The OFFICIAL 2008-09 NHL Playoffs Thread

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Logan

Ok, what the fuck is with that horn that precedes the "Lets Go Caps"?

Get use to it.

[Logan]

What a play by Dubinsky.

Rangers would be losing 10-4 if they had a different goalie in net.

[Logan]

Rangers take Game 1, 4-3.

Nice to see two Caps fans throw shit on the ice as time ran out. They should be taken out back and beaten.

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by Logan

Rangers take Game 1, 4-3.

Nice to see two Caps fans throw shit on the ice as time ran out. They should be taken out back and beaten.

Semin will oblige.

[Logan]

I would react the same way if I was on fire.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Let me introduce myself, you should be seeing me soon...

[Dr. Sak]

It doesn't matter who is in net with the piss poor performance in front of the goalie that went on tonight.

[DeToxRox]

So I said in the other thread there would be fights. We officialy .. kinda .. had one. I am already on fire.

[Suburban Rhythm]

I'll agree it wasn't Biron's fault. Bad bounce early against Crosby. Gimme to Malkin. Off Carle's stick on Kennedy's.

But Biron has to be pretty fragile right now. (I am not a psychiatrist, nor did i stay at a Holiday Inn Express, but that's my opinion)

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

I'll agree it wasn't Biron's fault. Bad bounce early against Crosby. Gimme to Malkin. Off Carle's stick on Kennedy's.

But Biron has to be pretty fragile right now. (I am not a psychiatrist, nor did i stay at a Holiday Inn Express, but that's my opinion)

Like I said in the other thread...the Flyers show no consistent effort, no sense of urgency. It's really frustrating. Biron didn't look sharp by any means but he wasn't even the worst player on the ice. Hell if you asked me to name a Flyer that actually played good...I'd say whichever ones were in the press box tonight.

[Suburban Rhythm]

The team one seems pretty straightforward, so I will put it here. I would like to do the player one, but without the spreadsheet access, I can't see what the groupings looks like.

Team (16 to 1)

16 Wings
15 Sharks
14 Devils
13 Pens
12 Caps
11 Bruins
10 Hawks
9 Flyers
8 Ducks
7 Nucks
6 Flames
5 Blues
4 Bluejackets
3 Canes
2 Rangers
1 Les Habitents

This is what I had in mind over the weekend, above is Chief Rum's entry.

We are a few games in, but if everyone wants to make their picks, I'll start tracking-- i set up in Google Docs, but I've been working late the last few days.

Anyway, premise is simple-- rank all 16 playoff teams. You earn points per victory, based on your ranking. So, every game won by your #16 earns you 16 pts.

As stated, CR's above.

Here's mine:

16 Pittsburgh
15 Vancouver
14 San Jose
13 Boston
12 Detroit
11 Carolina
10 Washington
9 New Jersey
8 Calgary
7 Chicago
6 Columbus
5 NY Rangers
4 Philadelphia
3 Anaheim
2 Montreal
1 St Louis

[DeToxRox]

16. Wings
15. Boston
14. San Jose
13. Pittsburgh
12. Chicago
11. Carolina
10. Rangers
9. Vancouver
8. Devils
7. Philadelphia
6. Washington
5. Calgary
4. Anaheim
3. Montreal
2. Columbus
1. St. Louis

[bhlloy]

16 San Jose
15 Detroit
14 New Jersey
13 Boston
12 Washington
11 Pittsburgh
10 Calgary
9 Vancouver
8 Chicago
7 St Louis
6 Anaheim
5 NY Rangers
4 Carolina
3 Columbus
2 Philly
1 Montreal

[bbor]

16 Sj
15 Det
14 Boston
13 pitt
12 Nj
11 Wash
10 Calgary
9 Chicago
8 Vancouver
7 Carolina
6 Anahiem
5 Philly
4 Montreal
3 NYR
2 St Louis
1 Columbus

[Wolfpack]

