So! Stanley Cup Final starts on Wednesday! My Hawks are visiting the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Blackhawks beat up the Ducks tonight, dealing them their 3rd consecutive game 7 home loss. Only other team to lose 3 consecutive game 7s at home? Washington in 2008-10. ALL SIX of those loses came with the same coach, Bruce Boudreau, at the helm.
Also, an addendum to my previous tale of hubris. One of the major storylines in the Anaheim-Chicago series was the physicality of the Ducks. They kept saying "oh, we'll wear them down, we're hitting them hard, they can't take it". After a game 5 win (they won in overtime after losing a 4-2 lead in the last 1:30 of the game on two quick, bad goals by Toews), Ryan Kessler said "No human can withstand that many hits". Chicago out-skated, out-played, and out-endurance Anaheim in games 6 and 7 winning by a combined 10-5. Their plan was to just hit and hit and hit the Hawks until they gave up, and they said that many times. Before game 7 they said "every single hit, it all leads up to this. We wore them down, and now we'll reap the rewards". But by the end the only team that was tired was Anaheim.