* NHL Conference Finals Results & Thoughts *
Welcome back to another one of my updates. Well, as you might have seen, I was terribly wrong with one of the picks I made. I had the San Jose Sharks beating the Vancouver Canucks. Completely wrong. I'll get into all that later. I would believe that the results are as expected. The Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins were the better teams left of the four.
==== NHL Conference Finals Results ====
<== Eastern Conference ==>
=3. Boston Bruins versus 5. Tampa Bay Lightning=
My Prediction : Bruins in 6 ==> Actual Result : Bruins in 7
This series was closer than it appeared. It was highly competitive and I can actually say I'm impressed by how the Lightning played. Dwayne Roloson played superb for a guy his age. The Lightning came up short, but they could easily be back sometime soon with core they've established. For the Bruins, this was to be expected. They're a well built hockey team. They have speed, a bit of scoring, size, grit, and goaltending. The fact that they're the last team in the Eastern Conference is no mistake.
My pick was close and correct, so no complaints there. I did think that Boston would dominate the Lightning a bit more than they did. I was thinking the Bruins in either five or six. That the Lightning hung around and made this the series they did was not expected (in my opinion and I'm no awesome hockey guru). It's with that note that I won't pretend I made a genius pick.
<== Western Conference ==>
=1. Vancouver Canucks versus 2. San Jose Sharks=
My Prediction : Sharks in 6 ==> Actual Result : Canucks in 5
I wasn't close whatsoever on this pick. I had figured that the Canucks would bend against a team that was built with more talent than the Blackhawks or Predators. This was not the case. The Sharks were undisciplined and did the usual playoff disappearing act that they've been known to do. Luongo didn't go to the pieces like I thought and the Canucks were deeper than I had given them credit for. I definitely went outside the box when I made the pick, but I do feel like I had some just reasoning. I banked on recent history and lost. As I mentioned earlier, the Canucks are definitely the class of the Western Conference. There is a good reason they won the Presidents' Trophy. They'll now have a chance to win the Stanley Cup to truly prove they're the best team in the NHL.
For San Jose, this is a truly disappointing series. They had assembled one of the more impressive teams in the NHL. They have a lot of established talent and plenty of upcoming talent on their team. I do get the feeling they'll be back. Much like the seeding suggested, they were just the second best team in the Western Conference.
NHL Conference Finals Round
Bruins vs Lightning : Pick - Bruins : Result - Bruins : Correct : 10-3
Canucks vs Sharks : Pick - Sharks : Result - Canucks : Wrong : 10-4
-Results Format-
Series : Pick : Result : Pick Result : My Playoff Record
=Dumbest Pick of the Round=
Vancouver Canucks vs San Jose Sharks : Need I say more? I banked on San Jose playing a dominating brand of hockey using their depth. I banked on Roberto Luongo being as shaky as he was against Chicago and slightly untested against Nashville. I didn't bank on the fact that San Jose can disappear rather quickly (especially in the Western Conference Finals) or the fact that the Canucks were the best team in the regular season. It was a dumb pick, but as I mentioned earlier, I don't feel too big of a moron. I'm glad I was able to make a bold pick even if it was stupid. Picking Vancouver seemed to easy. Sometimes the easy answer is the correct one.
=Hardest Pick of the Round=
Vancouver Canucks vs San Jose Sharks : Even though the Bruins and Lightning series was the closer and could have been had by either team, I'm still going with this series. These teams were both chocked full of talent and both had a good reason to be picked to win.
=Easiest Pick of the Round=
Boston Bruins vs Tampa Bay Lightning : Though it was close, I felt like Boston would win this one from the start. They're more physical and well-rounded. Tampa Bay's defense was sloppy at times which ultimately led to their defeat. Tim Thomas was the better goaltender. Dwayne Roloson was spectacular at times, but was pulled twice and sat out another game (backed up Mike Smith). Boston was able to play a strong defensive series that thrived on making Tampa Bay pay for their mistakes as seen in a few games. As I mentioned earlier, this series was closer than I thought it would be, so it's not like this pick was like taking the Canucks over the Oilers.
=Most Impressive Pick of the Round=
None. I was incorrect on one and cautiously correct on another. Had the Sharks beat the Canucks, there would be a place for this award.I was going to omit some of these until next season, but as we're closing in on the end of the NHL's season, figure I'd just copy, paste, and comment.
=Got Owned Series of the Round=
Vancouver Canucks vs San Jose Sharks : For a team that was second only to Vancouver, the Sharks were beat fairly easily. Their undisciplined play killed their chances of taking this series. It's not a surprise that the Sharks weren't able to win, but it is a surprise that they only collected one win. I would have figured at least two games.
