The Stanley Cup Playoffs entertained plenty of hockey fans with titillating action throughout the postseason, concluding with a spectacular final series between the Chicago Blackhawks and the young, talented Tampa Bay Lightning. It was a fun-filled series with its fair share of drama and action. Relive the entire Stanley Cup Final experience by reading our full series recap below.
The NBA Finals also came to an end this week. Check out the recap for the 2015 NBA Finals here.
[sc:NHLArticles ]2015 Stanley Cup Final Recap
Game 1: The Blackhawks Draw First Blood
[sc:NHL240 ]The Chicago Blackhawks have one of the deepest rosters in the league. Deep enough that youngster Teuvo Teravainen was the one who sparked the Blackhawks to victory when the stars couldn’t. Teravainen tied the game with a third period wrist shot. He also forced a turnover that led to Antoine Vermette’s game-winner just under five minutes left in regulation.
But taking Game 1 wouldn’t have been possible without the excellent play of Corey Crawford, who made 22 of 23 saves for the 2-1 victory. The Tampa Bay Lightning had their moments as well. Alex Killorn scored in the first period and Ben Bishop and the Lightning shutout the Blackhawks for the first 55 minutes of the game.
Game 2: Down Goes Bishop and Up Again
Just when you thought that the Stanley Cup Finals would be a tight and low-scoring series, here come the Lightning and Blackhawks to combine for seven goals in Game 2. But the game wasn’t without any drama with Ben Bishop mysteriously exiting, re-entering and exiting the game once again for good. Bishop gave up all three of the Blackhawks goals in Game 2.
With Bishop uncomfortable due to an undisclosed reason, rookie Andrei Vasilevskiy was solid for the limited ice time he had (9:13). The Russian rookie stopped all five shots he faced. He was on net when Jason Garrison scored the tiebreaking power play goal with 11:11 to play for his first career playoff win.
Game 2’s score of 4-3 was the highest-scoring contest of the series. Triplets linemates Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson scored two of the Lightning’s goals. Meanwhile, Teravainen was once again a factor for Chicago, scoring a go-ahead goal in the second period. But the high-scoring affair would only serve to inspire both teams to play some tighter defense for the rest of the series.
Game 3: The Lightning Strike Thrice
Bishop exited Game 2 due to an undisclosed injury and was questionable heading into this contest at Chicago. But boy was he impressive in Tampa Bay’s 3-2 win in Game 3. Bishop stopped 36 of 38 shots in a gutsy performance, and it was undoubtedly his best outing of the series. The impressive performance may have taken its toll on the Lightning netminder; he was repeatedly slow to get back on his feet after making some saves.
Tampa Bay was impressive in clinching their second straight victory in the Stanley Cup finals. Ryan Callahan, Ondrej Palat and Cedric Paquette all scored, while defenseman Victor Hedman had two assists. Hedman was also stellar in holding the Blackhawks’ vaunted duo of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews scoreless. Up to this point in the series, Toews and Kane had combined for just one point.
Game 4: Captain Serious Responds with Authority
After back-to-back defeats, Chicago captain Toews responded with an excellent performance pelting the Tampa Bay net with four shots on goal and scoring a go-ahead goal in the second period. Brandon Saad scored the game-winner in the third on a feed from Kane. It was Kane’s first point of the Stanley Cup finals, as Chicago came away with the 2-1 victory.
Despite the loss, Tampa Bay’s rookie goalie Vasilevskiy put on a valiant performance between the pipes, stopping 17 shots in relief of an injured Bishop. But he couldn’t match the excellent performance of Chicago’s Crawford. Crawford was excellent with 24 saves, including a point blank shot from Lightning captain Steven Stamkos.
With Chicago’s victory, the series turned into a best of three with two games to play at Tampa. But both teams had shown that they could win at each other’s home ice, which made the series much more interesting.
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Game 5: The Rise of the Crow
It only got better for Crawford between the pipes when the series shifted to Tampa for Game 5. The Chicago goalie was stellar, stopping 31 of 32 shots (0.97 save percentage). While Crawford was getting better each passing game, Bishop and the rest of the Lightning seemed to be falling apart.
