Stanley Cup Preview

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Boston Bruins vs Vancouver Canucks

I could throw out numbers and stats for all of you to look at, but I'd rather do this qualitatively than quantitatively.

Forwards: Just from a neutral perspective, I'd have to give this to Vancouver. They have some of the best two-way forwards in the league, as well as the Sedin twins. Not to be forgotten is the ever dangerous Ryan Kesler. The Bruins have a lot of depth at forward with Lucic, Seguin, Recchi, Bergeron, Campbell, Krejci, Marchand, Peverley, and Horton. Not to be outdone are the Canucks' supporting cast of Burrows, Raymond, Lapierre, Glass, Higgins, Raymond, Torres and Hansen. This is going to be a very defensive series and these forwards can all play two way. But when you have Ryan Kesler and the Sedin twins, you gotta give them the edge.

Defensemen: The Canucks are notorious for having some of the best defensemen in the league. The Bruins have the best in Zdeno Chara. The man no one wants a piece of. The Canucks have Edler, Bieksa, Ballard, Hamhuis, Ehrhoff and Salo while the Bruins have Chara, Seidenberg, Kaberle, Ference, Boychuk and McQuaid. But I have to give the edge to the Canucks, they have always had great defensmen and have six guys that can all play against the top units of any team

Goaltending: This is easy, Tim Thomas and the Bruins. Sure Roberto Luongo has a gold medal, but Tim Thomas set the record for highest save % this season. Tim Thomas also is most likely to win the Vezina this season, straight up, that's all you need to know.

X-Factors:

Vancouver: Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin

Against the Sharks in the Conference Finals, Henrik showed up, in a big way. With 12 points and the game-winner in game 1, he set the tone for the series as the Canucks dominated the Sharks. He will have to perform if the Canucks hope to win. His brother Daniel has 16 points and leads the Canucks with 8 goals and has a pair of game-winning goals. This is by far the most dangerous 1-2 punch on any line in the NHL. They could be the first pair of brothers to win back-to-back MVPs. 

Boston: David Krejci and Nathan Horton

If you exclude the series against Montreal to open the post-season. David Krejci has 9 goals, 7 assists, and 4 game-winners in 11 games. He is the guy that is going to have to keep pushing Boston to win the Cup. I fully expect his linemat Horton to help out as well as they have a combined 18 goals, 16 assists, and 7 game-winners between them. Horton has also been ridiculous with 17 points as well and 2 series winning goals against Tampa and Montreal respectively.

My prediction: I think this goes 7. However, I believe that it is the Canucks that will finally hoist their first Stanley Cup trophy. Unfortunate for the Bruins, but I do believe that Boston has an anemic power play and the Canucks are great on both the PP and PK and the difference is too much to make up for the B's.