2013 Stanley Cup Finals Preview

It has finally come down to this. After three grueling rounds of the playoffs, the Stanley Cup Finals for 2013 are now set to go. It features an original six matchup and a matchup of teams that won the Stanley Cup Championship in back to back years.

That's right. This years finals will have the 2010 Stanley Cup Champions and the best team in the Western Conference the Chicago Blackhawks going against the 2011 Stanley Cup Champions and the #4 seed in the East the Boston Bruins. Ironically these are the only two of the original six clubs in the NHL that have never faced each other in the finals. Now that we know who is playing in the finals lets take a quick look back at how they both got here.

This will be Boston Bruins's 19th appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, seeking their 7th Cup championship overall and their first one since 2011.

The Bruins entered the season without the services of goalie Tim Thomas, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner during Boston's 2011 championship. It was announced in June 3, 2012, that he planned on taking a year off from hockey. Thomas was eventually traded to the New York Islanders on February 7, 2013. Tuukka Rask succeeded Thomas as the Bruins' starting goalie. Another of the Bruins' major off-season trades was sending Benoit Pouliot to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Then on April 2, 2013, with about a month left in the lockout-shortened regular season, Boston acquired veteran Jaromir Jagr from the Dallas Stars.

Boston finished the lockout-shorten regular season with 62 points, finishing in second place in the Northeast Division, and the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. Throughout the regular season, the Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens were neck-and-neck in the division, but the Bruins lost their last game to the Ottawa Senators, a contest that was postponed until the end of the regular season due to the Boston Marathon bombings. In the first round of the playoffs, Boston rallied from a 1–4 third period deficit in Game 7 to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime. The Bruins then eliminated the New York Rangers in five games, and then swept the top seeded Pittsburgh Penguins in the conference finals.

As for the Hawks, this will be Chicago Blackhawks 12th appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, seeking their 5th Cup championship overall and their first one since 2010.

The Blackhawks began the lockout-shortened regular season by setting the NHL record for most games to start a season without a regular loss (24). Chicago finally recorded their first regulation loss in their 25th game of the season: a 6–2 defeat to the Colorado Avalanche.  The Blackhawks would then finish the regular season with the best record at 77 points, winning their second Presidents' Trophy in team history, as well as the Central Division championship. In the first round of the playoffs, the Blackhawks defeated the Minnesota Wild in five games. Chicago then had to come back from a 3–1 game deficit to defeat the Detroit Red Wings in overtime of Game 7. Then in the conference finals, the Blackhawks defeated the defending 2012 Cup champion Los Angeles Kings in five games. Chicago will now try to become the eighth team to win both the Presidents' Trophy and the Stanley Cup in the same season.

This is the dates and times of the seven games set to be played in the finals:
Game One June 12 Boston Bruins 8:00 p.m. Chicago Blackhawks United Center CBC, NBC
Game Two June 15 Boston Bruins 8:00 p.m Chicago Blackhawks United Center CBC, NBCSN
Game Three June 17 Chicago Blackhawks 8:00 p.m. Boston Bruins TD Garden CBC, NBCSN
Game Four June 19 Chicago Blackhawks 8:00 p.m. Boston Bruins TD Garden CBC, NBC
Game Five June 22 Boston Bruins 8:00 p.m. Chicago Blackhawks United Center CBC, NBC
Game Six June 24 Chicago Blackhawks 8:00 p.m. Boston Bruins TD Garden CBC, NBC
Game Seven June 26 Boston Bruins 8:00 p.m. Chicago Blackhawks United Center CBC, NBC

This series is going to be a tight defensive series, as both the Hawks and Bruins have averaged fewer than 2 goals against per game. Boston averages 1.88 goals against while Chicago averages 1.94 goals against per game. Tukka Rask has played every minute of every game for the Bruins and his 1.75 goals against average speaks volumes. Same thing can be said for Corey Crawford, who during the regular season split time with Ray Emery, but Crawford has played every minute of the playoffs in net for Chicago. He has played just as well as Rask has for Boston.

Scoring hasn't been a problem for either.Patrick Sharp, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa nad Bryan Bickell have been leading the charge for the Hawks. David Krejci, Nathan Horton, Brad Marchand, and Milan Lucic are leading the scoring charge for Boston. Nweutral zone play is going to be important in this series. Lets face facts I've been saying this all playoffs long,. Boston is the deepest team in the league right now. Now that's no knock on the Hawks by any means, they have a great team. But when it comes down to it Boston has dominated neutral zone play and that has allowed them to roll along in the playoffs because it makes their transition game so much easier. Chicago needs to try their best to control their neutral zone play and take it to the Bruins. Boston needs to be aware of the Hawks speed which has been a big part of their game, just as neutral zone play has been key for the Bruins.

This series is going to go six games easy, and has been hands down the toughest series to be able to pick a winner from. Both teams are really going to be tested in this series, and its going to be a fun Cup finals to watch. At the end of the day the balance of the game utalized by the Bruins will be the deciding factor. Boston wins the Cup in seven games!

Keep it locked right here to the blog for recaps of every game of the finals!