Seventh Heaven?
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
It seems hard to believe that after 113 games (7 preseason, 82 regular season and 24 postseason) that it all comes down to just one single game tonight to decide who wins the Stanley Cup!
But that’s where we are after being treated to a great playoff run by the Boston Bruins and an unbelievably exciting and dramatic Stanley Cup Finals series with the Vancouver Canucks.
They will drop the puck sometime around 8:20pm tonight at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena. And, barring overtime, one of the two teams will be celebrating with the Cup about 2 ½ to 3 hours later.
Given the way that this series has gone, wouldn’t it be appropriate if the two teams played into sudden death overtime to decide the Cup?
Home ice advantage has been huge in this series so far with each team winning 3 games in their rink. Can the Bruins snap that streak tonight? The short answer is yes. And here’s how.
While it is unlikely that Claude Julien’s game plan has differed for games in Boston and Vancouver, one thing is very obvious. Boston seems to be much more aggressive and their energy level has been much higher in Boston.
In fact, when you look at this series, Boston has absolutely dominated the Canucks at the TD Garden while playing them quite evenly in Vancouver. The problem is that they failed to win any of those previous 3 games at Rogers Arena. Tonight, they have to win there if they are to capture the Cup.
With that in mind, Julien’s game plan should be a simple one: put pressure on Vancouver and particularly Roberto Luongo from the very start.
The B’s have shown that if you get to Luongo early, it’s all over. They need to do that tonight.
How can they do that? With an aggressive forecheck that has someone stationed in front of Luongo and encourages Boston’s defensemen to pinch to keep the puck in the offensive end as much as possible.
This aggressive style may lead to a few odd-man rushes by Vancouver, but it’s a gamble that Julien and the Bruins have to be willing to take. After all, they have the game’s best goaltender and soon-to-be Conn Smythe Trophy recipient Tim Thomas as their last line of defense. They can afford to be aggressive.
In game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Tampa Bay at the Garden, Boston played an extremely smart and disciplined game on their way to beating the Lightning and advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals. It was a great defensive performance by the B’s.
Tonight, however, that formula needs to change. The last thing Boston wants if for Luongo to settle into the game and gain confidence. If that happens, the outcome of game 7 could come down to something as trivial as the bounce of the puck. Is that what you really want when you’re this close to sports most coveted trophy?
Here’s hoping Claude and the B’s lay it all on the line tonight and come hard after Luongo from the opening faceoff. It could mean the difference between whether or not the Cup will reside in Boston or Vancouver for the next year.
NOTES:
-Despite 4 early goals by Boston, the ratings for game 6 were the highest for any NHL game this season drawing a 3.9 overnight rating for NBC. That number is down from last year’s game 6 between Philadelphia and Chicago which was the clinching game for the Blackhawks. Here’s a breakdown of the ratings (percentage of televisions tuned to game 6 of all television households in a market) and the shares (percentage of televisions that were turned on in a given market that were tuned to into the game).
1. Boston 33.3 rating / 48 share
2. Providence 18.4 / 28
3. Buffalo 9.1 / 14
4. Hartford 5.8 / 9
5. St. Louis 5.0 / 8
6. Detroit 4.7 / 7
7. Minneapolis 4.2 / 7
-If you don’t have a ticket for the game tonight in Vancouver, you’ll need plenty of cash to get one. Since the Canucks’ game 6 loss Monday night, fans have paid an average of more than $3,000 per seat for a ticket to game 7. You have two fan bases that are starving for a Stanley Cup. Vancouver has never won the Cup in their 40 years of existence as a franchise while the Bruins last hoisted it above their heads 39 years ago in 1972.
-One of the biggest reasons that home ice has been an advantage in this series is the fact that the home team gets to make the last change when it comes to line changes. This allows a coach to get the most favorable match-up for his club. Alain Vigneault gets the honor of making that last change tonight.
-In case you were wondering, Vigneault did confirm that Roberto Luongo will be his starting goaltender in game 7. You would think that Luongo will have a short leash tonight meaning he could get pulled as early as 2 goals into the game should they come early. The feeling is that if that happens, the Cup should be Boston’s because it is hard to imagine Tim Thomas giving up more that 2-3 goals tonight.
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