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The Everything NHL Thread
- Thread starter Jackal
- Start date
Damn! They still playing in 30T! I'd like to see a game 7.
Wow. That was... never-fucking-ending. Turco and Nabokov were brilliant, period.
My predictions are as such for the conference finals:
Eastern Conference
Pittsburg v. Philadelphia
Pittsburg is the team to beat in the East, in my honest opinion. I don't expect a quick series, however. Both Biron and Fleury are at the top of their games, and both teams have excellent offense. As much as I hate to admit it, I think Malkin will be the difference maker in this series. Expect Malkin and Fleury to be Pittsburg's key players, and expect Biron to save Philadelphia more than a few times. I predict 6 games.
Western Conference
Detroit v. Dallas
You know I'm going to pull for Detroit. Detroit's offensive and defensive capabilities are unmatched, and the only thing that will stop them in their tracks is Turco himself. I believe Dallas will be shaky during the first game or two against Detroit, especially after a gruelling 4OT game. I see this going in 6 games, as well. Expect more excellence from Franzen, as well as the Zetterberg/Datsyuk line; expect Turco to be super-human and Morrow to bitch more about waived goals while throwing his body around. (That was a joke, before people jump on me for being an asshole)
My predictions are as such for the conference finals:
Eastern Conference
Pittsburg v. Philadelphia
Pittsburg is the team to beat in the East, in my honest opinion. I don't expect a quick series, however. Both Biron and Fleury are at the top of their games, and both teams have excellent offense. As much as I hate to admit it, I think Malkin will be the difference maker in this series. Expect Malkin and Fleury to be Pittsburg's key players, and expect Biron to save Philadelphia more than a few times. I predict 6 games.
Western Conference
Detroit v. Dallas
You know I'm going to pull for Detroit. Detroit's offensive and defensive capabilities are unmatched, and the only thing that will stop them in their tracks is Turco himself. I believe Dallas will be shaky during the first game or two against Detroit, especially after a gruelling 4OT game. I see this going in 6 games, as well. Expect more excellence from Franzen, as well as the Zetterberg/Datsyuk line; expect Turco to be super-human and Morrow to bitch more about waived goals while throwing his body around. (That was a joke, before people jump on me for being an asshole)
I stayed awake in bed watching the first overtime, but before the 2nd OT started the sleep timer turned the TV off and I went to bed (well past midnight). All I have to say is the Sharks, for a while there, made me truly believe another team might come back from the 3-0 deficit. Nabokov and Turco were fucking amazing, that first OT was probably 20 of the most exciting minutes of hockey I've ever witnessed.
Agree 100% and I should know because I was THERE!!!
My girlfriend told me earlier this week not to make plans on Thursday and I didn't really think anything about it. Then on Wednesday she asked if I minded driving even if it was like an hour away and I said no. I kept asking her where we were going and she wouldn't tell me so I was just like whatever. She even brought up that we might miss the Wings game and I was like OK fine whatever Detroit is going to win anyway. Well driving well over an hour and getting closer and closer to Detroit I ask.. "so where are we going?" and she's like "oh we're going to the Wings game!" and I was super excited.
We got there pretty early so there was parking still open across the street which I immediately pulled into. Unfortunately it was 30 bucks and all we had on us was 25 so we asked the guy if they took credit or anything and he just told us to give him the 25. Score. That's still a shit ton of money for parking but I wasn't in the mood to fight traffic later or walk a few blocks in Detroit at night. Being early, we strolled around the Joe since I have never been there before. At the entrance they were handing out free red t-shirts for a "red out" which was awesome since I wasn't wearing any Wings gear.
Our seats were 13 rows from the ice in the corner off of Osgood's blocker side. Needless to say, these were nice seats. You could see everything including the players' faces. I was really worried when we took that early penalty but we killed it off and got a 5 on 3 which we promptly scored on. Everyone in the Joe thought the initial shot was in so I think that might have confused Turco for a brief moment.. just enough time for Rafalski to bang in the rebound with help from a Holmstrom screen. I got to see two goals on the other end of the ice and two goals when Turco was on my side which was pretty cool. I had a perfect view of Holmstrom's tip in and Kronwall's massive hit. I'm not really sure how Zetterberg fucked up that wrap around but it was cool to see him race around the net up close.
All in all.. awesome first Red Wings game.. I still can't believe I was there. Conference Finals..
I know my predictions are somewhat late but I'm taking Detroit in 6 and the Penguins in 7.
Best. Girlfriend. EVER. That's a keeper.
Mine would've been a keeper after taking me to a Sabres game, but she turned out to be crazy. Who'da thunk it.
