It’s the middle of September and the Finals are starting.

The West Conference Champions, the Dallas Stars versus the East Conference Champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It’s been non-stop games since the beginning of August. Dallas beat Las Vegas 4-1 in a series that they controlled pretty handily. That was a surprise to me, I thought Las Vegas was in better shape. Dallas has been an underdog in these playoffs, proving in every round that they had what it takes to win.

Tampa Bay won 4-2 over the Islanders. It could have been a sweep but the Isles managed to fight back some. I thought it would have been closer, going into this round the Isles looked strong. It was not an easy series for either team. Long, physical games were the norm.

Safe to say the best team has won so far. Dallas is going to have the immediate edge, they are healthier and played few games getting a longer break going into the finals. Tampa Bay hasn’t gotten a meaningful break in this meat grinder.

It’s been 20 years since Dallas has made it to the Cup Championship games and 5 for Tampa. Tampa has seen great success in recent seasons only to get cut short (last season was embarrassing getting shoved out of the playoffs in a first-round sweep as a first seed team). They have a ton of pressure to win on them. I’m not sure if they can sustain the play necessary to win this last grind. Right now I’m leaning toward Dallas to win and for some reason, I think it’ll be done in 5 games. 6 wouldn’t surprise me though. If Tampa Bay wins the first game tonight, that will be a big signal to their mental and physical focus. Tonight will set the standard of play.