Stanley Cup Playoffs

After reading a few of FlyersFans post today I had to start a thread to first off take a shot at him after last nights game. :shk:

8-2 was it?

Moving on though, Just thought I would create a thread for some of the hockey fans of the board to talk back and forth over the ongoing playoff scene in the NHL. I am a die hard habs fan myself and am ecstatic to see them take a quick 2-0 lead over the canes and heading back to Montreal. Philly deffinately has their work cut out for them but I do not count them out at all, Forsberg has been known to steal a game before so stealing a series is nothing I put passed him. Game 1 of the Sabres/Philly series was probably one of the better games I have seen in awhile, the Cambell/Umburger hit was one of those hits that you could feel the pain.

The Senators are patinent choke artists and I would love to see them lose in the series against the Bolts, but its still a long way off. I could go through every series and say what I think but I'll leave some comments after we get some replies and get some thoughts circling here.

This is a call to all ATS hockey fans!

Originally posted by chissler
After reading a few of FlyersFans post today I had to start a thread to first off take a shot at him after last nights game.

Starting with a body check eh??? True hockey style. But let me
tell ya' ... I'm a GIRL. So keep the body checks light. I'm a
Broad Street Bullies fan ... but ....

Yes, Flyers lost 8-2 last night. I saw it coming. 13 of them are rookies.
They are up from the AHL and College. Their game is fine for regular
season but the play offs take it up a notch or two and the new guys
aren't ready for it .. YET. Next year they will be more seasoned.

SHOCKER ... Red Wings had to go into double overtime with their first
game of playoffs. Comeon .... is that anyway for a hockey dynasty to
start off???

At least the Flyers made playoffs. How are the Boston Ruins doing
without their #1 homeboy that they traded?? ha ha hahahahaha

Originally posted by chissler
the Cambell/Umburger hit was one of those hits that you could feel the pain.

Yep. He didn't even know where he was for a loooooooong time!

I think the Flyers were made to win this year myself. With the additions of Forsberg, Hatcher, Carter, Richards, etc. They deffinately have the talent to win, just their goaltending is alittle sub-par.

If my habs don't end up in the finals, and being realistic they won't. I'll put my vote to a final show down of the Flames from the West and the Devils from the East.

NJ has won 13 in a row and show no sign of letting up. Brodeur is in a zone.

Wings vs. Devils for the finals.

GO WINGS!!! That was a bit sad for a playoff opener huh? Where o where is Pavel?

What is the word on whatshisname from Philly that got his bell rung the other night? Brutal. Thats the only description. Slow-mo didnt do it justice. You couldnt hear his world crumble when they slowed it for the replays.



[edit on 25-4-2006 by DaFunk13]

I don't know jack about hockey because I don't follow it but I'll predict that the Dallas Stars will dominate.

Whadaya want from me..........they're from Texas.

Peace

RJ Umburger was his name and he actually wanted to finish the game. The guy is tough. Im a Red Wings fan, mainly because of Yzerman but I don't see them making it all the way. They were a runaway best team in the league all year by points, but look at the division they played in. Edmonton has outplayed them for stints in Games 1 and 2 so I would not see them making it to the cup final. I would not be dissapointed to see them their, but I don't see it happening.

Umberger wanted to finish? Wasnt that hit in OT already? He looked like he was skipping through candy land even after the commercial break. I doubt he could have scribbled his full name after that, much less coordinate skating and stuff. Kudos for some of the toughest athletes around.

Detroit has had a fairly weak season. I wouldnt call the success luck, but it definately wasnt as tough as a lot of teams have it. I still hold faith that they can get it together FTW. When the chemistry between them is right no team in the league plays with such finesse. I still miss the Wings of yesteryear...

Detroit having a weak season? They won the Presidents trophy by like 15 points. Thats a huge win. They were by far the best team in the league, my argument was that they had a weaker division and they played each team in their division 8 times each.

The hit on Umburger was late in the second period, and the game went into Double OT. Hes a true warrior that guy.

The rule of thumb in the NHL is if you can skate, you can play. Teeth come and go.

I only ment weak in comparison with some past ones. The record indicates it wasnt really weak, just weaker. Calgary on the other hand...

That was the second? I was probably 7 or 8 beers into my evening by then...memory fails.

I'm a Detroit Red Wing fan myself -- also, mainly because of Steve Yzerman. But I differ from Chissler in that I think that the Wings will win the Stanley Cup. However, there is a slight condition to this statement. The Wings have been trailed by a curse....the first round jinx, if you will. Ever since the mid nineties when the Wings were the best team in the NHL and then lost to San Jose -- swept in the first round, the Wings have had difficulties getting past that first round.

I don't believe in superstition or jinxes but when it comes to the Red Wings in the First Round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, I'm always crossing my fingers, rubbing my rabbits' foot, and tossing salt over my left shoulder. Once they get past that first round, however, my money is on the Wings to go all the way.

I especially would like the Wings to take this Stanley Cup for Stevie Y. It's obviously his last year in the NHL and I'd love for him to be able to go out in style. "The Captain" is one of the most under-rated superstars of the game. He's always been overshadowed by the Gretzky's and the Mario's of the game but he's proven himself to be a superstar whose determination and drive, endurance and leadership have made the Detroit Red Wings the "team to beat" for the last twenty years.

BT...

Right with you on your Stevie Y comments, short of Mess he is deffinately the greatest Captain the NHL has ever seen. I would love to see him go out in a blaze of glory and hoist the cup this year. He has been playing some great hockey as of late and deffinately shutting some of the critics up. The Oilers concern me alittle bit though, Pronger is not a guy to be taken easy and so far he has been stronger than Lidstrom. Its going to be a series to come down to the wire I would say.

