Lightning vs Blackhawks

TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks are two of the deepest, fastest, most skilled teams in the NHL and typically try to engage in an entertaining style of play.

It could lead to a 2015 Stanley Cup Final filled with exciting plays, a frenetic pace and lots of goals.

"They've had a lot of players step up and it seems like they have a lot of offense and skill and speed to their team too," Chicago forward Patrick Kane said. "You look at it, it seems like it'd be a fun matchup and a fun series for the average fan to watch and a fun series to play in as well."

Horse players remember the misses more than the hits. The ones that didn't pay are the ones they talk about. Cashing tickets are part of the routine, even the big ones, and they all run together. Mostly they're just vouchers for the next play anyway.

So when Eddie Olczyk tells you about his 2015 spring, the first story he'll recite likely will concern the unprecedented daily double he missed by a nose.

When the New York Rangers lost Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final to the Tampa Bay Lightning, it took away the opportunity for Olczyk to work the Belmont Stakes and the Stanley Cup Final on the same day.

Instead, Olczyk will call only the Final between the Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks, which starts with Game 1 at Amalie Arena on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVA Sports).

TAMPA -- Winning the Stanley Cup is a dream for millions of youth hockey players, and ends up remaining a fantasy for most.

Winning it twice is an incredible achievement. Moving beyond twice is when the really exclusive clubs start to come into play, and that is the opportunity at hand for many of the core members of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Seven Blackhawks (Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson) are four wins from having their names engraved on the Cup for a third time.

TAMPA -- Tampa Bay Lightning forward Alex Killorn was on one knee, listening to coach Jon Cooper go over a drill on the whiteboard at practice Tuesday when his eyes drifted into the stands behind him at Amalie Arena.

The reason Killorn was distracted was because there were at least 20 cameras recording the moment, a fairly routine talk between a coach and his team.

"Jeez," Killorn thought to himself, "what are they filming?"

Welcome to the Stanley Cup Final, Alex.

The first official event of the NHL championship series was Media Day on Tuesday, with every player from the Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks available to speak to reporters about the series, hockey in general, or about any subject under the sun.

It can be an overwhelming experience for players who haven't gone through it.

TAMPA -- Steve Yzerman is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and someone many current NHL players look up to as one of the superstars of their youth.

Yzerman, the longtime Detroit Red Wings captain and current Tampa Bay Lightning general manager, said Tuesday at Stanley Cup Final Media Day that Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews is a better player than he was.

"Well, we [each] wore No. 19," Yzerman said when asked about Toews. "The reality is Jonathan is bigger, stronger … better. He just is. Tremendous all-around player, great person. I got to meet him at the World Championships in person for the first time in 2007, in Moscow. He played for us right out of North Dakota. Fit in on the team, one of our best players.

"Over the course of my career, my play evolved and became, through (Red Wings coach) Scotty Bowman and the way he wanted our team to play, we became more defensive-minded players, more well-rounded players. And Jonathan's been that since Day One when he came into the League. Just a complete hockey player. So he's stronger than me. I don't think I could even take him in a race, so probably faster. Just a better hockey player."

TAMPA -- It's been seven years since Tampa Bay Lightning center Valtteri Filppula won the Stanley Cup. He's ready for another celebration.

Filppula won the Stanley Cup in 2008 with the Detroit Red Wings and he's the only player on the Lightning roster with a Stanley Cup ring. Now 31, Filppula wants to relive the excitement all over again.

The Lightning will face the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVA Sports).

"This is what you play for; this is where you want to be," Filppula said Tuesday of winning the Cup. "In my first three years in the [NHL], we made the conference final and the [Cup] Final twice. So you think it's going to happen again, and it doesn't. I'm just happy to be back here."

TAMPA -- Through 12 seasons and three Stanley Cup championships, Kris Draper watched and played alongside Steve Yzerman as he masterfully mixed qualities such as being humble with being calculated in order to become one of the greatest players of all time.

Draper, watching from a distance now, has seen Yzerman use those same qualities to become one of the best general managers in the NHL.

Yzerman inherited forward Steven Stamkos and defenseman Victor Hedman and has used them as his centerpieces to carefully and methodically, piece by piece, build the Tampa Bay Lightning into a Stanley Cup contender.

The Lightning are without question his team now, and they have a chance to be his masterpiece.

Goaltending plays an integral part in the Stanley Cup Playoffs so NHL.com broke down the Stanley Cup Final battle between Corey Crawford of the Chicago Blackhawks and Ben Bishop of the Tampa Bay Lightning. After starting with Crawford, it’s Bishop's turn in the spotlight.

Much like many goaltending coaches do before a playoff series, NHL.com correspondent Kevin Woodley, the managing editor of InGoal Magazine, charted every goal scored with the help of a program from Double Blue Sport Analytics. Regular-season goals were recorded in their original Save Review System, and playoff goals, including how they were scored, were tracked in the soon-to-launch SRS 2.0. The graphics showing where goals went in and shots were taken from on the ice are nice, but the real value is analyzing the plays that led to them and whether they reveal strengths, weaknesses and tendencies that can be targeted.

Ben Bishop, Tampa Bay Lightning

OVERVIEW

Bishop has put himself in the history books during this playoff run by becoming the first goalie to backstop his team to the Cup Final with a road shutout in Game 7 of the conference finals, which Bishop did in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers. He also is the first goaltender with road shutouts in Games 5 and 7 of the same playoff series, and the first to win his first two Game 7 starts, a run that started in the Eastern Conference First Round against the Detroit Red Wings. But Bishop's first playoff experience hasn't all been positive, which is fitting because there are ups and downs that come with being a 6-foot-7 goaltender in the NHL.

In breaking down the coaching matchup in the Stanley Cup Final, former NHL assistant coach Dave Farrish concluded that the X-factor for the Tampa Bay Lightning could be the guy standing next to coach Jon Cooper behind the bench.

Farrish is talking about associate coach Rick Bowness, who was on Alain Vigneault's staff with the Vancouver Canucks during the heyday of their Stanley Cup Playoff rivalry with the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Canucks and Blackhawks played each other in three straight postseasons (2009-11). Vancouver lost to Chicago in 2009 and 2010 but won their first-round series in seven games in 2011.

"Rick has had a lot of experience in the West with Vancouver, so he's got a pretty good track record," Farrish said. "I'm sure Cooper will be leaning heavily on Rick."

CHICAGO -- Almost as impressive as advancing to the Stanley Cup Final three times in six seasons is the list of big goalies the Chicago Blackhawks have defeated in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in that span.

The Blackhawks, who will play the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Cup Final on Wednesday at Amalie Arena (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVA Sports), hope to add a new one to the list: 6-foot-7, 209-pound Ben Bishop.

To do so, Chicago plans to stick to its usual game plan, captain Jonathan Toews said.

"I've definitely watched quite a bit these playoffs, and we know [the Lightning are] fast and skilled, they play a good team game," Toews said Monday before the Blackhawks traveled to Tampa. "[Their defensemen join] the play, great goaltending ... we know they don't have a whole lot of weaknesses. I think we'll have to be prepared for that and do as we normally do: talk about making things difficult on their goaltender, getting to him and making them play in their own end."