=Shoulda, Coulda, Didn't Series of the Round=
Stupid award for the playoffs and I'll make sure it's removed during next year's run. As I said, every team has a case of why they should or could have won. The Lightning have the biggest case I'm sure as they were only beat by one goal in final deciding game of their series.
* Mass Playoff Prediction Update *
I'm still technically alive on my pick of the Vancouver Canucks to win the Stanley Cup. I was completely off picking the Philadelphia Flyers to emerge in the Eastern Conference. No victory to celebrate if the Canucks win as my round-by-round analysis had them losing to the Sharks. As I had said, the mass prediction was for entertainment value only.
* NHL Stanley Cup Finals Pick & Thoughts *
When looking at the two teams who will be competing for the chance to have their names engraved on one of the greatest trophies in all of sports, you'll find one that was an obvious choice and another that wasn't as popular. The Vancouver Canucks were tabbed as favorites to win all season long. They have solid netminding, a pretty good defense corps, and some amazing offensive talent. You'll find a lot of solid building blocks down their roster. The fact that they're where they are is no surprise.
On the other hand, you have the Boston Bruins. Many had teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins (who might have been Cup contenders had they not lost Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for the season), the Washington Capitals, and the Philadelphia Flyers as the favorites to win the East. You can't blame such predictions as those teams are usually always in the discussion of the best in the Eastern Conference. The Boston Bruins are certainly not out of left field. They have a goaltender who is a candidate to win the Vezina trophy (awarded to the league's best goaltender) and solid defense core that includes Zdeno Chara and Tomas Kaberle. The offense is decent with players like David Krejci, Nathan Horton, Patrice Bergeron, and Milan Lucic. It does hurt that they're missing one of the better offensive players of their team in Marc Savard. They do have a solid blend of players, though I would not see them as an exotic team. Even if Boston wasn't a favorite, I would say their team chemistry is a reason that they're where they are. They were able to beat their past by beating the Philadelphia Flyers in a sweep and by sending the Montreal Canadiens, a divisional foe, packing. This year's version of the Bruins has shown the ability to rise up above the circumstances. Out of the three rounds they've played, they've went to seven games against the Canadiens and Lightning to get where they're at.
As far as goaltending goes, both teams have a goalie who is capable of winning a game on their own. Tim Thomas can handle a shooting gallery when he's under siege. That helps the Bruins immensely when the Bruins aren't scoring at will. In Vancouver, the Canucks have one of the best goalies in the NHL in Roberto Luongo. He also can hold the fort down when the Canucks aren't at their best. Trying to determine who is better set for this series is difficult. I won't be a douche about this by saying the decision is split. I'm going to go give the slight nod to Vancouver as Luongo has a more proven track record and is younger. That said, I wouldn't be surprised to see Tim Thomas outplay Luongo. We could see another case of the losing team winning the Conn Smythe as Ron Hextall of the Flyers and J.S. Giguere of the Anaheim Ducks had previously done.
Defensively, the Boston Bruins are pretty set. They have one of the best defenseman in the game in Zdeno Chara. His shot on the power play and physical ability in front of the net are second to none. Tomas Kaberle, acquired via trade during the regular season, hasn't been amazing so far in Boston, but shouldn't be discounted. Shane Hnidy, Dennis Seidenberg, and Andrew Ference aren't stars, but provide Boston with a recognizable corps. The Canucks also have a pretty good defense in place. Christian Ehrhoff (banged up), Kevin Bieksa, Keith Ballard, Sami Salo, and Dan Hamhuis make a very good and deep corps. I believe the Canucks are deeper than the Bruins, but I have to give the nod to Boston as they have the better defenseman of them all in Chara.
I mentioned the Boston Bruins offense earlier. It's not bad, I'm just not as impressed with what they have. Horton, Krejci, Bergeron, Lucic, and Seguin seem to provide much of the luster for the Bruins. Chris Kelly, Rich Peverley, Mark Recchi, Michael Ryder and Todd Marchand give the Bruins some recognizable depth as well. In Vancouver, the Canucks have the Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Ryan Kesler, Chris Higgins, Alex Burrows, Mikael Samuelsson, Raffi Torres, and Maxim Lapierre. Where Vancouver runs away from Boston is in higher end talent. Kesler and the Sedin twins are far better than anyone Boston has to offer on offense. The Canucks get the nod here.
With all that said, I'm going with the Vancouver Canucks (as I originally had done in the mass prediction) to win the Stanley Cup in 6 games. I feel like this one will highly competitive and entertaining. Boston should put up a great fight, but perhaps we've finally hit a year where the experts had it right all along.
I'll be back with a blog to close this season out when the Finals are over. I'll still keep on with the blog as needed, especially when we the free agent season. Until next time, enjoy!
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