For years up to this point, we've not had a true original six finals match since the golden age of hockey, the late 70's when the last recorded original six match-up between the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins took place in the hallowed halls of the Montreal Forum, we've had 1 of the original six teams make it the majority of the years, but there's not been a complete original six final since 1978, weird as it may sound. On the bright side however, both of these teams have recently hoisted the cup in past memory, Chicago with their momentous 2010 victory against the Philadephia Flyers in game 6's overtime, along with the Boston Bruins who took their first cup in over 40 years in 2011, so both of these teams know the taste of victory, while they also know the bitter taste of defeat.
Heading into this hallowed matchup, David Krejci is the man to watch for the Bruins, racking up the impressive 21 points heading into this final round, while all star and the 2010 winning goal scorer, Patrick Kane has a equally impressive 14 points overall, but isn't the leading points guy on Chicago at this moment, however watch for both of these young guns to score a few times during this series if at all, Chara isn't a slouch when it comes to the playoffs either, with a impressive skating regiment and his overall size are anything to count, this man could be a huge factor for the Bruins as well, but we mustn't forget the goaltenders of the two respective teams, Tuukka Rask, who was lucky enough to be Tim Thomas's backup during the 2011 cup quest is starting the series after dealing with Pittsburgh's high offensive capabilites rather easily.
Corey Crawford is no slouch in the netminder's position either, as he's managed to rack quite a impressive set of statistics, offing the LA Kings in 5 games in their conference finals in Overtime on the last game, leading to a exciting finale against the reigning champs. One key factor for this particular title I believe is the tale of the tape let's take a look at the current stats of both Crawford and Rask starting with Corey Crawford.
G.A.A: 1.74 [1st]
Saves: 443 [3rd]
Shutouts: 1 [4th]
Minutes Played: 1,070 [2nd]
Win-Loss Record: 12-5 [1st and 4th]
As you can see, Crawford's stats don't lie, he's the best goalie in the NHL playoffs as of right now with a impressive 1.74 GAA and a impressive 1000 minutes in the net combined this playoffs, now let's move onto Rask's Tale of the tape.
When it comes to Boston and their goal tenders, they don't slouch at all, Tukka Rask's stats do not lie either, heading into the most important games of his career thus far, let's take a quick look at his important stats
G.A.A: 1.75 [2nd]
Shutouts: 0 [4th]
Minutes Played: 1,031 [3rd]
Win-Loss Record 12-4 [1st and 6th]
Rask is no slouch for Boston either, with a impressive 1.75 GAA heading into this one, I'm expecting a barn burner of a game tonight when it comes to these two original six teams, but now let's take a brief look at how both of these teams got here, starting with the road to the cup for Boston, whom are eager enough for a 2nd cup in 3 years.
Boston's Road to the Cup
The eastern conference had a lot of interesting choices in terms of match-ups in the playoffs, but the worst division by far is the south eastern division with Florida, Tampa Bay and Washington with Washington being the only team from that division to make it, as it seems with this points system we have, Round 1's lineup was Boston vs Toronto, Montreal vs Ottawa, Washington vs the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh vs the Islanders, all four of those match-ups went quite the distance, with Boston taking 7 games over Toronto in a very close finale, Montreal getting destroyed 4-1 by Ottawa of all teams, Washington being beaten by the Rangers in a 7 game series and the Penguins beating the Islanders to take their first round victory and go onto round 2.
Round 2's action for the eastern conference began with Pittsburgh facing the Ottawa Senators and the New York Rangers facing off against another original six team, the Bruins, of which Boston easily beat the rangers in 5 games, a few of them being close, as well as Pittsburgh beating the Senators in another 5 game series to bring the second round for the east to a close. Round 3 was a interesting one as Boston ended up facing the 2009 champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins, hot off the heels of a 5 game series against the Senators, with the eastern conference finals lasting a whopping 4 games, Boston swept out the Penguins with some superb defense, with all star David Krejci leading the team heading into the finals of the playoffs.
With that let's take a look see at how Chicago got to the point in time where they are now, leading up to their road to the cup finals.
Chicago's Road to the Cup
Chicago was one I thought would go out in the early rounds due to the curse with the President's Trophy, for being the team with the highest point total at the end of the regular season, however it wasn't too much of a curse, more so a spirit lifter, the western conference had quite a lot of interesting match-ups as well, with round 1 being composed of Chicago vs Minnesota, Detroit vs Anaheim, Vancouver vs San Jose and Los Angeles vs St. Louis, most of these match-ups I wasn't quite sure who had the edge, but it proved to be a lengthy quarter finals, with Chicago beating Minnesota in 5 games, Detroit beating Anaheim going the full 7 games, San Jose sweeping the Canucks 4 straight and Los Angeles beating the Blues in 6 to head into round 2.
Round 2's matches in the west were just as lengthy, with the Red Wings facing off against the Blackhawks, while the Kings met the Sharks in a heated rivalry, the Wings/Hawks series ended up lasting a full 7 games, with Chicago pulling out the win at the last possible second, while the Kings ended up doing the distance series, taking their series with the Sharks to a full 7 games as well which meant the Kings were to face the Blackhawks to determine the Western Conference winner, of which it lasted a good while going a full 5 games, but in the end the Hawks edged it out, taking the series 4-1 over the reigning cup champs.
In short, all I know for this particular cup final, it's going to be quite interesting, as during the regular season these two never faced one another, all due to the shortened season schedule and such, but both teams feel very evenly matched, if this series is proven anything it's that the best possible teams have reached the pinnacle of the hockey dream and only one team can stand truly dominant after the dust settles, but for now let's just sit back, watch some old school, barn burner hockey and say "Yeah, it's good to be a hockey fan right now" until next time, this is Vergil signing off.
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