Bishop made an ill-advised play on the puck, leaving the crease and colliding with teammate Hedman. The miscue resulted in an empty net goal for Chicago’s Patrick Sharp. To add, one of the Lightning’s best forwards in Kucherov exited the game in the first period after a crashing into the Chicago post. Antoine Vermette scored his second game-winner of the series for the 2-1 win for the Blackhawks.
Game 6: Chicago Shuts ‘Em Out in Stanley Cup Clincher
Just when you thought Crawford couldn’t get any better, here he comes with a shutout performance in Game 6. Crawford made 25 saves in his fifth career playoff shutout for Chicago’s 2-0 title-clinching victory. He almost didn’t make it here after being pulled from net-minding duties in the first series against Nashville in favor of backup Scott Darling.
But as good as Crawford was in Game 6, defenseman Duncan Keith couldn’t be ignored. He was the best Blackhawk in the entire playoffs, finishing with 21 points while playing for over 715 minutes. Keith capped off the memorable postseason run by scoring Chicago’s first goal of the game in the second period.
The Chicago home crowd was ecstatic for its third Stanley Cup in the past six years. They roared in approval when captain Jonathan Toews raised the Cup and skated around the home ice.
The win also gave veteran defenseman Kimmo Timonen his first and only Stanley Cup in his 16-year career. Timonen confirmed his retirement after the Game 6 championship clinching victory. He was the first Blackhawk to be handed the Stanley Cup by Toews. Timonen ended his career after playing 1,108 games, recording 571 points.
Key Moment: Kane’t be Contained
Patrick Kane showed that he can’t be contained in this series. He assisted in Keith’s go-ahead goal in the second period of Game 6, and put the nail in the Lightning coffin with a third period goal. It was Kane’s first goal of the Stanley Cup finals that sealed Chicago’s victory by putting the team at a two-goal advantage with just under six minutes left to play.
MVP: Duncan Keith
As mentioned above, Duncan Keith was the best Blackhawk in the entire playoffs. He was the unanimous pick for the Conn Smythe Trophy for all his troubles. After all, Keith barely got any rest with the Blackhawks opting for a four-defenseman scheme throughout the playoffs. With a topsy-turvy Stanley Cup final, the Blackhawks may not have won it all if not for Keith.
Keith is just the second defenseman in history to win the Conn Smythe and score the series-clinching goal of the Stanley Cup final. The only other player to do so was Bobby Orr, who did it for Boston in 1970 and 1972. He was also just the fourth defenseman to top 700 playoff minutes since the league started tracking time on ice in 2001.
Keith played in just about every defenseman pairing that Chicago came up with. He was a great all-around player that the Blackhawks needed, keeping tabs on opponents’ best attackers as well as providing a spark on offense. Keith had three goals and 18 assists (a postseason high) in the playoffs. He also led the postseason with a plus/minus of plus-16.
The Chicago Blackhawks are a Stanley Cup Dynasty
This Chicago Blackhawks may not be as dominant as the 1976-1979 and 1956-1960 Montreal Canadiens or the Edmonton Oilers, who won five championships from 1984-1990. But the Blackhawks are in their own form of greatness here in the hard-cap era. It’s harder to keep superstars on teams with a tight budget nowadays, but the Blackhawks seem to know what they’re doing.
Chicago has seven key players who anchored the team in all three of its Stanley Cup wins in the past six years. Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa and Corey Crawford were all present in capturing the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015. None of them are due to become free agents this offseason.
But they’ll need help. General manager Stan Bowman is a genius in snagging cost-effective deals to gain excellent and efficient players. He did that in overhauling the Blackhawks roster following their 2010 Stanley Cup victory.
A solid core of players, an excellent coach in Joel Quenneville and an impressive GM in Bowman should be able to make a case for a fourth Stanley Cup in the Rocky Wirtz Era. The Blackhawks are +600 favorites to win the 2016 Stanley Cup.
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