2019 Stanley Cup Projection, April 21

New York Islanders over St. Louis

Round 1
COL 4-1 CGY
VGK 3-2 SJS
DAL 3-2 NSH
STL 4-2 WPG
CBJ 4-0 TBL
TOR 3-2 BOS
CAR 2-3 WSH
PIT 0-4 NYI

Team	Strength	Round 2	Round 3	Finals	Cup
NYI	0.575	100.0	54.1	28.9	17.1
STL	0.551	100.0	55.2	30.0	13.8
TOR	0.565	72.4	39.3	19.1	10.9
CBJ	0.553	100.0	44.1	20.2	10.7
WSH	0.555	76.0	35.8	17.6	9.6
COL	0.528	100.0	45.2	20.4	8.2
VGK	0.540	74.1	40.2	19.2	8.2
BOS	0.592	27.6	16.6	9.5	6.0
DAL	0.519	71.4	29.7	14.1	5.4
NSH	0.557	28.6	15.2	8.4	4.0
SJS	0.551	25.9	14.6	7.8	3.6
CAR	0.547	24.0	10.1	4.7	2.5

St. Louis played like their early 2019 performance and not their late 2018, so outperformed my projections to move on to the next round. In the same portion of the bracket, Dallas beat Nashville to go up 3-2 for a chance to face St. Louis, and in the East, Washington took a 3-2 lead against Carolina in dominating fashion with a 6-0 win. There are now 4 teams who have advanced, but none of their opponents have yet been determined. I'll be interested to see if the extra rest makes a big difference in the next round. Of course, I'm hoping it does, to give the Blues a better shot.

We're down to 1 Canadian team out of the 3 that made the playoffs, which is just interesting given the history of the NHL. Toronto could advance Sunday, though, against fellow Original Six member Boston, while 1 very new team could clinch against the still relatively new (under 30 years is relatively new) San Jose.