The Stanley Cup Finals

Bryan Bickell and David Krejci lead the Blackhawks and Bruins in goal-scoring this postseason. Krejci has nine goals, while Bickell is tied with Patrick Sharp of the Blackhawks, with eight.

It's come down to this.

The President's Trophy winning Chicago Blackhawks (who I correctly predicted in the finals, YAY!), and the gritty Boston Bruins. Neither team had an easy trip to this final round; interestingly enough both teams got a wake-up call to save their postseason.

Boston nearly blew their 3-1 series lead against the Maple Leafs, and finally rebounded in game seven from a 4-1 deficit to win in overtime. Since then the Bruins have dominated, winning their next two series in a total of nine games. They outscored Pittsburgh 12-2 in the conference finals, and left both Crosby and Malkin pointless in the series.

Meanwhile, Chicago dominated their series against the Wild, winning in five. Detroit however, had Chicago on the ropes and down 3-1 in the series, with the team falling apart (evident by Jonathan Toews' trips to the penalty box in game four). It was then that Chicago finally came together as a team and started taking the playoffs seriously, winning the next three games to advance to the conference finals.

Now we're left with a special match up, the first Original Six final since Montreal and New York in 1979, 34 years ago. On paper, things look close, especially the goaltending. Rask's GAA is 1.75, while Crawford's is 1.74. Their save percentages are .943 and .935. Rask has allowed 30 goals; Crawford has let in 31. Now that's close.

But my prediction? The Boston Bruins have got this, it won't even be close. They've worked harder, they've been faster, and will play a better physical game than the Blackhawks. This contest will be over quickly, let's say, five games. If Chicago's even going to get off the ground, they MUST have production from their star players. Brandon Saad, one of four Blackhawks with at least 10 goals in the regular season, has absolutely fallen asleep during the playoffs, minus four with no goals in 17 games. Toews isn't much better, his one goal of the playoffs came in game five of the Detroit series. And without his hat-trick to win the conference final for the Blackhawks, Patrick Kane would likely be included in this ridicule. But to get these scoring opportunities, the Blackhawks must also solve Zdeno Chara, and the Bruins' excellent defensive play (Chara leads defencemen in the playoffs with an outstanding plus 12).

I'll go ahead and predict shutouts by Tuukka Rask, and pesky moves by Brad Marchand that will drive Chicago insane. Maybe, just maybe, I'll get an oddly integral part of my bracket correct: Chicago getting to the Stanley Cup Final and falling apart. Don Cherry's getting excited already...

Don't hate on Duncan Keith

Duncan Keith approaches Jeff Carter to apologize in game 3 between Chicago and Los Angeles, following the slash to the mouth.

Following Duncan Keith's actions in game three of the Western Conference Final on Tuesday night, Brandan Shanahan saw it fitting to suspend the defenceman for one game. Remembering back to 2007, when Chris Simon was suspended 25 games for a two-hand slash on Ryan Hollweg in retaliation, it's incredible to think that Keith's actions only merit a single-game suspension. But nonetheless, the decision has been made, and there's no reason to dwell on how suspension-worthy the slash was in 2013.

Jeff Carter won't get away from the incident free either though, and really shouldn't. Don Cherry couldn't have said it better in Wednesday's edition of Coach's Corner, reminding everyone that if you go looking for trouble, trouble will find you. A slash to the unprotected hand of your opponent is no way to act like a respectful hockey player, and now Carter will always know that (surely the 20 stitches will forever remind him). Perhaps Sean Avery would have performed less cheap shots if he had received a hard slash immediately following, who knows?

Hopefully though, the incident doesn't negatively affect the play of this year's President's Trophy winners. After the Blackhawks learned their lesson in the Detroit series last month, it would be a shame if Keith's suspension cost Chicago the Western Conference Final. A win by the Kings in game four would mean a tied series; essentially proving Chicago's wins in games one and two meaningless. Keith leads Blackhawks defencemen in the playoffs with 10 points; the closest behind him is Johnny Oduya with four...Sounds like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews need to step it up tonight; out of Chicago's 40 goals this postseason, Kane and Toews have three. Ouch...

Now, on a lighter note, let's look back on a less-violent moment in NHL retaliation. In a 2009 match between Boston and Montreal, Andrei Kostitsyn boarded a Bruins player, stopping the play. As Kostitsyn skated past the Boston net, Tim Thomas stood up for his teammate and delivered a hit that left the TD Garden roaring. As you will see, Kostitsyn went looking for trouble, and Tim Thomas found him. No one was seriously hurt, and no suspensions came about. Classic hockey...

NHL Playoffs - Conference Finals

Blackhawks defenceman Brent Seabrook screams in celebration following his series-winning overtime goal against the Red Wings.

So here we are at the Conference Finals. I couldn’t be more satisfied with who’s left alive in the playoffs; the past four Stanley Cup champions: Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and Pittsburgh. Whoever wins the Cup completely deserves it, and will be remembered as the true dominating team of the early 2010’s. Just imagine if the Kings go back-to-back, we’ll basically have a modern day New York Islanders! My bracket, although working out a little differently than what I predicted, has three of the four teams correctly slated (I admit, choosing the Capitals was a gamble).

(1) Chicago Blackhawks and (5) Los Angeles Kings

For the second postseason in a row, the Kings have been extremely competitive without having a high number of points to show for it in the regular season.  Having them up against the President’s Trophy winner seems only fitting, and is the ultimate test for LA to prove their dominance was not for a short period of time. The series is too close to call, especially after Chicago faced the Red Wings in the conference semifinals. The Blackhawks, down 3-1 in the series, woke up and started playing powerful, disciplined hockey like that of their amazing season. This is, by far, the most enticing matchup of the playoffs so far…Toews and Kane need to start scoring some goals to put Chicago over the top. As Don Cherry said, the Blackhawks also need to be prepared for the hitting of the Los Angeles Kings; something the Red Wings did not pose a threat with.

(1) Pittsburgh Penguins and (4) Boston Bruins

Like I said, the Penguins would go far with Tomas Vokoun; 6-1 with a GAA of 1.85 is absolutely fantastic for a backup goaltender. Another series that is too close to call; Pittsburgh and Boston lead the way in the playoffs for goals scored per game, but Pittsburgh soars ahead in that statistic with 4.3 (Boston has 3.2). Both teams are coming off series where they won in five, but had a bit of a layoff before the start of the conference final. There is no telling who will have momentum, yet.