Blah. That's a pretty simple word to describe Carolina tonight, I suppose. NJ outskated, outshot, outhit, and pretty much out-everythinged the Canes over three periods. Aside from that brief blip of hope (and it was the definition of a "blip") when Whitney knocked in the goal to make it 3-1, Carolina was pretty lifeless for most of the game and deserved to get their butts whipped for it. The only consolation I can draw is that Ward seemed to be generally unaffected by the Buffalo game or the time off since then as it was pretty much his efforts alone that prevented this game from being an utter embarrassment. Even so, it isn't going to matter what he does if the Canes can't figure out how to match the ramped-up intensity New Jersey showed.

I think this series will come down to Game 2. If NJ wins, then Carolina's recent run of excellent play will be pretty well forgotten and everyone will say that they peaked too soon. It'll put a heavy amount of pressure on Carolina to sweep their two games at home because I don't think they'd want to go back to Newark down 3-1. A Carolina win, however, gets the ship righted in time for hopefully a loud crowd to make a difference in games three and four.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

I don't think they'd want to go back to Newark down 3-1. .

3-1 or not no one ever wants to go to Newark

[bbor]

Good game between Van and STL.....Blues would have won if they had Stempniak

Nice to see Colliacovo and Steen on in the last minute with the goalie out.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I am not sure about CBC's iDesk.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

Blah. That's a pretty simple word to describe Carolina tonight, I suppose. NJ outskated, outshot, outhit, and pretty much out-everythinged the Canes over three periods. Aside from that brief blip of hope (and it was the definition of a "blip") when Whitney knocked in the goal to make it 3-1, Carolina was pretty lifeless for most of the game and deserved to get their butts whipped for it. The only consolation I can draw is that Ward seemed to be generally unaffected by the Buffalo game or the time off since then as it was pretty much his efforts alone that prevented this game from being an utter embarrassment. Even so, it isn't going to matter what he does if the Canes can't figure out how to match the ramped-up intensity New Jersey showed.

Yup, the "flat" Canes decided to show up last night. It's performances like that where they aren't even trying that make it so difficult to follow them. They've turned in games like that with playoff appearances on the line before.

If they can get the intensity back, they should take this series, but if they decide they don't care like they did last night it's going to be a short series...

[Honolulu_Blue]

I ended up watching more of the Caps/Rangers game than the Flyers/Pens last night because the game was closer. I don't think the Caps are out of it by any means, but Game 1 was sort of a microcosm of how I saw the entire series playing out.

1. Avery having an impact. He goaded Erksine into a penalty, he blatantly interfered with Green on the Gomez goal, and started getting into Theodore's head. Mission accomplished.

2. Theodore not looking quite so solid. Though I don't think too many of those goals were his fault.

3. The Caps defensive lapses leading to Ranger goals.

[Logan]

Interesting, Pierre Labrun on ESPN in discussing whether Wash should make a goalie switch said that the "four goals should have been stopped."

Dubinsky snuck a great shot underneath his glove on the last goal, but at that range and with no one else in the way, he should've stopped it.

Ovechkin leaving the ice after taking a big hit from Callahan with a few seconds still left on Naslund's penalty pretty much led directly to the game winner. Which was awesome.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Logan

Interesting, Pierre Labrun on ESPN in discussing whether Wash should make a goalie switch said that the "four goals should have been stopped."

I would consider it. I know Theodore was stellar against Minnesota in the first round last year, but he was downright awful against Detroit. In fact, Johan Franzen should probably give him years 10 and 11 of his new contract.

[Logan]

Ha!

[Maple Leafs]

If you're a young team like the Caps and you're supposed to be built for a long playoff run, what kind of message does it send if your coach goes into panic mode and switches goalies after one bad game?

[Logan]

That Jose Theodore sucks.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

If you're a young team like the Caps and you're supposed to be built for a long playoff run, what kind of message does it send if your coach goes into panic mode and switches goalies after one bad game?

