Sixteen teams have made the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs, but of course just one can hoist the trophy in June.
The other 15 will head home, getting an early start on the local golf course. We looked behind the numbers and found the most glaring statistic that would end each team's postseason run.
Note: These flaws are statistic-based. Overarching flaws, such as coaching or team chemistry or depth, aren't represented here. This is strictly the statistic-based weakness for each team heading into the playoffs.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Fatal number: minus-50:59 power-play/penalty-kill differential
The Bolts are a super team, so there's not much to nitpick here. You typically won't find a lot of weaknesses on a 62-win team. However, the Lightning do seem to find the penalty box quite a bit. They spent 50-plus more minutes down a man than on the advantage in 2018-19, and were third in the NHL in penalty-kill time. Their 3.57 minor penalties per 60 minutes was the highest in the league, and three players had more than 60 minutes in penalties. Sure, it helps that the team has the league's top penalty kill, but taking needless penalties in the playoffs can sink a team's hopes.
