Lightning Confident Despite Blackhawks' Huge Edge in Stanley Cup Experience

TAMPA, Fla. — There is no fancy stat that can measure the value of experience. There is no website in the world that concocts charts with shaded circles to indicate which team has the edge in "experience/60" in tied or close postseason games.

That doesn’t mean it’s not important; it means that without the ability to scientifically or mathematically quantify it, we are just guessing. 

The 2015 Stanley Cup Final will be a test in this regard, as the Chicago Blackhawks will be attempting to win their third Stanley Cup in six seasons after participating in their fifth conference final in seven seasons, while the Tampa Bay Lightning can’t believe how totally cool the Prince of Wales Trophy is.

Maybe it’s not that extreme, but the Lightning are the second-youngest team in the league with an average age of 27.2, while the Blackhawks are the third-oldest club and more likely to take advantage of the early-bird specials here in Florida with an average age of 29.6, according to NHL Numbers.

Chicago’s Joel Quenneville has coached more postseason games (198) than Tampa Bay's Jon Cooper has coached career regular-season games (180). 

Player	Team	Playoff games	Goals	Assists	Points
Marian Hossa	Chicago	188	49	91	140
Brad Richards	Chicago	135	35	66	101
Valtteri Filppula	Tampa Bay	129	22	47	69
Brenden Morrow	Tampa Bay	112	19	27	46
Niklas Hjalmarsson	Chicago	111	2	25	27
Jonathan Toews	Chicago	111	38	61	99
Patrick Kane	Chicago	110	47	64	111
Duncan Keith	Chicago	110	14	58	72
Matt Carle	Tampa Bay	107	6	33	39
Brent Seabrook	Chicago	106	18	38	56
Kimmo Timonen	Chicago	102	4	31	35
Michal Rozsival*	Chicago	102	5	20	25

It’s an experience mismatch across the board, and in a way, it’s because general manager Steve Yzerman has proved too good at this job. When asked at media day in Amalie Arena if he thought his team would be good enough to reach the Final when he began retooling the roster after missing the playoffs in 2012, he said: "Even if you asked me last September, I hoped to, but it certainly wasn’t necessarily planned that way.”

The rise of the Lightning has exceeded their bosses’ expectations. Usually the script for young, talented teams on their way to championships is similar with a few tweaks here and there—be bad, draft well, develop young talent, make a couple of playoff runs that end in losses, achieve Stanley Cup glory.

Well, the Lightning got to the part about playoff runs ending in losses and asked for a rewrite. Goaltender Ben Bishop, who is making the most of his first postseason appearance, pitched a shutout in Game 7 of the conference final to beat the veteran-laden New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, a place where that franchise had never lost a Game 7. 

If there were a time when experience would matter, that was it.

“It goes to a testament of their character, what they are as people," Cooper said. "The job Steve has done to bring these guys in. It kind of fits the mold of the type of player we’re looking [for].”

Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

All due respect to the Rangers, but the Lightning are moving up in class when they face the Blackhawks, who have just as much experience as the Rangers but way more talent throughout their lineup. It was the talent of the Lightning that carried the day against the Rangers, and it will be asked to do so again against the Blackhawks.

The only difference being that Chicago matches that talent.

The Lightning boast Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat, a line that has combined for 28 goals and 55 points in 20 games this postseason; Chicago's trio of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith have combined for 21 goals and 56 points in 17 playoff games and each has two championships.

The Cup-less Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn have 14 goals and 33 points between them; Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp have eight goals and 25 points but are also two-time Cup winners with a combined 311 playoff games.

Toews and Kane have won a Conn Smythe Trophy, as has Brad Richards as a member of the Lightning in 2004. This is Richards' first and probably only season with the Blackhawks, but he brings 135 games of postseason experience with him into the Final.

Dave Sandford/Getty Images

"Brad has brought a lot of experience," goaltender Corey Crawford said. "To be calm in tight, intense situations. He’s brought some skill, too, some goal-scoring, some offense when we needed it throughout the year. Just another guy that gives you another look and gives the other team something else to think about." 

Maybe this story seems familiar to the Blackhawks, but only because they used to be this Lightning team.

Before winning the Cup in 2010, the Blackhawks lost in the conference final to the loaded, highly experienced Detroit Red Wings, who won four titles from 1997 to 2008 before losing the 2009 Stanley Cup Final. Prior to 2009, the Blackhawks had missed the playoffs five straight times.

"They’re a young team," Kane said of the Lightning. "I could remember in 2010 we were pretty young too, and I think I made a comment back then saying we were kind of too young and stupid to even realize the magnitude of the situation we were in, so that could go for them too."

Sports, one of the few places where being called young and stupid is meant as a compliment.

But Kane's right—the Lightning can't match the Blackhawks' experience, so if they are to win this series, it will have to be through youth and stupidity.

“If I look back and talk about how many guys said Ben Bishop didn’t have any playoff experience when he came in," Cooper said, "and now what people are saying about him, what they’re going to say about all these guys down the list, two months later, they’re kind of writing their own history."

One way or the other, it will be an experience the Lightning will never forget.

All statistics via NHL.com.

Dave Lozo covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @DaveLozo.