Stanley Cup Finals

         The Stanley Cup Finals are here and after two short series that still managed to provide some excitement we are left with the #2 seeded Chicago Blackhawks and the #7 seeded Philadelphia Flyers. There are many stories that can be talked about with the way these two made it to the finals and I will look into the basics then break down the teams.

The Chicago Blackhawks
       The Hawks really got going last season with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews developing into to huge stars in the league. Chicago went to the Western Conference finals last season but ultimately fell to the more experienced Detroit Redwings. Like the Flyers, the Hawks were a preseason pick by many to bust through to the finals this year. This team was considered one of the worst in the league a few years back and has made a huge turn around by revamping this team with young talent. Jonathan Toews is only 21 years of age and he captains this team even though through interviews he appears wise beyond his years. This team has one of the hottest lines in the playoffs made up of Toews, Kane and Dustin Byfuglien. Byfuglien was playing defense at the start of the playoffs and since being placed on a line with Kane and Toews he has done nothing but score big goals. He scored in all four games of the Conference Finals sweep of the San Jose Sharks including a couple of game winners. He will be a heavy task to deal with in front of the net as he stands at 6'5 and 257 lbs. The defense men for the Hawks is a talented group and includes one of the best shut down pair in the league with Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. This skilled group also includes Brian Campbell, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Brent Sopel. The Hawks have a lot of momentum and celebrities on their side along with a city amped with excitement.

The Philadelphia Flyers
      The story of the Flyers has been well documented in how they fought through injuries after making it into the playoffs on the last game of the regular season in a shoot out against hated rivals the New York Rangers. At that point in time it looked as though the Flyers excitement would be short lived until they realized they would be playing the New Jersey Devils in the first round. Philadelphia had beaten the Devils five times during the regular season this year and took care of them in only five playoff games. After Montreal upset the Capitals it meant the Flyers would play the Boston Bruins in the second round. This series did not begin well as stars Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne and Ian Laperriere would all be forced out of competition due to injury. G Brian Boucher struggled against the Bruins and the Flyers found themselves in a 3-0 hole. Simon Gagne would return for game 4 and bring the team a huge lift as he would score the winner in OT to propel the team to victory. It was also in this game that Boucher would too go down in what has been an injury plagued season for Philly men between the pipes. The hero from earlier in the season Michael Leighton was ready on the bench and helped the Flyers make history as they were the 4th team in pro sports to come back from a 0-3 deficit in a best of 7 series. Montreal was their opponent in the Eastern Conference Finals and it was there where Michael Leighton really made a name for himself. Leighton posted three shut out in the first four games of the series and the Flyers beat the Canadians in five games. Mike Richards showed all kinds of heart in the series clinching victory and sets up what should be a great race for the Conn Smyth trophy between the two young captains. The Flyers have also gotten healthy and now have Jeff Carter and Ian Laperriere back in the line-up just in time.

Match-up Breakdown
      There are many interesting match-ups in this series and how the coach's choose to deal with them will be heavily important. The main one being talked about is the line of Kane, Toews and Byfuglien and who on the Flyers defense will be left to deal with big Buff. The man that is assumed to be left with that task is Chris Pronger. Pronger was picked up by the Flyers to be a shut down defense man and help this team to the Stanley Cup Finals. He has done his job so far by logging a lot of minutes each game and is, I think, the best D man left in the playoffs. However Flyer coach Peter Laviolette could also put very capable D man Kimmo Timonen on big Dustin Byfuglien. Timonen is a 12 year veteran who has spent most of his career shutting down talented forwards despite being only 5'10 and 194 lbs. Timonen makes up for his lack of size with great positioning skills and an active poke check. Pronger and Timonen are not defensive partners so Laviolette will be able to maybe use both on Byfuglien instead of only one at different times.

      The top line of the Philadelphia Flyers includes captain Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne. This highly skilled line of the Flyers will probably be forced to deal with Dave Bolland of the Chicago Blackhawks. Bolland is a great agitator and is very effective at getting at the other teams top lines and did a fantastic job against the Sedins' in the Vancouver series and followed it up quieting the powerful forwards of the San Jose Sharks. Bolland is also the teams best penalty killer and has even put in a few big goals to help the Hawks move on. Another veteran that will be used for defensive purposes is John Madden, who like Ian Laperriere of the Flyers, is the kind of player every championship team needs. They are the kind of players that lay it all on the line and will do anything to win.

