GLOWING HEARTS
Rejoice Canadian hockey fans! It's only a matter of time before a team from the Great White North wins the Cup again - and it could happen this year
The wait is over.
After countless restarts and rebuilds, of preaching patience and drafting and developing, the time has come: There is a legitimate Stanley Cup contender coming out of Canada.
Well, two of them actually.
Winnipeg or Toronto. Take your pick. Or better yet, pencil them both in for the first all Canadian final since Calgary played Montreal in 1989. It could happen. And for once, it’s not just wishful thinking.
A year ago, five of the seven Canadian teams qualified for the playoffs, with the Edmonton
Oilers reaching
Game 7 of the second round and the Ottawa Senators coming within a double-overtime goal of advancing to the final. This year, it’s down to just the Jets and the Maple Leafs.
But while there is a lack of quantity, the two teams certainly make up for in quality.
The Jets, who will play the Minnesota Wild in the first round, finished with the second-best record in the NHL this season. The Maple Leafs, who will play the Boston Bruins, had the thirdmost points in the Eastern Conference and this season set franchise records for both wins and overall points.
According to Bodog betting site, the Jets are 8-to-1 favourites to win the whole thing. The Leafs are 11-to-1. Only a handful of teams (Nashville, Tampa Bay, Boston, Vegas and Pittsburgh) have better odds, all of whom Winnipeg and Toronto can — and have — beat during the season.
This might be the best chance since Vancouver lost 4-3 to Boston in 2011 of a Canadian team ending a championship drought that has stretched on for almost 25 years. That is, if Winnipeg and Toronto don’t stub their toes and bow out in the first round.
“I like expectations,” Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello told Postmedia in a phone interview. “We expect a lot out of ourselves — and rightly so. And we want our players (to have those expectations) too. What we have to do right now is avoid any distractions and focus on the way we have to play and the way we have to play collectively.
“We do have (105) points. We have played well. We have played well against good teams, so we do know we are a good hockey team, but the playoffs are a different season. Everything is new. None of the points that you had during the season — as far as players go — matter. It’s just the score at the end of the game. That’s all that matters. You have to win four games to win a series.”