I would give him 2 bad games. He didn't play horribly. I don't think he had much of a chance on Antropov's goal. One was on that horrible non-call on Avery and the other Schultz fell down.

[gstelmack]

Oh, and one way to "increase" your viewership is to only put the game on an SD channel. How TWC and Fox Sports Carolina managed to not use the HD channel they have set aside for Canes' games to broadcast last night's playoff game is beyond me...

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

If you're a young team like the Caps and you're supposed to be built for a long playoff run, what kind of message does it send if your coach goes into panic mode and switches goalies after one bad game?

If you're a player on the Caps what kind of message does it send that your GM thought Jose Theodore was the answer to your Cup dreams?

[Wolfpack]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Oh, and one way to "increase" your viewership is to only put the game on an SD channel. How TWC and Fox Sports Carolina managed to not use the HD channel they have set aside for Canes' games to broadcast last night's playoff game is beyond me...

Eh, not surprised (even though I don't have HD, so wasn't aware of this particular problem). I remember a couple of weeks ago I think it was the Rangers game that was pre-empted so that they could finish a stinking tennis match that was being carried by FSN South. By the time the tennis was over, the Canes were already up 1-0 and the announcers carried forth like they were unaware there was a pre-emption, so I'm guessing there was a foul-up in the system somewhere (I hope). I was in the midst of a nasty-gram to Fox Sports when the game finally came on.

[Maple Leafs]

Has this already been posted?

This is the first positive contribution Atlanta has ever made to the NHL.

[Logan]

Well done.

Ovechkin's jumping all over the ice when his team scores kind of annoys me. But of course, there's an easy remedy for that...

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Logan

Well done.

Ovechkin's jumping all over the ice when his team scores kind of annoys me. But of course, there's an easy remedy for that...

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Imagine a Caps/Wings SCF?

That thumb wouldn't be up.

[Sublime 2]

Sooooo Amped for B's vs. Canadiens!!

[Ajaxab]

Is anyone else's feed for Det-Clb on Versus 'squished'? I'm not getting a widescreen HD feed off of Directv.

[DaddyTorgo]

2 goals in 90 seconds have the Bruins up 2-0 on Montreal after 15 mins

[bhlloy]

Bone headed play by Malhotra - looked like he tried to catch a shot from the point (which is a penalty no?), changed his mind and ended up deflecting it past his goalie...

Now 3-1 Wings. BJ's hung in there for a while, but I really don't think they can skate with the Wings. Assuming the seedings play out, Wings - Sharks might be a series for the ages.

[DeToxRox]

Detroit is playing very physical, I didn't think they'd come out as the aggressors which is why I was scared with this series. I expected to drop this game but so far Columbus looks shellshocked after those goals.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Solid game. Ozzie was very solid in the first period. Some great saves. The Wings got some fluky goals off deflections in the second and that was that. Columbus never really recovered. The Wings completely shut them down in the third.

[Fidatelo]

Hawks just tied it up. Watching this game has made me realise they are the team I want to come out of the west. Love the way they play, plus all the Winnipeg connections.

[Neuqua]

Havlat scores his second goal 12 seconds into overtime and the Blackhawks take game 1!

[sterlingice]

I wish that game had been on tv.

SI

[DeToxRox]

Anaheim vs San Jose on CBC is just awesome. <3 CBC.

[DeToxRox]

Anaheim is playing very passive offensivley. I am not a fan of not pressuring San Jose and still waiting for them to make a mistake to jump on. They're doing a great job clearing out the front of the net and limiting second chances but Anaheim has to jump on the offensive sooner or later.

[samifan24]

Good win for the Bruins tonight. The team played well for almost the entire game except for a seven or eight minute stretch when they looked flat. I was glad to see the team create goals with hard work, especially Krejci's goal. I wonder if the league will look at what Lapierre and Kostopolous did in the last minute. I didn't see what Carcillo did but it sounds like the league is cracking down on players giving cheap shots in the final seconds of an already decided game which is why I think the league will review the tape. I bet they get fined.

