Julien for Boston and Mike Babcock for Detroit.

Just two months ago, these two men were working together to guide Team Canada to a second consecutive gold medal in the 2014 Winter Olympics. They’ve spent a significant amount of time working with each other and have a high degree of mutual respect for each other. This has led to a highly entertaining chess match that has gone back and forth throughout the series. It has been highly enjoyable for all those watching.

The Coaching Chess Match

Game One:

In the first game, the Red Wings surprised the Bruins with their speed. The Wings were building up steam through the neutral zone, chipping the puck in deep and then blowing past the defensemen to retrieve the puck. Here are a series of imagesbuilt up steam and is flying up the boards. In reality, DeKeyser dishes to Nyquist.

This next sequence is a little more complex. Nyquist has the puck and has come off the boards and into the middle of the ice while DeKeyser has circled back behind him. At this point in time, Nyquist has used his speed to get past one forward and has enough speed built up to beat the second forward. Also, by coming off the boards and across the ice, he is reversing the flow of the play, causing the Bruins players to change directions, something that is exceptionally difficult to do at top speed. Nyquist has three passing options on this play as well. He can step around the forward in front of him and