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NHL: Canucks Happy to Wait on Stanley Cup Opponents

  • Al Dannity's Author profile. Al Dannity

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Tampa Bay’s victory last night means the Vancouver Canucks must wait at least two more days to find out who they will face in the Stanley Cup Finals. Al Dannity says Vancouver fans will be fine waiting, if nothing else it will give them a chance to get their breath back.

Soak it in
It’s barely 48 hours since the dramatic finish to Game 5 of the Canucks’ series with the Sharks. First came Ryan Kesler’s late goal, with just 14 seconds remaining, to force overtime. As if that wasn’t enough, Kevin Bielsa won the game with a near unbelievable knuckle shot in the second overtime period. It’s been 17 long years since Vancouver made the Stanley Cup Finals, waiting a couple more days will be easy for Canucks fans. They can take the time to savour a truly remarkable turnaround in the post-season. Having nearly thrown it all away against the Blackhawks and made hard work of the Predators, Vancouver showed their President’s Trophy winning pedigree against San Jose. When the tough questions were asked in this series, the Canucks were ready to answer. That’s worth celebrating in its own right.
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No fear of rust
The gap between the Canucks beating the Sharks and the Eastern Conference Finals ending won’t be significant. Even though the Lightning forced Game 7 in that series, we will know the winner of that conference tomorrow night. That’s huge for Vancouver as they won’t want to wait too long between games. The opening game of the Lightning-Bruins series showed the kind of mistakes teams can make when they have been out of action for too long. The rest the Canucks are getting now is ideal for re-charging ahead of the big test ahead but not too long.

Who will they face?
That is the question facing all Canucks fans. For the second time this season, Rene Rancourt will sing the national anthem before a crucial Game 7 in Boston. Once again it will be tough to pick a winner. The key question facing the Bruins is which Tim Thomas will show up? The one that has made some miracle saves in the post-season or the goaltender who has made some sloppy errors to give opponents second chances. This game is vital for the psyche of Bruins fans. No team in the Eastern Conference, save for Washington, has shown the consistency of Boston since the lockout. This however is their best chance since that era to finally return to the Stanley Cup Finals. Emotions will run high and the Lightning won’t go down easy but I like the Boston Bruins to finally make the breakthrough and book their place on the grandest stage of all.