Stanley Cup Conference Finals Recap

Well, unusually for me, I was right on target with my Conference Final predictions as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in 7 games while the San Jose Sharks dispatched the St. Louis Blues in 6.

The Penguins-Lightning series got off to an incredibly rough start with 3 starters having to depart in the first game of the series, although the only one who did not return was Lightning goalie Ben Bishop.  Sadly, Bishop suffered a similar groin injury that limited him in the Stanley Cup finals last year. With Bishop out, the thinking was that the door was open for the Penguins, but his replacement Andrei Vasilevskiy was spectacular throughout the series, keeping the Lightning in games where they were badly outshot. His counterpart in the Penguins net, Matt Murray, also made the big saves when Pittsburgh had to have them. It certainly looks like a bright future for both of these young goalies, age 21 and 22 respectively, and their franchises.  The Penguins looked like they had the series in control going into the 3rd period of game 5 of the series which was knotted at 2.  But a couple of iffy goals from Marc Andre Fleury let the Lighting tie the game late and then win it in overtime, seemingly taking control of the series heading back to Tampa.  But Pittsburgh’s team defense thoroughly stifled Tampa Bay in the final two games, limiting the Lightning’s scoring chances against Murray who had returned to the nets.  Even the return of Steven Stamkos to the Lightning lineup in game 7 could not create enough offense to offset the two goals by the Penguin’s Brian Rust. It was a great series and I really think the better team won.

San Jose’s defense was equally as stifling to St. Louis as Pittsburgh’s was in the other series.  I had been concerned about the Blues ability to generate enough scoring chances to compete with the Sharks potent offense.  Once again, no one could stop the Sharks’ Joe Pavelski as he had eight points in the series. Martin Jones was steady, but not spectacular in net for San Jose, but that was all they really needed as the St. Louis never had tons of scoring opportunities or even pressure for that matter. And the Blues top offensive weapon, Valdimir Tarasenko, was completely shut down, held pointless until the final game of the series. Exceptional goaltending from Brian Elliot and Jake Allen helped the Blues stay in some games, but in the end the Sharks had too much offense and too stingy a defense for St. Louis to overcome.

So the final’s matchup is set between the Penguins and the Sharks – I’ll have my predictions for you on Memorial Day in the early afternoon, as the first game is set for Monday night.