Chicago Blackhawks vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Stanley Cup Finals 2015: 3 Reasons Why Blackhawks Are Champs Again
The Chicago Blackhawks won their third Stanley Cup in six seasons with a 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the finals.
It was the first time that a game in this series was decided by more than one goal and also turned out to be the first one featuring a shutout.
For such players as Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, it was business as usual. For the Tampa Bay Lightning, it was a huge disappointment. Tampa Bay was fancied to make a big statement, but simply could not take down a far more experienced club.
Here are some reasons why Chicago is the Stanley Cup champion yet again.
Penalty Kill Delivers
Entering the finals, Tampa Bay's power play had been clicking at a rate of 22 percent while Chicago's penalty kill had an efficiency rate of 75 percent in the postseason.
Most felt that special teams would decide this series and that it would likely favor Tampa Bay in the end.
That could not be further from the case. Chicago limited Tampa Bay to just one power play goal in six games. More impressive was the fact that Tampa only got 13 power play opportunities in the entire series to begin with.
Corey Crawford with a strong series
Remember back in the opening round when many thought that Corey Crawford would never get a chance to win back his position after a poor start against Nashville? How times have changed rather quickly.
Corey Crawford did not just have a good series, he had a great series for Chicago, stopping 141 shots of 151. Seven of those goals came in two games while in the four victories, Crawford conceded just three times.
The Game 6 shutout, which included 25 saves, was emblematic of his play in the entire series. He is often viewed as a good goalie behind a great team. He did not have a good series; he had a great one.
Shutting Down Stamkos and Triplets
Coming into the final, Tyler Johnson had 21 points in the playoffs and was widely seen as the MVP-in-waiting. Nikita Kucherov had 19 points heading into the final round. Ondrej Palat had 15 points at that point in the finals.
The unstoppable triplets finished with just six points in the entire series against the Blackhawks.
Of course no one was more disappointed than Steven Stamkos, the captain of the Lightning. Stamkos entered the series with six goals in nine games. He finished with one assist in six games and looked largely invisible throughout.
A lot of credit must be given to Chicago's ability to cut down his space and limit him and his team overall. Tampa simply looked lost as the series wore on, constantly slowed down and not allowed the space to create scoring chances. Chicago blocked more shots in four out of the six games, an indication that Tampa was simply not getting good looks at net despite having solid possession throughout.
Tampa finished Game 6 with 25 shots on goal, but the team had only 11 heading into the final period of play. At that point the team was down 1-0 and any later efforts proved to be too little, too late.