[bbor]

Where the hell did thsi Hiller guy come from???

No offence CR but we in T.O rarely if ever get to see Anahiem play.

[bhlloy]

Don't say I didn't try to spread the word about Hiller

The main weakness in his game right now is rebound control... if he can get that down, he'll easily be a top 5 goalie in the league IMO. Positionally he's excellent, he has a quick glove hand and he very rarely makes a save look difficult. Bear in mind 2 years ago he was playing in Switzerland and he really didn't play all that much last year either. He's almost a rookie and his stats are very comparable to Mason and Rinne.

Pretty lucky win for the Ducks tonight, but I'll take it. Need to take less penalties, but the penalty kill was very promising as that has been the teams achilles heel all year.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by bbor

Where the hell did thsi Hiller guy come from???

No offence CR but we in T.O rarely if ever get to see Anahiem play.

Heh...none taken. I think it annoys fans of other franchises close enough to know that the Ducks not only have a Conn Smythe winner in net, but his backup is better.

Hiller, BTW, was regarded as one of the best goalies in Europe for a time before coming over here, and his presence is one of the main reasons the Ducks let Bryz go for nothing to the Yotes last year.

All that said, we won this game doing some things very good (few turnovers, excellent PK, Hiller on his game), but we continued trends that will eventually really hurt us if we allow them to (penalties, giving up shots). We can't afford to let a team as gifted with the puck as the Sharks to take two shots for our every one.

We're a good match for the Sharks in a lot of ways, because we're playoff tested and strong defensively, we have the size to match up with the Sharks, we have a normally good anyway (and currently hot) PP unit, and we have a very good top line. But penalties have killed us this year, and they could have tonight, too. There's a lot of series left, of course, so in fact it seems likely we will still get put in some really bad spots by a combination of inopportune penalties and reputation (earning us boxings for things other teams get away with).

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Don't say I didn't try to spread the word about Hiller

The main weakness in his game right now is rebound control... if he can get that down, he'll easily be a top 5 goalie in the league IMO. Positionally he's excellent, he has a quick glove hand and he very rarely makes a save look difficult. Bear in mind 2 years ago he was playing in Switzerland and he really didn't play all that much last year either. He's almost a rookie and his stats are very comparable to Mason and Rinne.

Pretty lucky win for the Ducks tonight, but I'll take it. Need to take less penalties, but the penalty kill was very promising as that has been the teams achilles heel all year.

Hiller did a good job tonight on directing back out his rebounds, so he could see them well and be ready for them coming back. That's because he was very good with positioning and anticipation, keeping himself squared to the shot when possible.

One thing going for the Ducks right now is that the Sharks have started to build a history of playoff failure, and the pressure only mounts for them losing Game One. That can only help the Ducks.

[Maple Leafs]

Via Damien Cox, thought this was interesting:

One interesting side note to Game 1 between the Rangers and Capitals was the unusual way in which Washington coach Bruce Boudreau deploys star winger Alex Ovechkin.

Or the way Ovechkin deploys himself.

Ovechkin played 26:07, which is a lot for any forward. But what was really remarkable was that he only took 20 shifts.

That meant Ovechkin's average shift was 1:18, far too long in a league where coaches love the 45 second shift to maximum energy and manpower.

But it gets better.

Ovechkin took one shift of 2:35, and one of 2:08. Sometimes those numbers can be distorted somewhat by penalties and TV timeouts, but they're still long shifts. He also took five others that were 80 seconds or longer.

Hard to imagine any hockey player can maximize his play staying out there that long, although Ovechkin did have 28 shots attempts and 13 actual shots-on-goal.

His improvisitional teammate, defenceman Mike Green, took 30 shifts for a total of 30:47, including one of 4:07. His final two shifts of the game were 2:35 and 2:29 as the Caps tried desperately to tie the game before losing 4-3.

Numbers don't mean everything. But these ones are eye-popping.