Oh how I should have known better than to pick the San Jose Sharks to win the Stanley Cup, thus making my prediction useless. The Sharks and Canucks have been known as choke artists lately in the playoffs, unfortunately I picked the wrong ones to bust out of that role. The Canucks dismantled the Sharks in 5 games deserve to be playing for Lord Stanley's Cup. Meanwhile I still have the Boston Bruins playing for the Cup, like I predicted as they needed 7 games to squeak by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tim Thomas played phenomenal and if the Bruins win has to be strongly considered for the Conn Smythe trophy.
Before we breakdown the final matchup, I am 12-2 these playoffs but I am missing the key piece to the puzzle, my Stanley Cup winners, the San Jose Sharks.
3. Boston Bruins v 1. Vancouver Canucks
The Boston Bruins have gotten to the Stanley Cup finals by piggybacking Tim Thomas, to win they'll continue to do that but they're going to need help. They'll need to stay out of the penalty box and the Canucks punished the Sharks whenever they were given the opportunity including back-to-back-to-back 5 on 3 power play goals in one game. Another thing they'll need their power play to show up as so far this postseason the Bruins 5 for 61 (8.2%). The Bruins need to cash in on a some of those opportunities because the Canucks are the more talented team. Finally if the Bruins plan on winning the Cup they'll need to be the more aggressive and physical team because if Vancouver's skilled guys are skating freely without taking hits it'll be a quick series for Boston.
The Vancouver Canucks got some good news during their time off before the Stanley Cup finals, forward Manny Malhotra has been cleared to return to the team after taking a puck in the eye on March 16th. The Canucks jumped all over the Sharks in the Western Finals as they won in 5 games in dominating fashion. They did it on the power play, even strength and penalty kill. They got scoring from guys not named Sedin or Kesler and their defense was active too. Lastly they neutralized the Sharks talent by being the more physical team, enabling them to shutdown Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski. Did I mention Roberto Luongo? He's totally put that disaster of a first round behind him and has looked near unbeatable at times. If the Canucks continue to play like they have these playoffs they can make fans forget about that 1994 crushing defeat to the New York Rangers.
Vancouver Canucks in 6.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment