Home-Ice Advantage seems to be the key for Stanley Cup winners again –NHL Finals Update
It is not hard to tell that so far in the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Finals between Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins, the home-ice advantage has been a major factor in teams winning.
The winners of the Presidents’ Trophy can consider themselves lucky since they are the ones with the advantage this time around in Game 5.
These playoff finals between the Eastern Conference and Western Conference leaders marked the third straight series in which the first four games have been dominated by the home team.
Canucks won the first two at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver while Bruins which was considered to be weak and brittle, recovered in Game 3 and 4 in an extremely surprising way, when the series travelled to the TD Centre in Boston.
Boston’s coach, Claude Julien, has re-directed this myth and termed motivation being the factor for teams winning games.
"I don't think it's necessarily bringing a home game, it's just bringing our game", Julien said back in Vancouver on Thursday, adding that his team was not as good as Canucks in the first two games. "We need to play with a lot of emotion, intensity and play
on our toes".
There is no doubt about motivation being a cause in Bruins’ sudden surge in form.
It was right after Nathan Horton’s crucial head shot by Vancouver’s Aaron Rome during Game 3 that Boston went on a shooting spree and stunned Vancouver by 8-1.
This further continued in Game 4 by a clean 4-0 shutout, but it will be interesting to see if this enthusiasm continues at the Rogers Arena on Friday.
It was between Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 that both teams won their respective games at home and as the series returned to Pittsburgh for Game 7, Penguins easily dominated the game.
The same was the case between the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals between Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers, which ended in six games.
"Its part of what we want to do in this series and slow down a team that is extremely skilled", Julien said. "They are a highly skilled team and we're probably more of a physical team".
Vancouver’s fans highly anticipate a long awaited victory ever since losing two straight away games and hope the home-ice advantage will be the factor in their third win in the series on Friday.
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