Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs began on May 2, and now there are only eight teams left in the competition, two teams from the East and two teams for the West.

In the East, the New Jersey Devils played the Carolina Hurricanes, who already had a close competition in the regular season, tying for the same number of wins, while the Florida Panthers played the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In the West, the Seattle Kraken took on the Dallas Stars, while the Edmonton Oilers played the Vegas Golden Knights, with the Knights just beating the Oilers for first in the Pacific Division.

The Panthers played the Maple Leafs for a total of five games. The Panthers won four out of the five, and the score of game five was 3-2 after going into overtime. Nick Cousins scored the winning goal and is taking Florida to Round 3 of the playoffs. The Leafs had beaten the Panthers in the Atlantic Division during the regular season. Toronto was in second place, and Florida was in fourth.

The Kraken played the Stars, and the Stars took home the win. They played seven games, and Dallas won the last game 2-1, which advanced them to the next round. They played close games every time, but the the Stars’ victory was expected. The Stars had come in second in the Central Division, and the Kraken were fourth in Pacific. The Stars slacked in a couple games, and the losses were well-deserved when they happened.

The Devils played the Hurricanes, and Carolina blew the Devils away. They played a total of five games, and Carolina won four out of five. All the games were tough losses for the Devils, but they did win a game 8-4. The 8-4 win is amazing considering the Devils were playing the best defensive team in the league.

The Oilers and Golden Knights played six games, and Vegas is moving on to the next round of the playoffs. Vegas won four of the six games, with the final game’s score being 5-2. The Oilers played amazingly against the Knights for the most part, but they let some games slip. However, the win for the Knights was expected, but the Oilers could’ve pulled a wild card and completely swept the competition.

The Panthers are going on to play the Hurricanes, and the Stats are playing the Golden Knights.

This is the start of the Conference finals, and whoever wins these next series of games will then compete against each other for a chance to win the Stanley Cup, becoming this year’s NHL champions.