Vancouver Canucks: 10 Reasons They'll Win the NHL Stanley Cup Finals
The Vancouver Canucks are heading back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1994.
With a 3-2 double-overtime victory over the San Jose Sharks Tuesday night, the Canucks take one step closer towards the goal of every NHL player.
The last time Vancouver was in the Stanley Cup Finals, they were down 3-1 to the New York Rangers in the series, but managed to force a Game 7, but came up just a bit short.
Seventeen years have gone by, and these Canucks are looking to write a different ending to the story this time around.
Here are 10 reasons why the Canucks will be the ones hoisting Lord Stanley's hardware, rather than watching it this time around.
Adversity
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It's very rare that any teams just sweep straight through the entirety of the playoffs without any type of challenge from anybody.
At some point or another, every championship team faces moments of adversity, and you really see what the team is made of by how they handle that adversity.
Of course, with the Vancouver Canucks, who pretty much danced through the regular season to the league's best record and the franchise's first ever President's Trophy, hadn't really faced a ton during the regular season.
So nobody really expected much adversity to show up in the first round of the playoffs against the Blackhawks, especially when Vancouver quickly jumped out to a 3-0 series lead.
The Blackhawks, however, came roaring back to tie the series and forced overtime in Game 7 on a shorthanded goal by Jonathan Toews.
Literally, when I saw Toews score that goal, I thought it was over for the Canucks.
But the team responded. They fought back, and scored the winner in overtime, exorcising their past playoff demons by finally eliminating the Chicago Blackhawks, who had sent them packing the past two seasons in the playoffs.
Vancouver has felt the pressure of losing the control of the series. They stared it straight in the face and overcame it.
Since then, they have never been out of control of a series.
Luongo Finally Playing Like a Big Game Goalie
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Since being manhandled in Games 4 and 5 by the Chicago Blackhawks, and being benched in Game 6, Luongo has only lost three games.
Luongo is one of those players who has carried around the stigma of only being a regular season goalie and never being able to do the job in the playoffs. A "playoff choke artist" if you will.
Ever since rediscovering his form in Game 7 against Chicago, Luongo has been an absolute brick wall.
His goals-against average in the playoffs is 2.29, and his save percentage is .920.
Many of the goals he has been beaten on were deflections where he had no chance, especially against the Sharks.
Perhaps playing fewer games than usual in the regular season has helped keep him more fresh for the cup rung.
Perhaps all of this pales in comparison to being Canada's goalie for one of the most intense Olympic Gold Medal games in history has steadied his hand and given him more confidence that he can be the big-game goalie.
At any rate, Luongo has been stellar.
High Voltage Power Play
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During the regular season the Vancouver Canuck's power play was the absolute best in the league.
During the playoffs, they have not disappointed.
Their power play especially began clicking in the conference finals against San Jose, where they scored nine power-play goals in five games.
For the whole playoffs, the Canuck's power play is finding the back of the net an astonishing 28.3 percent of the time.
It isn't just the Sedins, either.
Higgins, Salo, Kesler and Burrows all chipped in with power-play points as well.
San Jose helped prove one thing for certain about playing against these Canucks.
If you take too many penalties, they will make you pay with deadly efficiency.
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Offensive Defense
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Vancouver has had several people contributing offensively, but one of the places where they have been getting their most significant offensive contributions are from their defense.
Kevin Bieksa started off the series with goals in both Games 1 and 2.
Salo had a couple of power play goals in game four to put the Canucks up 3-1 over the Sharks.
In the playoffs as a whole, the Vancouver defense has logged more than 40 points.
San Jose did a better job during Games 4 and 5 about taking the defense out of the game, but by that point it was too little, too late.
If the defense of the Canucks is able to continue to produce on the offensive side of things the way they have been, very little will be able to stop the Canucks.
Ryan Kesler
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Ryan Kesler has been the most complete player in the entire NHL during these Stanley Cup Playoffs.
He has seven goals and 11 assists in this playoffs, and has been doing everything.
During the first series, he absolutely was a thorn in Jonathan Toews side, every single time he was on the ice.
