The Edmonton Oilers did not win a single game this year in the postseason, the Montreal Canadiens on the other hand have won 12 thus far.
The Canadiens are just four wins away from hoisting the Stanley Cup, something that the Edmonton Oilers are hoping to do one of these years. After a long season, Montreal is now Canada’s team for the next few weeks.
The last time a Canadian hockey team won the Stanley Cup was in 1993 when the Montreal Canadiens topped the Los Angeles Kings, so for Canada, this is a big deal. Before that year in 1993, it was the Oilers in 1990 who won the Stanley Cup last for Canada.
The Oilers could learn a few things from the Canadiens. Nothing seems to be slowing the Canadiens down, they are playing great defensive hockey, have great goaltending, and keep finding ways to win games against teams that are supposedly better than them.
While one would imagine that the Tampa Bay Lightning are heavily favored in a series against the Canadiens, it is not like Montreal was favored against Toronto, Winnipeg, or Vegas. This is going to be a great Stanley Cup Final to watch, and going into next season I hope that Edmonton can do a better job building a team that can compete in the postseason.
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Montreal has players like Corey Perry leading the charge within the locker room, they have a lot of experience despite being a young roster for the most part, and the youth and experience are blending well together to make a team that is not letting anything slow them down.
This Canadiens team was not expected to go on a run like this. In fact, it was Edmonton or Toronto that was supposed to lead the charge in the North Division throughout the playoffs, well now here we are again this season with a team that was not expected to do much now in the mix to win the Stanley Cup.
If I am the Oilers I would feel a little better knowing that anything can happen in the postseason, and while it is great to be a favorite in the playoffs all that matters is playing a great team game throughout the postseason.
The Stanley Cup Final starts on Monday, June 28th between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Montreal Canadiens. Who do you think will win it all?