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...

Time to prove if they're legit

7-0. Seven to Nothing. Ouch.
I didn't see the Leafs game on Saturday night, I was actually playing in 2 different ensembles at CMU's Band-O-Rama, one of which was the marching band...of course, what did I miss? All I needed to see was the score when I got home, and it tells the whole story. The Leafs once again couldn't beat Boston, even though their record is far superior to Boston's right now. Kessel got no points against his old team, and Seguin got a hat trick...same old story as the last two seasons, Toronto just can't figure out how to beat Boston, whether it's a curse or not, it sure is damn annoying...
Toronto currently sits with a record of 9-4-1, and 2nd in the Eastern conference. Kessel still leads the league in goals and points, so you could say that the loss is merely a small ding in the armor. I would love to say so, I mean there's good reason to, you started Scrivens and watched a horror show in net because of it. (Though I am proud of his performance last Thursday against the Blue Jackets, where he picked up his first NHL win)
But James Reimer is out, and who knows when he'll be back...plus, now Connolly is out, so Toronto's taking a hit here. Is this the end of their great start? Can the Leafs purge through this tight spot right now and keep up the good work? We're all at the edge of our seats waiting to find out. This game against the Panthers will likely give us some answers.