There's finally a team based out of Canada making a run for the NHL Stanley Cup. Fittingly enough it's the Montreal Canadiens and they're turning heads in the NHL.
The Canadiens entered the playoffs as an 8-seed with a daunting task of taking out Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals. Despite what all of the experts said, the Canadiens went into the nation's capital and took out the Capitals in Game 7.
Then there was yet another heavyweight to take out and it was the defending Stanley Cup champions in the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Once again the Canadiens stuck to the gameplan and took it to a Game 7 where anything is possible. Well the near impossible happened yet again as the Canadiens convincingly went into the Steel City and beat the Penguins 5-2.
Perhaps the most telling stat in this series is the fact that Sidney Crosby was held to just a single goal in seven games. He scored 51 goals in the regular season and five goals in the previous series against the Senators.
There's no denying the reason the Canadies have made it this far and looking at becoming the first even 8-seed to win the Stanley Cup. It's becasue of Jaroslav Halak and his stellar goaltending that is like nothing I have ever seen.
The Penguins socred two unanswered goals in the 2nd period and had all the momentum on their side when Halak made amazing save after amazing save to keep the game out of reach for the highly talented Penguins.
If Halak keeps this up then you're looking at you're Stanley Cup champions. In hockey, great goaltending wins Stanley Cups.
This series wasn't the only great series going on in the Eastern Conference. The Flyer have now won three straight games in their series to force a Game 7 with the Bruins.
With all of that said, as of right now this year's NBA playoffs have nothing on the NHL playoffs and the Canadiens can greatly be thanked for that.
Inside the 2010 NHL Playoffs
- Number of 7-game series: 4
- Number of 6-game series: 6
- Number of 1-goal games: 33
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