Who will win tonight’s Game 7?

The NHL season has come down to the final game. This is it, whoever wins tonight will be the Stanley Cup champions, the loser will be heart broken. It is all or nothing, and it is brilliant and exciting.

Before the series started, we picked Boston to win the series in six games. That prediction would have been correct if the Bruins could have found a way to win one of the previous three games in Vancouver, two of which were 1-0, the other being an overtime game. Have they missed their chance? Vancouver did not enter the series expecting to blow their opponents away, but neither would they have expected to have suffered three defeats in Boston with the aggregate score being 17-3. Their #1 goaltender has been chased in two of the last three games, but also has two shutouts in the series, while their Captain and top offensive player has just a solitary goal. That being said, they demonstrated in Game 5 that they have the ability to bounce back from difficulty defeats and their home form has been impressive, particularly defensively. Luongo certainly didn’t show any negative effects in Game 5 after being pulled in Game 4.

Five Reasons Vancouver Will Win:

1) Regardless of the overall stats, Luongo has outplayed Thomas in Vancouver. He has two shutouts and has conceded just two goals in three games.

2) In Vancouver, the Sedins and Burrows can get free of Chara. Alain Vigenault is able to make Claude Julien chase the match-ups in Vancouver and that is definitely a part of the reason that his team has enjoyed more success at home.

3) Vancouver has home ice advantage, they have the sixth man, it will be very very noisy and home ice has been a factor all series long.

4) Maxim Lapierre and the third line have been a tricky match-up for the Bruins all series long, and especially in Vancouver where they have made a big impact. Lapierre, Jannik Hansen and Raffi Torres bring a physical edge and they sure have scored some timely goals. Expect this line to set the tone early on tonight.

5) The Canucks won the third period of Game 6, and most importantly Henrik and the team’s power-play got a goal.

Five Reasons Boston Will Win:

1) Tim Thomas is heavy favourite to win the Conn Smythe trophy. He is playing incredible hockey and you can bet he won’t want to win it in a losing effort. It is going to take a lot of heart to get pucks past Thomas tonight.

2) Home ice might have been important, but it has been a lot less important in Vancouver, where Boston has had a chance to win every game. They will take that chance tonight.

3) Although the series is tied at 3-3. The Bruins have all the momentum having won three of the last four, and they arguably had the better of Game 5 despite the loss.

4) Rich Peverley has found great chemistry with Milan Lucic and David Krejci. That top line was huge in Games 4 and 6, but didn’t see that much ice time in Game 5. Don’t expect Julien to make that same mistake tonight.

5) The Bruins are in Luongo’s head. As much as Luongo has dealt with adversity, this is Game 7 and a performance like Game 5 is unlikely. He is going to need more help than one goal.

Prediction:

We are going to stick to our guns and say Boston win this one. It is virtually impossible to call a Game 7 because one game of hockey can be decided by so many factors. However, the Bruins have been the better overall team and the Canucks have been less fortunate with injuries. Their line-up tonight is missing three players from the one that started the series.

Official Prediction- Boston 3 Vancouver 1 (Krejci, Ryder and Kelly (EN) score for Boston, while Daniel Sedin gets the goal for Vancouver).