(from AP) - Hockey fans who endured another lockout are in for a treat that'll cap a sprint of a season.
The Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins are set to compete for the
Stanley Cup for the first time in the NHL's first final featuring
Original Six teams since 1979.
There have been seven champions in the salary-cap era, and the team
that hoists the Cup this month will become the league's only two-time
winner of the new era.
Here's a look at five things to watch when the puck drops Wednesday
night in the Windy City for Game 1 of what will likely be a long,
high-paced, hard-hitting series with a blend of jaw-dropping talent and
wince-inducing grit.
SPEED VS. STRENGTH: Chicago has some of the fastest forwards and
defensemen on the planet. Boston, though, is the toughest team in
hockey. Something's got to give. Blackhawks superstar Patrick Kane had a
hat trick in his last game, the third goal 11:40 into double overtime
eliminated the defending champion Los Angeles Kings in Game 5 of the
Western Conference finals. But if the cat-quick Kane runs into Bruins
defenseman Zdeno Chara, he's in trouble. The 6-foot-9, 255-pound Chara
is nearly a foot taller and more than 75 pounds heavier than Kane. Chara
is also pretty agile as he showed, laying on his stomach and swatting
away a shot with his left glove to seal a sweep of Pittsburgh in the
Eastern Conference finals.
BETWEEN THE PIPES: No one wins a Stanley Cup without a great
goaltender - or at least one who is playing great during the playoffs -
and both teams have goalies playing their best hockey at a perfect time
for teams that weren't counting on them the last time they won a
championship. Chicago's Corey Crawford and Boston's Tuukka Rask are 1-2
and 2-1 in two key categories this postseason. Crawford has an NHL-low
1.74 goals-against average, just ahead of Rask's 1.75 GAA. The Bruins
are still playing in large part because Rask leads the league with a
.943 save percentage and likewise, Crawford has kept the Blackhawks in
it to win it by turning away .935 percent of the shots that make it to
him.
SHINING STARS: David Krejci has been simply sensational, leading the
league with nine goals and 21 points this postseason. When the Bruins
won the Cup in 2011 for the first time since 1972, he led them with 23
points. Krejci is a versatile scorer, who can slap a shot into the net,
flick a wrist shot in the blink of an eye or hack at a loose puck in
front of the net. Jonathan Toews was tough to stop when Chicago ended
its 49-year championship drought in 2010, scoring seven goals and
leading the team with 29 points. He has to pick up the pace for the
Blackhawks to win it all again. Chicago's captain has only one goal this
postseason - ranking 12th on the team - and has tried to make up it
with eight assists and leadership.
COACHING COUNTS: Joel Quenneville and Claude Julien won't play a
shift, but they decide who plays when, and their choices will make for a
game within the game each night. Quenneville will get to make the last
change when the NHL's top-seeded Blackhawks are at home for Games 1 and 2
and if necessary, Games 5 and 7. Quenneville can keep Kane and Toews
away from Chara and Dennis Seidenberg when they're on the ice for at
least the start of shifts. The adjustments both Cup-winning coaches make
on special teams will be pivotal. Both teams have scored a relatively
modest seven goals on the power play. Chicago has been the best when
short-handed, killing 95 percent of its penalties.
X-FACTORS: Chicago's Bryan Bickell and Boston's Nathan Horton have
set themselves up to cash in as free agents this summer. Bickell has
scored eight times this postseason - tying Patrick Sharp for the team
lead - and has produced 13 points after having just nine goals and 23
points in the 48-game regular season. Horton has seven goals and 17
points - five points shy of his total from the shortened season - to
trail only Krejci in postseason scoring in the entire league. The
under-the-radar player - Bickell or Horton - who can keep it up might
help his team hoist the Cup.
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