Sniper Phil Kessel Could Have Been the Difference for Boston Bruins

In June, us Toronto Maple Leaf fans have little else to do while watching the Stanley Cup Finals except reinforce the credibility of each others' delusional trade scenarios.

It’s a pastime I’m happy to take part in.

However, there is at least one tiny angle to insert some possible relevance of the Leafs at this time.

The eight-goal outburst of Game 3 notwithstanding, the first two losses to Vancouver have already put Boston into a statistically nightmarish position.

Only two of 34 teams have ever come back from such a deficit in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The torching of Roberto Luongo in Game 3 is reminiscent of the poundings the Black Hawks laid on the Canucks after Vancouver got ahead 3-0 in that opening round series.

But in the end, the Hawks simply reinforce the statistics of teams that lost a series after getting into a deep hole. 

I suggest there’s a high probability the same undesirable fate awaits the Bruins.

Looking back at the first two games of the Finals then, it was clear that in those one-goal affairs the speed and depth of the Canucks had given them a pivotal advantage. 

The Bruins defence suffered from lack of quality bodies. Zdeno Chara’s minutes killed him and it seemed like every tiny mistake Andrew Ference made translated to a huge goal against.

At forward also, the Bruins were being out-gunned and out-skated. Certainly, Boston could have used concussion-prone Marc Savard’s dependable production.

But also—and here’s where the Leafs assert their questionable relevance—the Bruins could also have stolen at least one of those first two games had former Bruin Phil Kessel been in their lineup. 

The man’s got speed and a killer wrist shot. Bottom line—he’s a better goal-scorer than anyone on the current Bruins roster, a team now depleted even more with Aaron Rome’s season-ending hit on Nathan Horton. 

Whatever one says about Kessel, it’s hard to argue that the sniping winger couldn't have contributed more than Tyler Seguin in those first two games. 

In fact, last year's No. 2 overall draft pick who went to Boston as part of the Kessel trade only managed to work himself into being a healthy scratch for Game 3.

This is not a knock against the young Seguin. It may well be that without his brilliant four-point game in Game 2 against the Lightning last round that Boston would not even be competing in the Finals.

Seguin might even win the Art Ross Trophy one day—a feat no one believes the assist-challenged Kessel will ever do.

But the fact is that Boston is in the Finals now and since the early part of the Tampa series, Seguin has been overwhelmed. He’s simply too inexperienced to be anything more than an inconsistent pleasant surprise at this point. That is, if he’s playing at all.

A few flicks of Kessel’s wrists, on the other hand, could have had the B’s in the driver's seat now instead of battling uphill against stacked odds.

Sure, one may reasonably argue that after the Game 3 blowout, the Bruins are right back in it. They  may yet win it all. There's a reason the games are scheduled.

Yet, statistics and the smart money say that Vancouver wins this series.

In the big picture, it just may be that with the Kessel trade, Boston GM Peter Chiarelli made a long-term decision that deprived his team of a talent that could have been the difference in the battle for the Stanley Cup, the only thing that matters.