The NHL conference finals have been spectacular; the opposite of the NBA. Here’s a look.
For the first time in 15 years, both NHL conference finals will be determined in a 7th and deciding game.
For just the second time in the last 29 years, both NBA conference finals ended in five games or less.
The Stanley Cup playoffs have featured unpredictability from one game to next.
The NBA has had little drama to date with its best series in the opening round between San Antonio and the LA Clippers.
It’s just a guess who will win game seven between Tampa and the Rangers in the East, and Anaheim and Chicago in the West.
It was a foregone conclusion that Golden State and Cleveland would advance to the NBA championship series; it was just a matter of how many games.
The NBA has a lengthy layoff until the Warriors face the Cavaliers with game one Thursday and Golden State favored by six in the opener.
The long break helps build the hype. The rest for the many wounded star players is welcome.
The Warriors have the best team (46-3 at home including 7-1 in the playoffs) and the MVP (Stephen Curry).
The resurgent Cavaliers counter with the best player (Lebron James) and a seven game win streak.
Lebron is the first NBA player in roughly 50 years to play in five straight championship series. He is playing at peak efficiency, but the Cavs are not as deep as the Warriors.
While basketball is on hold, the NHL holds is breath for the two games that decide the Stanley Cup Finalists.
Tampa Bay at NY Rangers
This will be Tampa’s league high 20th playoff game and third time facing elimination. Ben Bishop often comes back with a superb effort following an awful game, but can he match Henrik Lundqvist on the biggest stage?
Lundqvist is 15-3 in 18 games when facing elimination with a 1.47 GAA and .956 save percentage. In addition, Lundqvist is 6-1 with a 0.97 GAA and .962 save percentage in Game 7s in his career. He’s won six straight Game 7s, an NHL record.
The Tampa “Triplets” line of Johnson, Kucherov, and Palat has excelled and is responsible for 27 of the team’s 52 playoff goals.
Moreover, Steven Stamkos has seven goals and 14 points in his last 11 games, but the Rangers have found their offensive touch outscoring the Lightning 21-19 in the series.
Chicago at Anaheim
No disrespect to the Lightning and Rangers, but watching the Ducks and Blackhawks has the feel of a Stanley Cup Final. They have played six games, half decided in overtime.
The series has been superb with excellent offensive creativity, hard nose defensive play and top notch goaltending during some stretches and awful goaltending during other sequences.
Motivation is at its highest. Both teams lost to LA at home in the playoffs in game seven last year; Anaheim in round two and Chicago in the Western Final.
The only certainty, if there is one, is that the Ducks will outhit the Hawks and Anaheim will have more blocked shots.
In each of the six games, Anaheim led Chicago in both of these categories. Overall, the Ducks have outhit the Blackhawks 304-219 for a per game average of 51-37. Anaheim has had 162 blocked shots compared to Chicago’s 97 for an average of 27-16.
11 months ago (June 27, 2014) Ryan Kesler told the media after he was acquired by the Ducks from the Canucks:
“I’m going to Anaheim to win a championship.”
Kesler is five wins away from achieving that goal. He was the best player in game five against Chicago and practically non-existent in game six, but overall has been a two-way beast of a power forward in the playoffs.
The 30-year-old Kesler knows first hand the emotion of playing the Hawks in game seven. Many Canucks fans won’t be cheering for the moody Kesler, but his contribution to Anaheim’s success has solidified that the Ducks got a steal of a deal.
Statistics back up the competitiveness in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs.
Home teams are 6-6 in the third round, 48-33 overall and 3-0 in game 7.
6 of 12 games in round three have been decided by one goal (43 of 81 overall)
4 of 12 games in the third round have been decided in overtime (19 of 81 overall)
2 of 12 third round games featured come from behind wins (29 of 81 overall)
There’s been a total of 78 goals scored in the Conference Finals (21 NYR and 19 for the three other teams) or an average of 6 ½ per game.
With this kind of offence, and the star players shining, the NHL is enjoying one of its best ever playoffs.
From the Quote Rack:
The baseball record books are wrong—Before Corey Kluber, the last to record 18 strikeouts did it on match.com.
Husband and wife Tony and Janet Blundy recently made back-to-back holes in one, a feat estimated at odds of 50,000,000-to-one. So, you see—there’s still hope for Tim Tebow.
Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California
Seahawks’ DE Michael Bennett says that playing for coach Pete Carroll “is like playing for Willy Wonka.” Well, except for at the end of the movie, Willy Wonka handed off the factory.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter on the arrests “Let me be clear: such misconduct has no place in football and we will ensure that those who engage in it are put out of the game.” So is Blatter resigning?
Contributor Janice Hough of Palo Alto, California www.leftcoastsportsbabe.com
Good news and bad for BC Lions owner David Brayley. The good news is a Toronto consortium bought his Argonauts. The bad news is he had to take Justin Bieber.
Ex-WWE star The Rock had himself ordained in order to perform the wedding ceremony for a loyal fan. He’s not the first wrestler to pin a guy down.
Comedy writer RJ Currie www.Sportsdeke.com
Yogi Berra turned 90 this month. Yogi may be suffering from a rare form of “Reverse Dementia”. His family says that he has started to make sense this week.
Taco Bell says that they will no longer use products that contain artificial ingredients. In that case, they may be changing their name to “Taco Shell”.
Comedy writer TC Chong of Vancouver (http://alwaysfunny.com/)
And in case you missed it:
A new report just came out and it reveals that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spent over $82,000 on food at NFL games. Christie defended himself, saying, “Hey, both of those games went into overtime.”
Conan O’Brien of TNT
Hartley Miller is the sports director and morning news anchor for 94.3 the Goat. His column appears Fridays on myprincegeorgenow.com. Send along a quote, note, or anecdote to [email protected]
Follow him on twitter: @Hartley_Miller