OT: Stanley Cup Playoffs

[Mehen]

I've been playing hockey as long as some of the guys on the ice yesterday, I know a kick-in when I see one.

2-minute, 4-minute, 10-minute major, whatever, they all work. But suspended for a game? Too much.

(I think he got enough poetic-justice when he put the puck in his own net )

[Haig]

I've been playing hockey as long as some of the guys on the ice yesterday, I know a kick-in when I see one.

Same here. Played in juniors against Mario L when he was in the Laval league. As I said, on 1 of the angles that was shown, it didn't look like a kicking motion. Hopefully the Sens will continue the win tomorrow.

[Mehen]

Ducks are 2-0 without Pronger.

Up 3-1 in the series now and heading back to Anaheim.

edit: And I still say it was kicked it.

[Mehen]

Congrats to the Ducks! 6-2 winners over Ottawa and Stanley Cup Champions!

[Patrick]

Where were the Senators?

Back on April 24th, I posted the following:

I predict the Cup will end up on the west coast this year. I'm just not exactly sure in which city.

Now I also admit to predicting the Ducks would be plucked after they knocked out the Canucks, but that was because the Ducks didn't look impressive at all in the Duck/Canuck series. Maybe the Canucks had more to do with that than I (and many others) realized at the time.

Turns out that getting the boot out of Vancouver was the best thing that could've happened to Brian Burke.

Anyway, the Senators were a huge disappointment in the finals.

[Haig]

Congrats to the Ducks. They completely shut down the Sens offense.

[Mehen]

Well now that my team has won (go Teemu - Go Jets Go!!) I don't have to hold back any punches.

Vancouver never had a team, they had a goalie. Anaheim didn't HAVE to play hard to win that series, which is why they might not have looked that impressive. People were complaining about Naslund all year, but I don't think he was ever really that good. They were holding him up to a standard he set when Bertuzzi was still in Vancouver.

Minnesota, imo, was a better all-around team than Vancouver but they didn't have the superstar talent/depth to make it.

Detroit was the 2nd best team in the playoffs. Plain and simple. Again though, Anaheim's tough forcheck was just too much.

Anaheim averaged 3.2 goals per game against Ottawa. It wasn't just their defence that won it. Offensive talent up front for Anaheim (MacDonald, Kunitz, Selanne, Getzlaf, Perry, Penner) proved too much for the Sens. With two number 1 lines you can't really line match if you just have 1 checking line. And those lines are excellent defensively as well (anaheims).

I still say Alfy's goal was kicked in.

Both of Pronger's suspensions were questionable. If he wasn't so strong they would not have been noticed. The first one I would have just called a charge or boarding. Second one was an elbow, another minor penalty. But because its Pronger and he's so big...
Regardless, they were 2-0 without him.

The Ducks have one of the fastest teams, one of the toughest teams, are extremely well coached (Carlyle was line matching in the All-Star game for Chr*sts-sake!), have a ton of offensive talent and creativity, goaltending, etc. They dump and chase better than any team I have seen. They aren't even really a trap team either, they play more of a 2-1-2 (two guys in, 1 guy in the middle, two guys back, wheras the trap is 1-2-2).

I don't think you could blame any of Anaheim's opponents losses because of poor performance of the other team. Anaheim simply shut them down. You could replay these playoffs 5 times, and 4 of 5 Anaheim would win (the fifth being Detroit).

edit/additonal notes: The Spezza line needs to mature a bit, they don't have the experience at clutch moments yet. Emery played excellent. I really liked Alfy these playoffs - but whats with shooting the puck at Niedermayer? Ottawa's defense did not look as poised as Anaheim's - again the experience, or coaching maybe.
Buffalo needs some bonafied superstars, at least one up front and one on D. They have a lot of stars, but no one like Pronger, Niedermayer, Selanne, etc.
I thought San Jose could have done better, but then again Detroit IS really good.

[Patrick]

I beg to differ...

Vancouver never had a team, they had a goalie. Anaheim didn't HAVE to play hard to win that series, which is why they might not have looked that impressive.

Yeah, I guess that's why the Ducks won every game 10-0 and never broke a sweat.

The Ducks sucked big time in that series. They looked awful. The only problem was that the Canucks sucked even more. I'm really surprised the Ducks turned it around after that series the way they did.

If anything, I think the Ducks victory demonstrated the superiority of the western teams in general in the NHL this year.

Both of Pronger's suspensions were questionable. If he wasn't so strong they would not have been noticed. The first one I would have just called a charge or boarding. Second one was an elbow, another minor penalty. But because its Pronger and he's so big...

How many times has Pronger been suspended now? Has it been eight times yet? Yeah, poor little Chris is just misunderstood, that's all.

[Haig]

Ottawa's defense did not look as poised as Anaheim's

Redden was completely useless against the Ducks. Never saw so many give aways and awful man coverage by him ever before.

Both of Pronger's suspensions were questionable. If he wasn't so strong they would not have been noticed.

Pronger & Carlyle both said that the 2nd suspension was justified.

[Mehen]

Yeah, I guess that's why the Ducks won every game 10-0 and never broke a sweat.

The Ducks are good enough that they can play at 75% and still win. There was no luck involved in winning these playoffs. The best team won. The Wings were the only team that pushed the Ducks beyond 5 games.


You get a guy thats 6'6 and on the ice almost more than anyone in the league, of course he is going to get suspensions for hits to the head. He's far from a goon.

Why is it that every team plays bad against the Ducks? I've heard it elsewhere from Ottawa fans and from Minnesota fans too. Maybe it has something to do with the Ducks being GOOD.

[RhinoZ]

The Ducks are good enough that they can play at 75% and still win. There was no luck involved in winning these playoffs. The best team won. The Wings were the only team that pushed the Ducks beyond 5 games.


You get a guy thats 6'6 and on the ice almost more than anyone in the league, of course he is going to get suspensions for hits to the head. He's far from a goon.

Why is it that every team plays bad against the Ducks? I've heard it elsewhere from Ottawa fans and from Minnesota fans too. Maybe it has something to do with the Ducks being GOOD.

Well any team can play at 75% and get anyway with it, if they had Gigere in nets. He stood up big when he needed to, and that was a big difference too.

I'm starting to hate the "he's tall" argument as a reason or excuse for Pronger. There is no need to bring the hands or an elbow out at someone's head, that's what's a body is for. I like Pronger, but he knows what he's doing ALL THE TIME. It's not like he got tall last year, he was heads above everybody in juniors too.

The Ducks were the better team, they out hussled the other teams, and they played to their strengths, but even in the Detroit series( and especially in the Detroit series), the refs were calling a different game than any of the other playoff series.

[Haig]

Maybe it has something to do with the Ducks being GOOD.

I only saw some games against the Wings and all against Ottawa.

The games I saw with the Wings, they were just average but as Rhinoz said, it's thanks to Giguere.

Against the sens, they were outstanding. It was a complete team effort.

[Mehen]

Well, gettin close to playoff time, time to resurrect the thread.

I love how they have everyone playing division rivals at the end of the season - watching Calgary and Minnesota - Phaneuf just scored one of the best goals of the year (check the highlight shows, you'll see it - not as pretty as the Nash or Toews goal, but damn good).

Even though I kinda think the 1-point shootout loss thing is stupid, its really kept the teams close together right till the end.

I like the Ducks again this year, wish they still had Andy Macdonald though.

[Haig]

What do you guys think about the no touch icing proposal that the managers keep refusing?

[Mehen]

I'm 100% for no-touch icing.