tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Bruins Advance/Anniversary of Misery

In an exciting Game 7 Final, the Boston Bruins defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 1-0 to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1990.  Dwayne Roloson was outstanding in the Lightning net robbing multiple Bruins to keep the game scoreless for over two and a half periods.  In a game that was penalty free, the Lightning high powered trio of Lecavalier, St.Louis and Stamkos were unable to solve Tim Thomas.  What can you say about the courage of Steven Stamkos.  After taking a deflected shot off the nose, Stamkos came back to play a regular shift throughout the balance of the second period and all of the third.  With an obvious broken nose and cotton used to prevent blood from oozing out, Stamkos was still a threat throughout the game.

With the Bruins victory, an interesting Stanley Cup Finals develops.  The Canucks, in their 40 year history, have never won a Stanley Cup.  The Bruins have been Cup-less since 1972.  One drought will end.  What will be exciting to watch is the match-up between the Sedins and the lock down defense pair of Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg.  The two goalies, Tim Thomas and Roberto Luongo, have been outstanding and I would expect both to perform well on the big stage.  Both teams can play physical so it should really be a lot of fun to watch.

The key could be special teams.  The Canucks power play has been very good, seeming to get better as the playoffs went on.  The Bruins power play has been putrid throughout the playoffs.  In fact, the Bruins power play has been a problem for most of the regular season which led to the trade that brought Tomas Kaberle to Beantown.  The acquisition of Kaberle has not been successful in jump starting the power play.  As an aside, despite Kaberle not working out the way the Bruins envisioned, as part of the trade the Bruins will now have to give the Leafs their 2nd round pick in 2012 as a result of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals.

I'll have my Stanley Cup prediction in the Tuesday's Thoughts column as the series doesn't open until Wednesday.

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Yesterday marked the 28 year anniversary of Kerry Fraser's blown high sticking call committed by Wayne Gretzky in Game 6 of the Leafs-Kings Western Conference Final.  For those of you who don't remember, the Leafs had stormed back on the efforts of Wendel Clark to send Game 6 into overtime.  A Leaf victory would have moved the Leafs into the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1967.

In overtime, Gretzky clipped Doug Gilmour with a high stick drawing blood which was evident to all watching.  All except referee Kerry Fraser.  Moments later, Gretzky scored a power play goal propelling the Kings to a Game 7 which they won at Maple Leaf Gardens.  Many will say the Leafs still had Game 7 to win the series.  While that is true, the Leafs had all the momentum at the end of Game 6 as a result of Clark's hat trick which brought the Leafs back to tie the game.  The Kings were on their heels and the Forum crowd knew it.  There is no doubt in my mind that the Leafs would have scored with the man advantage, particularly if it was for four minutes and the NHL's best player being in the penalty box.  But it was not to be thanks to Kerry Fraser and the misery of Leaf fans such as myself continues.  Thanks Kerry.