Who does the long rest benefit more, the Bruins or the Blues?
Tyler Yaremchuk
Im going to say the Bruins. We saw a long break actually hurt the Islanders in round two and then the Hurricanes in round three, but the Bruins are a different story. Veteran players like Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, and David Krejci aren’t 100% and this long break gives them a good chance to rest there bodies. The only question mark: will Tuuka Rask be able to jump back to his historically good form?
The Blues will no doubt benefit from the rest, but I bet they would have preferered to just keep rolling and getting hot at the end of their series vs San Jose.
Ian Sheppard
The Bruins. Normally I think the rest can hurt a team and knock them out of rhythm while I think a team like the Blues can benefit from the quick turnaround and stay hot. But Boston’s biggest strength right now has been Tuukka Rask and his playoff leading 1.84 GAA and .942 SV%.
A rested and relaxed Tukkaa will only pay off for the Bruins as they continue to make this cup run behind their Finnish net-minder.
Wyatt Zieger
I’ll say the Blues. Every team that has swept a round in these playoffs have lost in the next round; Columbus, NYI, Carolina are all gone and combined for a lacklustre 2 wins.
The Bruins being an older team need the rest but getting out of rhythm can also be a very dangerous thing. St.Louis hasn’t turned the motor off since January and I believe the shorter rest is better for their momentum heading into the Stanley Cup final.
Who’s going to hoist the Cup
Tyler Yaremchuk
My head tells me to take Boston, but I will admit that I’m cheering for the Blues. There are some local connections on that team with St. Albert product Colton Parayko playing. Would be really cool to see The Cup come to my hometown. On top of that, the Blues are a great story. From being dead last in the NHL when the calendar flipped to 2019 and riding a rookie goaltender to the finals, to the “Play Gloria” theme, and of course, the story of young Laila Anderson.
Ian Sheppard
This is a tough one. As I mentioned earlier, Boston is riding their hot goaltender. St. Louis is heavy offensively with solid defence and a great young goalie. My heart wants to see the Blues take it but it’s really hard to bet against Rask right now. There’s obviously more to it than that with a deep roster on Boston’s bench.
Whether it’s Bergeron, Pastrnak, Marchand or young guys like Jake DeBrusk and Sean Kuraly the Bruins know how to put the puck in the net. But I always give the edge to the team with the better goaltending and that’s Rask right now.
Wyatt Zieger
This is a very conflicting series because both teams are so deep. It would nice to see the local boy Parayko win it (I wonder if he’d bring it to OJ’s) but I think the Bruins skate away champions.
They’re a team that knows how to win and once Tampa was eliminated I thought they had the best remaining roster. I think the series is close and most likely takes 7 games and will come down to who can out best who in between the pipes.
On a side note it would be such an incredible story for the city of Boston who have been starved of a championship for nearly 6 months now.
Who’s your MVP
Tyler Yaremchuk
My pick for MVP will be Jordan Binnington, with Jaden Schwartz being the close runner up. Pretty self explanitory.
Ian Sheppard
See questions 1 and 2. Tuukka Rask has been outstanding for Boston this postseason and has stood tall when needed most. He was the backbone for the team through a tough 7-game series with Toronto in round one, especially in a 5-1 win in Game 7. Then he held his own through six games against Columbus in Round 2 before giving up just five goals in four games in the sweep of the Hurricanes.
He has been the MVP of the playoffs much like Marc-Andre Fleury was for Vegas last year. The only question now is will he hold up in the Cup Final? I think so.
Wyatt Zieger
Smells like a “lets give it to the goalie” type year to me. Gotta have brilliant goaltending to win in the playoffs and both Rask and Binnington have been.
Unless we see a J.S. Giguere performance in a losing effort it goes to the winning goalie this year. For my money Tuukka is taking it home.
