The Leafs draw the Caps in the first round. They have Jamie Benn, Vladimir Tarasenko, Alex Pietrangelo, Mark Giordano, and Ben Bishop.
We take Game 1 thanks to Jonathan Quick’s 39-save performance. Sid chips in with an assist.
Game 2 goes to Washington who are propped up by Bryan LittleÂ’s goal and two assists. Sid scored a goal and had an assist as well.
Game 3 goes to Washington as well behind a herculean effort from a guy we could have had in Alex Pietrangelo. Sid was held scoreless and also fought Cody Hodgson in the second period for some unknown reason.
We won Game 4 in Washington. Forsberg was stellar and Sid had an assist.
Back home for Game 5, we win and Sid scores the game winner.
The Leafs of old would have undoubtedly let this go seven, but the defending champs are having none of it. Sid scores again in the Game 6 win and we are moving on.
Our second-round opponent is Florida. It’s like we are going on a tour of players we could have had as Florida is led by none other than Phil Kessel.
Sid scores in our Game 1 loss. Cory Conacher came up big for them and Luongo stopped 41 of 42 shots.
In Game 2, Sid had three assists and we won 4-3.
Game 3 is a an instant Sid classic. He scored and added two assists in another 4-3 win. Every time Florida seemed like they were going to take the game, Sid appeared and orchestrated a goal.
Roberto Luongo shuts us out in Game 4.
We win Game 5 thanks to Gabe Landeskog while Sid is held pointless. This is what I meant by embarrassment of riches. Sid had nothing going, Eberle had nothing going, Henrique had nothing, Forserg had nothing, Schwartz too. Yet, the sixth guy in our forward group took over a game. Thanks, Gabe.
Game 6 is a Luongo clinic. He made 42 saves. Sid had a goal and ten shots on goal. All of a sudden, our repeat bid is on the ropes. Our series is the only one going seven.
We win Game 7 on the back of a classic Sid performance. He had 2 assists and an 82 Defensive Game Rating.
Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Detroit are up next.
The Wings don’t really have anyone to be afraid of outside of Zetterberg and Datsyuk. They still have Kronwall on D, but that’s basically it. Eddie Lack is in net. Full credit to them, though, they did beat Columbus in the last round and Columbus has Backstrom who is a scoring machine.
Game 1 is ours despite Sid going pointless.
Game 2 goes to us. Sid has two assists.
Not to get ahead of ourselves, but on the other side of the bracket is Alex Ovechkin and the Sharks vs Minnesota.
Game 3, once again goes to us. Sid with a goal.
We lost in Game 4. Sid had an assist.
No worries, though. We just wanted to be like MJ and the Bulls and close it out in Game 5 at home. We scored seven thanks to a goal and two assists from Sid. I hope he touched the Prince of Wales Trophy again. So far, our title defense is going pretty darn well.
Minnesota and San Jose are in a seventh game to see who will play us in the Final. I am selfishly hoping for Ovechkin for the storylines.
And we get our wish.
Sid vs Ovi for the first time on the biggest stage possible in hockey. Incredible.
San Jose might be as good as us. They have Marleau-Pavelski-Ovi and then Grabner-Krejci-Michalek and then Drazenovic-Couturier-Versteeg. Yikes. Rinne is in net, but their D is nowhere near our top three of Hedman, Josi, and Johnson.
I’m pretty stoked.
Game 1 at the ACC goes to San Jose thanks to a hell of a game from both Rinne and Sean Couturier.
Game 2 goes to us. Sid is held pointless in consecutive games. Ovi scored.
The series shifted to San Jose in Game 3 and Sid scored a goal in a win for us. Roman Josi balled out with two assists and, I swear, endless possession. He had the puck in every highlight that popped up. Nothing from Ovi.
IÂ’m genuinely afraid at this point that 2014 Alex Ovechkin is just going to explode in the last half of this series.
Game 4 is San Jose’s. This is like the Sean Couturier show right now and it is not pretty for the Leafs.
We win Game 5! Sid has an assist in the win. Ovi is pointless.
Game 6 in San Jose, where real-life Sid won his second Cup. And we take it. Sid scores a goal and Ovi puts up one last fight with a goal and an assist.
Incredible. A back-to-back for the Leafs. Sid takes the Conn Smythe again with 26 points in 24 playoff games. Toronto has 15 championships and it is officially Crosby 1 – Ovechkin 0, even though the matchup was dominated by Sean Couturier and Roman Josi.
I guess we can say that our Sid is ahead of schedule now. Real Sid didn’t win his second Cup until 2016. We already have our second and the upcoming season is still only 2014-15. However, it’s hard to say if the Leafs can keep doing this, to be honest. Quick’s contract is up after next year and Sid and Eberle are up the year after that. I don’t see Sid leaving, but there might be a cap crunch that would make us lose a couple of guys because everyone definitely deserves a raise. At least Hedman is locked up for five more years after this one. I think Sid and Hedman on their own with 4th overall pick Freddie Andersen would have an outside chance.
Anyway, that’s a problem for another day. For now, we’ve won the Cup for a second time.