Stanley Cup playoffs 2022 - The Round 1 lessons that will impact eight remaining contenders

The first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs lasted 51 games — including a pair of Game 7 overtime thrillers in games No. 50 and 51 — and now we're on to Round 2.

To help digest what we saw from each of the eight surviving teams, as well as preview the all the matchups for the next round, we're here to serve up our top takeaways for each remaining club.

More: Full playoff scheduleOffseason keys for eliminated teams

The Presidents' Trophy winners didn't dominate the eighth-seed Washington Capitals in their first-round victory.

At times, those Cardiac Cats looked practically on life support.

Down 3-0 in Game 5. Blown lead to allow for overtime in Game 6. Suffice it to say, there were hiccups along the way to Florida's first playoff series win since 1996.

Florida did get there, though. And not primarily because of top-end talents like Jonathan Huberdeau (three points) or Sam Reinhart (three points) or even Aleksander Barkov (six points). It was more the unsung stylings of Carter Verhaeghe's playoff-leading six goals (including the OT game winner in that series-deciding Game 6) and the playoff mojo of Claude Giroux (three goals, seven points).

The Panthers' reward for their hard work is a meeting with the reigning Stanley Cup champion Lightning. Any recent bad blood there? You bet. Tampa Bay sent Florida packing in the first round last season, scrambling Sergei Bobrovsky into such a tailspin that the two-time Vezina Trophy winner was replaced by rookie Spencer Knight before the Panthers fell in six games.

To avoid another letdown, and prevent a Lightning three-peat, the Panthers have to get introspective about what went wrong against Washington.

Florida led the NHL in wins when trailing after two periods this season