The Wings Nation Bracket Challenge: We Have A Winner!

The Pittsburgh Penguins are, once again, the Stanley Cup Champions. They are the first team to win back-to-back Stanley Cups since the ’97-’98 Detroit Red Wings.

It was a hard fought six game series, but the Nashville Predators came up short, putting up a total of zero goals through the last two games of the series. Sure, there may have been some questionable calls (and whistles!) and Matt Murray was a friggen wall, but you still have to score goals to win games!

To me, the series came down to a shaky Pekka Rinne. He let in some bad goals in the first two games when the Preds were completely outplaying the eventual Champions and, of course, there was game 5. In any case, the Penguins are a team with generational, elite, and rookie talent. Matt Murray and Jake Guentzel were huge parts of the Pens wins and Evgeny Malkin continued to prove that he should have been included on the NHL’s Top 100 list.

So who could have seen the Penguins win coming? Well, turns out a few people. Only one of those, however, is the champion of the Wings Nation Bracket Challenge. So, without further ado, congratulations to Brian G.1!

Brian correctly picked the Penguins to win the Stanley Cup, though he had them going up against the Chicago Blackhawks, which obviously didn’t happen. Coming in at number 2 is I Seriously Hate This Outcome, who I respect tremendously for picking an outcome that s/he seriously hated. Jimmy V.1 and David L.1 are the only others in the top-5 who picked the Penguins to win the Cup. Coming in at number 5 is the Winged Wheel Podcast co-host Evan L.3. He picked the Predators and was oh-so-close at winning it all. Too bad P.K. couldn’t put up a couple more goals for you, Evan!

So let’s all congratulate Brian G.1 on his victory! He’s won a Detroit Red Wings coffee mug, a Jimmy Howard plush doll, and a $100 promo code for NationGear.ca. Brian, please send me an e-mail at seguinn08@gmail.com to claim your prize.

If you’d like to see the final rankings and where you ended up, you can do so here. Now that the playoffs are over, it’s time for the offseason to get started. With the expansion draft coming fast and furious, there will be lots of news and activity in the NHL. Be sure to check WingsNation.com regularly for news and analysis on everything Ken Holland and the Detroit Red Wings do.