Haha seriously. Pretty awesome Carl, good game to be at to, could hear the crowd pretty vibrantly on Versus.
As far as that wraparound, not sure if you've seen a replay but Turco got his stick back enough that it touched the post which was pretty amazing although if Zetterberg got it even high enough to hit the top half of his stick it'd have flipped in.
Anyway as far as Detroit dominating, it seemed like Dallas was kind of leading the physical play in the 3rd and a bit in the end of the 2nd, although Detroit was definitely reeling things in a bit then to protect the lead so I guess it's misleading. They started out nicely against Anaheim too so I'm far from complacent but it's nice to get the first win out of the way.
Related though, it was really nice to see Detroit being physical. It's funny to see how different Detroit's fortune have been up to this point this year compared to last year. With only one injury removing a regular from the lineup(Kopecky) and few minor injuries slowing people down even players that were on the team last year are able to be much more physical this year. Kronwall is the big one since he was out for the playoffs last year, but even people like Holmstrom who was pretty banged up last year and got a lot of hits and physical players like Franzen getting more ice time is helping that dimension of the team a lot too. Additions like Drake and Stuart are also adding a lot to the edge of the team and I'm kind of disappointed Detroit didn't get to play Anaheim this year in the playoffs to see how things would have varied from last year - it's a team with a lot more edge than last year, I think, which was definitely the biggest flaw. Even people like Datsyuk, Hudler, and Filppula are getting in on the physical play which is good(and surprising to see).
The main thing that worries me about this year's Red Wings at this point is scoring depth, I think. They're definitely not the one line team Ottawa was last year but outside of the top two units there's very, very little scoring.
Here's an interesting stat:
(Games Played-Goals-Assists-Points-PlusMinus)
33 C Kris Draper 11 2 1 3 -3
11 R Dan Cleary 11 1 1 2 2
17 R Dallas Drake 11 0 2 2 -1
25 R Darren McCarty 10 1 0 1 0
23 D Brad Stuart 10 0 1 1 3
03 D Andreas Lilja 5 0 1 1 2
44 C Mark Hartigan 4 0 1 1 0
22 D Brett Lebda 8 0 1 1 2
43 C Darren Helm 7 0 1 1 -1
24 D Chris Chelios 10 0 0 0 1
18 L Kirk Maltby 1 0 0 0 0
If you remove the top 10 scorers from Detroit's lineup, this is what you have left. Not coincidently, all of these players are below the top 2 lines and the 2 two defensive pairings. Obviously most of these guys are used mainly as checkers, but these 12 players combined(which represent about 8 slots) only represent 13 points in 11 games, which is pretty weak secondary scoring considering Franzen, Datsyuk, and Zetterberg have that many or more on their own. The one exception to this is fourth liner Jiri Hudler who has a cool 10 points. Having two strong lines has been enough for Detroit so far but it's be really nice to see some points from the bottom two units, especially since most of these points came from the Nashville series.
EDIT: I found another fun stat reading an article
FUN FACT: Franzen has 27 goals in 27 games, a streak that goes back to March 2. In that time span, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg have a combined 27 goals.
bumpers
Philadelphia is physically beating the shit out of Pittsburgh, especially Malkin. Last night, every time he was within visual distance or the puck he was getting hammered by someone. They rendered him almost completely ineffectual, which is step one to winning against the Pens. Unfortunately, Crosby is still playing too, and he was stellar last night. I can't believe they disallowed his second goal, I don't give a flying FUCK if the glove blocks the view of the puck, if the goddamn thing is clearly 3 or 4 inches over the line just make the right call! Going back to Philly now, though, it's a whole new ballgame.
As for Franzen... :justin:
Philadelphia is physically beating the shit out of Pittsburgh, especially Malkin. Last night, every time he was within visual distance or the puck he was getting hammered by someone. They rendered him almost completely ineffectual, which is step one to winning against the Pens. Unfortunately, Crosby is still playing too, and he was stellar last night. I can't believe they disallowed his second goal, I don't give a flying FUCK if the glove blocks the view of the puck, if the goddamn thing is clearly 3 or 4 inches over the line just make the right call! Going back to Philly now, though, it's a whole new ballgame.
As for Franzen... :justin:
Franzen's Conn Smythe hopes are probably pretty much shot at this point unless Detroit makes it to the finals and he performs well(and can perform at all). He sat last game and will sit tonight at the very minimum as he is being checked out in Detroit today for his 'concussion-like symptoms.' Given that he probably won't play again until Game 5 at the earliest if he's discovered to be ok. Hopefully Datsyuk and/or Zetterberg can step up here.
