THEY’RE FORCES OF NATURE

WHEN ICE SETTLES, LOOK FOR LIGHTNING AND AVALANCHE TO PLAY IN STANLEY CUP FINAL

Nothing about the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs will be normal. Not the time of the year, not the 24-team field, not the best-of-five qualifying-round series and certainly not the bubble environments. Then again, nothing about the Cup playoffs is ever normal. Last season, the Lightning — who amassed a record-tying 62 victories during the regular season — were swept in the first round. The season before, the Golden Knights made the Final in their first season of existence. The season before that, the Predators — a No. 8 seed — made the Final.

So perhaps predicting the postseason, especially in this season of chaos, is futile. But what’s the fun in that?