2017 Stanley Cup Final Prediction

Three rounds and 14 series have all come down to this. Only two teams remain in the battle for the greatest trophy in all of sports. Even though my emotional investment vanished a month ago, I've still be curious to see how the postseason would unfold, and here we are. The Stanley Cup Final. One final time this year, let's take a look at the matchup.

2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs Conference Finals Predictions

Wednesday night saw a pair of Game Sevens to determine the final matchups in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and both were thrillers from what I saw. The defending champs are still alive and making a late push, while some of the lower seeds have, on the whole, had a pretty successful postseason. So with one more round to go before we hit the Cup Final, let's take a look at our upcoming matchups.

2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs Preview

Today begins one of the best parts of the year in sports, and one that will end in either unbridled joy or sheer disappointment. Hopefully the former.

Saturday saw the 82nd game for every NHL team to finish off the seeding process for the tournament. As I'm not super familiar with every NHL team, I'm not going to do a full series-by-series prediction, other than maybe a cursory mention at the end (we'll see). Instead, I'll stick to the matchup I know about: Hawks-Predators.

Chicago Blackhawks (48-28-6) vs Nashville Predators (47-25-10)
Blackhawks won 3 out of 4 regular season meetings (1 in OT, 1 in SO)

Man, the Central Division was loaded this season. The Hawks had some bad luck games this season where they gave up goals late in regulation to lose a Bettman point, yet still had a great run. They take on a Nashville team that looked to be running away with the Central up until March when they went ice cold.

This is still a matchup that concerns me. Nashville has a strong defense led by Shea Weber, and Pekka Rinne is an elite goaltender who helped the Predators finish ninth in the league in goals against. They tried to add offense, and did a decent job by finishing 14th in goals for thanks to additions like James Neal and Filip Forsberg. There's some depth and balance here, and they'll be a tough out.

Meanwhile over on the Chicago side, Corey Crawford helped lead the Blackhawks to their second Jennings Trophy (shared with Montreal) in three years, and had some games where he stood on his head. There's some intrigue on defense with the rotating pieces like Michael Roszival, Kimmo Timonen and David Rundblad, but the top four haven't been bad and will be counted on to contain those strong pieces. Then there's the forwards... you have several elite two-way players like Toews, Hossa, and Saad, the potential for Bryan Bickell to start to catch fire because it's the playoffs, some depth down to the fourth line... oh, and this guy is back.

88 came up 3 times in my first period math lesson today. It's a good sign! @88PKane #Blackhawks
— Kristen Mitzel (@kkmitzel) April 15, 2015

Nashville won't make it easy, obviously. They've been doing a lot to try and "keep the red out" of their arena, which we all know won't work. They'll still pose a challenge, but I think the return of Kane will galvanize a struggling Hawks team. Blackhawks in six.

Other Western Conference Series

Minnesota Wild (46-28-8) vs St. Louis Blues (51-24-7)
I'm kind of glad the Hawks didn't win the Central, because then they'd have to deal with a red hot Wild team. Most of that coincides with the arrival of goalie Devan Dubnyk, who has been phenomenal for Minnesota since he was traded from Arizona earlier in the season. St. Louis has plenty of weapons still, but questions in goal. I think this ends in a similar fashion to last year. Wild in six.

Winnipeg Jets (43-26-13) vs Anaheim Ducks (51-24-7)
Winnipeg has the current hot goalie in Ondrej Pavelec, but it's hard to say what else they have going for them. Dustin Byfuglien hasn't seen much playoff hockey since his days torturing the Vancouver Canucks in the Indianhead sweater. I don't know that the Jets will have the firepower to keep up with Anaheim. The Ducks have had an arguably unsustainable run in close games (33-1-7 in one goal contests) but with the playoffs tightening things up, is it sustainable? Hard to say. The atmosphere for games in Winnipeg will be crazy, but I think the Ducks take it home. Ducks in six.

Calgary Flames (45-30-7) vs Vancouver Canucks (48-25-9)
Calgary is out probably their best player in defenseman Mark Giordano, which hurts. This team reminds me a lot of last year's Avalanche in a way; the advanced numbers don't argue well for Calgary. If they can get some gritty goals against whoever's in goal for Vancouver, they could steal the series. In a crazy twist... I think it happens. Call it continued hatred of the Canucks or what have you. It takes seven games, but they pull the upset. Flames in seven.

