STANLEY CUP FINAL HASN’T LEFT MUCH OF AN IMPRESSION
Long and arduous playoff run takes its toll on what should be league’s marquee series
There could very well be a Game 7, the apparent ultimate in this oddly one-sided, two-sided Stanley Cup final. But will that make this a great and memorable championship series?
Or is this yet another forgettable, turn the page, maybe regrettable Stanley Cup final?
A not-so-funny thing seems to happen way too often on the way to too many Stanley Cup celebrations. The first round of the playoffs is exhilarating and breathtaking and frenzied. There isn’t anything better in sports.
The second round is not quite as dramatic or emotional. The third round of the playoffs starts to drag, just a little. By the fourth round — the championship round, the one that means the most — it’s often two fighters hanging on the ropes in the 11th and 12th rounds, hoping to get one last punch in, legs wobbling, bodies hurting.
It’s honourable and it’s hometown memorable and there is a certain quality and appreciation you can assign to it, but what it isn’t very often, and hasn’t been through five games of this final, is great hockey.
When the Pittsburgh Penguins have played well, the Nashville Predators have not. When Nashville has been great, Pittsburgh hasn’t been. The three games in Pittsburgh were won by the Penguins, 15-4. The two games in Nashville were won by the Predators 9-2. And all that belies the notion that home ice advantage has not been much of an advantage in this year’s playoffs.
In this Cup final, we haven’t seen overtime yet after a busy run of playoff overtime. We have seen only one lead change. We have witnessed phenomenal performances by individuals — Sidney Crosby in Games 4 and 5, for example — and spotty goaltending from Pekka Rinne on the road.
What moments do we remember about Muhammad Ali in the ring? The great battles. The fights you can watch over and over again. Ali vs. Joe Frazier. Ali vs. George Foreman. You don’t want to watch Ali fight Jimmy Young or Joe Bugner.
We want best on best — and we want to carry something around after, the way we did when the Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks in 2011 or when the New York Rangers beat a different Canucks team in 1994.
I think back to the 23 Cups played between the Rangers winning in ’94 and today and really, only four stand out: That Vancouver-Boston series; two series between Pittsburgh and Detroit, with the Red Wings winning one Cup, the Penguins winning the other in 2008 and 2009; and The Blackhawks’ comeback Cup win over the Bruins in 2013, when they scored two goals in 76 seconds to clinch it.
Twenty-three finals post the Original Six have been settled in five games or fewer. Thirteen have been sweeps. This could be the 11th seven-game final, but playing more games doesn’t guarantee something to remember forever.
The Penguins have the most explosive offensive players in hockey. The Predators have the best four-man defence in the NHL. That should translate to some kind of series for the ages, a little punch, a little counterpunch, some back and forth. In the same game, not in just the home games. Mike Johnson has a theory. “When a team is playing really well (in this series), that basically prohibits the other team from doing well. Most games have an ebb and flow to them. In this series, the one team has been better than the other for long stretches of play. It makes for great play, not great games,” the NHL network commentator and former player said.
When Mattias Ekholm, the defensive treasure on the Nashville blue-line, was asked why both teams have rarely played well at the same time in this year’s final, he stopped, paused and then paused some more.
“Good question,” he said. “To be honest, I have no idea.”
This should be the best time of the year for the NHL. This should be a time to show off more than the ability of young men to grow facial hair.
There are two teams left. Maybe two games left. Maybe it ends Sunday night. Maybe it stretches to Wednesday. The best player in the final, without question, has been Crosby. The best story has been Nashville, the hockey city, the entertainment city, meshing together.
The best game of the final? Still waiting for that one.
Most games have an ebb and flow to them. In this series, the one team has been better than the other for long stretches of play. It makes for great play, not great games.