NHL Expert Picks: 2015 Stanley Cup Final selections – CBSSports.com

Jonathan Toews and the Chicago Blackhawks go for another Stanley Cup championship. (USATSI)

And then there were two.

After three rounds, the 2015 Stanley Cup Final is finally set with the Chicago Blackhawks facing off against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Blackhawks are trying to win their third Stanley Cup in the past six seasons while the Lightning look to win the second cup in franchise history and the first since defeating the Calgary Flames back in 2004.

NHL writers Chris Peters and Adam Gretz make their selections for who will be lifting the Cup, and then share their explanations for why they made their pick.

*The entire schedule for the Stanley Cup Final is here.

NHL Playoff Expert Picks
Series	Adam Gretz @AGretz	Chris Peters @ChrisMPeters
Stanley Cup Final
(2) Tampa Bay Lightning (3) Chicago Blackhawks	7 games	6 games

Chris Peters

Pick: Blackhawks in six

The Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning is going to be excellent. You have two teams that play a very similar style, with exciting players up and down the lineup and speed throughout. The Blackhawks very well could be looking at a team at a similar stage as where Chicago was about seven years ago.

Both teams are well built, with the most important players drafted or discovered by the organization, and sensible additions made to insulate their mostly homegrown cores. Where there is a disparity, however, is in experience. It would only be moderately notable if the Blackhawks didn’t have so much.

Chicago will play for its third Stanley Cup title in six seasons. They have made it as far as the conference finals in five out of the past seven years. They have played a lot of hockey in the playoffs and they’ve won a whole heck of a lot more than they’ve lost. Tampa, meanwhile, has no players remaining from its 2004 Stanley Cup run — the Conn Smythe winner that year, Brad Richards, is on the other side this time — and only three from the team that reached the Eastern Conference finals in 2011. There’s a whole lot of newbies here.

The Blackhawks defense might get worn down, but we said that a lot during the Western Conference finals and it never really happened. The Lightning could have some games where they score a lot of goals or at least threaten to. Tampa seems to have the advantage in net, and it has a style that is going to put a lot of pressure on Chicago. But it still comes back to experience.

If the Blackhawks hadn’t been here so often before, the on-paper matchup would favor the Lightning to a slight degree. However, after the series the Blackhawks just experienced against the Ducks, they’re near unbeatable once they figure an opponent out.

This one is so close, but I’m going with the Blackhawks in six.

Adam Gretz

Pick: Blackhawks in seven

This is a tough one and I could really go either way on which team I see winning it. It’s basically a coin flip at this point given the two rosters.

On one hand, I still worry about the Blackhawks’ defense wearing down given the minutes their top four are playing, especially when it comes to Duncan Keith. Just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it won’t. Especially against a team like Tampa Bay that has a bunch of guys who can fly around the ice.

This is a different challenge than what Anaheim presented in the Western Conference finals. Instead of a big, bruising, physical team that is going to try and wear the Blackhawks down, the Lightning forwards are, for the most part, smaller, faster players who can use their speed as well as any other team in the league.

On the other hand, I could just as easily see the Blackhawks doing to the Lightning what the Detroit Red Wings did to the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 2008. A veteran team with some championship experience going up against the new kids on the block and overwhelming early in the series and putting them in an early hole that is just too much to overcome. I also hate the idea of picking against this Blackhawks team this late in the playoffs because, well, that almost always ends poorly.

In the end, given the potential matchups that were out there this was probably the best possible one for hockey fans that want to see fast-paced, skillful hockey. The star power in this series is going to be incredible with Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, Steven Stamkos, The Triplets and Victor Hedman going up against each other.

It should be a long, exciting series but in the end, I think the Blackhawks end up winning it in seven.

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