Depth
      In order to make it to this point in the year you have to have scoring depth and both teams have just that. The Blackhawks get scoring from lines other than their top group with guys like Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, Kris Verteeg and Andrew Ladd. The Hawks overpowered the Predators, Canucks and Sharks but the Flyers can also throw back four lines. Philadelphia has been getting scoring from Daniel Briere, Claude Grioux, Ville Leino and James Van Riemsdyk. The top lines will be important but possibly more important is the depth.

      The defensive depth is impressive as well for both teams. One of the best shut down pairs in the league is that of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. They did a great job in keeping the high octane offense of San Jose down. San Jose only scored 7 goals in the entire series against Chicago and Patrick Marleau scored 4 of them. Philadelphia has four D men that will have a large task in front of them as well. The pairs of Chris Pronger and Matt Carle along with Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn have been successful thus far in the playoffs and will see all kinds of time against the many offensive weapons that the Blackhawks have.  Pronger will no doubt continue to see large of amounts of ice time and his success in his job will be very important if Philly is to pull away with the Cup. 

       When people picked these two teams at the start of the season Antti Niemi and Michael Leighton were not the goalies that were in their minds. Both goalies before this season spent more time in the AHL then the NHL. Cristobal Huet was brought in to be the goalie for the long haul last season and the play of Niemi gave him the starting job and he has been wildly successful this year. In the four game sweep of the Sharks, Niemi had two games where he made 44 saves. On the other side Michael Leighton has spent a lot of his time in the NHL moving from team to team. Leighton was drafted by the Blackhawks in 1999 and since then has not been able to stay put. His journey may be over as he saved the Flyers season in December when down went both Ray Emery and Brian Boucher. The Flyers had been struggling and then in came Leighton off waivers and he went on a great run. He again came in to save the Flyers in the playoffs and since he has been in has been playing out of his mind. In the last series alone he had three shut outs in the first four games, the series only lasted five. 

     Both these goalies are red hot and are showing no signs of slowing down. In my opinion all the match-ups mean nothing compared to this one. This series will come down to which goalie makes less mistakes. Neither of them have been on a stage like this and one of them will have to falter, at least a little. This will be a long series with a lot of back and forth play. Many people have made the "easy pick" with the Blackhawks but I don't think it that simple. This series could easily go either way and it will depend on who shows up and who doesn't crack under the pressure. 


X Factors
      For the Chicago Blackhawks the X factor is Marian Hossa. He will be competing in his third straight finals with a third different team( He has yet to win). He looks like nothing more than bad luck at this point due to his lack of performance for at least what he could bring to the table. With all the great players the Redwings have, the role of Marian Hossa was uncertain. On this Blackhawks team he seemed to shine early when being put with Toews and Kane, but who wouldn't have. Now that he is one the second line if he is able to produce more in the playoffs then in years past, it could be the overwhelming factor that brings Chicago its first Stanley Cup since 1961. 

For the Philadelphia Flyers the X factor is Chris Pronger. The Philadelphia Flyers are the third team since 2006 that Pronger has taken to the finals. He brought the 8 seeded Edmonton Oilers to a game 7 in the finals against his current coach Peter Laviolette and the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes won that one but Pronger would play a pivotal role in winning the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks. Now at age 35 he is looking to continue what has been a stellar 14 year career with another chance at Stanley Cup glory. He is logging more minutes than any other player in the playoffs and whether or not he is able to do his job of shutting down key forwards against Chicago could determine the finals. 

Flyers in 7  

Conference Finals

               There are not many words that can describe what has happened in the Eastern Conference playoffs this year. Remarkable, improbable and incredibly entertaining come to mind. The Eastern Conference looked pitiful all season long except for a few choice teams at the top. None of the lower half teams looked anywhere near worthy of a playoff spot. Yet here we are at the Conference Finals with two teams left, the 7th seeded Philadelphia Flyers and the 8th seeded Montreal Canadians.

              Everywhere in American sports television it has been said how the fact that Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby are out of the playoffs is bad for hockey. Those people have no idea what they are talking about. For the true hockey fans this postseason has been filled with surprises and what more could you ask for? I for one am very happy not to see another rematch of Penguins vs Redwings in the finals for the third straight year. This excitement is much more the case in the Eastern Conference then the West and here is why. The paths taken by the two teams remaining in the East Finals is simply amazing. The Montreal Canadians as an 8 seed had the mighty task of facing the 1 seed Washington Capitals in the first round. I for one picked the Canadians to bail out after only 5 games and after being down 3-1 in the series I felt great about that pick. 3 games later the Capitals were left wondering what just happened as the Canadians were moving on to face another superstar and last year’s Stanley Cup Champions. Sidney Crosby and the Pens would face the same fate as in yet another game 7 the Canadians prevailed against all odds. This time I didn’t make the same mistake as I chose the Canadians in 7. (They really helped me look good on that one).

