Remember the NHL Playoffs? Oh right, we still have a Cup to give out....
To crown a champion, sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name...so welcome to Boston….This series has great potential, and it feels like everyone out there is acting like Boston is the clear-cut favorite. I am not one to generally feel there is an East-Coast biased in the NHL, but in this case I feel that is very much tave the case.
The Bruins are a great team, and as good as they are they are even better when it comes their experience and confidence. They have a swagger. They can other teams look really amateur at times...It can frustrate other teams and fanbases...Boston, as a city, is fantastic, but they have won too many sports titles recently….It really can rub people the wrong way…
But people are forgetting just how good the West is. The Blues have had to fight off a much tougher level of competition...If you were to rank the 6 teams the Bruins/Blues have had to beat to get here, #2, #3, and #4 would be the teams the Blues knocked off. Both of these teams probably faced their toughest teams in the opening round of the playoff..The next two rounds the Bruins played two teams who wouldn’t have even made the playoff if they played out West....Winnipeg, Dallas and San Jose are all legit playoff teams.
The Blues are the best team the Bruins have played so far in the playoffs..They are also the toughest matchup for the Bruins. These are two old school hockey teams. Skill and Toughness. Two teams who love to battle and have been in the NHL a long time. Two hard-nosed hockey cities. These are two teams whose whole is greater than the sum of their parts..This series has the potential of being one of the better wars we have seen in the Final for a long time…
As for the intangibles…
Goalies and Special Teams…
Both teams have great goalies...Rask is unbeatable if he continues where he left off...but historically he has been streaky...If the break hasn't messed with Rask, the Bruins could actually roll the Blues..
The special teams favor the Bruins so far...but then again they have played easier teams than St Louis…
To me, this will come down the hunger and while both teams are hungry of course, these Blues have NEVER been in this position before...Many are saying the Bruins experience is their biggest advantage...but it can cut both ways...The Blues may really want this more…
My Pick… I feel this is a 7 game series...but I think the Blues will take it...
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