Andrei Vasilevskiy's 41 points (thanks to five shutouts) were the most of any goalie - or any player - since 2004.

Final Pool Analysis
The Tampa Bay Lightning were built to win. Since their colossal failure in 2019, when they were the biggest favourites in pool history but then swept in round one, the Lightning have won eight straight series and have dominated the past two pools in all respects. Getting Nikita Kucherov back for the playoffs over and above the salary cap after loading up in his absence this season made them even more powerful this year and along with Andrei Vasilevskiy, Brayden Point, and Victor Hedman the team did whatever it took to win.

The Montreal Canadiens, meanwhile, were the quietest Cup finalist - not only receiving very few picks, but also very few points. Only one Habs player - Nick Suzuki - is on the dream team, just the second time (after 2002's Dallas Stars) that a Cup finalist has had only one player on the dream team.

The road to victory
Pool champ Kevin Pinto started strong, in fourth after round one and taking over first on May 29 on David Pastrnak's hat trick in the opening game of round 2. He never looked back, coasting to a record 17-point victory (he led by as much as 18). With 92.5% of possible points and only 14 points shy of max (178/192), Kevin had the second-best accuracy in pool history (2008 record is -13, 93.5%) and picked five dream teamers, despite losing 6 players after round 2 with the loss of Colorado and Boston.

With the top spot locked up, a healthy competition ensued for second and third, with Lucas Chua battling Tom Nicholl and Jacob Court through rounds 2 to 4. In the end Lucas came through on Tampa's victory with Tyler Dominato - lurking just outside the top five most of the way - climbing into third. Honourable mention to Tom and Jacob along with Ben Bangs, Mike Johnson and Adam Pileggi who were all in the Top 10 for the entire pool.

Key to the pool
With these playoffs mirroring the 2020 results (with fewer points scored), the key to the pool was virtually the same. Starting with Vasilevskiy, and adding Kucherov and either Point or Hedman and Tampa to win, put you pretty much in the top 20. Filling out your card with the same teams as last year - Colorado (especially Nathan MacKinnon), Boston, and Vegas would put you in the running for the podium. Only Dallas from last year is missing from that group.

Dream Team
This year's best possible picks include three repeats from last year: Kucherov (4th career Dream Team), Point (2nd) and MacKinnon (2nd). Alex Pietrangelo and David Pastrnak are also here for their 2nd times. Avs star MacKinnon is here after second round elimination for the 2nd time in a row. Two Bruins are also here after losing the second round - something that might rankle heartbroken Canadiens fans, yet a hat tip to Nick Suzuki - nobody picked him, but he has a bright future and deserves recognition for making it.

See all dream teams here.

2021 Dream Team
Forwards
Nikita Kucherov, TAM, 32
Brayden Point, TAM, 23
William Karlsson, VGK, 16
Nick Suzuki, MON, 16
David Pastrnak, BOS, 15
Nathan MacKinnon, COL, 15
Defense
Charles McAvoy, BOS, 12
Alex Pietrangelo, VGK, 12
Goalie
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TAM, 41
Team
Tampa Bay, 10
TOTAL: 192
Winning Score: 178


Hindsight awards
The hindsight awards this year are where we can give Montreal their due for their trip to the finals. Only two people picked Montreal to win, and backed it up with three picks. Paula Santin and Concordia-grad Mouli Ramani were the only two to pick Carey Price (18 pts), the top goalie not named Vasilevskiy, and also Tyler Toffoli (14 pts), who was just a point shy of the dream team.

Kronis' Corner - notes from the pool's stats co-pilot Joel Kronis
Joel is at summer camp and unable to write his column so I'll take a guess at what he would have said. Tampa was the best team and deserving of the win, congrats to Montreal for doing so great but ultimately as a blue blooded Leafs fan, Joel would be secretly relieved. And that doesn't make him any less Canadian!

Hot at the end
While Ben Bangs was held a competitive top-10 spot the whole way, dad Jeff Bangs spent the first two rounds a near-last 285th, only to climb 69 spots in round 4 from 245th to 176th. The Cup bonus lifted Jeff another 39 spots to 137th, vaulting him into the top half of the standings in a furious end-of-pool rise thanks to Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Who was hot and not in the final round:

Hot	Pos. Gain (R3,R4 - not including Bonus)		Hot	Rd4 Pts.
Jeff Bangs	69 (245,176)		9 tied with	17
Barbara Ellen Kennedy	33 (173,140)
Simon Rabinovitch	32 (113,81)
Mike van Steendelaar	30 (191,161)
David Gibbons	27 (118,91)
Not	Pos. Loss (R3,R4 - not including Bonus))		Not	Rd4 Pts.
Paul Groba	18 (23,41)		113 tied with	0
Jerry Gluss	14 (54,68)
Muhammad Kazmi	11 (49,60)
4 tied with	10 (75,85)

Team and Player Stats:

Top Players
Forwards Team Pts Picks Nikita Kucherov TAM 32 47 Brayden Point TAM 23 52 Steven Stamkos TAM 18 12 Alex Killorn TAM 17 0 Nick Suzuki MON 16 0 William Karlsson VGK 16 5 David Pastrnak BOS 15 46 Nathan MacKinnon COL 15 169 Tyler Toffoli MON 14 2 Mathew Barzal NYI 14 8	Defense Team Pts Picks Victor Hedman TAM 18 63 Charles McAvoy BOS 12 10 Alex Pietrangelo VGK 12 11 Eric Cernak TAM 10 0 Shea Theodore VGK 10 63 Cale Makar COL 10 132 Goalies Team Pts Picks Andrei Vasilevskiy TAM 41 57 Carey Price MON 18 2 Marc-Andre Fleury VGK 15 50 Cam Talbot MIN 13 0

Next year: Lord Stanley's Pool 2022
Thanks to everyone for playing the pool this year, I hope you enjoyed it. We will be back next year, so be sure to join us again!