It's only been a few days since the end of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs and I already miss them. The last two months have been the best in hockey for as long as I remember. Through 15 series in the playoffs, 7 went to game 7. 22 total games went to OT. 2 series saw a team go up 3-0 only to see the other team come back to force a game 7. So much drama and such high level of play throughout made these playoffs arguably the best of all time.
In the first round, 4 of the 8 series went 7 games. One of those had Vancouver going up 3-0 on the Blackhawks only to have them win 3 straight to force game 7. That game 7 takes overtime for the Canucks to win. The Sharks vs. Kings series had 3 of 6 games going to overtime. It also had the Sharks overcoming a 4-0 defecit in Game 3 to come back and win. 14 of 49 games went to at least one overtime period. 3 of those went to double overtime. Now that's a ton of drama in the first series. You would expect for that to be the climax, but lucky for us it wasn't.
Round 2 was rather calm compared to the first except for the Sharks vs Red Wings series. This was the only series to go 7 games in the round. Of the 7 games only one was won by more than one goal. Game 6 was 3-1 Detroit, though the 3rd goal was an empty netter. The Sharks won the first 3 games and looked to be in control of the series. Detroit fought back winning the next 3 to force game 7 in San Jose. San Jose was able to hold on to win it and move on. Of the 7 games, 2 went to OT. This was by far the hardest fought series and most dramatic of all time.
The conference finals gave us once again another game 7 in the Eastern Conference. Boston took 7 to overcome the Lightning. Tim Thomas had 2 shutouts in this series including Game 7. In the West, Vancouver was able to get over on San Jose in 5 games. In Game 5 Vancouver tied it up with 13.2 seconds left in regulation. The goal should have been negated by a missed icing call. The Canucks were able to hold on and win on a fluke goal in double OT. The puck took the weirdest bounce off the glass and caught everyone off guard. San Jose was sent home disappointed once again.
Now to the Stanley Cup finals. An epic first 2 games both won by a 1 goal margin by the Canucks in Vancouver. Game 3 had Aaron Rome of Vancouver taking a cheap shot at Nathan Horton of the Bruins. Horton was knocked out with a major concussion and never made it back on the ice. Rome was given a game misconduct then suspended by the league for 4 games. The Bruins used that incident to fuel them through the rest of the series. Games 3 and 4 turned out to be blow outs by Boston. Back to Vancouver for another 1 goal win in overtime. Game 6 saw another blowout by the Bruins in Boston. Through 6 games, no visiting team had won a game. The Bruins had the momentum going into the game, but Vancouver had home ice. The Bruins got up on Vancouver near the end of the first period. Thomas then continued his dominance shutting the door on Vancouver for the next 2 periods. In the end Boston hoisted Lord Stanley's Cup. Tim Thomas won the MVP. Vancouver fans rioted. 100 arrests and 150 injured. A classless way to end a series that showed a lot of classless play by the Canucks.
To Thomas' credit, he was in the net for 25 games this playoff season, with 3 being game 7. He posted 4 shutouts with 2 of those coming in Game 7's. He was the rock of the Bruins the entire playoffs and was well deserved of the MVP award.
No comments:
Post a Comment