The Official NHL Playoffs Thread

[Triumph36]

crosby was playing with a broken foot and malkin was a non-factor for most of the stretch and the playoffs because of the length of the season. while the penguins have scoring strength, a lot of it is in those two players - stiffs like recchi and malone and to a lesser extent oulette capitalized on having players like that around.

in truth i don't think the devils are that far behind the penguins - though their 3rd line never scores, which is a bit of a problem. still, their top 2 lines in *theory* are each good enough to be #1 lines - the problem is that the Devils' transition game is often terrible, leading to poor breakouts and no ability to score. holmqvist gifted us a ton of goals.

i think sens in six is reasonable, but i don't think it's because brodeur stands on his head - he's rarely done this in his career, truth be told. if the devils are able to get a consistent breakout going, and are able to establish a legitimate forecheck - they could definitely take a few games.

man, i miss karel rachunek - can't you guys get him back just for this series?

[Hopey]

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crosby was playing with a broken foot and malkin was a non-factor for most of the stretch and the playoffs because of the length of the season.

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The Pens' top line still managed 14 points in 5 games, though. What killed them is a lack of a secondary scoring.

Crosby has been playing on a broken foot for awhile, but claimed that it hadn't bothered him over the last month -- and his stats over that time-frame bear this out. The only reason we found out about his injury is because he used it as a reason to beg off going to the World Championships.

Malkin played well, as did Roberts. What killed the Pens is their lack of depth once you got past their big guns.

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while the penguins have scoring strength, a lot of it is in those two players - stiffs like recchi and malone and to a lesser extent oulette capitalized on having players like that around.

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Agreed.

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in truth i don't think the devils are that far behind the penguins - though their 3rd line never scores, which is a bit of a problem. still, their top 2 lines in *theory* are each good enough to be #1 lines -

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They may have two #1 lines, but both of them are only slightly better than average. Their top scorer only had 69 points. And as you stated, once you get to lines 3 and 4, the offence is almost non-existent.

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man, i miss karel rachunek - can't you guys get him back just for this series?

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Naw, the Rangers can keep him. Thankfully, the Sens no longer have any Karel Rachunek-type players on the roster.

[Triumph36]

their top scoring line struggled with injuries and inconsistency all year. scott gomez leads the playoffs in points - i would've bet he would've led them in turnovers, he'd been awful for months now. elias-gomez-gionta dominated the last half of the season in 2006 and there's no reason to think they're not capable of doing the same at any point in time. parise has emerged as a legitimate scorer. there's a lot to like there.

but i worry about scoring on a non-holmqvist goalie and it upsets me there's no rachuneks on the senators roster to pick on

[DonkeyKongSr]

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Canucks tonight... at home... they've been in this position before, back in 2003, up 3-1 against a pesky Wild team. Same thing here. I just hope they can pull this out, because even from a calm Vancouver fan's standpoint, I'll be very dissapointed if they lose. The rest of the city will probably riot.

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I'm cheering for the Canucks because I don't want the Ducks facing the Sharks in the next round. The Canucks style isn't hugely different than Minnesota from what I've seen, plus I'd love to be playing against that horrendous powerplay. Go Nucks!

[MacGuyV]

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Ranger fans:

It's on, bitch.

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[bluef0x]

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Canucks tonight... at home... they've been in this position before, back in 2003, up 3-1 against a pesky Wild team. Same thing here. I just hope they can pull this out, because even from a calm Vancouver fan's standpoint, I'll be very dissapointed if they lose. The rest of the city will probably riot.

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I'm cheering for the Canucks because I don't want the Ducks facing the Sharks in the next round. The Canucks style isn't hugely different than Minnesota from what I've seen, plus I'd love to be playing against that horrendous powerplay. Go Nucks!

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I'm cheering for the Canucks because I don't want the Sharks to face the Ducks! Go Nucks!

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Rubeskies]

Rangers in 6

SHIP IT!!!1!111!!

[capone0]

Damn, Canucks.

[g-bebe]

YES! CANUCKS!

I honestly think the Canucks match up better against DET/ANA/SJ than they do against DAL/MIN/CGY. Thank god they made it through tonight. After that first period, things were NOT looking good. Big time turnaround.

Ducks are going down!

[Hopey]

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Okay, here goes:

1 Buffalo vs 8 New York Islanders -- Buffalo in 4
2 New Jersey vs 7 Tampa Bay -- NJ in 5
3 Atlanta vs 6 New York Rangers -- NYR in 6
4 Ottawa vs 5 Pittsburgh -- Ottawa in 6

WEST

1 Detroit vs 8 Calgary Detroit in 6
2 Anaheim vs 7 Minnesota Anaheim in 7
3 Vancouver vs 6 Dallas Vancouver in 7
4 Nashville vs 5 San Jose SJ in 6

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Sweet! 8 for 8. I rule [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Next round:

Buffalo vs. NYR -- Buffalo in 7
Ottawa vs. NJ -- Ottawa in 6

Vancouver vs. Anaheim -- Anaheim in 5
Detroit vs. SJ -- SJ in 6

It wouldn't surprise me to see the NYR win their series against Buffalo. They might even do it in a rout. It's incredibly hard to predict how the series will go based on how mediocre Buffalo looked against the NYI, and how strong the NYR looked against Atlanta. However, what tips the scales for me and what I think what will save Buffalo is having home ice advantage (and last change) if it comes down to a game 7. Buffalo is a very deep team, with 4 solid lines. They'll eventually wear out the NYR in a long series.