Tuesday, 25 May 2004
. . . And then there were two - SPECTATOR - THE COMMENTARY
By Dhiren Mahiban, for The Commentary
What happens when a burning flame clashes with a strike of lightning?
That's what fans are eager to find out heading into the final stanza of the 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Calgary Flames and Tampa Bay Lightning get set to battle it out for the Holy Grail.
Both teams are young, and for the most part inexperienced; however that is not the only thing these two teams have in common. The Lightning and Flames are both high flying fast skating teams who have the defensive talents to shut down their opponent's top shooters. But between the pipes is where these two teams have really caught the eyes of onlookers; Nikolai Khabibulin and Miikka Kiprusoff have stolen the show for their respective teams and are a big reason why the Lightning and Flames are vying for hockey's most coveted prize.
This Stanley Cup Finals brings two new franchises to battle, over the past nine years a combination of four teams (Colorado, Detroit, Dallas, and New Jersey) have taken the prize home. However, this post-season none of those four franchises made it past the Conference semi-finals.
The 2004 Stanley Cup Finals marks the end of many droughts including the first time the franchise from Florida has made it to the big show; it is also the first time in ten years the Stanley Cup finals will be played north of the border, the last team being the Vancouver Canucks in 1994; and finally it is the first time in 15 years that the Calgary Flames have made it to the Stanley Cup Finals.
This edition of the Calgary Flames has been dubbed the Cinderella team of the playoffs. The Flames were the only bottom seed team to advance to the Conference Finals and have had an uphill battle getting to 'the big show'. En-route to their first final appearance in 15 years, the Flames knocked off three division champions, including the President's Trophy winning Detroit Red Wings. Canada's team, as they are now referred to, is looking to be the only team in history to knock off four division champions in one playoff year.
A big reason for Calgary's post-season success lies solely on goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff, Kiprusoff has started all 19 games thus far for the Flames posting a 12-7 record with a 1.90 G.A.A. and a .933 save percentage, he has also recorded 4 shutouts in that span. The native of Finland had a stellar regular season for the Flames as well Kiprusoff started 38 games posting a 24-10-4 record while maintaining a 1.70 G.A.A and a .930 save percentage. His regular season play has not gone unnoticed, as the San Jose Sharks draft pick has been nominated for the Vezina Trophy and his post-season performance has to put him in contention for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.
An area that has been of concern for the Calgary Flames is there defence especially after regulars Toni Lydman and Deni Gauthier were both injured during the Vancouver series. As the Flames watched their top two defensemen go down, it looked like their defence or lack thereof was going to hurt them down the stretch. Currently the Flames have four defenseman who have never played a single game in the NHL playoffs until this year and combined the Flame's six defensemen have played in 180 playoff games. To put that number in perspective Tampa Bay Lightning captain Dave Andreychuck has single handily played in 155 post-season games. Despite the lack of experience the Calgary Flames defenseman have been able to tame top calibre players from Markus Naslund, to Hall of Famers Brett Hull and Steve Yzerman, to San Jose Sharks Captain Patrick Marleau. So with that experience with them they shouldn't have too much trouble controlling the Tampa Bay lightning's Canadian duo of Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier.
Speaking of goal scorers Calgary has been given the gift of depth in this area with every one from Jarome Iginla to Martian Gelinas burning teams on a regular basis. Iginla, the Edmonton native, is second in playoff scoring with ten goals and seven assist. The two-time Rocket Richard winner has been able to come out of the shadows of towering defenseman and provide the type of leadership teams need to win championships. Then there is Martin Gelinas, the 34-year-old Quebec native signed as a free agent in the summer of 2002 was supposed to add veteran leadership and score timely goals and he has done just that. Gelinas put the Canucks and Red Wings on ice with a pair of overtime winners; he then went on to score the game winner in six of the Western Conference Final.
On the other side of the table are the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Southeast Division and Eastern Conference Champions, unlike the Flames the Lightning have never been to the Stanley Cup Finals before and led by veteran Dave Andreychuck the franchise is looking for their first cup.
Throughout the 2004 playoffs the Lightning have had excellent goaltending from the man they call the Bulin Wall, Nikolai Khabibulin. Khabibulin has started all 16 games for the Lightning during their run and has a 12-4 record with a 1.65 G.A.A and a .939 save percentage. During the regular season, the Winnipeg Jets draft pick helped the Lightning to a first place finish in the Eastern Conference while posting a 2.33 G.A.A and a .910 save percentage in 55 starts.
Up front, the Lighting have a dominant trio of Brad Richards, Fredrik Modin and Martin St. Louis. The three forwards have combined for 20 goals and 51 points, and are three of the five top scorers in the 2004 playoffs. Add Vincent Lecavalier and his 13 points to the mix and the Tampa Bay Lightning have a potent offensive line up supplemented by solid veteran defensemen in Darryl Sydor and Brad Lukowich, who both won cups with Dallas, and you have a solid cup contender. Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach John Tortorella has done an excellent job mixing experience with youth and created an excellent hockey team that could possibly bring the cup to the state of Florida for the first time.
The 2004 Stanley Cup Finals will undoubtedly be different from the past nine seasons. There is no Martin Brodeur, Steve Yzerman or Peter Forsberg to steal the show, instead, it's time for the likes of Miikka Kiprusoff and Martin St. Louis to take the ball and run with it. This series between the Flames and Lightning is going to be hard fought every night and in the end, the team with the better goaltending will prevail.
Questions or comments may be sent to editor@thecommentary.ca