First off. as is customary around here, with the ending of the second round will come the Hockeybuzz UFA Rumour Chart. Look for it to Launch tonight or tomorrow morning...been alot of fun compiling stuff this past month. I also will tell you that the rumor hungry of you can get ready for constant fun between now and July 1st....The time is VERY short my friends...
Tomorrow I will write my first ever..."Startling Summer Rumor Prediction Blog" where for fun I will throw out some thoughts on trades, UFA signings, Draft Stuff, and of course team relocation...
But that is for tomorrow...
BECAUSE...We are in the midst of the most rarest of days...
Two Game 7's in one night!
Oh how I wish this was a true double header...instead of Detroit/Anaheim starting at 7 and Carolina/Boston starting at 8....
Anyway, let's get to it, shall we?
Anaheim @ Detroit play for the Stanley Cup...
Ok. Yes, it is bold, but as I predicted before the series began I do believe that we are witnessing the Cup Finals in this series as the two best teams in the NHL (the last two actual Cup Winners fielding teams that I favor over the ACTUAL Champion teams) battle it out...And they have battled and shown intense resolve....
The Ducks continue to be the counter punch team, a roll that Detroit prefers to play...
Here is a staggering statistic...these have played 18 regulation periods and two full OT periods...so lets say 20 periods. The Ducks have outshot the Red Wings ONLY 3 times in those 20 periods.
Wings Shot Totals by Game : 39, 38, 40, 46, 62 (3OT), 37=262
Ducks Shot Totals by Game: 28, 17, 28, 23, 46 (3OT), 24 =164
So is it safe to say that Hiller is the story here yet?
The Red Wings are an amazing team, especially when pushed. The Ducks are the best team in hockey to stop them. The fact that this is in a game 7 is huge for Anaheim. In game 7s anything can happen...
Many of the people I trusted in hockey felt the Ducks were done after game 5. That they were spent. They came out and gutted out a huge win in game 6. The fear here is if the Ducks can elevate their game any more than that? If they do it will be the most impressive performance of the season. There is a huge possibility that we see a game like last night's Penguins/Caps game...and Detroit rolls...
I am not sure..it will either be Wings blowout or a triple OT game for the ages. It feels like one or the oither....I predict the Red Wings will prevail and set up a killer conference final that was predicted by me as a possibility when I watched these teams play at the ice bowl...(but it was the day after New Years Eve...ya know I would have said anything)
So last year the Red Wings won the Cup. The year prior the Ducks. The year prior to that? of course...The Canes.
They have really gotten back that swagger, but it is very apparent that they may have taken the Bruins a bit for granted and let the sleeping giant back in and frankly, stopping the Bruins in Boston tonight will take Cam Ward miracles....The Canes had that amazing game 7 victory against NJ and have shown resiliency that makes it hard to pick against them. The Bruins are really an odd team..They can look amazing and terrible on some nights from shift to shift.
The Bruins are basically a better, deeper version of the Devils so the Canes will need to be every bit as good and fortuitous as they were in Game 7 in NJ.
My pick...Boston 3-2
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?
The Hockeybuzzcast with Julie and I will be live at 5:30 Tonight...We will be talking game 7 and the series that have been decided. Feel free to call us!
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