Top 10 wingers advancing to 2nd round of the NHL playoffs

They say Stanley Cups are won with superb goaltending, stringent defense and dominant play through center ice.

Tell that to Mike Bossy, Jari Kurri and Justin Williams. 

Here are the top 10 wingers still competing in the playoffs, who will go a long way in determining who drinks from the glorious chalice. 

10. Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning

If the refrain goes that Tyler Johnson had played in Steven Stamkos's shadow, Nikita Kucherov is playing in Johnson's. 

The sophomore forward padded his rookie totals with 29 goals and 65 points, playing on the most efficient line in hockey and the highest-scoring team in the NHL. He added four assists against the Detroit Red Wings in the opening round of the playoffs.

9. Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames

In seven short months and 86 embryonic games, Gaudreau has grown by leaps and bounds as a hockey player – and out of that boyish moniker.

He's not your typical rookie. He's 21, though his slight frame would challenge the date on his driver's license and his usage resembles that of a practiced veteran. He averaged the most even-strength ice among forwards in the Flames' six-game triumph over the Vancouver Canucks and led the way offensively with six points.

8. Jiri Hudler, Calgary Flames

This wasn't what Hudler envisioned when he signed with the Flames, playing the best hockey of his career while moonlighting as a babysitter. But here we are. 

Smarter than he is talented and more deceptive than he is quick, Hudler has proven to be the perfect mentor for young guns Gaudreau and Sean Monahan and, in the process, become one of the most underpaid veteran forwards in the game. 

7. Max Pacioretty, Montreal Canadiens

Pacioretty is charged with providing much of the offense for the fortress at the opposite end, a task he's been up for for over the past two seasons. 

Montreal's leading goal-scorer, though, is still easing into the playoffs after a late-season concussion cost him the final few dates of the regular-season campaign and Game 1 versus the Ottawa Senators. He scored only once on an actual goaltender, but added an empty-netter in Game 6, a fitting reward for a game coming into form.

6. Zach Parise, Minnesota Wild

Devan Dubnyk receives and deserves a lion's share of the credit, but let's not short-change Zach Parise. 

The perpetually underrated and artfully skilled winger quietly drove the Wild past the St. Louis Blues in their first-round series, his performance reflective of the team's result in each game.

He recorded three multi-point games and finished with seven points and a plus-six rating in the four wins, while being held pointless and minus-3 in the two losses.  

5. Marian Hossa, Chicago Blackhawks

There's something to be said for experience. 

Like many of his Blackhawks teammates, Hossa breezed through the regular season, posting pedestrian numbers (by his standards) in preservation for the real thing. And here, he's found another level.

Hossa, 36, was dominant at times versus the Nashville Predators in posting five assists in the first four games. His veteran know-how and expertise has been, and continues to be, a perfect complement in Chicago's balanced offensive attack.

4. Rick Nash, New York Rangers

Nash silenced naysayers this season, finishing with a career-high 42 goals and winding up third in the Rocket Richard race. But he still has a lot to prove.

He put up futile scoring numbers last spring, finishing with an unsavory 3.6 shooting percentage on 83 shots in New York's run to the Stanley Cup Final. Though much of that can be ascribed to misfortune, it managed to spill into the Rangers' first-round series versus the Pittsburgh Penguins. He had one goal – in garbage time, mind you – on his 18 shots. 

Though judging him on one stat is admittedly unfair (and Marc-Andre Fleury's heroism didn't help), he needs to score to avoid postseason scorn. Full stop.

3. Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks

Nasty, annoying, efficient. This man is playoff hockey. 

Perry kickstarted the postseason points race with four in Game 1, darn-near single-handedly lifting the Ducks over the Winnipeg Jets. He finished with 1.75 points per game in the four-game sweep, setting the highest point-per-game pace since Patrik Elias finished with 16 points in nine postseason games back in 2006.

To that, he's nearly halfway to his 2007 point total, when he lifted his first Stanley Cup.

2. Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks

Two parts insane talent and now the other, bionic, Kane didn't miss a C-cut in his return from a broken clavicle three weeks ahead of schedule. 

He registered points in five of the six games in arguably the most entertaining series of the opening round, including multi-point performances that keyed two- and three-goal comebacks over the Nashville Predators.

Kane was expected to give Chicago a potential boost in the conference final, but the Blackhawks may not have gotten out of the first round without him. 

1. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

With Nicklas Backstrom forcing himself into consciousnesses and Evgeny Kuznetsov going KuzNUTZov, there's less pressure on the NHL's best winger – and that's dangerous if you're the Rangers. 

Still, Ovechkin was an absolute menace, landing 31 hits and putting 28 shots on goal versus the Islanders, but there's reason to believe he will be even better in the second round. He scored at nearly half his regular-season average, finding the back of the net on just 7.1 percent of his shots, and failed to pick up a point on the power play – a domain where he notched a league-best 25 goals.