Official NHL Thread

[Mr Crunchy]

I dunno, claude lemieux has more playoff goals than non post season goals doesnt he?

Scoring is more difficult come April but when Mvps just disappear i wonder about grit, the ability to make things happen under pressure and duress.

Im putting you on the spot here Jim

Who do you like for real?

Boston Detroit Washington Chitown??

From what Ive seen Detroit is a head taller than the rest of the class and Boston is the most balanced team in the east

i do expect a Detroit Boston series but man those Wings are legitimately the best crew of talent ive seen put together since perhaps those Canadien teams of the 70s

[rician blast]

Im putting you on the spot here Jim

Who do you like for real?

Boston Detroit Washington Chitown??

 

Red Wings in the West. Too much depth and somehow they manage to get by in goal.

 

Vancouver? Nah. Chicago? Still not sold on them, though they're loaded with young talent and Khabibulin can be tough. Anaheim? Hmmm...intriguing. I suspect they give Detroit a tough time but Detroit's depth is the key. Several VERY good D-men and Jonas Hiller is fkn unreal.

 

In the East? I'm very afraid of this Carolina team. They were the only team in the East that I predicted would upset their opponent in the first round. I actually was hoping for B's-Pens, thought we matched up well with them. Cam Ward can be an absolute beast in goal, and they've got two very good center icemen on the first and second lines. Beware the Whale in this series.

 

I'm cautiously optimistic about a B's-Wings final and I think that series would go deep...in fact of all the potential matchups, I think the B's would be the Wings the toughest foe because of their scoring depth and a tough 'D'.

 

If Carolina beats the B's? I'm going out on a limb and saying it's a 'Canes-Wings final.

 

EDIT: Seems Melrose and a bunch of other analysts are jumping on the Carolina bandwagon now...this could be a good thing, it'll gear the B's up that much more. As someone else pointed out on HFBOARDS, it's like football when a wild card team wins their game dominantly and the "experts" jump on board...forgetting why the top seeds are the top seeds. So I wonder if I TOO am getting affected by the 'Canes-hype?

[Mr Crunchy]

Love the hot goalies when the weather turns warm...

Carolina beat Jersey and Martin Brodeur finally appears human in the playoffs.

Anaheim too, SanJose did gag but the Ducks earned it and their goalie is blazing, they got that ********** Neidermeyer who always finds his way into the big show.

The hawks are good but young

The caps are having trouble in net and Pitt has Sidney who is tremendous but in the east Boston appears to be more balanced than the rest and should come thru.

In the West its Detroit and everyone else, i think anaheim is their true test.

Boston Detroit final and the Wings are just too deep with 4 lines and several defensemen who have the ability to score...My wife and daughter were watching some show with a chick who had a pig face but was wealthy when i came home,this is why i missed 2 game 7s,all of baseball and the celts ot game last night??

HA, i'll start parking my fat ass on the couch at 505 and will secure the remote so i dont have to deal with any further interuptions.

[rician blast]

HA, i'll start parking my fat ass on the couch at 505 and will secure the remote so i dont have to deal with any further interuptions.

 

Why not mark your territory like wolf...if you pee on the coach and carpet, bet they'll let you have the room all to yourself. So what of it'll smell like Jerome Avenue?

 

Sacrifices, Sean....sacrifices.

[redsoxrules]

Round 2

 

Wings VS Ducks

Canucks VS Blackhawks

 

Briuns VS Canes

Penguins VS capitals

 

 

 

my picks

 

Wings in 5

Canucks in 6

 

Bruins in 6

Pens in 6

[TheKilo]

Wings in 6

Blackhawks in 7

 

Bruins in 5

Caps in 7

[Keeper]

If the Bulin Wall continues with his play, Blackhawks in 6 or 7. But they can't expect Barker and Seabrook to be as good in the second round. Some other guys will have to step up.

