Stanley Cup pick: Blackhawks will bring down Lightning

After eight weeks of thrilling postseason action, the Stanley Cup Final starts Wednesday night, with the Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning facing off against the winners of the West, the favored Chicago Blackhawks.

Tampa Bay’s journey started with a tough first-round series against the Detroit Red Wings. After alternating wins and losses for the first five games, the Lightning offense explode for five goals in Game 6 in Detroit, before goaltender Ben Bishop notched his first career playoff shutout in Game 7, advancing Tampa Bay to a second-round date with a Montreal Canadiens club that swept it out of the postseason the previous season.

After taking a commanding 3-0 series lead, the Lightning dropped Games 4 and 5 before reaching their first Eastern Conference final since 2011.

The New York Rangers won Game 1, but the Lightning struck Henrik Lundqvist hard in Games 2 and 3, notching six goals in each contest and stealing home ice. In Game 7, Bishop pulled through with an amazing 22-save shutout performance in Madison Square Garden.

In addition, Bishop became the third netminder in NHL history to notch multiple shutout victories in series-clinching games, joining Patrick Roy in 2002 and Tim Thomas in 2011, the latter winning a Stanley Cup and a Conn Smythe Trophy for his effort.

The Blackhawks clinched their third Western Conference title in six seasons, starting with a rocky first-round series with Nashville in which starting goalie Corey Crawford got pulled in Game 1 and benched before Game 3 in favor of rookie Scott Darling, who kept the club afloat, winning three games as the Blackhawks put away the series in six games.

The second-round matchup against the Minnesota Wild proved to be a quick series, as the Blackhawks overwhelmed their rivals in a sweep fueled by the offensive efforts of winger Patrick Kane, who scored at least one goal in each of the four contests, and the return of Crawford in net ensured Chicago its fifth trip to the West final since 2009.

Anaheim seemed to have the size and power advantage needed to disrupt Chicago’s up-tempo finesse game. The scene was set for a Game 7 in Anaheim, where Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews scored two early goals to take the air out of the Ducks for good and rally his club to a 5-3 series-clinching win.

This should be a highly entertaining Stanley Cup Final from a matchup standpoint. Both squads are loaded with fast wingers who skate circles around the best defenders in the league and score at will.

Tampa Bay forward Tyler Johnson has made a big name for himself in this postseason, leading all skaters with 12 goals and 21 points. And for Chicago, the aforementioned combo of Kane and Toews have combined for 19 goals and 38 points.

Goaltending will be the X-factor that decides the winner of this series. The Lightning’s Bishop has been stellar in his first career postseason, with a 2.15 goals-against average, a .920 save percentage and his league-leading three shutouts. The Blackhawks’ Crawford has shown a tendency to become rattled after allowing a bad goal or two, but the former Cup winner reclaimed his form and confidence after the Wild series and has made some clutch saves in his past several starts.

Home-ice advantage means a lot in the Finals. Some trends to note: Home teams have won 27 of the past 36 games dating to the 2009, and the home favorite has won Game 1 in each of the past six seasons, with that club going on to win the Stanley Cup in four of those years.

The experience factor has to be taken into consideration, as well, with the Blackhawks playing in their third Cup final since 2010 and the Lightning making their first trip since 2004, the last season before the lockout year that changed many of the rules that has led to Chicago’s recent string of success.

I think we will see some high-scoring contests in the early set of games, and eventually, Chicago will use its veteran guile and grit to win this series and hoist its third Stanley Cup in six years, solidifying the Blackhawks’ legacy as the dynasty franchise of this decade.

Pick: Chicago (-150) to win series

Alex B. Smith (AxSmithSports.com) is a Minnesota-based handicapper. Follow him on Twitter: @axsmithsports.