The OFFICIAL 2008-09 NHL Playoffs Thread

[Dr. Sak]

How can you use Damien Cox and interesting in the same sentence?

[Fidatelo]

I'd like to see those shifts on film. Why is a 2:30 shift too long if he gets a TV timeout and a few whistles mixed in? Context is too important in a stat like that.

Now, if he's frequently hitting 1:00+ of straight action and loafing around, fine, but just looking at numbers isn't enough.

[Dr. Sak]

Rangers sign Gilroy.

RANGERS SIGN TOP COLLEGE PLAYER - New York Post

[Dr. Sak]

I saw this on deadspin and had to chuckle...

FREE TICKET to Pens Game on Friday...

[Pyser]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

Rangers sign Gilroy.

RANGERS SIGN TOP COLLEGE PLAYER - New York Post

balls.

but still semi-expensive. It's believed the Long Island native, whose father, Frank, played basketball for St. John's from 1997-81, signed a two-year deal for between $4-5 million.

[DataKing]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

I saw this on deadspin and had to chuckle...

FREE TICKET to Pens Game on Friday...

Outstanding idea. I should try this with some Bears tickets.

[watravaler]

YouTube - Cammalleri hit on Havlat Game 1 PLayoffs 2009

No suspension. Good news for Flames fans, bad ruling, imo...

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by watravaler

YouTube - Cammalleri hit on Havlat Game 1 PLayoffs 2009

No suspension. Good news for Flames fans, bad ruling, imo...

That's bull crap that he didn't get suspended. I will freely admit that Carcillo deserved what he got, but this is just another example of double standards in the league.

[gstelmack]

How is that not a suspension? You're allowed to just rear back and nail a guy for no reason and no repurcussions now?

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

How is that not a suspension? You're allowed to just rear back and nail a guy for no reason and no repurcussions now?

It all depends on what color uniform you wear and how marketable the league thinks you are.

[Sublime 2]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

Rangers sign Gilroy.

RANGERS SIGN TOP COLLEGE PLAYER - New York Post

Yuck, how can I root. For him now!

[Fidatelo]

Let's go Rangers!

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

It all depends on what color uniform you wear and how marketable the league thinks you are.

Actually how many penalty minutes you got the previous season. Let's not kid ourselves if it was the other way around with Andre Roy and Jeff Carter we would have the exactly same result. Doesn't make it any less of a crock of shite...

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Actually how many penalty minutes you got the previous season. Let's not kid ourselves if it was the other way around with Andre Roy and Jeff Carter we would have the exactly same result. Doesn't make it any less of a crock of shite...

Thats the point I am trying to make.

[Travis]

Cammalleri better keep his head up if they meet up at another faceoff. Got to think that the NHL would have a hard time suspending Havlat on a duplicate play.

[Maple Leafs]

What happened to Martin Havlat? Back when he was with the Sens, if a Leaf punched him in the mouth like that we wouldn't see him again for two weeks.

[Wolfpack]

Woo-hoo! Carolina hangs on by its fingernails against New Jersey and salvages a split with a 2-1 OT win.

Carolina played a freightload better than they did in Game 1, but NJ still seemed to generally have them on their heels a lot. It's also hard to say whether NJ's play was agitating Carolina or whether Carolina was trying to do some message-sending, but the skirmishing picked up a lot tonight, resulting in a fair amount of roughing or similar penalties on Carolina (for one of the least penalized teams in the league this year, they've been getting penalties in bunches lately). The PK was fortunately once again very good, however, keeping Carolina in the contest. At least Carolina was able to carry the play for good stretches and pretty much dominated the OT before Gleason's winner.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Not sure how to post the entire spreadsheet if anyone wants to see the scoring.

But, the early leaderboard:

1. Detox - 111 pts
2. SR - 107 pts
3. bbor - 100 pts
4. Chief Rum - 97 pts
5. bhlloy - 96 pts

[JS19]

How is it that the Rangers were able to sign that college kid from BU as a free agent? Why would he not have to enter the draft?

