The Stanley Cup Finals certainly lived up to their own already impressive reputation. Not since 2007-2008 has a President's Trophy winner competed in the Stanley Cup Finals. It also saw two Vezina finalists; Tim Thomas, the eventual Conn Smythe winner; and Roberto Luongo, the scapegoat of the millenium, go head-to-head. Also center stage were the Sedin twins, perhaps the first brothers to win Hart Trophies, and possibly doing it consecutively. With the previous rounds providing seemingly endless amounts of water cooler moments, the finals proved to be no different.
This series saw two teams with radically different approaches to the game. The Canucks are a much more effective puck moving team, and early results showed that as crisp passing would pull Thomas out of position on more than one occasion, giving Vancouver easy goals. Unfortunately for the Canucks, they ran into a much more physical team in the Boston Bruins. Boston presented something the Canucks didn't really face in the playoffs until the Cup finals. Boston used their bodies effectively and won the war of attrition against the Canucks and as series wore on it paid dividends, ultimately leading them to their first Cup win since 1972. Injuries to key defensemen as well as undisclosed injuries to members of their foward core rendered Vancouver's offense all but useless.
The unofficial battle for the Vezina was a sight to behold in games 1 and 2. It took until the final 19 seconds of game 1 to see a winner and OT in game 2 to see Vancouver come away with a 2-0 series lead. Unfortunately, Boston's TD Garden was anything but kind to Luongo. Losing 8-0 and 4-0 in games 3 and 4 to bring Boston even. Whether or not the hit to the head of Nathan Horton was the official catalyst or not for Boston's surge remains to be seen, but it certainly looked like it turned something on for the Bruins and they ran with it. Games 5 and 6 once again saw the home teams winning, with Luongo picking up his 2nd shutout of the series in game 5, forcing the decisive game 7 on Wednesday night.
It seems that Nathan Horton's delivery of water from the TD Garden ice surface proved to be the good luck charm the Bruins needed as they scored in the first period and never looked back. Despite Luongo giving up four goals, you cannot place all the blame on his shoulders. At the end of the day your best players need to be your best players, and for Vancouver they were anything but the best. In a series that should've shown the best of the best that hockey can offer, it showed us that diving and whining about officiating was more important than bearing down and trying to outwork the competition for the Canucks. From where I was watching, there seemed to be a sense of entitlement surrounding the Vancouver team that I simply cannot explain. The better team on paper, got outworked by a group of guys who simply wanted it more. Desire will always win when talent doesn't want to perform.
Regardless of the awful display by certain people set on willful destruction and mayhem following the end of game 7, the Stanley Cup playoffs were excellent all around. Boston's greatest moment will be the lifting of the cup, but they cannot forgot the remarkable comeback season of Tim Thomas, setting the modern day record in save percentage and basically having the best season anyone can remember for a goalie in quite some time. Let us not forget the Nashville Predators advancing to the second round in their history, mark with exclamation points on Pekka Rinne's regular season and playoffs, as well as Joel Ward being a beast in the playoffs. Although I'm fairly certain most people in Nashville will want to forget Bobby Ryan's incredible goal in their first round series. We can also look at Tampa Bay's climb back towards the top of their division and Conference Finals appearance (their first playoff appearance since 06-07) with their impressive erasing of the 3-1 Pittsburgh series lead to eliminate them, then moving on to sweep the Washington Capitals. Despite what the front office, players and fans would regard as a disapointment, the Flyers James vanReimsdyk burst on the scene with one of the most single handedly dominating performances in recent memory in game 2 against Boston in the 2nd round.
Even the 2010-2011 regular season had some great moments. The second half pushes from the Calgary Flames and New Jersey Devils were truly remarkable. Both teams played some of the best hockey of the year when it mattered most. While early season stumbles proved too much to overcome, it was certainly entertaining to watch them make everyone take notice. I would be remiss to not mention the Maple Leafs who also put together a late season surge, led in no small part by the play of James Reimer, aka Optimus Reime. The Leafs already did the smart thing and locked him down to an extension and for the first time in a long time the future seems legitimately bright in Toronto.
Corey Perry in Anaheim was this year's only 50 goal scorer and was part of one of, if not the most, dangerous line in hockey with Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan. Martin St. Louis put together his best season since 06-07 playing with Steven Stamkos, proving to be one of the most dynamic duos in the league today. While talking about Philadelphia goaltending is both repetitive and usually depressing, the performance of Sergei Bobrovsky certainly deserves mention. Undrafted out of Russia, he won the starting job in training camp, when most predicted he would be in the AHL. With the usual rookie ups and downs he turned in a solid rookie season and only looks to get better.
And now it is time to say goodbye to the 2010-2011 NHL season. We all had our good times and bad. Playoff beards have been shaven by all but the grizzliest of men, and we turn our eyes to the draft next week and July 1 for the start of Free Agency. I would also like to thank those of you who have actually taken the time to read this over the season. For being not even a year old, and far from a "professional" blog, it's nice to know that there are some of you out there who read this and (hopefully) enjoy it. The season is over, but the mediocre coverage you've come to know and...tolerate will continue this off season. I'm sure there will be plenty to talk about, so keep reading.
Corey Perry in Anaheim was this year's only 50 goal scorer and was part of one of, if not the most, dangerous line in hockey with Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan. Martin St. Louis put together his best season since 06-07 playing with Steven Stamkos, proving to be one of the most dynamic duos in the league today. While talking about Philadelphia goaltending is both repetitive and usually depressing, the performance of Sergei Bobrovsky certainly deserves mention. Undrafted out of Russia, he won the starting job in training camp, when most predicted he would be in the AHL. With the usual rookie ups and downs he turned in a solid rookie season and only looks to get better.
And now it is time to say goodbye to the 2010-2011 NHL season. We all had our good times and bad. Playoff beards have been shaven by all but the grizzliest of men, and we turn our eyes to the draft next week and July 1 for the start of Free Agency. I would also like to thank those of you who have actually taken the time to read this over the season. For being not even a year old, and far from a "professional" blog, it's nice to know that there are some of you out there who read this and (hopefully) enjoy it. The season is over, but the mediocre coverage you've come to know and...tolerate will continue this off season. I'm sure there will be plenty to talk about, so keep reading.
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