If the Wings play to the caliber of play they are capable, I don't think many teams can stay with them. When Datsyuk and Zetterberg get rolling, look out.

I'll have to say I was alittle shocked to see the Wings pick right up from where they left off with Bowman exited the organization. Sometimes the coaches job goes underrated in the NHL since everything is played on the ice and its tough to control everything from the bench. In baseball the Manager can set up every play, every pitch. In hockey you need to prepare them for war and hope they show up.

For now though Im going to count my blessings and hope my Habbies keep on rolling!

Detriot is the most overrated team in the NHL this year. Just look at their division, weakest in the NHL and they played each team in their div 8 times each. CGY vs. OTT(Because OTT isn't playing Toronto ) is my prediction for the finals.

sardion your argument is deffinately valid, playing in a weak division and facing those guys 8 times each is a great luxury to have. But they still had solid records against the best teams in the league. Not to mention the experience they have. But experience means age, and age means slower legs. Slow legs can equal disaster in this new NHL.

I really do not want to see Ottawa come out of the East at all, NJ or Buffalo are going to be tough to beat. NJ taking the nod here due to having Brodeur in nets IMO.

What about Calgary? Does anyone think they can repeat their '04 magic? With Sutter at the helm he has these guys running and gunning at all times. There is not a harder hitting team in the league and Kipper is a proven backstopper, even in the playoffs. Dion Phaneuf is one of the top rookies in the league, and one of the top defenseman as well. I expect to see alot out of him.

I just finished watching the Detroit vs Edmonton game. Alas, my beloved wings lost 4-3 in the 2nd O.T. period but, nevertheless, it was an excellent game.

After a very slow and awkward start for Detroit, the Wings were able to rally in the 3rd period with two goals in 18 seconds to tie it up. Edmonton all but gave up on the effective trap that had worked so well for them in game two and through the first two periods. And I can't help but feel that it was'nt so much that the Oilers beat the Wings but that Manny Legace was not up to the challenge of Playoff Hockey.

Regardless, it was a great game with excellent perfomances by Pronger and, of course, Rolofson for the Oilers and Zetterberg, Draper and "the Captain", Steve Yzerman.

At 40 years of age, it's simply a joy to watch Stevie Y play with so much heart. If he hadn't left the game (injury?) when he did, the result might have been much different.
Nevertheless, even though Edmonton has a 2-1 lead on the series, I still have to be faithful to my Wings and I expect that the initial awkwardness and undisciplined play that I witnessed periodically will disappear as the Wings resume the series on Thursday ... at least I hope so. I'd hate to think that the Wings, once again, succumbed to the "First Round Jinx" that has been their fate in the past.

Thanks for the update BT.

I fell asleep during the game last night and had to make it to work before I could check out the sports hilights. I guess its obvious I check out ATS before I head off to tsn.ca and Sports Illustrated.

Who potted the winner for Edmonton?

From what I noticed Detroit was deffinately outplaying Edmonton for long periods of time. It seemed like Edmonton was going to deem it physically impossible to score on the Wings unless they took a lucky bounce. Legace is alot like Marty Turco, great regular season goaltenders but when it comes playoff time they just do not cut it. I believe he is a free agent this year so we may see a change in Hockey Town.

I still have not seen the hilights of TB and the Sens but I know the score as I seen the end of the game. But I missed the scuffle that broke out and I heard the penalties being announced and the only 2 fighting majors I heard were LeCavlier and Chara. Did Vinny square off with the big man? I would be impressed if he did, but slap him for being stupid.

I remember Vinny and Iginla squaring off in the finals a few years back. The announcers were screaming how ridiculous it was, and then you see Tortorella and Sutter on the boards screaming to give him another shot!

Was a good moment for hockey.

Some big nights ahead as the first round of the playoffs wind down. The Wings have their work cut out for them, as do my habs. Be interesting to watch as the clock ticks away on these teams.

My purpose of this post is to talk about the inconsistency in the reffing. Sure they have tried to raise the bar on what is and is not a penalty, however alot of times at crutial moments high sticks are being missed. Koivu almost had his eye taken out as he drove to the net with the puck on his tape, and yet no call on the play. How can 8 eyes not see this? A Linesman is permitted to call a double-minor and majors so there is no excuse for these guys not to pick up on the infraction.

Another time Markov was hit in the face with the shaft of the stick in the middle of the nice, and yet no call again. This one I can slightly understand, because he did not draw blood which meant only a two minute minor regardless, which a linesman can not call. So the possibility of the two reffs not seeing the play is understandable to say the least.

Now after both of these plays going unnoticed, they slap a double-minor on Komisarek with 3 minutes to play in game 3, on what was a questionable call to say the least.

This can be said for the Oilers, the Wings through a serious pick when they scored the winner the other night. It seemed Moreau embellished the play but it still does not deter from the fact a call should of been made on the play.

Watching all of these calls go unnoticed by the reffs had me wondering. Think back..
Game 6, Stanley cup Finals.. Overtime. Calgary has a goal waved off on what was clearly in the net, TB goes onto take he series. It was discussed at the time, and I think is only being backed now. Could it be that the league wants the cup going to larger markets where the league has a chance to expand. The market in Calgary is already a large one, now in Tampa there is deffinatley room to improve.. just a thought.

I realize this thought is far fetched, but its worth the thought as you watch the game.