I'm kind of interested in how much of that Osgood/Ribiero thing will roll over into game 3. I'd guess not much, but I'm glad there weren't any suspensions(although I don't really agree with Ott and Osgood getting fined) because while I would have probably suspended at least Ribiero if it was Synre's Happy Fun Feriends Hockey League I don't think they could have really justified giving the one game given that they gave Pronger one last year for what was a much more dangerous intent to injure. Ribiero's shot being as obvious as it was is pretty immature but it's not like he's feasibly going to hurt a goalie hitting Osgood where he did. Either way, one thing I did enjoy about the situation was McCarty threatening the Stars, since it reminded me of that aforementioned Pronger incident and the fact that last year no one really did anything about it... shows some of the difference between last year's version of the Red Wings and this year's, I think.
Interested in what happens tonight though, Detroit has only won as many games this year as they did last year so far, time to see if they can do better.
I'm kind of interested in how much of that Osgood/Ribiero thing will roll over into game 3. I'd guess not much, but I'm glad there weren't any suspensions(although I don't really agree with Ott and Osgood getting fined) because while I would have probably suspended at least Ribiero if it was Synre's Happy Fun Feriends Hockey League I don't think they could have really justified giving the one game given that they gave Pronger one last year for what was a much more dangerous intent to injure. Ribiero's shot being as obvious as it was is pretty immature but it's not like he's feasibly going to hurt a goalie hitting Osgood where he did. Either way, one thing I did enjoy about the situation was McCarty threatening the Stars, since it reminded me of that aforementioned Pronger incident and the fact that last year no one really did anything about it... shows some of the difference between last year's version of the Red Wings and this year's, I think.
Interested in what happens tonight though, Detroit has only won as many games this year as they did last year so far, time to see if they can do better.
I would like to see another Detroit and Philadelphia face off because that would be a nice end of the year. I know Detroit would walk all over Philly's face (let's face it, Detroit on fire right now), but my dad thinks that Pittsburgh will make the finals. I just don't think that would be as entertaining for me because my World History teacher is a Flyers fan, which, in my state, is kind of blasphemy, and I'd like to see the look on his face when Philly fails. Of course, if Philly loses to Pittsburgh (very likely considering that Pittsburgh is up 2-0 in the series), I still may see the look on his face...
Hmmm, I'd say you called that one spot on.
So, for conference finals, these series are going by pretty quickly... 3-0 series for Detroit and Pittsburg.
I say this as unbiased as possible, but I believe Detroit will take out Pittsburg in the finals. Pittsburg has yet to face a challenge, and they haven't faced a team that focuses on puck possession like Detroit does. I'm not saying it will be a quick series, mind you, but Pittsburg has yet to face the things Detroit brings to the table.
~EDIT~
Dallas played one hell of a Game 4, but Detroit got screwed out of a goal. =\
I say this as unbiased as possible, but I believe Detroit will take out Pittsburg in the finals. Pittsburg has yet to face a challenge, and they haven't faced a team that focuses on puck possession like Detroit does. I'm not saying it will be a quick series, mind you, but Pittsburg has yet to face the things Detroit brings to the table.
~EDIT~
Dallas played one hell of a Game 4, but Detroit got screwed out of a goal. =\
OrbitingDeath
formerly SkylarGreen
Dallas got closer, but I doubt Detroit will give it away, they will take it in 6. Pittsburgh really outplayed the flyers last night to reach the finals quite easily.
I still hope the Wings fail, but I doubt it.
Canada vs Russia was an exciting match to watch last night, unfortunatly (yeah I was supporting canada) Ilya Kovalchuk decided to score his first and second goal of the tournament on the time it was the most important.
(4-4 and 5-4 in OT).
Russia winning the first WC since 93' and Pittsburgh reaching the finals for the first time since '93 I think. Curious what will happen at the seasons ending.
I still hope the Wings fail, but I doubt it.
Canada vs Russia was an exciting match to watch last night, unfortunatly (yeah I was supporting canada) Ilya Kovalchuk decided to score his first and second goal of the tournament on the time it was the most important.
(4-4 and 5-4 in OT).
Russia winning the first WC since 93' and Pittsburgh reaching the finals for the first time since '93 I think. Curious what will happen at the seasons ending.
Hopes of Philly/Detroit face-off: failed.
Hopes of Detroit victory: Still strong.
I still can't wait to hear the results of tonight's game between Detroit and Dallas. I'm working during the game, so I can't watch it...typically Detroit loses when I watch, anyway.
Hopes of Detroit victory: Still strong.
I still can't wait to hear the results of tonight's game between Detroit and Dallas. I'm working during the game, so I can't watch it...typically Detroit loses when I watch, anyway.
Awesome. Wings in six imo.