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Game 6 2015 Stanley Cup Finals Tampa Bay Lightning at Chicago Blackhawks 8PM Eastern/7 Central NBC/CBC/TVA
THE BUZZ
There have been a lot of big hockey games in Chicago over the last 6 years, but noine as big as this one.
The Blackhawks, after engineering a minor upset on the road in Game 5 of these Finals, now have a 3-2 series lead and the chance to win the Stanley Cup in Chicago for the first time since 1938.
Many have already started the parade. And this is a mistake. Tampa Bay was the better team for much of the first four games. Even now battling injuries, they are still a formidable foe with a dangerous quick-strike capability.
But the Hawks were the better team in Game 5, after what appeared to be a couple of minor adjustments to their breakouts, enabling a few odd man breaks (finally) and the way they defended center ice, slowing Tampa's transition.
Expect more of that.
Joel Quenneville also appears to have his lines perfectly dialed in—all four were useful if not dangerous in Game 5. I would expect more of the same:
Sharp-Toews-Hossa Saad-Richards-Kane Versteeg-Vermette-Teravainen Desjardins-Kruger-Shaw
And Quenneville has an advantage he can exploit tonight that wasn't there in game 5, when Lightning coach Jon Cooper had the great (no sarcasm intended) Viktor Hedman stapled to Patrick Kane. With the last change, Q will separate Kane from Hedman and Anton Stralman, allowing Cooper to match that pair against Toews—a better matchup for the Hawks.
The other thing going for the Hawks is an intensly focused and stingy Corey Crawford, which they will need to prevail tonight, and raise the Cup on home ice.
Tampa Bay, whether it's Ryan Callahan, or Alex Killorn or Val Fillpula or Ondrej Palat or Steve Stamkos, will get chances.
What are the chances this will be the sixth consecutive one-goal game in these Finals? High.
The worst thing the Hawks can do is be over-confident, which is not likely. The second worse thing they can do is play out of control. Play hard, play smart, play confidently. Victory is at hand.
And it would be the victory that garners a 3rd Stanley Cup in 6 years, proving the first and only real Dynasty of the salary cap era in the NHL.
On the Tampa side, Jon Cooper says Ben Bishop is ok to play . . . that's good, since he also played in game 5.
The bigger question, that I think we probably know the answer to already, is the status of winger Nikita Kucherov. Cooper, no surprise, is playing his cards close to the vest, though the Lightning have pronounced Kucherov "considerably better" and a possibiliity for Game 6.
Still, one would think after not returning during a crucial Game 5 in which the Lighting trailed much of the night, Kucherov would be somewhat limited at best, maybe in a harness, if he were to play in game 6.
Maybe not. And all the more reason for no one in Chicago to count on a victory tonight. The Hawks have a number of things in their favor tonight, but the win is far from assured, and they need to play like that.
I'll have a recap in the AM.
GO HAWKS!!
JJ