A most unpredictable Stanley Cup Final resumes in Chicago Saturday night on the heels of the highest scoring and likely most exciting Finals game in years. The Chicago Blackhawks bucked the odds and came up with their best effort in Game 4 which proves again the adage that there simply is no momentum in the Stanley Cup Final. <\/p>\n
Boston Bruins (42-17-6-3) at Chicago Blackhawks (50-12-2-5)<\/strong> Matchup<\/a> | Preview<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Check out our in-house NHL Handicapper!!! Buy Razor Ray’s NHL Picks Today!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Cup Final Returns to Chicago All Knotted Up<\/strong><\/p>\n 11 goals are not likely Saturday (there were 12 total goals scored in the first three games) although both teams are definitely showing signs of fatigue. This year’s Final is the first time since 1993 that three of the first four games have gone into overtime. <\/p>\n Wednesday was the first time a Stanley Cup Final game ended in overtime and featured more than 10 goals since the New York Islanders defeated the Vancouver Canucks in 6-5 in Game 1 of the 1982 Final and the first to finish with a 6-5 final score since the Blackhawks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of the 2010 Final. Buckle up folks – Game 5 promises to be yet another classic. We would expect nothing less!<\/p>\n The Chicago Blackhawks finally put it all together in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final \u2013 all but the defense and goaltending which carried them through the regular season and playoffs so far. But a win is a win and there is plenty to build on after Wednesday night\u2019s series-tying victory. After scoring just one goal in Games 2 and 3, the Blackhawks lit things up on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Offensively the Hawks looked like a different team after Coach Joel Quenville finally reunited Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane – both scored in Game 4 and both looked much better that they have all series long. Patrick Sharp has also continues his incredible postseason play – he scored his 10th goal of the playoffs to take the NHL lead in that category. <\/p>\n That gives the Hawks two terrific scoring lines now – the depth and balance is finally starting to resurface after a slow start to the series. Marion Hossa proved just why he is such an integral part of this offense – he was terrific on Wednesday and solidified the offensive line combinations that gave the Boston defense fits in Game 5.<\/p>\n Defensively the Hawks obviously have to tighten up \u2013 five goals against simply won\u2019t get it done on most nights. We will give Corey Crawford a mulligan for Wednesday night\u2019s performance although there has to be some concern that the Bruins have figured out his glaring weakness \u2013 LOW GLOVE HAND!!!!<\/p>\n Credit the Boston Bruins for their persistence in Game 4. It\u2019s too bad their hallmark defense let them down and that Tuukka Rask was\u2026 average at best. Believe it or not, there were some bright spots for Boston in Game 4 \u2013 Tyler Seguin continues to play very well and the depth continued to impress.<\/p>\n But for every positive coming out of Wednesday night\u2019s game there is a negative. Like Corey Crawford, I am willing to give Rask a mulligan \u2013 there is no way we see a performance like that again. But of greater concern was the defensive play and the perceived and understandable exhaustion of guys like Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg who have logged a ton of hard minutes in the playoffs and seem to be wearing down. An extra day to rest will definitely help but the wear is finally starting to show on Boston\u2019s stout defense. [ad-4437448]<\/p>\n The play of Jaromir Jagr continues to be a bright spot offensively for the Boston Bruins – he recorded another two assists Wednesday and although he is not scoring AT ALL, his presence is being felt every shift for the Bruins. Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron scored twice in Game 4 to give him four goals in this series and nine for the playoffs, tied with teammate David Krejci for the team lead and second behind Sharp in the League. <\/p>\n The top line of Lucic, Krejci and Horton also looked dangerous for the Bruins Wednesday night – offense doesn`t appear to be a concern for Boston ahead of Game 5!<\/p>\n : <\/p>\n A few trends to consider:<\/p>\n \u2022 Under is 13-3-1 in BOS last 17 Sat. games. The 2013 Stanley Cup Final is turning into a potential classic and is one of the hardest series to call that I can remember. <\/p>\n No team has won two in a row and no team has been able to sustain any sort of momentum. But there are some obvious signs that help me make my pick \u2013 exhaustion is certainly one of them. Chicago looked like the fresher team on Wednesday night \u2013 the Bruins need the Zdeno Chara to be a beast and he looks like he is on fumes. Also, Chicago\u2019s best players finally looked like their best players in Game 4. <\/p>\n Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane should have gained some much needed confidence from their Game 4 showing. It all adds up to a Chicago win in front of the raucous home town fans Saturday night.<\/p>\n Pick:<\/strong> Chicago Blackhawks -145<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bruins vs Blackhawks Handicapping A most unpredictable Stanley Cup Final resumes in Chicago Saturday night on the heels of the highest scoring and likely most exciting Finals game in years. The Chicago Blackhawks bucked the odds and came up with their best effort in Game 4 which proves again the adage that there simply is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":63167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[53103,4603,54475,59224,59222,59223,4604,3426,2276,1956,49509,3801,895,12777,29430],"class_list":["post-63165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl","tag-53103","tag-boston-bruins-vs-chicago-blackhawks","tag-boston-vs-chicago","tag-boston-vs-chicago-free-pick","tag-bruins-blackhawks-odds","tag-bruins-blackhawks-picks","tag-bruins-vs-blackhawks","tag-game-5","tag-hockey-betting","tag-hockey-odds","tag-nhl-finals","tag-nhl-free-predictions","tag-nhl-picks","tag-nhl-playoff-odds","tag-stanley-cup-finals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63165"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63200,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63165\/revisions\/63200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhen: 8:00 PM ET, Saturday, June 22, 2013
\nWhere: United Center, Chicago, Illinois
\nBroadcast<\/strong>: CBC, NBC, RDS
\nSeries tied 2-2
\nBruins vs. Hawks Betting Lines
\nBoston Bruins<\/strong> +1\u00bd -260 +132 Ov 4\u00bd -131
\nChicago Blackhawks<\/strong> -1\u00bd +220 -145 Un 4\u00bd +119
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Betting Prediction<\/h3>\n
\n\u2022 BOS are 11-3 in their last 14 overall.
\n\u2022 BOS are 8-3 in their last 11 vs. Central.
\n\u2022 Under is 4-1-3 in CHI last 8 Sat. games.
\n\u2022 CHI are 12-4 in their last 16 Sat. games.
\n\u2022 CHI are 6-2 in their last 8 vs. Northeast.<\/p>\n