Post by NorthStarsGM on Jul 6, 2021 16:09:05 GMT
Minnesota (AP) – After two rounds of the playoffs, we now know who will battle it out for the first Stanley Cup in league history. Minnesota vs New York Islanders. It should be a great battle as it’ll be the top team in the league (NorthStars with 118 points) against the 3rd best team in the regular season (Islanders with 106 points). It’s also a battle of a more offensive based team (Minny) vs a more defensive focused team (Islanders) so we’ll see what wins out. The games start tonight in Minnesota and should be a great series – lets see how they stack up.
FORWARDS
As a forward group, Minnesota outscored the Islanders by just under 50 goals so there’s no doubt the forward group in the Northstars are superior. New York has 3 elite scorers in Trottier, Bossy and Kerr who can dominate games. 21 year old Lafontaine was fantastic as well as a 2nd line C and finished with 90 points. Bossy led the team in goals with 50 and points with 104 while the team saw 8 player score 20 or more goals in the season. The Northstars have depth all over their lineup and should have trouble shutting down the likes of Hawerchuk (who dominated with 138 points this year), Ciccarelli (54 goals!), Broten (102 points) and Vaive (97 points). This doesn’t even include Brian Bellows as the team’s top left winger who had 45 goals. In all the team had six players hit the 30 goal mark. In the playoffs, the usual top 4 forwards have led the way for the Islanders, each with at least 11 points through 12 playoff games. For Minnesota, Ciccarelli leads with 9 goals in 11 games while both him and Hawerchuk have 17 points in those 11 games.
DEFENSE
On defense, the Islanders were a better team at keeping goals out of their net, allowing 22 less than the NorthsStars did all season. While on paper the NorthStars have the depth on the blueline, the Islanders have got it done with great chemistry and outstanding performances. Dennis Potvin is their stud defender while Randy Carlyle plays a great two-way game as he actually led the team in points (53) from the backend. In Minnesota, they made a trade deadline deal to bolster the blueline with Borje Salming from Toronto to add to an already impressive unit with tremendous depth as the NorthStars #5 and 6 defenders likely would play top four minutes for most other teams in the league. 4 defenseman scored at least 40 points for the club, and was led by McCrimmon (13 goals) and Hartsburgh (60 points). McCrimmon’s +52 rating was a team high as well as he truly was a dominate force in shutting down the other team’s offensive players.
GOALTENDING
In net, Grant Fuhr is the obvious difference maker for the Islanders and the team will go as far as he lets him. He’s been fantastic with a 2.98GAA in the regular season, putting up 40 wins. Beaupre didn’t need to be as good given the forwards in front of him, as shown by his 46 wins despite a 3.14 GAA however he knows he needs to make the key save to let his forward group go to work successfully. Both goalies have improved upon their regular season numbers in the playoffs so far so we’ll see who can lead their club to the first cup in league history.
Season Series: Minnesota won 4-0 with a 18 to 9 goal differential.