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After overpowering the underachieving Anaheim Ducks in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, the Chicago Blackhawks go back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the third time in six years. They do so with a chance to write a piece of history.
In the past ten years, only two teams have won multiple Cups: Western Conference rivals Los Angeles Kings and the Blackhawks. They are the only team to have won three Conference titles in that time.
If they win the Cup this year, they’ll put themselves in the upper echelon of great teams in the game’s history, and definitely the best team since the turn of the century. They’d be on par with the Red Wings of the late 1990s and early 2000s, and we all know how annoyingly good they were.
It’s easy to see why they’ve been so good for so long. They managed to score Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane in the NHL Entry Drafts of 2006 and 2007. Toews was just 22 when he captained the Blackhawks to a Stanley Cup in 2010, and is such an aggressive, focused power forward, who wills himself to every scrum and loose puck. Kane is exquisitely talented to the extent that his only rival is Sidney Crosby for stick control and skating ability.
Combine them with one of the best grinding power forwards in Marian Hossa, support acts in Brandon Saad, Marcus Kruger and Andrew Shaw up forward, and great defence in Duncan Keith, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Brent Seabrook, and you have a potent, deep and highly skilful team that is capable of scoring heavily.
They also have a great coach in Joel Quenneville, a great front office that’s been able to attract quality support for their stars, and strong goaltending stocks.
Standing in their way are the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are back in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 2003-04, when they won their first Cup. Steven Stamkos is no longer a one-man band, and these Bolts, while young, are going to be a handful. JT Brown, Victor Hedman, Tyler Johnson, Alex Killorn, Nikita Kucherov, Nikita Nesterov, Jonathan Drouin and Andrej Sustr are all 25 or younger, and the majority of them have had a great playoffs.
Johnson, Kucherov, Stamkos and Killorn are all in the top 10 in scoring in the playoffs. Ben Bishop has the third best goals against average and has a solid save percentage. So statistically, the Lightning have the ability to go toe-to-toe with Chicago. They also play great team defence and take as much pride shutting out teams as scoring hat-tricks.
The Bolts definitely have the ability to win a Cup and will prove to be a worthy challenger to the Blackhawks.
However, they’re unproven in playoffs. They scraped by the ageing Detroit Red Wings in seven games, then beat the Montreal Canadiens in six games, a team who started the season so well but faded badly towards the end. They were however impressive in beating the Rangers in seven games.
Mind you, as good as the Rangers are, they are playing in the weaker Eastern Conference, and they’re no Chicago Blackhawks, who’ve had to beat three highly talented teams in the Predators, Wild and Ducks.
The Hawks have such experience on this stage and have history on the line. They make the most of their opportunities, take games and series by the scruff of the neck, and will themselves across the line when needed.
They don’t need to finish first in the conference to finish with the Cup (although they di so back in 2013). They’re too strong, too deep and too experienced for the Lightning.
Blackhawks in six games, and to establish a new legacy in the modern era.
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