         The Philadelphia Flyers were a team that had a roller coaster ride of a season after being many people’s preseason pick to make it out of the East. Injuries would be their downfall for much of the season as they struggled to even make the playoffs. Ray Emery was the starting goalie at the beginning of the season but he would be forced out due to hip surgery. Brian Boucher would be his replacement and it was quickly realized that someone else would have to come in. When Boucher too would go down to a fluke injury in came journeyman Michael Leighton. Leighton was brought in to be a part time solution until the others healed, yet with him in net the team began to win. There was once again hope in Philadelphia. Although near the late push for the playoffs, Leighton too would find himself on the list of injured goalies in Philly. By this time Boucher was back and would have to keep the team a float. The Flyers were the last team to make the playoffs as they beat their bitter rivals the New York Rangers in a dramatic shoot out. They would then handle the New Jersey Devils in only 5 games in the first round of the playoffs. In round two the Flyers met another rival in the Boston Bruins. Boucher struggled as the Flyers went down 3-0 to start the series. Then came some good news as Simone Gagne would return to the line-up just in time to help the Flyers pull off a Game 4 OT win to stay alive. Then once again came the injury news as Boucher would indeed go down with yet another injury. This would happen in the same game Leighton was activated to back up Boucher as he became healthy. Leighton and the rest of the Flyers then went on a tear as they became the 3rd team in NHL history to erase a 3-0 deficit to win a series. They also came back from a 3-0 lead in Game 7 in dramatic fashion.

                So here we are the 7 and 8 seeded teams in the East defying all odds to make it to the Conference Finals and a chance to play for the Stanley Cup. The Canadians now appear to be a team no one wants to pick against because of the play of G Jaroslav Halak. His play has already put him in the running for the Conn Smythe if the Canadians find their way to the Finals. Montreal has also benefited from the spectacular game of Mike Cammalleri, who is looking to set Canadian playoff records with his goal scoring. The Flyers now have home ice as a 7 seed in the Conference Finals, something that has never happened in the history of the NHL. The Canadians have been great on the road so home ice should mean little in this series. Both teams needed 7 games to get to this point in their last series and the Canadians have played more than anyone thus far. Montreal has been deemed the team of destiny after their performance so far and look to make it to the Finals. However, the Flyers have been so impressive and haven’t lost since getting Gagne back and seem to have an abundance of confidence in Michael Leighton by the way they have played in front of him all year. Chris Pronger was added to this Philly team to do one thing and that is take this team through the playoffs and he is doing just that. It would appear to be foolish to pick against the Canadians if this series goes seven games. Which is exactly why the Flyers must take care of business before then and I think they will.


Flyers in 6.

The Western Conference Finals will again display the Chicago Blackhawks who exploded on to the scene last year with the emergence of young stars like Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. They fought their way to the West Finals last year only to look very young and inexperienced against the mighty Detroit Redwings. This year they look like a team that has learned from their past mistakes and are ready to take the next step. Their opponent will be the San Jose Sharks. The last few seasons the Sharks have been seemingly unstoppable in the regular season and have finished with the best record in the West. Then would then go into playoffs only to exit soon after. Their recent collapses have made them an easy target for jokes around the league. I once again had little faith in the Sharks to win the cup this year because of those faults but did think that this year they would make it to at least this point.

            Chicago is full of youthful exuberance and the line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Dustin Byfuglien was extremely strong in defeating the Vancouver Canucks for the second straight year in the Western Semi-finals. This team added depth and has gained experience over the last year and is looking to make a name for itself. Marian Hossa was added to this squad last offseason after making it to the finals the last two seasons with both the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Redwings. His playoffs experience will be quite valuable however in both those trips to the finals with those different teams, Hossa was on the losing end. The Blackhawks faced all kinds of criticism of their goaltending all season long and many said it was their only downfall. This was not a problem last year when Nikolai Khabibulin was between the pipes for the Hawks but they let him go for G Cristobal Huet. Huet was later replaced by newcomer G Antti Niemi, who has claimed the starting job for the Blackhawks run at the cup. They have great defense with the likes of Brian Campbell, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, and Kim Johnsson who should cause problems for the San Jose offense.

