The Lightning didn’t even give the Devils a chance

This was a methodical destruction.

The Lightning put up a 113-point regular season this year, best in the Eastern Conference and pretty comfortably ahead of everyone else except the Bruins. Save for a weird lapse last season, they’ve been an elite team over the last four years. They looked exactly like they were supposed to look in their first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the Devils.

That series ended with a businesslike 3-1 home win in Game 5 on Saturday. The Lightning did what they did in the four games prior, which is to say they didn’t mess anything up and relied on their superior skill to beat a helpless opponent without much trouble.

They didn’t pack the series with blowouts. The total goal margin was 18-12. But there wasn’t any suspense about the direction this series was traveling in.

While other Eastern contenders like the Penguins and Capitals have struggled with lesser foes, the Lightning never gave New Jersey a chance.

Tampa Bay had a consistent possession advantage that lasted all series. At five-on-five, they had more scoring chances in every game and controlled more of the shot attempts in three of the five, with an even 37-37 attempts in Game 5. The Lightning have been elite at keeping the puck on their sticks all season, and they didn’t let up against the Devils.

It felt like the Lightning were toying with the Devils for long stretches, just to be mean. They barely let the Devils have any fun at all, actually. New Jersey got between 20 and 23 shots on goal in four of the five games, and they lost by two goals anyway when they put 31 shots on the net in Game 2. Andrei Vasilevskiy might not have been able to read an entire novel while standing in the crease each game, but he could’ve at least gotten through a mid-length magazine article or two. The Devils almost never got scoring chances.

The Lightning’s stable of stars all acted like stars.

Nikita Kucherov and Alex Killorn both filled the net. Steven Stamkos was effective as a distributor. Brayden Point, Tyler Johnson, and Yanni Gourde all sprinkled their names onto the scoresheet throughout the series. (Noted Playoff Performer Ondrej Palat is still doing his postseason thing, too.) Victor Hedman was his usual self in helping to make sure the Devils never had a chance to get off the mat.

Mikhail Sergachev, who scored the first goal in Game 5, was a possession monster all series. The Lightning controlled 64 percent of the shot attempts and 70 percent of the scoring chances when he was on the ice, most commonly in a pairing with Braydon Coburn.

Again, Vasilevskiy, a deserving Vezina Trophy finalist, didn’t have to work that hard. But no goalie can do anything other than stop the pucks that come his way, and Vasilevskiy turned back 159 of 169 shots for a .941 save percentage and 2.01 goals-against average.

It’s not clear what the weakness is here. Until one emerges, the Lightning should be expected to beat anyone in their path.

The Lightning are as well-rounded as any team in hockey this year. They have studs on offense, studs on defense, and a stud in goal. Most of the conference’s other top teams have looked lost at least some of the time in these playoffs, but the Lightning have only been the same dominant force they were for 82 games beforehand.

The road only gets harder. The Devils weren’t especially good. (Outside of Taylor Hall and some occasionally good goaltending, they were just bad.) But the way the Lightning played, they’d have beaten anyone. Until they sprout a flaw they haven’t showed yet, it’s hard to peg any other team as the favorite to represent the East in the Stanley Cup Final.