I don’t want to get too extravagant or over the top here, but I can’t help but smile at how the Hawks and Bruins demonstrated everything good the sport can be a little more than 13 hours after Vancouver and Calgary pretty much embarrassed everyone involved with it. Because today was as good a game as the regular season can produce. And it involved none of the bullshit that sometimes comes with teams with a history.
It was fast, it was passionate, it was physical at times, both teams traded periods of having the upperhand. Big saves, big hits, nifty passing, defensive responsibility, it wouldn’t have looked out of place in late May. If there’s any downside, it was just another illustration that a contest like this is somewhat sullied by having it end in a skills competition. It easily could have ended 2-2 and I doubt anyone would have walked out of that building feeling like they didn’t get their money’s worth.
