Soon the playoffs will be over. This playoffs have been very underwhelming. The Habs series’ seem to be the best, because they had lots of overtime and a pair of 7 game series. So really, the best hockey was played in the Atlantic division. In the last few years, I’ve called the Atlantic the division of Hell. It takes a lot to get out of the division. The Habs rode a hot goalie and took out two contenders and had nothing left, after Carolina had a vacation with Ottawa and Philly as their opponents. The West was the weaker of the two conferences so I’m not sure how to handicap this final.
Carolina has played at such a high level all year that yes, they got lower seed teams but they took care of business. They didn’t choke. They made playoff teams look like they didn’t even belong in the playoffs. Carolina would have beat Buffalo no differently than they beat Montreal or anybody else in the East. Everybody wants to pretend like the West was weak but the reality is, Colorado was the top seed and got SWEPT. They beat Minnesota and Minnesota beat Dallas. Anaheim and Utah were not bad teams and Vegas beat them both. These are two untraditional markets fighting for the Cup but the teams are two great teams and it’s going to be a great Final to watch.