The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs has come and gone. While the Philadelphia Flyers did not make it to the postseason, the Vegas Golden Knights, Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning, and New York Islanders advanced to the third round in search of the Stanley Cup in 2021.
Today, as we did about two weeks ago, we’ll take a look at how some former Flyers and their teams fared in the latest edition of this series. As a reminder, players had to have played at least one regular season game with the Flyers, and they had to have either played the majority of their team’s games in the series or had some sort of meaningful impact otherwise.
Former Flyers Jeff Carter, Mark Friedman, Nick Cousins, Wayne Simmonds, Ryan Hartman, Cam Talbot, Brayden Schenn, Sergei Bobrovsky, Radko Gudas, and Michael Raffl were all sent home last round as their teams were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round.
An honorable mention for advancing but not fitting the playing criteria in this round to make the list goes to Braydon Coburn, who has yet to appear in a playoff game for the New York Islanders.
PIERRE-EDOUARD BELLEMARE – COLORADO AVALANCHE
Bellemare and the Avalanche swept away the St. Louis Blues in the first round to set up a date with the Vegas Golden Knights in a battle of #1 versus #2 in the West Division side of the bracket. The Presidents’ Trophy-winning Avalanche won the first two games of the series, but the Golden Knights took four straight games and defeated Colorado in six games to advance to the third round to take on the upstart Montreal Canadiens.
Bellemare, a Flyer from 2014 to 2017 during the infamous Dave Hakstol era, played well in the Avalanche’s bottom six group and showed physicality on top of his defensive play and playmaking, but it was not enough to overcome Vegas’ onslaught of offense.
Bellemare appeared in all six games for the Avalanche and registered two assists, one in Game 3 and one in Game 6, in the series while averaging 9:53 of ice time for Colorado. The 36-year-old native of Le Blanc-Mesnil, France was a crucial part of the Avalanche this season and helped them clinch the best record in the regular season, but it was all for naught come playoff time.
ERIK GUSTAFSSON – MONTREAL CANADIENS
Gustafsson’s Canadiens defeated the North Division’s top seed in the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round after overcoming a 3-1 series deficit. A Flyer for 24 games this season before being shipped off at the trade deadline, Gustafsson registered an assist on Corey Perry’s series-winning goal in Montreal’s 3-1 victory in Game 7.
The Canadiens advanced to take on the #3 seed Winnipeg Jets, who were coming off a sweep of the #2 seed Edmonton Oilers. Montreal gave the Jets a taste of their own medicine by sweeping Winnipeg in four straight games, who were without star center Mark Scheifele for most of the series after his suspension for dangerously hitting Montreal’s Jake Evans near the end of Game 1.
Gustafsson appeared in every game in the series for Montreal, netting a goal and an assist while averaging 10:46 of ice time to help the Canadiens reach the third round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2014.
Three of this year’s final four teams remaining in the postseason were a part of last year’s conference finals, with Montreal being the outlier after their first round loss to Philadelphia. The Canadiens have shocked the hockey world, largely behind the play of goaltender Carey Price, but they have kept the ball rolling and it looks like Gustafsson has made himself at home in these playoffs.