A Recap Of The NFL Stanley Cup Finals

The 2015 NHL Stanley Cup Finals ended on Monday night, with the Chicago Blackhawks defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games. The victory game the Blackhawks their third Stanley Cup championship in six years, and turned the Blackhawks into the first Dynasty the NHL has had since the Detroit Red Wings in the late 1990s.

The road to the Stanley Cup Finals wasn’t an easy one for the Blackhawks, who lost their leading scorer Patrick Kane in the second half of the season, and finished with the 4th best record in the Western Conference. Kane returned just in time for the playoffs, and helped the Blackhawks defeat the Nashville Predators in six games. In the second round, they had an easier time against the Minnesota Wild, and were able to win the series in four games, setting up a Western Conference Finals showdown against the Anaheim Ducks, who had the best record in the conference. 

When they played the ducks, the Blackhawks fell behind 3-2, but were able to win the last two games and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Lightning finished with the 3rd best record in the Eastern Conference, and they also had an even tougher road to the finals. They needed all seven games, in order to defeat the Detroit Red Wings in the first round, and six games to defeat the Montreal Canadiens, who had the 2nd best record in the Eastern Conference. Their reward for their effort was another seven game series, this time it was against the defending Eastern Conference champions, and the team that finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference, the New York Rangers. 

In the Stanly Cup Finals, the sports betting lines had the Chicago Blackhawks as the slight favorites, but they didn’t look like favorites early on, because they lost two of their first three games against Tampa Bay, which led many to believe they were in danger of losing the finals. Like they have done so many times during their playoff run, the Blackhawks were able to rally, and win the next two games, which gave them a 3-2 lead going into Game 6 at home.

In Game 6, the Blackhawks and Lightning played another close game, which was scoreless until the end of the 2nd period, when Duncan Keith, who was named the MVP after the finals was over, scored with a little over two minutes left in the period. The Lightning tried to even the score for most of the 3rd period, but Keith led a smothering defense, and Corey Crawford, managed to stop 14 shots on goal in the period, and 25 for the game. Patrick Kane scored an insurance goal for the Blackhawks with five minutes left in the game, and the Blackhawks were able to hold off the pesky Lightning, and win the Stanley Cup on their home ice for the first time since 1938.

Kimmo Timonen, the 40 year old veteran who was traded from the Philadelphia Flyers before the trade deadline, finally got to win the Stanley Cup, which was something he had been hoping to achieve before he retired at the end of the season.

The Blackhawks are the new champions, and have a young group of players, so this is something they expect to occur again in the near future. They will face some challenges from the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks, next season, but if they keep playing as well as they did during this playoff run, they don’t have much to worry about.