During Round 2, Kesler scored several goals and really burst onto the scene, showing that the Canucks had far more than just the Sedins.
Round 3 he was a thorn in Joe Thornton's side, really embracing the defensive portion of the game and then coming up huge when things count the most.
Kesler scored in overtime against Nashville to help Vancouver take control of that series, and then again last night with 30 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime.
Kesler seems to be most people's pick for the Conn Smythe award as playoff MVP at this moment, and watching his body of work thus far in the playoffs, it's hard to argue.
The Sedin Twins
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Henrik and Daniel Sedin have already done something that no other pair of brothers have ever done.
Never have brothers led the league in scoring during the regular season in consecutive years, until Henrik and Daniel.
In past playoff years, the Sedins have always left a lot to be desired, never lighting the lamp as much as they are capable of doing.
This season has seen the Sedins lighting the lamp from all over the place, and dominating the play just by the two of them playing keep away from the rest of the people on the ice.
Watching these two play makes you just think that it really isn't fair for the other team to have two guys that are this talented not only on the same team, but on the same line just making everybody look silly for a good two minutes every single time they come on the ice.
The Sedins are rolling right now, and when they get on a roll like the one they're on, it's scary for the other team.
The break that they're going to have between now and the start of the finals may be the only thing that can throw them off.
The Third Line
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Something that really helps a team win Stanley Cups is having a third line that doesn't only do a good job in their own zone, but can pin the other team in their zone.
The Canuck's third line has been amazing all playoffs long.
The are a big change of pace to the first two lines that attack with a lot of skill, this third line comes at you with a ton of speed and physical play.
Raffi Torres and Maxim Lapierre are two incredibly hard-hitting players that don't make stupid plays in their own zone.
Torres has a reputation for making some "questionable" hits, but still does a pretty good job of keeping the majority of his hits clean.
Lapierre has had a tendency to embellish things from time to time, but also works very hard and earns many of the penalties called against him.
Plus, he's an expert agitator, and can make even the coolest players take a swipe at him and earn his team some time on the power play.
This third line has been a huge reason for Vancouver's success this year.
Good Coaching
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I tell you what, if I had the same personnel lineup that Alain Vigneault has in Vancouver, then I'd be smiling like this as well.
Personnel is only one piece of the puzzle. Having the ability to make sure that every single player on that team buys into the system and does things the right way.
Several teams have had great personnel and not made it to the finals. The Detroit Red Wings, the Colorado Avalanche and the Pittsburgh Penguins are all teams who have had seasons where their end result has not lived up to the players on their team.
It takes a great coach to unite the players and truly have them playing for each other.
Alain Vigneault has earned the respect of his players and their confidence by showing his own faith in them, putting the right people in situations for success, and for creating a strategy that works towards his team's biggest strengths.
They Are a Complete Team
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This Canucks team is absolutely the most complete team in the NHL this year.
They are immensely skilled, but still hard-working and not afraid to play a physical and gritty game.
They play great offensive hockey, but nobody is a slouch in their own end either.
Their defense is stout, but they are also heavily involved in the offensive side of the game.
Top to bottom, this team just knows how to get things done. The last couple of seasons they have experienced difficult lessons in how to deal with success; those lessons are now paying dividends.
In the truest sense of the words, this is a team that plays for each other and does not care about individual accomplishments.
Sure, they'll take those accomplishments, but they are all footnotes of part of a much bigger story. This team cares about one thing: winning.
They Are the Best Team in the NHL
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During the regular season, the Vancouver Canucks established very clearly that they were the dominant team in the NHL.
Rarely does it happen that the President's Trophy Winner of the regular season gets to the finals anymore, but Vancouver has made that happen in a manner that should leave little doubt that they are the favorites.
They faced and overcame adversity, they grew together as a team, they are working together to overcome individual and shared demons and they are now firing an all cylinders.
When the Canucks are playing the way that they have been, there is no doubt that they are the best team in the NHL.
With one more series to go, there is little, if any doubt in my mind that the Vancouver Canucks will win the Stanley Cup.
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