Get ready for eight million references to Bobby Orr’s iconic goal, because it’s Bruins v. Blues for the honor to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup. May 10th, 1970, Bobby Orr scored the game winning goal from Derek Sanderson past Glenn Hall in overtime clinching the Cup for Boston. It was also the last time that Boston and St. Louis have faced each other in the Cup Final. What’s even more interesting is this is David Backes’ first chance at a Cup in his 13 year career… it’s also against his former team of which he spent his first 10 seasons with. Those Blues from St. Louis. This should be a good one.
St. Louis is big, St. Louis is fast, St. Louis is deep, and St. Louis has a stone cold goaltender. Sound familiar? It should. It sounds eerily similar to the Bruins if you ask me. Running all four lines incredibly well, a red hot power play are what both teams do incredibly well. So how is either team going to gain an advantage? The factors are small, but they’re there.
The Bruins will have been on 11 days of rest between series’ by the time game 1 starts. The Blues will have rested for 6 (I use the word ‘rest’ lightly). A major key to both Boston and St. Louis’ success is they’ve run on momentum. Both 6 and 11 days are each long enough gaps to halt, or at least generate a hiccup in any team’s momentum. Will Boston’s additional 5 days off prove to be a negative? Or will it provide additional time for nagging injuries to mend and fresher legs coming into the series?
Another question, despite how strong he’s seemed, is Jordan Binnington vs. Tuukka Rask. Rask has been playing Conn Smythe caliber hockey. He’s posted a .942 SV%, 1.84 GAA, and 2 shutouts in the playoffs. Just for comparison, in Tim Thomas’ 2011 season, while he did post 4 shutouts, he had a .940 SV% and a 1.98 GAA. Thomas won both the Vezina trophy and Conn Smythe trophy that year. In terms of Binnington, this is his rookie season. As emotionless as he may seem, this is the Stanley Cup Finals. There’s no telling the nerves that he may be feeling on the inside, and how that may affect his play, if at all. It seemed like in the first two games against San Jose, the spotlight proved to be too bright for Binnington, but he quickly proved those critics, including myself, wrong.
This series will be hard hitting, so for competition’s sake, let’s hope everyone stays healthy (knock on wood).

 

My prediction: Bruins in 6

 

By the way, last season, Jordan Binnington was the backup goaltender for the Providence Bruins, Boston’s AHL affiliate.

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