VS
Regardless of your expectations at the beginning of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, few could have seen this match up coming. Seriously, how many people went to Vegas and said give me a $1,000 on a NJ – LA Finals. If you did, I’m sure you got some serious coin back.
Anyway on to the match up.
The Kings are still looking for their first Stanley Cup in their 44th NHL season. The only NHL franchise with a longer championship drought is the Maple Leafs, who won their last Stanley Cup in 1967. The Kings entered the league in the fall of ’67. Other active droughts: Blues (44 years); Sabres (41); Canucks (41).
LA’s run has been impressive. An 8th seeded team who takes out the President Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks. Then they dispatch the 2nd seeded St. Louis Blues in a sweep. Next up, the 3rd seeded Phoenix Coyotes who ironically enough have become the new NJ Devils with their brutal style of play. I’d rather watch grass grow, paint dry, listen to an insurance seminar, etc. then watch the Coyotes. Thank god they lost.
LA has never won the Stanley Cup in their 44 year existence. Can you still call it a non traditional market if a team has been there 44 years? Either way it’s the ultimate bandwagon city. They love a winner. This years team has been a Cinderella….no make that a Hollywood story. They have gained so much momentum in the public that they are now the odds on favorite. No road losses in the playoffs and going 12-2 will do that. Everyone is on their side.
Even Las Vegas has jumped on the “we want the Kings to win” bandwagon. Las Vegas’ set line for the series has the Kings a -150 favorite, making the Devils a +130 ‘dog. That’s right, a ninety-five point eight seed is now your odds-on Stanley Cup favorite.
Remember that NJ has home ice!
But let’s talk about those Devils. In my first, second and third round predictions I picked whichever team was playing the Devils. Shows what I know.
Let me tell you something, even though I would like the Kings to win just because 45 years is long enough and I would love to rub it in Vancouver fans faces that the Kings would have won a cup before them. My throat would be sore from taunting. Despite all that….I’m starting to think the Devils are going to do it.
Why are they winning me over when everyone is saying the Kings got this in the bag? Well their 4th line is playing outstanding. A Stanley Cup winning team needs contributions across the board. When the other team shuts down your big guns, then you need the other guys to step in. NJ’s 4th line has, in limited minutes, played very effective hockey. They are contributing across the board. I think that line is a + 16 through the first 3 rounds. That’s impressive.
Ilya Kovalchuk is playing team hockey. He is turning my opinion of him around. He’s really screwing up Don Cherry’s theory that Russians are no good lazy SOB’s who disappear when the going gets tough in the playoffs.
Zach Parise is an animal. He is also in a contract year. He is contributing to his team every way he can.
Speaking of the Minneapolis native, this is the first time in Stanley Cup playoffs history that two American born captains will square off in the Finals. Facing off against Parise is Ithica, NY native Dustin Brown. Can’t wait to see these two suit up for Team USA in the next olympics. But that’s a post for another day.
One more caveat I’d like to add is that teams that have gone 12-2 in the post season, like LA has, have not done well in the finals. I remember quite well a certain team doing just that. In 1992 the Chicago Blackhawks went 12-2 through the first three rounds. They were on fire and we knew they would bring Lord Stanley’s Cup back home to Chicago. Didn’t happen. Despite getting out to a 3-0 lead in game 1, Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux staged a comeback and won game 1. Then they won the next three for a sweep. I was at game 4. I saw Captain Dirk Graham score a hat trick as he tried like hell to win at least one game for Chicago all by himself. Didn’t happen. Instead I got to watch Super Mario lift the cup over his head and skate around the old Chicago Stadium. Damn.
I think I read that it’s happened 2 other times where a team went 12-2 and lost in the finals in addition to it happening to the Hawks.
So yeah, i’m going to buck the trend and say the New Jersey Devils will win this series. I’ll go 6 games.
What do you think?
TTS
taping the stick 