The Official NHL Playoffs Thread

[Triumph36]

yeah, just like the devils had won 15 straight going into the 2nd round last year - should be a piece of cake, right?

what's those regular season records doing there? are they supposed to prove something? you know as well as i do they're meaningless - you may as well bring up how the rangers did against ottawa in 92-93.

uh lollerskates, 32-26-8 is .500, i suggest you start counting those OT losses as losses (as i was). being > .500 WRT points is easy in the new NHL.

atlanta doesn't have anyone who can stop jagr. i figured jagr might stop himself this year and the rangers would win in 6 - didn't happen.

yes i'm aware of the 'hot goalie' theory - that doesn't mean it will last. the rangers played some terrific hockey down the stretch, but i'm not convinced they can stop teams like the sabres and senators - regular season records be damned.

[g-bebe]

Against the Pens, the Rangers are even money, or close to it.

Against the Sens or Sabres... they are underdogs. No question. I'm not counting them out... they're still quite an explosive offensive team, but the Thrashers weren't a complete team and the Rangers exploited their weaknesses pretty well. It'll be harder to do that against OTT or BUF becaues they'll be facing much stingier defenses and much better goalies.

[GambleGamble]

I love how a majority of people are meh about the Sabres, stating things like they havent rolled over the Isles etc etc...

Game 1 - They dispatched them methodically with a 4-1 win that game was never ever in question

Game 2 - Isles bring in a goalie who gives the team and "emotional lift", throw in a couple fluke Isle goals to start, a couple great saves by Dipietro and the Sabres still almost pull the game out after playing half assed for half the game

Game 3 - Sabres up 2 goals twice in game totally control the 2nd period giving up a late goal in the 2nd to make it close and TOTALLY control the 3rd period limiting them to 2 shots

Game 4 - Isles score both there goals on PP even taking a quick 1-0 lead when they were being severely outplayed, but Sabres storm right back to score 2 quick then they trade goals to go up 3-2....then the no goal which Isles will whine about for years...and maybe just maybe 2 Defensemen and a goalie can stop Pominville who hasnt done jack [censored] so far from scoring to keep it within 1

Buffalo has outshot Isles for 7 of 12 periods so far

5 periods Isles have been held under 7 shots, including 1 shot in the opening period of the series and 2 shots in G3 when Isles were down by only a goal, and only 7 shots in 3rd last night...

Plus holding Satan and Yashin to crap

...I like to think we are handling them pretty well, just because we are not winning 6-1 every game doesnt mean we arent dominating them...

[g-bebe]

Who said anything meh about the Sabres?

[GambleGamble]

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Who said anything meh about the Sabres?

[/ QUOTE ]

Niss in a post a couple up stating Sabres have "struggled"

[g-bebe]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Who said anything meh about the Sabres?

[/ QUOTE ]

Niss in a post a couple up stating Sabres have "struggled"

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Admittedly, they havne't looked as dominant as usual. But I wouldn't have said they struggled. Pesky teams like the Islanders give anyone a fight.

[niss]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Who said anything meh about the Sabres?

[/ QUOTE ]

Niss in a post a couple up stating Sabres have "struggled"

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Agreed ... "struggled" is not the right word. But the point I was making I think is valid -- simply that the notion that Buffalo or Ottawa will summarily dispatch with the Rangers in the 2nd round is ridiculous. Obviously the Rangers are a deserved underdog to either of them, but I'd be very surprised to see them out in 4 or 5 games to either.

[GambleGamble]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Who said anything meh about the Sabres?

[/ QUOTE ]

Niss in a post a couple up stating Sabres have "struggled"

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed ... "struggled" is not the right word. But the point I was making I think is valid -- simply that the notion that Buffalo or Ottawa will summarily dispatch with the Rangers in the 2nd round is ridiculous. Obviously the Rangers are a deserved underdog to either of them, but I'd be very surprised to see them out in 4 or 5 games to either.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sweeps are so rare nowadays so 4 games for anyone is tough, I would have to assume all series should go 6 games on average at least based on the parity in the top 8 seeds in both conferences...

...obviously goalies get hot (Rangers) etc, but to keep a pace up to win every series in 4 or 5 games is obviously crazy...

...right now the Rangers are probably the "hottest" team going, but they were playing the Thrashers with a suspect goalie situation and terrible defense, now they get to sit and wait, which can easily cool of there goalie and they will be facing a much much tougher opponent either way.

[stealthcow]

who are the defensemen on the rangers? I dont think many teams have the defensive depth (other then calgary, with 4 certain hall of famers...) to match up with the sabres rolling 4 lines. Atlanta only had 1-2 scoring lines.

I think the Sabres match up better against the Rangers then they do against the Islanders ( having watched this series, i think islanders are a bit underrated), and would expect the sabres to win the series in 5.

stealthcow-

[bluef0x]

GG,
I'm not saying anything about the Sabres, but you really need to stop with the "play half-assed and still almost win." It seems every Sabres fan states the same quote after every loss. Might be true in the regular season, but it's playoff time. There's no room to play half-assed and there's no "close losses." It's all or nothing.