            The San Jose Sharks started the playoffs against the 8^th seeded Colorado Avalanche and survived a scare of last year’s fate. They would come up big though against the Detroit Redwings as they handled them easily in 5 games. The poor play of G Jimmy Howard for Detroit had much to do with that. The Sharks won a few close games with some great play from Joe Pavelski and also their big dogs in Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley , and Patrick Marleau. Nabokov still looks a bit shaky in net for the Sharks and hasn’t really looked great since his collapse at the Olympics that sent Russia home early. How will he play this series?

            The Chicago Blackhawks have a lot of speed that was too much to handle for Nashville and Vancouver but San Jose can match it. Both goalies don’t look particularly strong and are neither teams anchor. This series may be a high scoring affair if both teams get going offensively. Both these teams have a lot of star power as they should being 1 and 2 seeds in the powerful Western Conference.  This one will come down to which teams stars show up and which goalie is able to steal a game or two for their team. It is so difficult to choose the San Jose Sharks one year after getting bounced from the first round by an 8 seed. The Sharks finally are living up to their potential as they are in the Conference finals but the Blackhawks were here just last year and are looking for a better showing. The Blackhawks are probably many people’s pick in this one and I’m no different.

Blackhawks in 6

           

Conference Semi-Finals

What a first round it was for the Eastern Conference that finds itself much different looking then many anticipated at this point. The Eastern Conference looked to be all about the top 4 teams as the bottom 4 limped into the playoffs on the last few days of the season. The way the bottom half of the East was playing this year had many calling for the top 16 teams to be in the playoffs as opposed to the top 8 from each conference. After the first round finished the Eastern Conference said goodbye to seeds 1,2 and 3 as Washington, New Jersey, and Buffalo were all eliminated by Montreal, Philadelphia, and Boston. The only team that moved on that was expected to was the Pittsburgh Penguins as they defeated the Ottawa Senators in 6 games. Philadelphia, the last team to make it into the playoffs, disarmed the 2 seed New Jersey Devils in only 5 games and were the first team into the second round. The Boston Bruins took care of the Buffalo Sabers quite easily and the Montreal Canadians took care of the top team in the Washington Capitals in 7. All of that leaves us with is Pittsburgh, Boston, Philadelphia and Montreal.

1. 4  Pittsburgh Penguins vs 8 Montreal Canadians
The Pittsburgh Penguins are coming off back to back seasons making it to the Stanley Cup Finals while the Montreal Canadians are running on fumes after just taking out the team everyone felt would be not stopped in the East, the Washington Capitals. The Penguins are basically the same team as last year and are not looking to surprise anyone. They won their title last year and are looking to repeat. Sidney Crosby had another great season as he is once again a contender for the Hart Trophy. Evgeni Malkin was less impressive this year as was the play of Marc-Andre Fleury. This team will need both of them to step up and be solid if they are seriously looking at repeating. Montreal is a team I didn't think I would be talking about still but here they are. Down 3-1 to Washington, the Montreal Canadians shocked everyone when they won three straight to take down the President's Trophy winners. The main reason for the upset was the tremendous play of G Jaroslav Halak. Halak allowed only 3 goals against in the final 3 games of the series on 134 shots. Just incredible numbers for a goalie who was not considered the number 1 throughout the entire season. Montreal has exactly what it needs to surprise not only Washington but Pittsburgh as well and that is a hot goalie and a team that believes. The Penguins are not going out easy and will make this quite the series. Being safe will get you know where though and sometimes you have to branch out and go with the unexpected. Will beats skill, every time.

Montreal in 7

2. 6 Boston Bruins vs 7 Philadelphia Flyers
 The Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers were teams that at the beginning of the season were picked to fight for the top spot in the conference. Tim Thomas finished last season with the Vezina as the best goalie in the league and the Flyers traded for Chris Pronger and signed G Ray Emery. They were eventually the pre-season pick for the annual Winter Classic, then the season started. Neither team started the season the way anyone thought they would. Tim Thomas was not the same from the year before and the team missed the scoring from Phil Kessel after he was traded to Toronto. Although at this point it looks like Boston won in that trade as they will be receiving next years 2nd overall pick in the draft. Tukka Rask took over for Tim Thomas and is looking incredibly strong. Philadelphia then started out the season playing well and looking strong, then injuries set in and the poor play began. The play of Ray Emery was not too impressive but the drop off was noticeable 
when Brian Boucher came in when Emery needed hip surgery. Micheal Leighton was eventually brought in off waviers as a short time solution. Unexpectedly, Leighton came in and was sensational and even matched Emery in total season wins in less games played.All seemed to be right again in Philly until down went Leighton and back in came Boucher. Boucher has struggled mightily at times but he was able to play well enough to help the Flyers fight into the playoffs on the last day of the season. Players that need to step up include David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, Marc Savard and Milan Lucic for Boston. For Philadelphia it's Daniel Briere, Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell and James Van Riemsdyk. Injuries are key in this series as the Bruins are without Marco Sturm and are just welcoming back Marc Savard who hasn't played since March 7. The Flyers lost Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne, Ian Laperriere and Michael Leighton. Gagne and Leighton have potential for a return but Carter and Laperriere look to be done for the year. This will be a gritty series with a lot of phyisicality. The Bruins were the lowest scoring team in the league this year and are where they are because of team defense. The Flyers will need Boucher to stand on his head and will look to leaders such as Mike Richards and Chris Pronger to carry them. Tukka Rask started a total of 5 games before this season but is looking great for Boston but will his lack of experience be an issue? Going on hart and belief...