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by JS19

How is it that the Rangers were able to sign that college kid from BU as a free agent? Why would he not have to enter the draft?

His age. He's 25.

Edit: Any player after their draft eligibility is a free agent, which is how the Leafs got sign Bozak and Hanson. But Gilroy was old enough that he wasn't even limited by entry-level contract rules, so he could sign for whatever he could get.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

Carolina played a freightload better than they did in Game 1

Agreed, and it was nice to see.

[Logan]

Can anyone give me (or point me to) a scouting report on Gilroy?

Shockingly, Henrik has been sensational so far today. That was a great physical first period.

[Dr. Sak]

The Rangers are really clogging the middle of their zone, not letting the caps any skating room.

[Logan]

Yep, some great defense here. That Ovechkin shot Sjostrom just blocked looked extremely painful.

[Dr. Sak]

And I really like having Darren Pang there in the announcing crew.

[Logan]

Jesus Christ, these refs are doing a terrible job at realizing the puck is extremely loose.

[Logan]

Well this was unexpected.

[bhlloy]

With hindsight, if the Rangers do knock off the Caps, it really shouldn't be that much of a surprise. Everyone is in love with the Caps skill players, but there is a history of teams with questionable goaltending, no true shutdown defensive defensemen and great skill players losing to physical teams with solid defense and a great goalie. I'll take pretty much any team with Lundqvist over any team with Theodore any time in the playoffs.

EDIT - I see Varlamov was the goalie today and did a nice job. A rookie goalie with that little experience isn't going to hold up for the whole series though. Rangers in 5

[Logan]

I really don't think Varlamov had more than 3 moderately-hard saves to make, and one of those was the goal scored.

[Honolulu_Blue]

This is a great quote from Datsyuk:

Datsyuk got into a scrum after Antoine Vermette went hard to the Wings' net late in the second period. They met up again in the third period, this time when Datsyuk went to the Blue Jackets' net. Vermette ended up jumping on Datsyuk from behind.


"He just used me like pony," Datsyuk said. "He was on top of me. I don't like being the pony. I want to be on top."

[DataKing]

Sloppy play early by the Flyers, yet they're up 2-0. And that goal by Carter was a thing of beauty.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Chris Kunitz DESTROYED Kimmo Timonen...and of course then gets a penalty afterwards when jumped but Hartnell because he cleanly hit a Flyer.

And, can NBC please not use that God forsaken behind the net angle when Philly is on the PP. That is awful.

[DataKing]

I don't know. The different angle on the PP doesn't bother me too much in small doses.

Heck of an effort by Giroux on the PK.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by DataKing

I don't know. The different angle on the PP doesn't bother me too much in small doses.

Heck of an effort by Giroux on the PK.

While they are entering the zone and setting up, it's fine. After that, I don't like it.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Dola

Somebody, anybody...PLEASE hire Pierre Mcguire in your front office, on your coaching staff, as a beer vendor. Something. Anything. Just get him off TV.

My two favorites today:

Briere highstick on Orpik (resulted in a 4 min double minor). Pierre chimes in with "but...he didn't mean to do that"

And later on, Coburn breaks his stick on the PP, Staal picks up the puck. Coburn makes a good play bumping Staal to negate a SH chance. Pierre goes on to explain that was a great play, and it's because of the great leadership Richards displayed all day. WHAT!?! That is 2nd in all-time stupidity behind Cherry's assertion that Talbot scored the tying goal in regulation of SCF game 5 solely because he sat on the bench next to Gary Roberts.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

Dola

Somebody, anybody...PLEASE hire Pierre Mcguire in your front office, on your coaching staff, as a beer vendor. Something. Anything. Just get him off TV.

My two favorites today:

Briere highstick on Orpik (resulted in a 4 min double minor). Pierre chimes in with "but...he didn't mean to do that"

And later on, Coburn breaks his stick on the PP, Staal picks up the puck. Coburn makes a good play bumping Staal to negate a SH chance. Pierre goes on to explain that was a great play, and it's because of the great leadership Richards displayed all day. WHAT!?! That is 2nd in all-time stupidity behind Cherry's assertion that Talbot scored the tying goal in regulation of SCF game 5 solely because he sat on the bench next to Gary Roberts.

You're just mad cause he wasn't blowing Crosby all game like he usually does or talking about what an integral part he was in coaching the Pens when they won their cups. And please don't complain about the refs...it's pretty evident that your team is getting the benefit of a lot of ticky tack calls, not only today but last game too. I don't care if they are going to call them but be consistent.

Malkin's second goal was one hell of a shot. I'm actually more worried when he is on the ice than when Crosby is.

[Dr. Sak]

Dola...and MAF who was clearly the Pens best player in Game 2...gave up too many juicy rebounds today. That being said, Biron still looks shaky.

[bhlloy]

That hit by Kunitz was a thing of beauty. Shame he never played like that for the Ducks after the cup (not just him, most of the team did the same).

I was really pissed I had to leave for a soccer game just after that because it was the first time so far this year a game has really felt like playoff hockey. I'll be making sure to Tivo the rest of the series now for sure - these teams really do not like each other and it's freaking awesome. 7 game series please

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

You're just mad cause he wasn't blowing Crosby all game like he usually does or talking about what an integral part he was in coaching the Pens when they won their cups. And please don't complain about the refs...it's pretty evident that your team is getting the benefit of a lot of ticky tack calls, not only today but last game too. I don't care if they are going to call them but be consistent.

Malkin's second goal was one hell of a shot. I'm actually more worried when he is on the ice than when Crosby is.

There was alot let go both ways today. And then of course, the NHL official special: 10 guy scrum, we take 3. Kunitz gets 2 mins because Timonen couldn't skate with head up and that made Hartnell sad. But, Kunitz later in the game smashes Timonen stick, same as the Giroux call in game 2, and nothing is called.

I am actually wondering if this goes to 6 game, next Saturday is an NBC game I believe. If Richards doesn't return Pierre's calls or calls the cops when Pierre is sitting outside his house, McGuire will be back on Sid's bandwagon. Of course, if Richards can arrange a threesome for him and Pierre with Timonen, Pierre will be his forever.


MAF was awful. And this was the worst game Gonchar's played since returning.

Also hoping during the scrum towards the end of the 3rd, Crosby and Powe, I could see the two talking. Hoping Sid said "exactly who are you?"
But probably didn't get an answer. Richards showed leadership in being the 3rd guy in.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Dola

Another thing I didn't understand, but am chalking up to NHL officiating.

Kennedy and Giroux. Both toss their gloves. Both land punches. Giroux ends up on top of Kennedy.

Commercial.

Giroux and Kennedy 2 for roughing a piece (plus 2 to Giroux for elbowing, this all occurred on a delayed call).

Letang and Powe, 5 each for fighting.

HUH?

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

Also hoping during the scrum towards the end of the 3rd, Crosby and Powe, I could see the two talking. Hoping Sid said "exactly who are you?"
But probably didn't get an answer. Richards showed leadership in being the 3rd guy in.

Don't forget the first call on Staal...I thought that was pretty BS as well as when Carter got called for slashing.

Was that like when Eaton was holding Giroux and then Kennedy dropped his gloves and starting swinging at Giroux...only to have Claude land a nice one right on Kennedy's face? Don't act like the Pens are angels here.

I will freely admit that Kunitz's hit was clean. But you know damn well Matt Cooke would've done the same thing had the roles been reversed.

It's nice to see the camera on Crosby all the time and him chumming it up with the refs. In Game 2 you could read his lips on FSN it was either "can't you see him f*cking elbow me or high stick me". Or today when he keeps skating up and saying "Watch because they are doing "this" or "that" to me". Grow up kid. That was fine when you were 18 or 19 but it's time to grow up.

And don't talk about being the third man in when YOUR CAPTAIN threw punches earlier in the season with one landing on Boris Valabik groin being the third man in. But again nothing is done because the Pens are angels.

