan22]

Tampa.

They played a green team in the Devils in round 1, then faced off against a Bruins team that was beat up from 7 games vs the leafs and were spent.

 

[Eddy Punch Clock]

Vancouver Canucks, 1982.

This year... probably Vegas... although that could be just because they make it look so easy.

 

[lwvs84]

I think Washington had the toughest path, probably Tampa with the easiest by a little bit over Vegas. Jets had an easy first round (especially with all those injuries) and a tough second. Going in, I would have said Kings were a tougher team than the Devils to play while Boston/San Jose were a lot closer.

 

[57special]

I feel like Minnesota would have given VGK a very hard time if they had been in the final WC spot. Oh, well, luck is part of playoff success.

 

[The Macho King]

Just based on simple point numbers -

Winnipeg - Nashville (117p) + Minnesota (101p) = 218 points
Tampa - Boston (112p) + Devils (97p) = 209 points
Vegas - San Jose (100p) + LA (98p) = 198 points
Washington - Pitt (100p) + Columbus (97p) = 197 points

 

[almostawake]

Tampa Bay or Vegas.

Devils were really weak. Bruins are a tricky team, but were definitely beaten up and had some flaws that could be exploited. Honestly, the Caps look fairly similar.

Anaheim and San Jose, IMO, are two teams who the league has passed by. They are just too slow. Vegas easily expoited that. They face a very different challenge now in the Jets though.

 

[HomeAndHome]

I'd say Tampa in the East because Columbus and Pittsburgh were both very good this year, whereas Boston was good but seemed beat up from Toronto and NJ wasn't really a threat (relative to the others this year).

And Vegas in the West because I thought Nashville was the best team there. However, winning two series against Cali teams is no cakewalk.

Edit: Andddd of course I miss clicked on WPG, meant to pick Vegas...

 

[Skrudland2Lomakin]

In order

1. Vegas- San Jose and Anaheim both were offensively challenged. Vegas is good, but at no point did they seem to be challenged.
2. Tampa- NJ had heart, but also only one line. Boston was a great regular season team, but they were battered by the time the Tampa series rolled around and their offense really didn't show up beyond their top 6.
3. Washington- Columbus was a tough out, and they play a style of game that would give most teams this playoffs difficulty. In the end their deficiencies were too much though. Pitt was the defending back-to-back Champions, any time you play them you have to consider them a threat.
4. Winniped- Minnesota was a standard opponent but I think Nashville vs. WPG was the WCF.

 

[tapi]

Jets.. wild missing their #1D and Rinne throwing 2 games gor free win.

 

[Homerhawk]

Knights had the easiest, Bolts didn't have it too tough, either. Part of it may be that the Knights just made it look easy, and I want to think the Kings and Sharks would have been a tough run, but from what I saw neither team really had the intensity to give the Knights a run for their money.

Caps and Jets are pretty well battle tested. Too early to say that's a blessing or a curse. My gut says that has made the Jets stronger, but the Caps may have burnt too much emotional energy against the Pens.

 

[More 2004]

Funny everyone saying Nashville was a tough opponent but Boston wasn't. Huh? Rask stopped pucks while Rinne welcomed them into his net..

 

[TheDoldrums]

Vegas, rather easily.

The other three are pretty close IMO.

 

[Dont Toews Me Bro]

Easily Tampa. They played a bad Devils team and a beat up Bruins team. Vegas at least had to face San Jose who dominated a decent Anaheim team in the first round.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Bruins looked listless against TB, but I credit TB for that. I have a hard time saying the Bruins were a weak team regardless of how tough the Leafs series was.

I also think CBJ may be overrated in this thread. They have a deep team but no game breakers.

 

[TheMule93]

Vegas
Tampa
Washington
Winnipeg