After 82 taxing regular season games and three pulse-pounding playoff rounds, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks are left standing and will duke it out in the Stanley Cup Final starting Wednesday at the Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay.
5 Things To Watch For In Lightning-Blackhawks Stanley Cup Final
It was a long road for both teams to get here. The Lightning knocked off the Detroit Red Wings in seven games in Round 1 then eliminated the Montreal Canadiens in six matches in the second round and toppled the Presidents' Trophy-winning New York Rangers in seven to make it out of the Eastern Conference Final.
Now, Tampa Bay looks to become the first team to knock off four Original Six clubs on its way to championship glory.
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The Blackhawks, meanwhile, overcame the Nashville Predators in six games in the opening round, swept away the Minnesota Wild in four contests in Round 2 and then handed the Anaheim Ducks just their second home loss of the season in Game 7 to survive the Western Conference Final.
Before the lights come up for Game 1, here are our predictions for the Stanley Cup Final.
[Atlantic Division 2] Tampa Bay Lightning vs. [Central Division 3] Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup Final
Round 3 Reflection: Last round, Sports World News picked the Lightning to fall to the Rangers in seven games and the Blackhawks to knockoff the Ducks in six. As it turned out, Tampa Bay topped New York in seven while Chicago dropped Anaheim in six.
Season Series: These teams split both of their meetings in the regular season with the Blackhawks picking up a 3-2 shootout win on Nov. 11 at home and the Lightning taking the most recent meeting, 4-0, on home ice on Feb. 27.
Cup Dreams: Tampa Bay is in the Stanley Cup Final for just the second time in franchise history and is looking to win it all for the first time since 2004 while Chicago is in the final round for the third time in the last six years after hoisting the greatest trophy in sports in 2010 and 2013.
Series Overview: This series will have a very interesting dynamic as the youthful Lightning look to make their mark on a Blackhawks team that has plenty of experience on this stage and a core that has hoisted two Cups in the last five years.
Both teams rely on speed and have dangerous, deep offensive corps, so this will definitely be a fun Cup Final to watch.
For the Lightning, its youthful Triplets Line has helped lead it to this stage. Tyler Johnson, 24, has paved the way with an NHL playoffs-best 12 goals and 21 points while his linemates Nikita Kucherov, 21, (9-10--19) and Ondrej Palat, 21, (7-8--15) have also been fantastic for Tampa Bay.
One player to keep an eye on is Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos, who talked last round about how much it stung to get so close to the Cup Final in 2011 only for his team to lose the Eastern Conference Final to the Boston Bruins in seven games. Four years and a serious injury scare later, Stamkos has reached his first Cup Final.
The captain had a goal-scoring drought in the first round of the playoffs, but he's rebounded nicely by scoring seven goals and putting up 17 points through the first three rounds.
Valtteri Filppula and Alex Killorn round out the top-six for Tampa Bay. Killorn had the game-winning goal against the Rangers in Game 7 last round and the top-six for Tampa Bay has contributed 45 of the team's 55 playoff goals.
The Blackhawks core isn't necessarily much older than its counterpart, but it enters this series with a wealth of experience that could be an X-factor in this seven-game set Jonathan Toews, 27, and Patrick Kane, 26, have 99 and 111 points, respectively in their playoff careers and were both huge parts of the past two Cup wins for Chicago.
Kane leads the team with 10 goals and 20 points in these playoffs while Toews is second with nine tallies and 18 points. The Blackhawks have a wealth of depth throughout their lineup. Marian Hossa has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) this postseason while Patrick Sharp (four tallies, eight helpers) has 12. Brandon Saad has chipped in with six goals this spring.
On defense, Jon Cooper's group runs through one of the best top pairs in the league in Victor Hedman (23:24) and Anton Stralman (22:13), who are the top two on the team in average time on ice. Hedman has 10 points off of a goal and nine assists and is a plus-11 while Stralman has a marker and six helpers for seven points and is a plus-2.
Joel Quenneville's top four has been heavily taxed this season, but they've played admirably throughout. Conn Smythe-candidate Duncan Keith leads the way for Chicago on the blue line and is a huge part of the championship core. Keith leads both teams with 31:35 average time on ice and leads all players with a plus-13 rating in the playoffs. He also has a team-best 16 assists.
Quenneville has at times staggered Keith and his long-time defensive partner Brent Seabrook due to the team's lack of depth on defense, but it hasn't hindered the club. Seabrook is also first among the Blackhawks' blue-liners with six goals. Nicklas Hjalmarsson (26:33) and Johnny Oduya (25:23) have also logged heavy minutes and played a big role.
Another intriguing battle lies within the blue paint as Corey Crawford already has a Stanley Cup to his name while Ben Bishop is getting just his first taste of Stanley Cup playoff action and is just four wins away from hoisting the Cup on his first attempt.
Bishop has had an impressive run, which includes a league-best three shutouts in these playoffs. Bishop blanked the Red Wings in Game 7 during Round 1 and then shutout the Rangers twice in a row at home in Games 5 and 7 of the Eastern Conference Final.
The 6-foot-7 Bishop, 28, is 12-8 this spring with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage.
After losing his job in the opening round, Crawford has rebounded nicely to help the Blackhawks get back to the final round. Crawford, 30, is 9-4 in the playoffs with a 2.56 GAA, a .919 save percentage and one shutout.
Both goaltenders have had their fair share of ups and downs throughout the spring, but they've weathered the storm to get their teams four wins away from glory.
Behind the bench, Cooper is looking to win his first Stanley Cup in just his first full season as the coach of the Lightning while Quenneville is hoping to hoist the trophy for the third time in the last six campaigns here in his seventh season as the Blackhawks bench boss.
Special Teams: The Lightning's power play is converting at a 22.2 percent clip while its penalty kill sits at an 81.2 percent success rate. The Blackhawks, meanwhile, have a power play that's tallied at a 19.6 percent mark while their penalty kill is successful 75.5 percent of the time.
Final Thoughts: This should be a very fun series between two fast, deep teams that can seemingly score at will. It will likely be a high-scoring series, especially since Crawford and Bishop have both faltered at points throughout the postseason. In the end, the Lightning will put up a great fight, but the Blackhawks postseason experience will make the difference as its core will continue to shine on the biggest stage in the NHL. Chicago has won its last two Cups in six games, and that won't change here. The only difference will be that they'll finally be able to hoist the Cup at home.
The Pick: Blackhawks in 6
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