The Stanley Cup playoffs are set for Game 1 on Wednesday night at 8:00 PM ET, as the Chicago Blackhawks will be hosting the Boston Bruins at the United Center for the start of the championship series.
The two teams are evenly matched and both enter playing hot after winning their respective conferences in dominant fashion, as the Bruins swept the number one seeded Penguins and the Blackhawks defeated the defending champions in the Los Angeles Kings. Both teams shouldn't even be here technically, as they each at one time were staring defeat right in the face before pulling away with wins. The Bruins were down 4-2 with 90 seconds left against the Maple Leafs in Game 7 of the first round before coming back to win in overtime, while the Hawks were down 3-1 to the Red Wings before winning three straight games.
The two teams are matching up as Original Six franchises in the Cup for the first time since 1979 and the two teams are facing each other for the championship for the very first time as well. The Bruins totally shut down the Penguins and allowed just two goals and goalie Tuukka Rask comes in with the best save percentage in the league in the postseason, while Corey Crawford has been just as good for the Hawks. The goaltending could end up being one of the biggest factors and amazingly enough, both teams have different goalies from when they made their Cup runs a few years ago, with the Hawks winning in 2010 and the Bruins in 2011.
The Bruins are deep and can score with anyone, as they did against the Penguins and players like Nathan Horton, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Zdeno Chara will have attention on Wednesday. The Blackhawks have a solid front as well with Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane as well as Jonathan Toews, Bryan Bickell and Duncan Keith among others. Brent Seabrook was the man who won Game 7 in overtime against the Red Wings and if he can score, Chicago is on the right track. Brad Marchand and Jariomir Jagr will be key for the Bruins and the special teams are going to come into play as well, as the Bruins manhandled the Penguins on the power play.
Chicago has tons of speed upfront, while the Bruins have size on the line with Chara and that will come into play as the Blackhawks try and attack on net with Rask. Crawford and Rask are basically one and two in every category in the playoffs for goaltenders and they will need to be at their best as the series starts. The Blackhawks finished off the Kings in Game 5 with a 4-3 win in double that saw goals from Keith and Kane, who stormed back with a hat trick to finish things off and advance.
The Blackhawks opened the season on a record streak and continued some strong play in the postseason before going down with the Red Wings, but after the comeback the team has won seven of its last eight games and will be flying high as the finals start. The Bruins have been just as hot, making an amazing comeback from 4-2 down with less than two minutes to play in Game 7 of the first round against the Maple Leafs before winning and then the team defeated the Rangers in five before sweeping. They have no won nine of the last 10 and they kept the Penguins to two goals in the last series and will be tough to beat.