Eastern Conference Series

Due to time constraints, I'm keeping the East to just series predictions.

Pittsburgh Penguins (43-27-12) vs New York Rangers (53-22-7)
Rangers in four.

New York Islanders (47-28-7) vs Washington Capitals (45-26-11)
Capitals in six.

Ottawa Senators (43-26-13) vs Montreal Canadiens (50-22-10)
Canadiens in five.

Detroit Red Wings (43-25-14) vs Tampa Bay Lightning (50-24-8) 
Lightning in six.

Game Notes: Nashville Predators at Chicago Blackhawks (4/19/13)

Final Score
Blackhawks 5, Predators 4 (OT)

Game Summary
In my first ever NHL game in person, the Blackhawks (34-5-4, 72 pts) got off to a good start and scored in the opening 5 minutes (on a power play no less!) after some good early chances. But Nashville (15-21-9, 39 pts) came back quickly and scored twice to take the lead about halfway through the first period. The Hawks were able to tie it up before the intermission though and head to the locker room at 2-2. Chicago took leads in both the second and third periods but gave up tying goals to the Preds both times. The turning point of the game came with less than a minute to go when, while still tied, Rich Clune drew blood from Marcus Kruger with a high stick, earning a double minor that carried over into the extra session. Using their stars, it only took a minute for Marian Hossa to put an end to a dramatic game.

3 Stars

Celebrating the win from the 300 level of the Madhouse.

3. Jonathan Toews (CHI): 2 A, 2 SOG, +1. The captain had a couple nice plays to help out on the pair of first period goals, and played well defensively. He was out on the ice for all 52 seconds of overtime as well. Overall a good game for him (clearly the Toews shirt I was wearing underneath my borrowed Seabrook jersey worked well.)
2. Matt Halischuk (NAS): 2 G, A, 4 SOG, +3. That's a pretty good line. Halischuk scored Nashville's first goal and I think was originally given credit for the second (though that was changed during the first intermission) but scored again in the second on a breakaway (read: defensive breakdown) and assisted on Nashville's goal in the third. This is only his second full year in the big time, but he's a talented kid. We'll be hearing from him a fair amount.
1. Duncan Keith (CHI): G, 2 A, 4 SOG, Even. Keith scored the Hawks' first goal on the power play on a nice pass from Stalberg and played pretty good defense throughout. He was also out on the ice for all of overtime and got an assist for Hossa's winner.

The Blackhawks Experience
I've been to the United Center a few times, but mostly for Bulls games (a couple of which were bonuses for getting to see Aurora Christian play Wheaton Academy there) and most recently for an MDA Muscle Walk where I got to peek in briefly on a morning skate. Being there for a Hawks game for the first time was quite the experience. Hearing the airhorn and Chelsea Dagger in person was a lot of fun, and of course, the anthem, while not quite as loud as I was expecting, was still something to behold in person.

I was at this game with my fiancee Kristen (a fellow NHL virgin coming into tonight) and her cousin, who has been to hundreds of Hawks games in her lifetime and is a die-hard who supported the team even in the lean years. Kristen is not really a sports fan by any means (so the fact that she's willing to spend the rest of her life with me is a blessing I am incredibly thankful for), but she got into the game quite a bit. Hockey is often spoken of as the best live sporting event of the four major American sports, and I think tonight proved it. Kristen knew little about hockey rules and such coming in but caught on quickly, and even said she'd go again. And so would I, in a heartbeat. We really enjoyed it.

Final Thoughts
Early this week I had been talking to Kristen's cousin about the possibility of this game being for home ice thoughout the Western playoffs, but Monday's win over Dallas and Anaheim's overtime loss to Columbus on Wednesday sealed that spot early. Either way it was good to get 2 points instead of just 1, especially on a night when Corey Crawford (23 saves) wasn't quite at his best (made some good saves, but also allowed some goals he shouldn't have). With a 6 point lead over Pittsburgh with 5 apiece left, the Hawks find themselves in the driver's seat for the President's Trophy, which would be only their second in franchise history if I counted the banners right. Obviously this scares me a bit given the bad luck Trophy winners have had in recent postseasons, but I think this Hawk team, especially when fully healthy, should be able to beat anyone in a best-of-7 series.