The second round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs is in the books, and there are winners and losers from each series. Four teams advance to the conference finals and four more go home.
The biggest story of the conference semifinals was Mitch Marner, who took his reputation as a playoff choker and lit it on fire. Marner was the main reason the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Anaheim Ducks to reach the Western Conference Final.
Alex Tuch went cold at the worst possible moment for the Buffalo Sabres. Tuch was absent from the scoresheet as the Sabres dropped Game 7 to the Montreal Canadiens, falling one win shy of the conference finals.
Winner: Mitch Marner's Playoff Reputation
Sometimes fairly — but often unfairly — Marner shouldered most of the blame for the Maple Leafs' playoff shortcomings when he was in Toronto. Well, Marner has done a good job of silencing those critics.
Against the Ducks, Marner recorded 11 points in six games, including a hat trick in Game 3 and a two-point performance in Game 6 to close out the series.
Including his stellar three-point effort to close out the Utah Mammoth in Game 6, Marner now has 14 points in his last seven games and leads the Golden Knights in scoring this postseason.
Loser: Alex Tuch Goes Ice Cold
Alex Tuch was a force for the Sabres in the regular season and the first-round series against the Boston Bruins. Then, out of nowhere, Tuch went ice cold at the worst possible moment.
Tuch failed to tally a single point in the seven-game series, and the Sabres were outscored 8-1 with him in the game at five-on-five. Tuch put 26 shots on net in the series — the most of anyone on the team — but none of them found the back of the net.
The extra salt in the wound for Tuch is that he will enter contract negotiations with the Sabres on a sour note.
Winner: Jakub Dobes' Coming-Out Party
Ever since Carey Price stepped off the ice in April of 2022, the Canadiens have been looking for some stability in goal. If this postseason has been any indication, they've found it.
The 24-year-old Dobes has been spectacular, and he showed poise beyond his years in Game 7, making one big save after another as the Sabres made a series of strong pushes in front of their home crowd.
A fifth-round pick in 2020, Dobes is proving that he is the future of the crease in Montreal. In the second-round series against the Sabres, Dobes posted a .913 save percentage with a high-danger save percentage of .870.