A series to be remembered?
A Dallas-New Jersey Stanley Cup final may not have been what most people hoped for, but it turned out to be something we can be thankful for. After a shocking Game 1 blowout by the Devils, there were five straight road victories, with the series culminating in two multiple-overtime games and some of the best goaltending ever seen in the finals. But will it be enough to keep us talking in the coming years?
We asked ESPN's NHL analysts their opinion on the series and how it will be remembered.
How will this year's Stanley Cup Finals be remembered?
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NHL analyst Barry Melrose
There are going to be some games in this series that we will remember but not the series as a whole. Game 5 will be a classic: The number of shots, the time, the great goaltending. We will be talking about that game for a long time. Back-to-back triple- and double-overtime games doesn't happen very often. The last two games we will be talking about, but I don't think the series was a classic. |
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NHL commentator Darren Pang
We needed this series. Ever since the Rangers won in '94, we've had too many sweeps. This will be memorable based on the last two games. They were two extremely hard-fought games. For all those teams who thought they were Stanley Cup contenders, all they had to do was look at these last two games and see where they need to be. This was an extremely hard and well played series. I was surprised and amazed at the pace of Game 6. I liked it even better than Game 5. I thought the pace was higher, the scoring chances and the passing were even better. This series was great for the game of hockey. |
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NHL commentator Brian Engblom
When it came right down to it, New Jersey surprised all of us at just how good they were. Whether it was extra emotion or whether they wanted it more, I don't know. They definitely showed they are a better team than we gave them credit for. All the talk about whoever won the West would win the Cup, they obviously took that to heart and were going to prove to everyone that wasn't true. They deserved it. They played balanced hockey and got contributions from everybody night after night. You have to take your hat off to them. This was a great series. |
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NHL analyst Al Morganti
The last two games made this series memorable -- perhaps, a classic. The goaltending was just unbelievable. I don't think it is outrageous to say it is some of the best goaltending you are ever going to see. I think especially since so many people thought this was going to be a boring series with the Devils and Stars and their styles of play. But those overtimes were some of the best overtime hockey I have ever seen. There were just great open shots and terrific mano-a-mano goaltending. I don't see how anybody would gripe except that I wish we could have seen a seventh game. |
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ABC commentator John Saunders
This is going to be remembered as one of the best Stanley Cup finals ever. Out of the six games, four of them were one-goal games. There was plenty of drama with back-to-back overtimes, so it is really a situation where you have a defending champion in a city that is rabid over the National Hockey League against a team without a fan base. It didn't look like that from the games we saw in New Jersey. I have been watching the Stanley Cup finals since I was 5-years-old, and this will be one I will definitely remember. |
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NHL commentator Steve Levy
I really was concerned after the first four games. I thought it was a ho-hum kind of series and that was so disappointing coming off two seven-game conference finals. I think by virtue of the last two games, this has to be considered the best finals since the Rangers-Canucks series in '94. |
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