Cup Finals Preview by the Pool Numbers

I don't suppose there were very many people who worked out their brackets to show a New York Rangers & Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup Final, eh? I could see people choosing one or the other, thinking that their favourite team would make it and then I think the odds would suggest that some people would eventually see this final going down, but it would have to be in very small numbers.

By virtue of the number of selections for both teams, neither were suggested as favourites.  Neither team broke the 100-selection mark in the pool, which means that they were hummed and hawed about and some people thought better of a San Jose or Philadelphia.

The outright favourites were in the Eastern Conference, as people were a little more set on Boston and Pittsburgh doing the most damage, while Chicago and Anaheim were favourites in the West, but it wasn't quite the landslide as the East saw.  No, the collective of this pool didn't see this result coming, but that hasn't diminished the finish in this year's pool, something I'll go over here soon.

The New York Rangers come into this series as the underdog, both in a lack of home-ice advantage and in pool selections.  The Rangers topped out at 71 picks in total, 34 in Boxes 13 through 18 and 37 picks in Boxes 19 through 24.  The wealth here was spread around pretty well and scoring saw much of the same.

This series, the first focus will be on the leading goal scorers for each team and it is decisive for both, clear leaders heading into the Finals.  Martin St. Louis, the human interest story of these playoffs, leads the Rangers hockey pool players with 6 goals, 2 of which are game-winners for bonus points and he ranks 14th in pool scoring going into the series.

The Rangers leader in points, and pool leader by the way, is Henrik Lundqvist, who has 12 wins, 1 shutout and an assist for 27 points, tops among everyone on the sheet.

Yes, the top six teams in the pool, all have three Rangers, as they all have six players left in these playoffs.  I think there is a subtle combination of both throughout.  Travis, our pool leader going into the Finals, has St. Louis, Rick Nash and Lundqvist on his side, which would suggest that he had the Rangers to go all the way in his mind.  2nd place, Corey M., will carry Derrick Brassard, Marc Staal and John Moore, which is a lesser trio, but players are still there to give him a chance.  3rd place, Wes M., has Nash, Mats Zuccarello and Moore, which isn't a bad trio, although Moore has yet to score a goal.  Our 4th place team, Gus M.'s first team, has Nash, Zuccarello and Lundqvist, which has some punch to challenge.

On the Los Angeles Kings' side, they do come in as the favourites, by virtue of the regular season standings, getting home-ice advantage, the series starting on the West Coast on Wednesday night and they also have the backing of the hockey pool as well, taking 87 selections.  It was a 36-51 top and bottom line split for them, with the bottom line (defense) getting the better focus.

Jeff Carter has been a force in these playoffs for the Kings, as he leads his team in goals among his fellow selection sheet players with 9 tallies in his favour, none of which have been credited as game-winners, so no bonus points there for him.  I would think that he would be due for a bonus point or two in these Finals, if the Kings were able to win some games.

And to no one's surprise, the leading point-getter for the Kings through three rounds is their goaltender as well, Jonathan Quick.  Quick is only 1 assist back of his Finals counterpart, Lundqvist, finishing the Conference Finals in 2nd place in pool scoring with 26 points.

What combination of Kings do our current money holders have on their side, you ask?  Travis has Carter, Slava Voynov and Quick on his side, which looks very formidable at the moment.  Corey has Drew Doughty, Voynov and Quick, which has a slightly less chance of keeping the pace.  Wes has Carter, Dustin Brown and Doughty, which means he doesn't have a goalie in these Finals.  Finally, Gus has Anze Kopitar, Carter and Quick, which may be the best Kings chance yet.

All four pool teams are different in their combinations of Rangers and Kings, so that means it is anyone's game to win yet.

At the end of the Western Conference Finals game blog, I did mention that there was a tie for 1st place in the standings and for a while, there was. Thanks to the ol' hockey pool audit, since live games are never truly final until they are gone over with a fine-toothed comb, a couple of points were added to the pool here and there and that is how Travis has a 1-point lead over Corey going into the Finals.  Of course, another audit will be done at the conclusion of the playoffs, just to make sure that everything is proper and complete.

Good luck to those in the running for the money!