[rician blast]

Over on HFBoards there's a few fans who saw a fair amount of the Huricanes series and are being pretty thorough in their explanations regarding some deficiencies they saw in Carolina...unbalanced scoring for one and several posters felt Cam Ward was NOT great...if they're right I may be giving that squad too much credit, we'll get a look Friday though.

[WhiskeyBreath]

Love the hot goalies when the weather turns warm...

Carolina beat Jersey and Martin Brodeur finally appears human in the playoffs.

Anaheim too, SanJose did gag but the Ducks earned it and their goalie is blazing, they got that ********** Neidermeyer who always finds his way into the big show.

The hawks are good but young

The caps are having trouble in net and Pitt has Sidney who is tremendous but in the east Boston appears to be more balanced than the rest and should come thru.

In the West its Detroit and everyone else, i think anaheim is their true test.

Boston Detroit final and the Wings are just too deep with 4 lines and several defensemen who have the ability to score...My wife and daughter were watching some show with a chick who had a pig face but was wealthy when i came home,this is why i missed 2 game 7s,all of baseball and the celts ot game last night??

HA, i'll start parking my fat ass on the couch at 505 and will secure the remote so i dont have to deal with any further interuptions.

 

Depth is the strength of this Bruins team.

[Youk Of The Nation]

Everyone is playing to decide who gets the honor of losing to Detroit.

[CrespoBlows]

I dunno' date=' claude lemieux has more playoff goals than non post season goals [/quote']

 

No, he's just 300 short of that.

[rician blast]

No' date=' he's just 300 short of that.[/quote']

 

Yeah, Lemieux had 379 regular season goals.

 

In 234 playoff games, he scored 80 goals and had 78 assists...and 529 PIMs.

 

I know where Crunchy is going with this though...this is a guy who always seemed to be able to find the net in a big playoff game...and if he wasn't scoring, he was impacting the game in some other way. As B's fans, we generally hated the guy, but you had to respect the fact that somehow he was going to find a way top help his team win.

 

He's got 4 rings with 3 different teams ...'86 (Habs), '95(Devils), '96(Avalanche), and 2000 (Devils).

[Mr Crunchy]

Claude Lemieux scored almost 400 regular season goals??

thats how much hockey i watched in the last 15 years and how much i adored the trap that Lemaire and Robinson put together in Jersey but this guy was never a substantial goal scorer, longevity makes up for it I guess.

i noticed his career high was 41,not hall of fame material but good #s.

I also noticed 3 years he scored more playoff goals than reg season goals.

i guess i remember that 86 season more than others, 10 reg season games 1 goal, 10 goals in 20 playoff games and the HABS won it all that season.

anyhow

The game is much better now with the skaters having a little more room and we no longer have to see soccer like scoring, i dont mind the occasional 1*0 game but a few years back if you were down 2 you knew that you were toast..

Claude Lemieux...379 goals...wouldve bet my life against it.

[rician blast]

Tonight's key...keep it at worst a scoreless tie through the 1st half of period 1...get each line, even the 4th, at least two shifts to get up to game speed....then play a very opportunistic game, because as the game goes on the Bruins should become stronger.

 

Avoid the potential pitfall of the layoff...falling behind early. Then start punishing their D-men while keeping a forward up high for defensive purposes. Be ready to pounce in a defesnive screw up and when those opportunities arise bury them.

[Dojji]

Even if they wind up down a goal after 1 I won't worry a lot. Half the reason New Jersey lost is because of some injury-assisted decline from Brodeur. Thomas is healthy, the offense is deep, and the defense is solid.

 

The Canes' plan is probably to smother Kessel and Ryder and put pressure on our depleted defensive corps. That should lead to breakouts from the likes of Bergeron and Kobasew. The best counter to that is to put Lucic on the Savard line to keep Carolina's checking corps away from our featherweight wunderkind and to stick Wheeler back on the Krejci line to give that line another offensive out and force the Canes to give Ryder space.

