Date Posted: May 13, 2011
Print Edition: May 13, 201
By Paul Esau (The Cascade) – Email
One of the rules of playoff hockey is never, ever start planning too far ahead. No game is a sure win, no team is undefeatable, and no series is over until it’s over. If the Canucks’ near-collapse against Chicago in the first round showed anything, it’s that the ‘Nucks are as fickle in fortune (and goal-tending) as Calypso herself. When it comes to Vancouver, it’s risky to count on them winning the next game, let alone the immediate series, yet winning is exactly what they are doing. So I’m going to break one of the rules of playoff hockey and dabble in a little speculation. The question is purely hypothetical: which team is the best match up for the Canucks in the Stanley Cup Finals?
Tampa Bay Lightning
For the last couple of years, Tampa has been the NHL’s version of Carmelo Anthony: all flash and no defence. The top trio of Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, and Steven Stamkos has been lethal all year, and are responsible for 15 of an astounding 38 Lightning goals so far this postseason. The Lightning actually have the best playoff goal differential of any remaining playoff team with 1.27 goals scored for every goal scored against. This is partially a result of explosive scoring, and partially the achievement of goalie Dwayne Roloson, who is famous for his run to the Finals with the Oilers in ’06. At 41, Roloson is one of the oldest starting goaltenders in the League, yet his .941 save percentage speaks for itself, and is hard evidence toward Tampa’s improved defence.
In some eyes, the Lighting and the Canucks are kindred spirits, two skill teams who rely on league-leading offensive machines to win games. Both have solid secondary scoring (Tampa’s Sean Bergenheim has a team-leading seven playoff tallies from the third line) and both play a more elegant, less brutal style of hockey than some of their counterparts. Both teams are backstopped by goalies in need of vindication, and both have the potential to provide a spectacular final series.
Boston Bruins
The Bruins are, well, the Bruins. Like the animal after which they are named, the Bruins are big, generally bad-tempered, and reliably violent. Their dismemberment of Montreal in the first round wasn’t effortless, but it demonstrated a point which could be ominous for Vancouver. Boston doesn’t try to outplay small, skilled teams like the Canucks – instead the Bruins beat them into bloody pulp. Led by the hulking Milan Lucic, who leads the league in playoff penalty minutes with 31, the Bruins even managed to bring the hurt to the Flyers, an impressive feat against any team containing the likes of Chris Pronger.
Even more worrisome, Bruins goalie Tim Thomas’s .937 is second only to (guess who) Roloson among the remaining goaltenders in the playoffs. For a Vancouver team that struggled to exorcise the ninja-like Pekka Rinne from its collective soul, Thomas would be the equivalent of a recurring nightmare. Meanwhile, Luongo has been known to struggle against teams that crash the net. The Bruins’ feistiness might resurrect the phantom of Byfuglien from Chicago’s glory days. The outcome of a series between Vancouver and Boston would clearly depend upon the willingness of the boys in stripes to blow whistles, a general wish that hasn’t been granted so far this postseason.
Make your call in the comments section below.
