Chicago Blackhawks Win Stanley Cup
The Chicago Blackhawks were favoured to win the Stanley Cup going into the 2014-2015 NHL regular season. They fulfilled that promise Monday night, beating the Tampa Bay Lightning (+145 away) 2-0 in Game 6 of the Cup Final and winning the series four games to two. Chicago also won Game 6 on the puck line at +180; this was the first time all series that the Blackhawks had taken a two-goal lead on Tampa Bay. The Hawks were on top of the Stanley Cup futures market at 13/2 during the preseason, then improved to 6/1 after winning three of their first four regular-season games. Chicago would spend much of the season as the Cup favourite before fading down the stretch, falling into third place at 8/1, and settling for the No. 3 seed in the Central Division. Unfortunately for the Hawks, the Stanley Cup was delayed from arriving at United Center because of flooding in the region. But it did eventually show up, as did the Conn Smythe Trophy, which was awarded to defenseman Duncan Keith. Going into the final, Keith was the second favourite at 3/1 to win the Conn Smythe, behind teammate Jonathan Toews at 57/20.