Top Line: Stanley Cup Final Game 2 reacts; awards controversy; more links
After two games and 4 overtimes, the Stanley Cup winner could be decided by a few lucky bounces. (John Biever/SI)
An annotated guide to this morning's must-read hockey stories:
• With the two teams so evenly matched, the Stanley Cup Final between the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks may come down to stupid, dumb luck.
• Game 2 proved that playoff hockey is anything but predictable or fair.
• Claude Julien called it a hunch. Good thing he trusts his gut. It ended up winning him the game.
• Here's how the Bruins were able to turn the game around...from the Chicago perspective.
• The Hawks feel like the quick whistle that negated an apparent goal by Marian Hossa killed their momentum in Game 1. Maybe, maybe not. Ultimately, they outshot the Bruins 19-4 in the first, but only managed a 1-0 lead. You have to take the kill shot when it comes to you.
• Bruce Arthur with the lede of the night: "If you’ve got a shovel and a body you’d better finish the job before somebody shows up, trapping you in the headlights." The rest of his genius is here.
• If the Blackhawks can't turn the man advantage into, you know, an actual advantage, the futility of their power play may end up costing them the Cup.
• Maybe it means something. Maybe it doesn't. But Chicago heads to Boston having lost Game 3 on the road in each previous series.
• He had just three assists through the first 17 games of the playoffs, but Tyler Seguin notched a pair just last night in his best game of the postseason.
• Here is a gentle reminder that a ticket in the lower bowl comes with the responsibility to keep your eye on the puck.
• Gotta have a montage! Montaaaaage!
• Is Brendan Shanahan ready to turn in his sheriff's badge? Looks like he could be heading out west to join the front office of the Calgary Flames.
• New York GM Glen Sather made the right call in going with the experience of Alain Vigneault over the aura of Mark Messier.
• That Vigneault chose the Rangers over the Dallas Stars shows how much work this once-mighty organization has to do to rebuild the brand.
• "I think I had the best year I could possibly have," said Ted Lindsay-winner Sidney Crosby.
• GM George McPhee says winning the Hart Trophy caught Alex Ovechkin off guard.
• Eric Duhatschek writes that Ovechkin's win highlights the need to redefine the award to honor the most outstanding player. The sooner this happens, the better.
• Steve Simmons says Ovechkin won for all the wrong reasons.
• Capture this moment: P.K. Subban is humbled by his Norris Trophy win.
• Jonathan Huberdeau and Brendan Gallagher each earned 54 first-place votes in the Calder Trophy balloting. Here's who pulled off the narrow victory.
• He may have been edged out in the EA Sports cover balloting, but Sergei Bobrovskytook solace in his consolation Vezina.
• The Columbus organization is chuffed by the Bobrovsky win. Now they have to getting the pending free agent signed.