Into this torture chamber of a spring for Boston sports fans we bring you the Stanley Cup Finals.
On one side, we have the coach, Bruce Cassidy, that the Bruins kicked to the curb just a year ago. On the other, we have the team that turned the B’s dream season into a nightmare.
If you can bear to watch, it should be a very interesting series. On the Vegas Golden Knights side, there is more than one local angle. Chelmsford-born Jack Eichel, whose career was nearly botched in Buffalo, is celebrating his first foray into the playoffs with a trip to the Finals. That’s right.
The player who once had his future GM with the Sabres, Tim Murray, visibly show his disappointment on the televised draft lottery show because he had to settle for the former Boston University star has made it to the last round before the player that Murray desired, Connor McDavid.
And part of the reason that Eichel’s now on the sport’s biggest stage is because of Cassidy, who had challenged the offensively gifted centerman to dedicate himself to better two-way play. While he’s maintained slightly better than a point-per-game pace in playoffs (6-12-18 in 17 games), some of his more eye-opening plays have been in his own zone during this run.
Cassidy also managed to keep Vegas afloat while terrific two-way right wing and the Knights’ inspirational engine, Mark Stone, was limited to just 43 games because of a recurring back injury. Cassidy has also endured goalie after goalie coming in and going out through the revolving door, five in all. Just when he thought Laurent Brossoit was the Knights’ man for the playoffs, he got hurt in the second round and Cassidy had to turn to Adin Hill, who is riding a .937 playoff save percentage into the finals.
Cassidy’s success in Vegas will no doubt lead to a re-litigation of the B’s decision to fire him. We’ll say it again. Cassidy is a very good coach whose willingness – in fact, his eagerness – to talk about any aspect of the game, and not sugarcoat inconvenient truths, was a breath of fresh air and made him a favorite among the reporters who covered the team. People like Cassidy are good for the sport.
But every coach has a shelf life. In hindsight for many of us who were sad to see him go, Cassidy’s demanding approach was not getting the most out of some mid-level and still-developing players. While Jim Montgomery may rue some of his decisions in the playoffs, he was the right man at the right time for this Bruin team in a lot of ways. Cassidy has been the same for the Knights.
The Panthers, meanwhile, have taken the hard road to the Finals. After barely squeaking in, needing the lowly Chicago Blackhawks to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins down the stretch, the Panthers of course overcame a 3-1 series hole and a late one-goal deficit in Game 7 to stun the B’s, who won a record-setting 65 games in the regular season. After beating the best team in the league, the Panthers then beat the fourth best team (Toronto) in five games before sweeping the second best (Carolina).
There has been some debate over who the leader in the clubhouse among Panthers for the Conn Smythe Trophy, whether it’s goalie Sergei Bobrovsky or forward Matthew Tkachuk. Between the two, we’d take Tkachuk and his four game-winners. As good as Bobrovsky’s been in the last two rounds, in the Panthers’ toughest test, the B’s, he was subpar (.891 save percentage, 3.94 GAA).
But if you could give the Conn Smythe to a characteristic and not a player, it would go to the Panthers’ resilience. They persevered through a rough transition in the regular season following the Tkachuk trade that saw the departure of Panther mainstays Jonathan Huberdeau and Mackenzie Weegar and then got up off the mat against the B’s.
But even more than that, any time an opponent had scored a big goal against them that could have thrown a team off its rails, the Panthers would always respond with a dagger of their own. The best example of that was Tkachuk’s most recent game-winner that came with four seconds left in regulation to complete the sweep of the Hurricanes, just shortly after the Canes had tied it up with their goalie pulled.
That trait is an extension, at least in part, of head coach Paul Maurice. He’s been a head coach in this league since the Whalers were in Hartford. He’s had just one trip to the Finals, when his Hurricanes team was steamrolled by one of the all-time great Red Wings team.
The pick here? With the benefit of some playoff videotape on the Panthers, Cassidy’s Golden Knights’ defense corps will not fall prey to the Panthers’ forecheck as badly as the B’s, Leafs and Canes did. But it won’t be easy. Vegas in 7.
Regardless of the outcome, it should be easy to find a rooting interest in this series – as long as you take off your Black and Gold-colored glasses.
