Hockey fans—we are down to the final four! Next up—the Stanley Cup Final. In the West, the Chicago Blackhawks are taking on the Anaheim Ducks, while in the East, the New York Rangers (2014 Stanley Cup finalists) are facing off against the high-scoring Tampa Bay Lightning. The fact that these teams have made it this far is hardly a surprise. But who will get to the Final and win the Stanley Cup?
As it stands, Anaheim leads Chicago 2-1 in their best-of-seven series, with game 3 set to go in Chicago. After losing game 3 at home, the Hawks are looking to break even with a win in game 4. Games 2 and 3 have both been decided by just one goal, with game 2 requiring triple overtime and a fluky goal to decide it. Chicago has significantly more playoff experience than Anaheim, with all the key cogs (Jonathan Teows, Patrick Kane, Corey Crawford, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, etc.) still in the mix. Anaheim has loads of young talent combined with known stars in Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler. Defenceman François Beauchemin has essentially become Anaheim’s Duncan Keith—and is playing an absolutely critical role shutting down Chicago’s flashy stars.
With both teams very strong offensively, this series will likely come down to defence and goaltending. One would initially think that Chicago has the edge in the goaltending department, but Crawford has not been in his best form. Furthermore, Duncan Keith can only play half the game… That being said, the same goes for Beauchemin. Andersen, on the other hand, has been sensational for Anaheim throughout the playoffs, and is a major factor in how they managed to get this far. Bottom line: Anaheim in seven.
Over in the East, the resilient New York Rangers have knotted the series at two games apiece. After two somewhat sub-par performances, Henrik Lundqvist has bounced back to his regular Kingly self. Steven Stamkos and company were at a loss to score while Ben Bishop and the Tampa D struggled in game 4 as the Rangers coasted to a 5-1 victory. The series heads back to New York for game 5.
Offensively speaking, Tampa definitely has the edge: It’s great if you can somehow manage to negate Stamkos, but if you can’t stop the triple threat (Tyler Johnson—18 points, Nikita Kucherov—16 points and Ondrej Palat—13 points in the playoffs), you’re sunk. The Rangers have gotten timely goals from key players throughout these playoffs, but realistically they will need a stellar performance from Lundqvist if they want to go the distance. This series will come down to whether or not Ben Bishop and the Tampa defense can stay airtight through the remaining 3 games—something they have not had success at so far. If they can’t, it will come down to Lundqvist. This series is a classic example of the age-old goalie conundrum: You only go as far as your goaltender takes you. Thought this one is extremely difficult to call, here goes… Bottom line: Tampa in seven.
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