 

THe top D pairing is going to be crucial. If they need to keep Axe on the first line to keep the Canes' first line that gave Brodeur so much trouble (Whitney in particular who seemed to have an assist on every crucial Carolina goal) that takes away their ability to bolster the Savard line with Lucic's physicality. I think for the first game, though, they need to put Lucic with Savard and Kessel. If the first line can't keep Carolina on their heels without Axe then you adjust, but Kessel's going to need protection.

[rician blast]

I wouldn't imagine Julien would screw around with the lines at all yet. Hell, their coming off of a 4 game sweep.

 

I think Axe on the 1st line is a smart move, keeps the lines more balanced, makes it very difficult for the opponent to match up with the 2nd and 3rd lines.

[Dojji]

While I agree with this, it does make sense to adjust the lines based on your opponent, yes?

 

Leaving 3 small players on our top line creates a very simple gameplan for anyone who wants an upset. "Take Kessel out of the game -- hard." Montreal didn't have the physical players who could execute that plan and so they failed, with Kessel being a huge part of the reason why.

 

Carolina has more to throw at that light top line than Big Georges Laraque, Tom "Flying Elbow" Kostopoulos and Lapierre. They will bring a much more determined and capable physical pressure on Kessel and Savard if all they have to defend them is Axe. We really need to keep both Kessel and Savard healthy throughout this series and hopefully on to the next one as well, so lining them up with a player with the skill to play first line and the strength to make guys think twice about the easy answer to Kessel makes sense.

 

Z, Stuart, and Sherriff Shane can probably help out but they'll have their own responsibilities and I don't know I want to give them any more than they already have. They'll have their hands full as it is with this Canes team.

[YanksHater213]

Krecji - Ryder - Axelsson

Savard - Kessel - Lucic

Bergeron - Recchi - Wheeler

Yelle - Thornton - Kobasew (Bitz)

 

What I want to see at least if we're to switch it up.

 

But don't fix anything that just swept your biggest rival out of the first round.

[Mr Crunchy]

Whatever their game plan is Boston has to stick with what got them to the top of the east.

They need to play their game at their speed and theyll be fine.

No need to think too much about moving lines around, Boston has shown discipline balance and great team defense, thats about all you need to get thru their conference.

Tonights game will set the tone for the rest of the series, get on em early and then let them adjust.

1st goal is key here.

[rician blast]

Kobasew>Wheeler. Can't demote him to the 4th line.

[Dojji]

I love having this problem.

[redsoxrules]

Whoooo

 

Wings take game 1

they had a slow start to the game but kicked it in high gear in the 3rd and won 3-2

[PapelbonLester]

Bruins look great and dont look there going to stop until they get to the cup.

[BoSox21]

Caps/Pens today at 1pm on NBC, thats gonna be a great series

[Keeper]

Why can't goalies be captains in the NHL?

[BoSox21]

Why can't goalies be captains in the NHL?

 

Roberto Luongo is the Canucks captain

[Keeper]

That's why I asked the question. He is their captain, but it's against league policy. My question is why is that a policy?

[Keeper]

Cool. Hat tricks by Ovechkin and Crosby. That might be the series to watch.

[BoSox21]

That's why I asked the question. He is their captain' date=' but it's against league policy. My question is why is that a policy?[/quote']

 

cause the captain and assistant captains are the only ones allowed to talk to the refs during stoppages and to do that, they gotta go over to the timekeeper area. goalies aren't allowed to cross the blueline so that's why

 

Cool. Hat tricks by Ovechkin and Crosby. That might be the series to watch.

 

as long as the Pens start to win

[Mr Crunchy]

I remember when the entire league had A's on their jerseys and 1 guy wore the C but i dont remember if the goalies wore the A as well...

Detroit is in a shitstorm out west and if they drop tommorows game theyre facing elimination.

I do think they got f***ed out of a goal but if youre Gary Bettman who would you rather see playing the East, a Los Angeles tv market or the Detroit tv market?

And finally I read that the Coyotes of Phoenix are in bankruptcy and theyre considering moving another franchise back to Canada but Winnipeg is out of the question, they're looking at Ontario with Toronto possibly getting a 2nd franchise.