Conn Symthe Trophy, Who might win?

Well, Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals is in the books.

Thankfully, the Blackhawks were able to rise above and capture a triple overtime victory against the Bruins.

The Hockey gods were on the Hawks side last night as Lucic and Seguin both fanned on wide open net opportunities in the first and second overtimes. Andrew  Shaw tipped in a blast from Dave Bolland in order to light the lamp 7:52 into the third overtime. Both teams looked exhausted and out of fuel. It was only a matter of time until Tukka Rask or Corey Crawford were to let in a goal and Crawford wasn’t going to have it.

So here it is, A list of who I believe is the front runner for the Conn Symthe Trophy and why:

Chicago:                               G             A             +/-          MINS     HITS

M. Kruger                             0              1              1              20:00       0

B. Saad                                 1              0              2              31:15       2

M. Rozsival                           0              1              1              30:10       1

D. Bolland                             1              1              2              28:21       3

A. Shaw                                1              1              2              24:03       9

J. Oduya                               1              0              0              37:20       5

Boston:                                G             A             +/-          MINS     HITS

M. Lucic                                2              1              1              38:14       4

D. Krejci                               0              2              1              38:41       2

P. Bergeron                           1              0              0              33:40       0

T. Seguin                               0              1              -1            29:18       3

Goalies:                               EV           PP           SV%

C. Crawford                          46-48     5-6          .944

T. Rask                                  57-61     2-2          .937

The front runner for the Conn Symthe trophy winner is: Corey Crawford.

If not for his spectacular play in the third period and through all three overtimes the Blackhawks would not have had a chance to win this game. (Although, the second goal scored by Lucic was a misplay by Hjalmarsson and a bad glove by Crawford). If it were not for the multiple miraculous saves he made in overtime Shaw never would have gotten the tip in. It doesn't matter how he started off. His finish and drive to keep pucks in front of him and not give up rebounds allowed this team more time to find a way to put the puck past Rask.

I do however believe that there is room for a close second, and that would be Lucic. The first two regulation periods he was a step ahead of everyone else. Posting 3 points with 2 goals and an assist and being one open net away from scoring the hat trick he lit up the scoreboard and the stat sheets.

The ability for him to play heavy minutes when his team was in need and everyone was exhausted also adds to why I believe if not for Crawford; Lucic would have been the MVP of game 1.

If game 1 was a mini preview of this series there is no doubt in my mind that this is going to a game 7. I cannot believe the game turned out to be so exciting. I’m pretty sure I woke up my neighbors when the puck finally went in the net, but that is beside the point.

Whoever wins this series is going to well deserve it, and the Conn Symthe Trophy will go the best player on that team, right now I would give a slight edge to Crawford, but that may be soon to change.