NHL 2015 Finals: President Barack Obama Rooting For Chicago Blackhawks

United States President Barack Obama has been known to be a sports buff and one would immediately think that he is glued to the ongoing 2015 NBA playoffs pitting the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

In a way, the president seems to be keeping tabs on the manner the series is being played.

He says that Lebron James is playing at an unbelievable level though he expects Steph Curry to pick up his game after being ineffective in the first couple of games. He did not mention though on who he was actually rooting for, perhaps playing it safe for the meantime.

However, he is keeping tabs with another sport as well, the NHL Stanley Cup. Unlike the NBA, he has expressed his hope that the Chicago Blackhawks can prevail over the Tampa Bay Lightning. President Obama is the former senator for Illinois so seeing him root for the Blackhawks is not really surprising.

The NHL Stanley Cup Final is currently deadlocked at 2-2.

 The interview took place at the White House before game 4 of the NBA Finals. For those who were able to miss it, the Warriors were able to avert a 3-1 hole and steal one in Cleveland, 103-82 and even the series at two games apiece.

The Blackhawks won last Wednesday to knot tie the series, thanks largely in part to Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews who finally showed up for the series. The two offensive leaders were struggled in the first three games and there showing in game 4 was a very welcome development.

The two combined for seven of Chicago’s 19 shots on goal where each scored one to account for the 2-1 win Wednesday.

The Tampa Bay Lightning had to use Andre Vasilevsky who took the place of an injured Ben Bishop. Bishop has been struggling in the past games had has been severely hampered by a mysterious injury.

Regardless, Vasilevksy did a decent job as reliever for Bishop, stopping 17 of the 19 shots the Blackhawks had to offer. There is no official word yet if Bishop will continue to be indisposed though head Lighting coach Jon Cooper guarantees that Bishop will be back in the series.

With that said, could Bishop be around in game 5? The belief is that a feasible return for Bishop would be game 6 meaning the Lightning may have to go at it with Vasilevsky at least one more time.

Game 5 of the NHL Stanley Cup will be played on Saturday, June 13 at 8 p.m. ET at the Amalie Arena. The match will be aired via NBC.