CHICAGO — Brandon Bollig played in three games in the Chicago Blackhawks’ first-round series against Minnesota, and that was it for a while.
He practiced and tried to stay ready while Chicago eliminated Detroit and turned away Los Angeles in the Western Conference finals.
Now the Blackhawks are in the Stanley Cup Finals, which started Wednesday night, and Bollig is back as well with the Boston Bruins in town for the first two games.
“Sitting out a good stretch of games there in the playoffs is never easy, but it kind of comes with the territory of my role,” Bollig said, “and I couldn’t be more excited to get going. It’s kind of something you dream of as a kid to play in the Stanley Cup Finals, and I’m pretty pumped to live that dream.”
With Bollig in the Game 1 lineup for the first time since May 5, it looked like Viktor Stalberg was out. Stalberg had no goals and three assists in 15 playoff games.
“I can’t really get too down or too upset or too frustrated about it,” Stalberg said. “There’s two weeks left in the year. I’m going to try to win it. It’s as simple as that. I think if I’m playing, I’m playing; if I’m not, I’m not. You can’t do much about that right now.
“Even when I was playing, it felt like I wasn’t playing at times. It’s what it is, obviously frustrating. But at the end of the day, it’s two more weeks and hopefully have a Cup here. That’s all that matters.”
Stalberg, eligible for free agency this summer, was noncommittal about re-signing with Chicago.
“We’ll see what happens,” he said.
Krug’s contribution. It was only a few weeks ago that Torrey Krug was an unknown minor-leaguer. Now he has the NHL buzzing.
The 22-year-old defenseman has come up big for the Bruins in the playoffs and has a chance to hoist the Stanley Cup, a rocketlike rise for an undrafted player who appeared in just one regular-season game.
“There are guys who obviously haven’t made it to a Cup Finals through their whole careers,” Krug said.
Yet here he is, making big contributions for a team eyeing its second championship in three years. He ranks third among defensemen in the playoffs with four goals and has six points in just nine postseason games.
Emery stays ready. Ray Emery teamed with Corey Crawford to form one of the best goalie tandems in the league this year for the Blackhawks.
Emery had a sparkling 17-1 record with a 1.94 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. But the 30-year-old veteran was slowed by a lower-body injury at the end of the season. It’s been all Crawford in the playoffs.
Emery, who has played for four teams in parts of nine NHL seasons, said it’s all part of the job.
“It’s great to be a part of a good team, a successful team,” Emery said. “I’ve enjoyed the ride in the playoffs.”
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