Flyers in 7

The Western Conference playoffs could have had a new look to them had a few teams advanced to the second round but it was not to be. The Phoenix Coyotes took the Detroit Redwings to 7 games before going down and the Los Angeles Kings went 6 before losing to the Vancouver Canucks. Both the Kings and Coyotes spent the last 8 years watching the playoffs from home. The San Jose Sharks survived a quick scare from the Colorado Avalanche as they looked to not repeat last years fiasco of bowing out in the first round as the top seed. Then the Chicago Blackhawks took care of the Nashville Predators in 6 games, a series that showed some weaknesses for the eventual winners. This then left San Jose, Chicago, Vancouver and Detroit. 


1. 1. San Jose Sharks vs 5 Detroit Redwings
The San Jose Sharks are the top team once again in the West but this time they find themselves in the second round. The Detroit Redwings fought threw early injuries and the possibility of not making the playoffs to eventually sitting at the 5 seed. The Sharks had some early difficulties with the Colorado Avalanche and didn't get much scoring from the big names such as Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau. Joe Pavelski, Devin Setoguchi and Ryan Clowe will all also need to chip in if San Jose is going to finally break over the hump. The Detroit Redwings must be an exhausted hockey team. This team has been to the finals the last two seasons and hasn't missed the playoffs since 1990. Think about the fact that they have played 2 months more hockey than every other team except for Pittsburgh the last two seasons. That's that much less rest for a team that is here and ready to do it again. They fought through the injuries and quickly became the team no one wanted to play. It took them 7 games to get through a Phoenix Coyotes team that was destined to prove the world wrong. They still have all the talent and all the experience with Niklas Lidstrom, Paval Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen and Brian Rafalski. The one thing they no longer have is complete confidence in their goaltender. As much a Detroit fans want to credit Jimmy Howard with the success at the end of the season, when that team got healthy is when they began to pick it up again. Both teams have the star power up front but I'm not psyched on either G Jimmy Howard or G Evgeni Nabakov. Detroit is a very strong team and will be for years but Jimmy Howard will be the reason for this seasons failures. In time he may be the answer but not quite yet.


San Jose in 6

2. 2. Chicago Blackhawks vs 3 Vancouver Canucks
The Chicago Blackhawks burst onto the playoff scene last year with the emergence of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. It looked good to have a big market like Chicago with a team primed to make so serious playoff noise. Experience caught up to them when they eventually met the Detroit Redwings in the Western Conference finals. Here they once again meet the Vancouver Canucks in the semis after beating them last year. The Blackhawks have a bit of a new look this year with the loss of G Nikolai Khabibulin and Martin Havlet and the addition of Marian Hossa. The Vancouver Canucks are a story that involves the same players as last season just playing better hockey. The Vancouver Canucks were led by the sensational play of Henrik Sedin who finished the regular season with 112 points. He and brother Daniel Sedin are very difficult to stop along with Alex Burrows, Ryan Kesler and Pavol Demitra. Don't forget about Mikael Samuelsson whom the Canucks got from Detroit, a player with a lot of talent and perfect for this team in the playoffs. The Blackhawks will be once again relying on great hockey from Kane and Toews along with Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Brian Campbell, Duncan Keith and John Madden. Chicago has the talent and should be able to win this series on paper. Vancouver does have one advantage that may be a big one, Roberto Luongo. Roberto Luongo is the captain of the Canucks and will look to lead them in this series but will he be able to stop all of the Blackhawks weapons? Antti Niemi has looked shaky and this may mean we could see Cristobal Huet in the lineup at some point. Will the loss of Khabibulin and Havelt for Marian Hossa be the answer for the Blackhawks? Or will it prove to be the wrong move?


Chicago in 6