Stanley Cup Final: Dallas Stars vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

Smiling Joe Hesketh

Throw Momma From the Train
Moderator
SoSH Member
May 20, 2003
35,675
Deep inside Muppet Labs
Just the matchup we were all expecting last October.

This is simultaneously the most southern SC matchup (in terms of cities represented) and the most northern (in terms of where the games are actually being played). Also the first SC Final featuring two Russian starting goalies.
 

Zososoxfan

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 30, 2009
9,201
South of North
As a Tampa resident, I'm all in for the Bolts. I still rooted for the Broons in the H2H matchup, but I follow the Bolts pretty closely as well. Making it this far without Stammer is a huge accomplishment. Point and Kuch have been immense this postseason and the Bolts have really struggled when Point has been out. I don't know the league nearly as well as most of you, but Hedman has to be near the top of D men in the league. Vasi has been insanely good this postseason and gives the team a lot of confidence. The Bolts seem to have a ton of guys that play C and just stick em on the wings. CapFriendly and hockey-ref both list 5-6 of their forwards as C and that's not including Stammer. The D group is really deep, with McDonagh in the 3rd pair, and Sergachev leading 2nd pair with Cernak. Shattenkirk is a fine partner for Hedman.

I don't know much about the Stars other than Seguin. I loved him when he was on the Broons and even though he was super immature during the cup run (as a rookie), I wish they hadn't traded him. I still like him and just look forward to watching him play in the SCF. The Stars didn't have much top-end firepower during the *regular season, but the top 2 lines both seem very strong and even. During this cup run, Heiskanen and Klingberg have really upped their game and chipped in 17(!) and 13 assists respectively, to go along with 5 and 3 goals respectively. Heiskanen is 20 years old.

The Bolts are substantially younger and last night and for most of the series they were on the front foot and attacking nonstop. The shooting numbers indicate that the Bolts probably should've won this in 5.

Bolts in 6.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

Throw Momma From the Train
Moderator
SoSH Member
May 20, 2003
35,675
Deep inside Muppet Labs
Is Stamkos available for the Final?

Other Bruins connections to the Stars: Coach Rick Bowness coached the Bruins waaaaaaaaay back in the early 90s for a season, which a mediocre regular season but somehow winning two playoff series afterwards before getting waxed by PIT. He was then booted for Brian Sutter and then has had a nomadic coaching career. It's somewhat amazing he's still at it. He was the assistant coach for Dallas until Jim Montgomery was fired for what turned out to be alcohol issues. And now he's in the Final.

Obvious the other big story for Dallas with Bruins connections is the play of Anton Khudobin in goal, who wasn't even supposed to be the starter until Ben Bishop got hurt. Dobby's played exceptionally well in the longest starting stretch of his career. He had a harder time in the COL series but played great against CAL and VGK. Digging into some advanced stats Dobby was 3rd in the league in Goals saved above average this year (Rask was 1st) and 3rd in Goals allowed percentage (just ahead of Rask in 4th). Vasilevsky was 8th and 20th in those categories, although obviously he played in far more games.

Tampa is undoubtedly the better team on paper, although the Stars do a lot of what the Blues did last year (with far less goonery), they limit shots mostly to low-danger areas. They do give up a lot of shots however, and Tampa is a lot better than CAL, COL, and VGK as an opponent. Vasilevsky is the best goalie they've faced in the playoffs so far as well.

Tampa should be favored for sure. I'm rooting for the Stars.
 
Last edited:

Maximus

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
5,774
Rooting for the Stars and Dobby, Pavelski, Benn & Seguin but it should be Bolts in 5 or 6. Tampa's roster is loaded.
 

tonyandpals

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Mar 18, 2004
7,853
Burlington
My 10yo predicted this final. Only thing wrong in his bracket was he had Philly beating the Isles. Should have entered him into some pools.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
SoSH Member
Oct 31, 2013
72,203
Games 2 and 3 not being on NBC is kind of a joke.

Rooting hard for Dobby, Seguin and Bowness.
 

kenneycb

Hates Goose Island Beer; Loves Backdoor Play
SoSH Member
Dec 2, 2006
16,071
Tuukka's refugee camp
Corey Perry was a star player in his prime and has a much longer history. Pretty easy to hate him more than some random third and fourth liners
 

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
SoSH Member
Jul 22, 2006
8,227
Falmouth
But you hate Perry because he's a scumbag not because he's a former MVP. Add Killorn to the despised list.
 

kenneycb

Hates Goose Island Beer; Loves Backdoor Play
SoSH Member
Dec 2, 2006
16,071
Tuukka's refugee camp
You hate him more because he's good AND a scumbag. Being good means he's on the ice more and is contributing to beating your team more. There's an extra burn when someone you dislike is a primary reason for beating the team you cheer for. It's why people hate Marchand as much as they do. And, to be honest, none of the guys on the Lightning bother me that much and I think people are being petty because the Bruins lost to Tampa. I'm sure the Stars have a handful of players who play similar to them.

Of course there's the Matt Cooke category of players but none of these players elevate to that status.
 

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
SoSH Member
Jul 22, 2006
8,227
Falmouth
Has he done cheap stuff? The boarding is not great but not sure if he’s done anything more explicit.
He's beena dirty prick for years. He's the guy who elbows someone in the back of the head then refuses to fight.

It's got nothing to do with the B's losing...go peep the game threads, I called Paquette out in the first round.
 

LogansDad

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 15, 2006
28,947
Alamogordo
Yeah, Maroon is a turd, too. They are all up and down the Tampa lineup. Even Kucherov gets away with a lot of shit because of how good he is.

The fact that someone on their team seems to spend 5-10 seconds after every whistle complaining to the refs about something doesn't help, either. This is not the 2011 Lightning that I really enjoyed watching, they are a lot closer to the 2011 Caunucks.
 

Jordu

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 30, 2003
8,945
Brookline
After half-assing through the first two periods, Tampa finally starts to play hockey — shots are 10-1 in the third. Let’s hope it’s not enough.