OT- NHL Game 7 Thread
Great games thus far. I'm pulling for the Habs and Lightning.
dirty all series, with Ference's shoulder to Halpern tonight being just the latest. I hope Subban scores the OT winner just to piss off the Bruins even more.
why does everybody steal my picture??
April 27th, 2011 at 10:29 PM ^
Well if you wanna get picky, they are different pictures. You're probably not the only one who saw the movie
The Bruins are just a bunch of criminals on skates. They deserve to lose.
I agree with everyone here. I hate the Bruins because of their fans (boo their own team in the playoffs as well as Halpern when he is injured) and because they get away with so much cheap crap (i.e. Ference on Halpern and Chara on Pacioretty).
April 27th, 2011 at 10:06 PM ^
Wow, Bruins almost had an own goal.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:09 PM ^
Bummer.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:09 PM ^
This is just plain disgusting.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:11 PM ^
Go Lightning beat the pens. Just can't stand to have the pens move on.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:12 PM ^
damn it. oh well. allez les bleus. Let's go Washington out of the east.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:14 PM ^
Go Bolts!!!
April 27th, 2011 at 10:17 PM ^
Is TB/Pitt not on CBC? What can I find it on?
April 27th, 2011 at 10:22 PM ^
TSN for our Canadian viewers and Versus for the American viewers.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:35 PM ^
Argh, slashing on TB!
April 27th, 2011 at 10:40 PM ^
A playoffs without Pittsburgh will be a nice one.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:40 PM ^
Pens lose!
April 27th, 2011 at 10:41 PM ^
Pens seemed to lack urgency on that final power play w/ no netminder.
April 27th, 2011 at 11:24 PM ^
To hell with the Pens.
Though I admire what they accomplished without Crosby and Malkin. Those fans should be proud.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:46 PM ^
Capping it off with another cheap shot, Ference on Halpern. Camms looked great except when the puck rolled off his stick.
All things considered we played as best we could. Just hate that cheap, thug team. Hope we kill them regularly next season with Patches back owning Chara (again).
Yes bitter
April 27th, 2011 at 10:49 PM ^
"All things considered we played as best we could."
That's all you can ask for. As a Penguins fan, that's exactly how I feel about our series as well. Obviously, in both of our cases, it would have been nice to win, but you can't complain at the end of the day when your shows up and competes like that.
April 27th, 2011 at 11:57 PM ^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK2EJhuHsl0
It's not letting me embed right now.
This type of behavior is nothing new. The Habs have perpetuated this kind of behavior for at least the last decade. I don't know how people can praise them for it.
To being the only person celebrating in Charley's when Horton won it...
April 28th, 2011 at 10:14 AM ^
I found the clip from the NESN broadcast. Brickley's reaction is great. It goes against everything he stood for as a player. Truly a disgrace to the game. That's just what Habs hockey is all about.
Nice job repping the spoked B away from home BrownJuggernaut.
April 28th, 2011 at 10:37 AM ^
Can't have it any other way, gotta rep my city.
RE: The Habs behavior. You'd think more people on this board would be aware of it.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:57 PM ^
Gave both teams a chance to throw in the towel and not compete. They didn't. TBH, despite this not being a popular view here, I was the most impressed with Pitts in the league this year, a whisker away from winning the 2nd seed without your top-2 ctr's.
All in for a Wings-Wash final now.
April 27th, 2011 at 10:59 PM ^
I think you're probably right. Washington has a clear path through the East and Detroit should have the best possible path through the West. This will probably be a somewhat unpopular opinion, but I think a Detroit-Washington Finals would work out pretty much exactly like it did last time they met.
April 27th, 2011 at 11:13 PM ^
How does Washington have a clear path through the East? Roloson has shut-out the Caps twice this year and the Bolts are 2-1-1 against them since the trade. The East is just as wide open as it was last year, except this year the puck bounced the way of the higher seeds in decisive games. Both Buffalo and Montreal could've (should've?) won their respective series. The Caps struggled mightily with a severely crippled and aged Rangers team who couldn't put the puck behind their own goalie (OK, well maybe they could, Game 4 and all). And the biggest indictment against the Caps is, that they are...the Caps; they wrote the SOP on self-destructing in pressure situations in the playoffs.
I'm not saying Washington won't come out of the East, but it's excessively generous to say their path out is "clear". I forgive you though, since you are probably a rampant Red Wing homer who looks down on hockey played in the Eastern Conference..
April 27th, 2011 at 11:18 PM ^
Just read that your a Pens fan. Apologies. My opinion about the East could be wrong; I'd be curious why you think Washington is the clear favorite.
