If the Tampa Bay Lightning win the Stanley Cup, Brayden Point has to be considered a Conn Smythe favorite for his dynamic clutch play. As I've mentioned before, Point is the one player I notice the most whenever I watch the Lightning. He was at it again on Thursday, scoring the eventual game-winning goal with under a minute to play in the second period to give the Lightning a 2-1 win over the Islanders in Game 3. Point now has a goal in six consecutive games, as well as the playoff goal-scoring lead with 11 goals. And when you score 11 goals in the playoffs, you find ways to score that are impossible for the average hockey player.

Brayden Point is a sicko pic.twitter.com/IVijCc5dhc

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) June 18, 2021

Perhaps surprisingly, Point has just four assists, which ties him for second in playoff points. Nikita Kucherov, who assisted on Point's goal, is the runaway playoff scoring leader with 23 points (5 G, 18 A).  

Yanni Gourde scored the other goal for the Lightning, while Cal Clutterbuck scored the Isles' lone goal.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 of 28 shots in earning the win. He has posted quality starts in each of his last four games and has allowed just five goals to the Islanders in the three games of this series. He has allowed more than four goals just once in the playoffs, which was the wild Game 3 against Florida where he faced 47 shots in a 6-5 overtime loss.  

After no goals in his first eight playoff games, Mathew Barzal entered this game with five goals in his last six playoff games. He has been shooting the puck more lately, averaging three shots per game over that span. He averaged only 2.5 shots per game over the regular season and has never shot more than that in any single season. Barzal was held without a goal and took two shots on Thursday.

Ryan Pulock has four goals in 15 playoff games after scoring just two goals in 56 regular-season games. With the kind of shot that he has (take a look at his Game 1 goal), it seems like a major surprise that he scored only two goals during the regular season. You'll probably be able to get him cheap in next season's drafts.

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Rod Brind'Amour had a fantastic day on Thursday. First, the Hurricanes finally confirmed that Brind'Amour will return as head coach, signing him to a three-year contract extension. Later, Brind'Amour was named the Jack Adams Award winner as the NHL's top coach.

It hasn't been uncommon to see coaches re-sign with their existing teams after the final year of their contract has expired, as this was the case with Travis Green in Vancouver. Lack of revenue because of COVID has forced teams to alter their usual business approaches. Conversely, it wouldn't make sense but wouldn't be completely unprecedented if Brind'Amour didn't return as Hurricanes coach after winning the Jack Adams.

As far as runners-up go, I'll just leave this here. Hmmm.

The Jack Adams voting.

Barry Trotz got as many votes as Jeremy Colliton. pic.twitter.com/uiqYoevYrE

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) June 17, 2021

Coaching dominoes might also start to fall with Brind'Amour now off the market. Ron Francis may have had his eye on Brind'Amour if Carolina wasn't going to re-sign their head coach. So don't be surprised if the Seattle Kraken announce their first head coach in the not-too-distant future. Unless they want to draft their team first based on what players are left unprotected, then try to find the coach that they think best fits that group of players. If the Kraken want to follow the template of the Vegas Golden Knights, they would hire the coach first, then draft the players. That seemed to work out well for Vegas.

Now that Brind'Amour is finally confirmed to be back in the fold, I would assume that the Canes will turn their attention to Dougie Hamilton, whether that be to make another contract offer or obtain an asset or two for his negotiation rights. Fantasy owners should watch closely where Hamilton eventually lands, as he has not always been the right fit on each team he has played for. Remember how long it took for him to earn PP1 minutes in Carolina, which has turned out to be a team that was able to figure out how to utilize his talents.

I'm not saying ditch Hamilton if you own him in a keeper league, although I also hope that you are not making keeper decisions now and locking them in all summer. He will receive a lucrative short- or long-term contract somewhere, and we know how money talks when it comes to opportunity (at least initially). However, I'm a bit concerned if he signs with a team where the GM and coach aren't on the same page. What if the coach is more of a "hockey man" who views Hamilton in the same light as someone like Shayne Gostisbehere or Erik Gustafsson?

