The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

[Evan_OS]

Re: The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

Predators off to the Semi-Finals!!!

[slickdtc]

Re: The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

Hey, congratulations to the Predators, too! I think everyone mostly just feels good for them. And they beat the Ducks, too. That doesn't hurt.

Gonna get VAN or DET next, though. Good luck!

[Blaze125]

Re: The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

Vancouver... Don't become the 4th.

Never expected this to go to 7. Who starts?

[Scottdau]

Re: The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

Nice!!! Game seven!!!

[BleacherBum2310]

Re: The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

Wow What a Game!

Crawford played great in the OT.

Onto Game 7...

[Cubfan]

Re: The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

Vancouver had so many chances in OT. Corey Crawford was awesome in overtime.

[Psyblast]

Re: The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

Will they ever recover in Vancouver if they lose Game 7?

[pietasterp]

Re: The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

Are you kidding me? The 'nucks are in serious trouble right now going back to Vancouver. How can they have any confidence at this point? Their throats look to be tightening up...

[slickdtc]

Re: The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

RIP Doc.

Freakin' Blackhawks.

[Whitesox]

Re: The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

Wow, not even a 3rd star for Crawford? He stood on his head for the
last 30 minutes.

Oh, and YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[thedudedominick]

Re: The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

What a game. Luongo got to come in for a loss. He will not be even close to being mentally stable for game 7. Who can the Canucks replace him with for that game?

[sharks]

Re: The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

See what happens when you shoot?!

Man if Vancouver gives up a 3-0 series lead, in a year where they are supposedly invincible, then who knows what will happen...

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

#1 Vancouver vs #8 Chicago

Ugh. Forgive me a moment while I indulge in some whining.

As we all know, winning the Presidents' Trophy doesn't seem to do much other than raise false hopes, especially if you've never won a Cup before:

2000 Blues: won first Presidents' Trophy in team history. Lost in first round. Still no Cup.
2003 Senators: won first Presidents' Trophy in team history. Lost in conference final. Still no Cup.
2007 Sabres: won first Presidents' Trophy in team history. Lost in conference final. Still no Cup.
2009 Sharks: won first Presidents' Trophy in team history. Lost in first round. Still no Cup.
2010 Capitals: won first Presidents' Trophy in team history. Lost in first round. Still no Cup.

Not exactly encouraging.

After 40 loooonnnggg years, the Canucks finally put it all together with one of most (statistically, anyway) dominant regular seasons you'll ever see (most points, best home record, best road record, #1 in goals for, #1 in fewest goals allowed, #1 in PP, #3 in PK). And for that, their reward is... the unluckiest draw for any #1 regular season team in NHL history.

Think I'm exaggerating? Forget the fact that the Hawks are Freddy Krueger and the Canucks are the kids on Elm Street. Any of you know the last time the top team in the regular season had to play the defending Stanley Cup champions in the first round of the playoffs? 1964. Nineteen sixty-four.

Going into Sunday, what are the odds that:

a.) Chicago, needing only a single point to make the playoffs (in which case they would've played San Jose or Anaheim), blows a second period lead to a team with nothing to play for, finally losing in regulation?

AND

b.) Dallas, now needing only a reg/OT win to make the playoffs (in which case they would've played Vancouver, who drilled the Stars during the regular season), ALSO blows a second period lead to team with nothing to play for (a crappy team, to boot), finally losing in regulation?

Given the stakes involved for Chicago and Dallas, what are the odds of this sequence of events occurring? 10 percent? 15-20, tops? So going into the last day of the season, the Canucks had an 80-90% chance of avoiding Chicago... and couldn't. Son of a bitch.

Okay, I'm almost done. The annoying thing is, the critics are right. The Hawks are not the same team they were last year. I don't think they're deep enough or healthy enough or motivated enough for a long playoff run. If the Hawks had upset the Sharks or Ducks, I would've picked the Canucks in a second-round matchup without hesitation.

The pressure here is thick, thick, thick. This team has never won anything. This team dominates sports talk radio in July and August, let alone during the season. No Canadian team has won a Cup since 1993. Fans expect a Cup, but are waiting, waiting for Luongo or the Sedins to crack so they can label them chokers. Everyone knows that if they lose to Chicago here, every story involving the Canucks from now on will be "Mentally weak. Can't win the big games." Detroit fans who remember the 91-96 era Wings know what I'm talking about.

Despite this, I see a long playoff run, maybe even a Cup, in the Canucks' near future. Just not this year.

Blackhawks over Canucks in 7

...I got nothin'.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

Will they ever recover in Vancouver if they lose Game 7?

Perhaps I'm biased, but...

No.

[BlueNGold]

Re: The Official 2010-11 Stanley Cup Playoffs Talk Thread

Jesus H Christ. Unbelieveable. Have we ever seen anything like this before? I sure as hell haven't. Honestly after this game it feels like you have a Hollywood writer penning a script.

The Schneider thing was a bit of a shock to me only because Alain said he was playing Luongo after the end of Game 5. I already posted about how I thought it should have been Luongo and that was when he was "confirmed" to be playing. I don't really disagree with the 'Nucks playing Schneider despite my stance on it, but with the way things just turned out with Luongo having to come in late after the injury to Schneid (still can't believe that), only to give up the OT winner, has to completely mess with him mentally. Especially when the guy has already been harped on for not being a "big game performer" or whatever plus the recent history with Chicago and playing in a Canadian market where the media and fans are going to be nearly impossible to tune out, I just don't know how Lu is going to perform in Game 7.

The odds are completely stacked against a team that was just up 3-0 and will be playing at home in the decisive game. Just typing that sounds crazy as hell.

It's definitely going to be interesting to see how the crowd reacts at GM Place (the new Rogers name is lame so it's still GM Place to me). A fanbase that has already been through so many gut punch moments, I just get the feeling it's going to be like a ghost town in the arena. Sure there will be cheering and all that good stuff, but as soon as the slightest thing goes wrong, all of those fans that know the history of the team will get that little moment in the back of their head. The "Not again/this can't be ****ing happening" moment.

But on the outside looking in, what a great series this has been!

Also, congrats to Preds fans. It's about time that franchise has gotten a taste of success in the playoffs with how well it's been run on the ice. The level of consistency with that team combined with how well they've drafted is something about 25 teams -- maybe more -- wish they could have.

Jeez, right in the face!

TWSS.

That was impossible to pass up.