Bruins, Blackhawks Make It Hard To Predict Stanley Cup Winner

The Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks are the first Original Six teams to meet in the Stanley Cup Finals since 1979. Considering their status as two of the league’s original teams, it’s amazing that this will be their first time meeting on the biggest stage. The Bruins and Blackhawks have never played against one another in the Stanley Cup Finals, but they match up well this year and should give online sports betting fans a hard time trying to predict which franchise will come out on top.

Each franchise has won the Stanley Cup once in the past three years, with Chicago winning it in 2010 and then Boston winning it in 2011. Both teams still have many of the key players that played for their Cup-winning teams, with the biggest difference being the two goaltenders. Antti Niemi was the starter for the Blackhawks during their 2010 Stanley Cup run, a year in which Corey Crawford made just one appearance all season as veteran Cristobal Huet held down the backup job. Tuukka Rask watched Tim Thomas thrive as a Conn Smythe winner in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, but he has more than held his own as the Bruins’ no. 1 netminder since Thomas retired. Crawford, Bryan Bickell, and Nick Leddy are the key Chicago players that didn’t play for the 2010 Cup-winning team, while Rask and Jaromir Jagr are the biggest additions for Boston.

The curse of the Presidents’ trophy hasn’t had a negative impact on the Blackhawks to this point in the playoffs, even though the historical sports betting numbers may not favor their chances to win it all. Since the Presidents’ trophy was first awarded all the way back in 1985-86, only seven teams have won both that and the Stanley Cup in the same season. That last team to sweep both trophies was the Detroit Red Wings in 2007-08, something Chicago will try to change this sports betting season.

One of the most interesting aspects of this Stanley Cup Finals is that both teams enter the series on fire, with the Blackhawks winning seven of their past eight games and the Bruins winning five-straight and nine of their past 10 games. Boston has trailed for only 35:07 of the 604:58 it has played since game seven of its opening round series versus Toronto, while Chicago is coming off a dominant performance in eliminating the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings. Both of these teams will enter the Stanley Cup Finals with a ton of momentum, but only one team can win it all.

Looking back at the all-time series between these teams, it’s the bruins that have won five of the six times that the Bruins and Blackhawks clashed in the playoffs. The last time they met was the 1978 quarterfinals, when Boston swept the series in four-straight. Fast-forward more than three decades later and that certainly isn’t likely to happen again this time around with everything on the line. Boston and Chicago have each provided online sports betting players with plenty of reasons to take them, but only one of these teams can win the Stanley Cup and that will mean plenty of fireworks when these franchises clash.