Related to that, Mike made a lot of great points in yesterday's Ramblings about the most deserving players not always receiving the right opportunities. His focus is on the Canadiens scratching Tomas Tatar throughout the playoffs.

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Alex Pietrangelo's two-goal performance in Game 2 means that Vegas defensemen have scored five of their six goals so far in their two games against Montreal. Nobody out there likely bet on Mattias Janmark being the only Vegas forward to score in the first two games of this series.

Two defensemen – Dougie Hamilton and Pietrangelo – have the highest shot totals of the playoffs. If you think this is odd, Victor Hedman and Shea Theodore finished second and third in shots in last season's playoffs, while Pietrangelo finished fourth in shots in the 2018-19 playoffs. Interesting phenomenon, as defensemen usually finish further down the list in the larger sample size of the regular season. Maybe it has something to do with the style of play in the playoffs.

Critical to the 3-2 win over Vegas in Game 2 was the Canadiens' 26 blocked shots, which was a single-game high for them during the playoffs. Shea Weber was the standout, blocking six of those shots. I was curious if the Habs were the playoff leader in blocked shots. It actually turns out that their opponent in Vegas leads the playoffs with 283 blocked shots. Only the Golden Knights' first-round opponent in Minnesota has more blocked shots/60 (19.84) than Vegas (18.73). Alec Martinez is the runaway leader in the playoffs with 61 blocked shots.

If you owned Martinez in a multicategory league this season, blocked shots are a major reason for his surprisingly high ranking. Sure, his 0.60 PTS/GP and plus-26 were career highs for the UFA-to-be. However, his 165 blocked shots during the regular season were far and away the best in the NHL – 37 blocked shots ahead of second-place Adam Larsson. Dating back to the 2014-15 season, only two players (Kris Russell, Andy Greene) have more blocked shots than Martinez. Neither of these players brings the level of offense than Martinez does. In a league where stockpiling defensemen is a key to success, Martinez figures to cash in this offseason.

How does Tyler Toffoli follow up a 17.7 SH% during the regular season? With a 16.7 SH% during the playoffs, of course. With a goal in Game 2, Toffoli is now on an eight-game point streak, which dates back to Game 6 of the Toronto series. That's when things really started to get going for the Habs, of course. His hot shooting actually dates back to last season's playoffs, when he shot 18.2% for the Canucks. The longer he keeps this up, the less I think he will regress from his 28-goal output from the past season.

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The Top 100 Roto Rankings have been updated for June. Hockey rankings might not be the most popular thing at the moment, but have a look and let me know what you think. We have the entire offseason to discuss potential changes.

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I might have picked the Lightning to win their series with the Islanders, but on Thursday I went with all Islanders in my Tim's Hockey Challenge Picks. With just a solitary goal from the Isles and none from my players, I missed the mark completely. Time for Friday's picks.

Pick 1: Brendan Gallagher – Montreal is a team of momentum, so I'm going to lean with Habs in this one at home. So it's between Gallagher and Tyler Toffoli here. Gallagher, Toffoli, and Shea Weber all lead the Canadiens with 30 shots each in the playoffs. Toffoli has five goals; Gallagher, just two. I'm going to go Gallagher because I think he's due.

Pick 2:  Corey Perry – Weber is in this group and he has yet to score a goal in these playoffs. Maybe he's due as well, although Perry has been clutch during the playoffs. There are way more Vegas Golden Knights in both this group and the first group.

Pick 3: Jeff Petry – I'd be more concerned about the hand injury than the red eyes, which I've experienced before.

I've had this before. No pain, no vision issues, just a burst blood vessel. No idea how it happened. Heals on its own. I had it in only one eye, but looks like Petry has it in both. https://t.co/AUEjUKqwtO

— Ian Gooding (@Ian_Gooding) June 17, 2021

Even if the hand is not completely healed, Petry is easily the best out of this group.

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For more fantasy hockey discussion, or to reach out to me, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding