2006 NHL Playoff Thread

[Draft Dodger]

University of Michigan is getting some free press this weekend. There was a Michigan jersey behind Quenneville all game yesterday, and one behind Babcock today.

[Greyroofoo]

Red Wings Goal.....

DAMN YOU NBC!!!!! DAMN YOU!!!!

[Draft Dodger]

Pierre McGuire makes my brain hurt

[Draft Dodger]

ooh, that was ugly

[ice4277]

Ugh. The Wings are so lacksadaisical in their own zone today, it is sickening.

[pennywisesb]

San Jose looks very good right now. If they can go back to SJ with a 1-1 series record I think we take the series.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

Stars are in trouuu-ble if they try to play like that again. Nice to see Turco living up to his playoff reputation. I'm starting to understand how Blackhawk fans felt during the Belfour years.

Uhhhh..DD? I did show my face. LEt the ribbing begin. Come on...I'm not shy.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

Uhhhh..DD? I did show my face. LEt the ribbing begin. Come on...I'm not shy.

LOL. I missed it. Can't gloat anymore - the 24 hour rule or something.

[kingfc22]

Sharks are doing a great job on the penalty kill today.

[ice4277]

NBC uses the close-up iso cam during games way too much. It seems like every time they switch to it, something important happens outside of the frame.

[ice4277]

Yikes. I thought this would be a tough series for the Wings, but it is really starting to remind me quite a bit of that Calgary series two years ago.

Wings looked sloppy and disorganized in their own end, and were actually worse against Edmonton's trap than they were on Friday.

[ice4277]

dola

I'm getting sick of everyone trying to call Edmonton's system anything but a trap. It's a trap, get over it.

[TazFTW]

Sweet goal by Boyle.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by ice4277

dola

I'm getting sick of everyone trying to call Edmonton's system anything but a trap. It's a trap, get over it.

No, it may deserve a new name. I thought the trap generally employed at least one forechecker. When they're got it going full tilt, you don't see their first guy until the middle red line, it's freaking pathetic.

But hey, just because they scored two goals in a minute as a result of turnovers forced by forechecking doesn't mean you should scrap the trap MacT, go ahead, keep playing it until you lose your job. That might make more fans happy than the team making it into the second round.

[MJ4H]

Calgary has scored a couple of goals to get back in the game from down 3-0. It is now 3-2, about midway through the 2nd period.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by ice4277

dola

I'm getting sick of everyone trying to call Edmonton's system anything but a trap. It's a trap, get over it.

It is like a neutral zone clusterfuck.

[DeToxRox]

Big win by the Oilers. Impressive game. Really awesome defensivley.

[ISiddiqui]

Ducks score another one. 4-2 now.

[sterlingice]

We aren't even getting the game. OLN is being blacked out or something

SI

[DeToxRox]

It's getting there.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

We aren't even getting the game. OLN is being blacked out or something

SI

Whatever in the Hell for? Btw, I'm happy as Hell that OLB is using the CBC feed instead of sending their own idiots (including graphics people) up there.

[kingfc22]

4-3 Ducks now

[ISiddiqui]

And Ducks win it.

[caspanky]

SWEET!!! I got tickets for the Sharks game on thursday. Paid too much for them, but I DONT CARE!!!

[Vince]

Originally Posted by caspanky

SWEET!!! I got tickets for the Sharks game on thursday. Paid too much for them, but I DONT CARE!!!

Tickets.

Now, you know I think you're the coolest poster on this board, and I can get you all sorts of free CPK food. So obviously, you're going to take me, right?

Right?!

RIGHT?!!????

Sigh. Have fun at the game!

[caspanky]

That's funny, that's the same reaction I got from a couple other people that I talked to tonight. It's amazing how popular you become when you have something people want.

[Vince]

Heh. Indeed. At $500 a pair on eBay last week, I can't imagine they've gotten any cheaper to purchase, and the Shark Tank doesn't have a bad seat.

[caspanky]

They've come down a bit. I was able to snag a pair for $185 off ebay tonight. Upper deck, behind the Sharks attacking zone for 1st and 3rd. Like I said, little more then I hoped to spent, but I'll just buy less video games next month. This is the playoffs, sacrifices must be made.

[Vince]

$185 doesn't seem that bad, considering what I was watching a few days ago on eBay. Maybe I should start looking again...

[Honolulu_Blue]

This series certainly feels like "deja vu all over again".

It feels very similar to the Anaheim, Nashville, and Calgary series. The Wings out shoot the opponent, without ever getting too many quality chances, and the opposing team plays a tight, defensive style of hockey that throws the Wings off their game. The other team just sort of hangs around, waits for an opportunity - like a power play or turnover - they strike and resume the defensive posture. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

It seems teams have figured this out pretty well. As ar as forwards and defensemen go, Edmonton is, arguably, a deeper, more talented team than either of the Wings other recent play off opponents. Since the Wings don't get many quality scoring chances, the level of goaltending isn't /as/ important.

The trap works well against the Wings for two reasons. First, the Wings are not that fast. They haven't had good team speed since Fedorov *cue the boos* left. The new rules still allow the trap, but what they don't allow is the hooking/grabbing to slow teams down through the neutral zone. The Wings lack the overall team speed to exploit this. Second, the Wings aren't that physical. The other way you beat the trap is to dump the puck and go after it. The Wings certainly aren't suited to this style of play at all.

The only the Wings have left is to try and use puck control and passing. The trap makes it very hard to do this successfully. Players clog the passing lanes and you pretty much need perfect, flawless passing to break through. As we saw on yesterday that rarely works. There were a ton of plays that started out nice, but then just fizzled when they got to Edmonton's blueline because of a bad pass, a puck hopping over a stick, an Oiler getting in the way, or an off-sides.

Line up:
I don't know if Babcock will go with Cross. Lebda provides more speed than Cross does. I am not sure putting Cross in there would help. Wooley is a possibility, but a long shot as well.

So far Datsyuk has shown nothing, but I am not sure how fair it is to judge him. He hasn't played in a while and there is no way to know how injured he still is. That said, Kelly Hrudey on CBC was ripping him apart after the first period and he's never performed in the playoffs in the past...

The Brightside:
Both Edmonton and Detroit have played much better on the road than at home this season. I think the Wings relax a little more on the road and try to take a simpler approach to the game. This should help them immensely. Edmonton will be rocking. It will be very important for the Wings to try and take the fans out of the game as early as possible.

There's still a lot of hockey left to be played.

[sachmo71]

Man, the noise in Edmonton...that's something I actually miss. Crowd wars!

[Chubby]

let's go Sabres!!!

[TazFTW]

Yay, no Jagr and Weekes is in goal. Although if I remember correctly Weekes was part of that two headed netminder (with Arthurs Irbe) that Carolina used in the playoffs a few years back.

[Draft Dodger]

I really would enjoy beating the snot out of pierre mcguire

[TazFTW]

Another powerplay goal...

[sabotai]

4-0 Buffalo already....Flyers are done.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

I really would enjoy beating the snot out of pierre mcguire

You and me both. But the Flyers are a bunch of heartless pussies

[Galaxy]

Esche is pretty pissed...

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Esche is pretty pissed...

I'd be too if my D kept hanging me out to dry

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Esche is pretty pissed...

to me, he looks like he wanted to get pulled after the 4th goal and, since that didn't work, now he's trying to get tossed.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by bsak16

You and me both. But the Flyers are a bunch of heartless pussies

and old dried up slow pussies at that.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

and old dried up slow pussies at that.

If I could I'd beat the living shit out of Desjardans. He is a fuckin turnover machine

[Galaxy]

Key for Sabres is to keep it together during the two remaining periods.

[Galaxy]

Gee guys, were down 4-0, let's get another penalty....Dumb Flyers.

[Galaxy]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!

[ISiddiqui]

Jesus!

1st periods tonight

Montreal 3-0
NJ 2-0
Buffalo 5-0

This is not the way to success for the teams with the 0 on the scoreboard!

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Chubby

let's go Sabres!!!

Let's stop Sabres!!!

Seriously, they've had enough. Just stop.

[sabotai]

Flyers score....the comeback is on!!!

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by sabotai

Flyers score....the comeback is on!!!

Not if they take those penalties....Sabres need to show a little more fire, or else it may happen.

[Galaxy]

Someone get ejected?