Chicago vs. Minnesota
The winners of two different sorts of series meet for a place in the Western Conference Final. After dropping their opening two games to St Louis (on home ice, no less) Chicago rebounded strongly, winning four straight to oust the Blues, with a little time to spare.
On quarterfinal round form, It appears that western the road to the Stanley Cup Final will go through Chicago, and most ominously for those teams who’ll be matching up against this very good ‘Hawks team is the return from injury of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Slow starters, yes, but that was to be expected, and later in the series, when Chicago needed a timely goal – or a slew of them – it was usually delivered by one of those two, or at least #19 or #88 had a hand in the scoring play somehow.
Chicago is scary good. I’m not just saying that because it’s the trendy thing to say in hockey right now, I’m saying it because they’re that damned good. They can kill you no matter what line’s on the ice. This isn’t a team built on Toews and Kane.
Yes, the ‘Hawks certainly benefit from having those two on their team, but there are other guys who bob up and score timely goals. Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp and Andrew Shaw should never be discounted, and their scoring defencemen – Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, especially – is amongst the best in the league. The ‘Hawks d-men are good going both ways. They stifled St Louis’ offensive dynamos for four straight games.
Minnesota, on the other hand, required a dramatic Game Seven victory on the road against Colorado, and will head straight from the Mile High City to the Windy City to begin their next series. Don’t underestimate what sort of draining affect that will have on a team who needed a late tying goal in regulation, survived an Ilya Bryzgalov stint in goal load, and required a memorable overtime winner to get past the plucky Avalanche.
I picked Colorado in that series, so what do I know? Just this: that Chicago far out-match Minnesota, line-for-line all the way down the roster. In goal, the Blackhawks’s Corey Crawford, is better than whoever will play between the pipes for the Wild – incumbent Darcy Keumper was injured late in Game 7 against the Avalanche, hence Bryzgalov’s dramatic entry – and that counts for a hell of a lot. I tell you, having to start Bryzgalov is inviting disaster. Yeah, he was good late against the Avalanche, but he guy has a history of imploding, too.
Prediction: For mine, this is the easiest of the four semi-final games, east and west, to pick, and I say the Blackhawks will have a quick run to the Western Conference Finals. ‘Hawks in five.
Anaheim vs. Los Angeles
What an advertisement for hockey in Southern California this game will be. The regular season series between these two teams is called (for promotional purposes at least) the Freeway Face Off, because the Ducks and Kings are separated by only about an hour’s worth of congested roadway, and so are very familiar foes.
Bruce Boudreau’s Ducks survived a few scares from Dallas, and cruised to an easy enough series victory, getting big production from their big guns, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, and nice contributions from those around them, particularly Nick Bonino (who scored the series winner for Anaheim) and the evergreen Teemu Selanne. That’s basically the formula – adding in strong goaltending – that’s seen the Ducks remain at or near the top of the Western Conference standings all season. Unlike the teams Boudreau coached in Washington, Anaheim are also benefiting from defensive stability.
This is the best Ducks team since the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2006-07, and, the more I’ve seen of them, the more I’m convinced that they can win it all again this year. The only roadblock might be this Los Angeles team, who comes into this series against an opponent they know very well, riding the mother of all waves of momentum.
Why? Because they became only the fourth team in NHL history to trail a playoff series by 0-3 and then win. Game 7 in San Jose on Wednesday night capped off an incredible comeback by Daryl Sutter’s men. They looked all at sea in the first two games, none more so than star goalie Jonathan Quick, and suddenly found their mojo, to even the series then win it, shocking San Jose in the process.
Late in that series, Quick looked more like the goalie we’re used to, the goalie that he was when the Kings captured Lord Stanley in 2012, and their big guns scored big goals. The more I see of Drew Doughty (who notched an enormous goal in Game 7 against the Sharks) and that Kings defense, the more I like. They’re tough to score on, and they can jump into the offensive rush, too. When the team clicks as one, it’s an impressive sight. Daryl Sutter’s defensive mindset is built for playoff success, as the 2012 team well knows.
They say that familiarity breeds contempt, but it also allows a team to go into the game against an old rival, knowing some of the tricks in the other guy’s book. Los Angeles and Anaheim will both be confident they’ve got a pretty solid read on what the other team does. The Ducks had the edge in the regular season – including the outdoor game at Dodger Stadium, earlier in the year – but that means little in the playoffs, particularly given the sort of series the Kings are coming off of.
Prediction: This is a genuine toss-up, and it really depends on which of the two Kings teams take the ice. If it’s that committed, hard-working unit with a solid Quick in net that won the last four games against San Jose, it’s a very tough series to call, because that’s a team that can skate with anyone.
I feel the key here is the Kings. The Ducks have been consistent. You know what you’ll get with them, but Los Angeles really has an X-factor about them, that we don’t always see, but when they’re up and about, watch out.
Not sure whether the Kings’ lack of rest will be a factor late, but if they turn up to play every night, then this series is going seven games, and could potentially shift on the bounce of a puck, errant or otherwise. Even so, I have the Ducks just squeaking past and into a salivating match-up with the Blackhawks.
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