The Stanley Cup finals are set to begin on Wednesday night as the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks go at it in Game 1 at the United Center and after an amazing run in the playopffs, there are a number of players to keep an eye on through the series, including Patrick Kane, Corey Crawford, David Krejci, Tuukka Rask, Bryan Bickell, Jaromir Jagr, Jonathan Toews and Deuncan Keith among many more.
Both Stanley Cup teams are deep and have scorers up front and they also both have stellar goaltenders, with Boston goalie Tuukka Rask bringing the best save percentage of the playoffs into the final. Corey Crawford has been nearly as good and now the two will have the chance to go head to head in the championship. The Original Six matchup hasn't happened in years and the Bruins are playing at a very high level after sweeping the number one seed in the Penguins.
Boston dominated the entire series and held the best players of the Penguins in check with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin not scoring a point. The team allowed just two goals and had a crazy outburst and won 6-1 at one point and then ended things with a 1-0 shutout in Game 4 to advance. The team is back in the finals for the second time in three years and they face a team that won the Cup a year before them in the Blackhawks.
The Bruins shouldn't even be alive, as they played Game 7 against the Maple Leafs and staged an amazing comeback from 4-2 with less than two minutes left before winning in overtime. The team then stormed through the Rangers and Penguins and now they are here. Krejci has been amazing for the team and he is leading Boston in points, goals and assists, while Jaromir Jagr has been stellar in spots for the team.
The Blackhawks had to rally as well from 3-1 down to the Red wings before Brent Seabrook added the Game 7 overtime winner and now the team is looking for another Cup. Crawford has been excellent and both teams are back in the finals with different goalies than the previous run. Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp will be relied on heavily and Kane will have momentum after notching a hat trick in the final game against the Kings.