April 27th, 2011 at 11:36 PM ^
Oh, trust me, I most definitely do not like the Capitals. At all. So that wasn't something I enjoyed writing. While it's true that Tampa Bay did have some success against Washington during the regular season, I just don't think it's going to matter in the playoffs. I watched every game in the Capitals-Rangers series and every game in the Penguins-Lightnight series, and I just don't think it's even going to be a remotely competitive series. I don't agree with your assessment that Washington "struggled mightily" against the Rangers, but even if they did, they still won. Sure, the games were close on the scoreboard, but they really weren't that close. As for Tampa Bay, it took them seven games to beat a team they should have beaten in five games. It was a series that Tampa Bay could have easily lost, quite frankly, if they hadn't got a really lucky bounce to get the first goal in game five (the game they won 8-2, but in which they were absolutely dominated for the first 15 minutes (i.e. until they scored, at which point Pittsburgh folded)). If it wouldn't have been for the play of the Moore-Bergenheim-Downie combination, they would have. That's production that I don't think you can reasonably expect to continue beyond this series. Basically, though, it comes down to this: the Capitals are a more talented team at every position and every spot on the roster. The only thing that could trip them up, as you mention, is the fact that they are the Capitals, after all. I do want to be clear on something: I would be saying the exactly the same thing if Pittsburgh had won this series. The Capitals would have destroyed the Penguins, probably in four. As for the rest of the road through the East, Philadephia could be a tough hurdle in the East Finals if Boucher holds it together (which is questionable) and I just don't see Boston posing much of a threat (not enough scoring), although I would love to see Chara get the chance to pound Ovechkin into dust.
April 28th, 2011 at 12:31 AM ^
Of course the fact that TB could've (should've?) lost the series is just as much of an example as the others that proves the point I was trying to make about the East.
How can you honestly say that regular season play, against two teams in the same division, has no bearing on the playoffs? Caps-Bolts is a huge rivalry amongst SouthEast Division teams and many of their regular season games have an ALMOST playoff-like atmosphere (especially this year when they were jostling for first place in February). The more important thing, however, is though I could argue how I think you claim that Washington is "more talented at every position and spot on the roster" is false (St. Louis, Stamkos, Lecavalier, Gagne might have something to say about that, including the obvious advantage with Rolosonhe...I'll cede you the defense core) , the claim is completely thrown out the window in playoff hockey. Time and time again the "more talented" team falters. Furthermore, Washington's roster is littered with guys that've failed in the postseason while TB's roster is rife with guys that have thrived in the posteason (admittedly, also rife with 10+ guys who have had to grow up in this first playoff series in the league, which might explain the 7 games instead of 5 that you suggest and I agree with.)
Not trying to be argumentative, but the East is wide-open. While every team has a legitimate reason why they can make a run, there are glaring flaws on all 4 of teams..
April 28th, 2011 at 12:39 AM ^
I completely understand that Tampa Bay has several talented players, but Washington has a more talented player when you put each of those Tampa Bay players head up against Washington's most talented players. The key, however, will be defense (which you conceded is an area where Washington has an advantage), which is what mitigates your "the more talented team historically falters" argument. That argument might fly against Philadelphia, but not against Tampa Bay. There is no way that Tampa Bay beats Washington, and if they do I'll be one of the first people posting in the then-existing thread discussing it and I'll gladly admit that I'm wrong. As of now, having watched all of the games that both teams have played, I have no hesitation whatsoever in predicting a Washington sweep of Tampa Bay.
We'll agree to disagree. Look forward to that discussion.
What players on Washington's current roster have "faltered in the playoffs"? I'll give you Mike Green, but that's about it. The addition of Arnott is really going to help them as the playoffs go along. Ovechkin, for all the flack he gets, is one of the best playoff performers in the league (his career 1.29 PPG in the regular season goes up to 1.39 PPG in the playoffs). Backstrom had a tough first round with only 1 point, but he's just below 1 PPG for his career in the playoffs (31 points in 33 games). Even Semin, who everyone chastises, has 28 points in 33 career games.
Also, there aren't many players left on Tampa Bay that have had playoff success. St. Louis and Lecavalier have, as has Roloson, but this is Stamkos's first time in the playoffs, Gagne doesn't have a stellar playoff history, and the bulk of the role players and defensive core aren't exactly what I'd refer to as stout.
Washington's newfound focus on playing defense is going to help them immensely. They were a boatload of fun to watch in previous years, but their run and gun style got them booted from the playoffs when they had to play against teams that packed it in defensively and blocked all their shots. New York is not an offensively gifted team, but Washington shut them down big time regardless. All those "close" games in their series were not nearly as close as the scoreboard showed. Tampa struggled a bit defensively against a Penguins team that has nobody to score goals. I mean seriously, freaking Aaron Asham was their leading scorer!
It'll be a good series, but it's a big stretch for anyone to argue that Tampa has the advantage. Washington is deeper on both offense and defense, plays better playoff style hockey, and Neuvirth has been pretty solid so far. I'd say Washington in 6 seems about right.
April 27th, 2011 at 11:32 PM ^
Wash should face Philly, but Flyers have poor goaltending. Great goalie almost alone can beat Caps (Halak). Roloson is alright, not great; and Bolts can't play a shutdown game against heavies. But Bolts have a massive advantage: Guy Boucher. If he figures a way to create room for St Louis to move & Stamkos to get his shot off, while getting the team to play sound positionally, watch out.
Caps stuggled with Rags but still did them in 5, like a good team should. Ovechkin has turned himself into a team player, not a hog do-it-all-get-outta-my-way, but a patient, lethal shark. Very different from last year.