Captain Serious

Although the grieving period for many Rangers fans is still in some of the early stages, hockey continues on tonight with Game One of the Stanley Cup Final. At least one former Ranger will hold Lord Stanley’s Cup in victory within the next two weeks, and here at BSB, we guess which one(s) that is.

Note: Suit and Justin were still too upset to predict.

Dave’s Pick: Blackhawks in 7. Both teams are skilled, fast, and deep. Both teams have issues on the blue line. Both teams have question marks in net. The Bolts are weak on the blue line after their top pair, and the Hawks have four defensemen that don’t get Stu Bickel’d. In the end, I think experience wins over the new kids.

Chris’ Pick: Blackhawks in 6. Both teams are skilled fast and deep… hold on, Dave already said that? Well it’s true. Arguably the two best offensive teams in the league are the last teams standing but you can never have too much experience and the Hawks will not be fazed for one second, given they’re on the cusp of a modern day dynasty. Tampa can take over games and Johnson and Stamkos are every bit the match for the Hawks top end talent but in Toews, the Hawks have the best leader in hockey, in Keith they have a stud on the blueline at the very top of his game. This figures to be a high scoring affair, and I give the edge to Chicago. If they start fast, it could be done in 5.

Kevin’s Pick: Blackhawks in 7. Tampa has been very impressive all year, but you have to go with experience, right? I keep going back and forth on this because I envision the Triplets stealing a game or two by themselves, which would make things really interesting. But in the end, I’m not picking against Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith.

Becky’s Pick: Blackhawks in 6. I’m a completely biased fan, but after watching a lot of Central Division hockey (c/o being a casual Blues fan), I have seen what the Blackhawks are capable of. Coach Quenneville is not afraid to put in his backup goalie if he feels unsure about Corey Crawford, and as special as the Triplets and Anton Stralman-Victor Hedman are, Ben Bishop looked shaky at best despite shutting out the Rangers in Game 7. Jonathan Toews is the definition of clutch, and he’s been here several times. The Hawks are speedy and can throw some hits. I think they’ll take it in five, but let’s be safe and say six.

The Suit’s Pick: Tampa in 7. Stanley Cups often come down to goaltending and I’m betting on Bishop to rebound this series and steal it from Chicago. Chicago’s deeper, more offensively gifted, yada, yada, yada, but I think Tampa will pull off the upset. Beating the best team in the NHL (cough, cough) may have put enough wind back in their sails to weather the storm. I’ll be rooting for them.

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