There’s an inevitable sadness to these Stanley Cup playoffs

Somehow, the early part of this year’s NHL playoffs feels way too much like the NBA.

What has made hockey’s postseason so intriguing over the years is its intensity, and in low-scoring games, that means anyone can win — and every series is up for grabs. In basketball, at least over the past decade or so, there have been maybe three teams in the whole league that had a chance to win a title, and the entirety of the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs were just a preamble. (That’s the biggest reason why my interest in the NBA doesn’t start developing until right about now.)

Strangely in the NHL, it seems now that only the Lightning, Bruins and Predators have a legit shot to win the Stanley Cup.

The Golden Knights continued their historic run, sweeping the woebegone Kings to become the third team in either the NHL, NBA or MLB to sweep their first-ever playoff series — and the first team ever to do so in their inaugural season. Now they face the Sharks, who swept the similarly woebegone Ducks, with serious change coming to Southern California next season. (This is also just the eighth time in NHL history that two teams will meet after both sweeping their preceding best-of-seven series. In six of the seven previous instances, the winner went on to win the Stanley Cup.)

As interesting as the Vegas-San Jose matchup might be, does either team have a chance against the Predators once they do away with the impressively pesky Colorado MacKinnons? The Jets have shown great resolve and depth all season, but once they get by the Wild, can they compete without injured top defensemen Tyler Myers, Toby Enstrom and Dmitry Kulikov? With Josh Morrissey suspended for a possible clinching Game 5 on Friday night — and a questionable suspension it was — in comes … Sami Niku, reigning AHL defenseman of the year, set to skate next to some guy named Tucker Poolman?

In the East, the Devils gave a good scare into the Lightning in Game 3, which was as good a hockey game as I’ve witnessed in at least a year in a wonderfully rowdy Prudential Center. (The fans at the Garden should take note.) But the Lightning’s depth of talent was just overwhelming in Game 4, and will likely bury New Jersey in Game 5 on Saturday afternoon in Tampa, especially as the Devils play without top defenseman Sami Vatanen. (And yes, the Devils have every right to be upset that Nikita Kucherov received absolutely no punishment whatsoever for this hit that hurt Vatanen in Game 4.)

The Maple Leafs are still a terrifically fun team to watch, but the experience on the Bruins side has just been too much. Not to mention Frederik Andersen hasn’t exactly been Conn Smythe worthy, as the Toronto netminder slipped back into his inconsistent ways after such a stellar regular season. (And if Henrik Lundqvist’s frustration with the Rangers’ rebuild ever does boil over and he wants out of New York — which is very, very unlikely — that might be the ideal landing spot.)

If the Bruins can get out of this series relatively unscathed, and they can get Patrice Bergeron back to moderate health — mind you, the best two-way center of this generation once played a playoff game with broken ribs and punctured lung — they can certainly push the Lightning in what should be a great Eastern quarterfinal.

Whoever wins that is likely going to have to deal with the Penguins in the East final, but they are an inferior team to the one that lifted the past two Stanley Cups. Sidney Crosby is as good as ever, but the depth of both Tampa and Boston should be too much for them — and Matt Murray.

So here we are, anticipating what is surely looking like chalk in the Stanley Cup final. In a league that predicates its product on parity and competitiveness, the elites are set to rule this postseason — and it just feels strange.

It feels like the NBA.

Et tu, Gudas?

Radko Gudas just can’t help himself. In practice on Tuesday, the perpetually suspended Flyers defenseman hurt the second-best player on his team, center Sean Couturier — who then missed Game 4 and was questionable for Game 5 on Friday night, when Philadelphia was likely going to lose and finish their season.

Speaking of Couturier, I think he wins the Selke Trophy over Bergeron, who has four of the past six years, for the best defensive forward. Courturier had great possession numbers in a very difficult defensive role, and his uptick in play finally gave Claude Grioux some support and is really what got the Flyers into the playoffs in the first place.

Crosby’s rightful place

When Crosby passed Mario Lemieux for tops on the Penguins’ all-time postseason points list, here was what one Hall of Famer had to say to a future Hall of Famer: “What took you so long?”

Crosby, who is somehow only 30 years old, is playing as well as he ever had. Proof? How about some hand-eye coordination.

Stay tuned …

… to the Capitals. Boy, these guys never make it easy, huh? Besides having played by far the most overtime playoff games since 2008 — 34 percent, and it feels like I’ve been there for so many of them against the Rangers — they again have their hands full with the Blue Jackets in the first round. The Caps lost the first two games at home — both in overtime — and it was “Same Old Caps.” They then won two in Columbus — Game 3 in overtime — to make it a best-of-three.

But it just feels like if Washington doesn’t win, they’re going to blow it up — and Barry Trotz may become available. If Columbus doesn’t win, they might reconsider the fit of John Tortorella. That’s the best series going, by far. Game 5 on Saturday afternoon in D.C.

Parting Shot

One thing this postseason does have going for it is the highlight-reel goals. The two from Filip Forsberg are great, but Artemi Panarin’s won it in overtime, so that might be my favorite.