Stanley Cup Finals: Best Odds to Win
Writing by admin on Wednesday, 23 of May , 2007 at 7:27 pm
Original Six? That is so yesterday.
An expansion team is going to win the Stanley Cup – again. This year, the silverware is going to a team that was born in the ‘90s. The Ottawa Senators are the favorites at 5-6; the Anaheim Ducks are barking after eliminating the Detroit Red Wings (take that, traditionalists) on Tuesday night.
The cream has definitely risen to the top. Both teams have the stuff of champions – except the Ducks have experienced more wear and tear on the road to the finals. They lost No. 1 left-winger Chris Kunitz to a broken hand, making it very difficult for Anaheim to trot out its fourth line as often as Ottawa does. Norris Trophy winner Scott Niedermayer is rumored to be playing with a stress fracture in his right foot. And requiring six games to dust off Detroit means the Ducks will have three fewer days of rest than the Senators heading into Monday’s opener.
There isn’t any one weakness on the Senators, but some are expecting Anaheim to win this series, thanks to home-ice advantage and the team’s punishing style. Jean-Sebastien Giguere is also drawing praise for out-dueling Detroit’s Dominik Hasek. That’s a bit of a stretch. After stoning the Vancouver Canucks in the second round, Giguere had a save percentage below .900 in four of the six meetings with the Red Wings. Hasek was also hit-and-miss, with three bad games out of six, but it was Anaheim’s depth that eventually won the day.
Meanwhile, back in Ottawa, coach Bryan Murray is cooking up some plans for his old team. Murray was Anaheim’s general manager when the Ducks made it to the Cup finals in 2003. He is the architect of the team he will face on Monday. The Senators will no doubt benefit from Murray’s experience – I think they’ll get a Gruden-like jump on the Ducks and bring the Cup to Ottawa for the first time since 1927. Maybe some tradition will rub off on the Sens after all.
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