[Dr. Sak]

Lucic gets 1 game.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

Don't forget the first call on Staal...I thought that was pretty BS as well as when Carter got called for slashing.

Was that like when Eaton was holding Giroux and then Kennedy dropped his gloves and starting swinging at Giroux...only to have Claude land a nice one right on Kennedy's face? Don't act like the Pens are angels here.

I will freely admit that Kunitz's hit was clean. But you know damn well Matt Cooke would've done the same thing had the roles been reversed.

It's nice to see the camera on Crosby all the time and him chumming it up with the refs. In Game 2 you could read his lips on FSN it was either "can't you see him f*cking elbow me or high stick me". Or today when he keeps skating up and saying "Watch because they are doing "this" or "that" to me". Grow up kid. That was fine when you were 18 or 19 but it's time to grow up.

And don't talk about being the third man in when YOUR CAPTAIN threw punches earlier in the season with one landing on Boris Valabik groin being the third man in. But again nothing is done because the Pens are angels.

Both the Staal hold on Alberts, if holding means pushing the stick Alberts has in his face, and Carter "slash" on Malkin were awful. Carter actually wound of harder along the boards just prior to that, I think againt Fedotenko, with nothing called.

You mean like in games 1 and 2 when every call Richards is up the refs ass? Or shaking his head as he skates away? Or maybe I am not understanding-- I guess that's "leadership". Richards, the captain, talks to the ref it's leading. Crosby, the captain, talks to the ref, it's whining.

All that was missing was a swinging a butt-end into someones head at the game...thankfully Asham took care of of doing something stupid at the end.

Anyway, with that bullshit out of the way...was there 2 worse players on the ice than Carcillo and Sykora? How many times can Carcillo cough up the puck? And is that number greater than the number of times Sykora can miss the net?

All in all, IMO MAF has played 2 good games and 1 stinker. Biron has been shaky throughout.

If Cooke scores there right after Scuderi to open the 2nd, totally different game.

[Dr. Sak]

Actually this was one of Carcillo's better games...which isn't saying much. I'm more pissed that Knuble has been MIA all series. Sykora has been MIA...but I think he's hurt isn't he?

We can play what if's all night...like if Carter buries the puck in the open net in game 2 instead of shooting it into MAF's pads...2 goal lead...game over IMO. But I'm just glad that besides the first 3 minutes of the 2nd period, the Flyers actually showed up. It'll be interesting to see if they can carry it into Game 4.

[gstelmack]

So Malkin is better than Crosby, Ovechkin can't do anything in the playoffs, and Eric Staal needs Erik Cole with him to be effective. Are there any real young stars anymore? Seems like these guys come out of the draft on fire, then fizzle and turn into solid / really good players, but not the superstars they looked like they'd be.

Discuss.

[kingfc22]

Damn, ref really took a shot right there.

Nose is probably broken. EDIT: Guess not.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

So Malkin is better than Crosby, Ovechkin can't do anything in the playoffs, and Eric Staal needs Erik Cole with him to be effective. Are there any real young stars anymore? Seems like these guys come out of the draft on fire, then fizzle and turn into solid / really good players, but not the superstars they looked like they'd be.

Discuss.

Dunno. So far, I don't have any complaints about Datsyuk and Zetterberg. I guess they may be getting a little old to be called "young". Then there's always Luke Schenn.

[DataKing]

You know it's gonna be a rough game when the ref is bleeding less than a minute into it.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sak

Sykora has been MIA...but I think he's hurt isn't he?

I am scared to think they might actually dress Satan.

This post at HF cracked me up...

HFBoards - View Single Post - Round 1: Philadelphia Flyers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins - Take 2

This was a hockey game gentlemen...best I´ve seen in a while. The best hockey fans in the world saw their team being led to a win by the best hockey player in the world at this moment - Kimmo Timonen.

WOW

[Pyser]

dear versus

never show that matteau commercial ever, ever, ever again.

sincerely,

devils fans