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Misc 2018 Playoff News Thread

Last night's games were pretty interesting ...

Vegas took a 2-0 lead on LA with a 2-1 OT win. That series has featured some heavy, tight checking hockey and good goaltending on both sides.

Winnipeg put the hammer on the Wild with a dominating 4-1 win. Apparently the Wild didn't manage a single shot on goal for like 14 minutes after falling behind 2-0. Mo 4.0 is on a roll and that team is big, mobile, aggressive and just flat out dangerous.

Philly defied logic by slapping Pittsburgh around 5-1 after looking like road kill in game one. The Pens responded as you would expect ... with petulance. Hornquist lost his mind and eventually got tossed. Crosby broke his stick on the crossbar near the end after boofing up a scoring chance. If it hadn't been the Flyers on the winning side it would have been darned near perfect. Alas.

Today's a big one with 4 Game 2s on the schedule starting at 3:00 pm with Preds./Avs and ending with Sharks/Ducks on the West Coast.
 
I don't like the Flyers. But I loved them last night. Watching the petulant children also known as the Pens lose is fantastic.
 
Yeah ... following up on Saturday

Boston, Tampa, San Jose and Nashville all took 2-0 series leads with wins. The Sharks were the only ones to do so by taking the first two on the road though. And Boston just hammered Toronto. That one's not looking good for the Leafs.

Sunday we get game 3 in the Pens/Flyers, Jets/Wild, and GKs/Kings serieseseseses and game two in the NJs/Caps series.
 
Pastrnak was a beast for the Bruins...3 goals, 3 assists. Bergeron and Marchand each had 4 assists. That game was over less than 10 minutes in.
 
I couldn't stand more than one period. Babcock is one of the few coaches that I always expected would have his team well prepared and who would get the best from his players. Right now he doesn't look any better than Peters.
 
*AH* said:
I couldn't stand more than one period. Babcock is one of the few coaches that I always expected would have his team well prepared and who would get the best from his players. Right now he doesn't look any better than Peters.
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Mike's a good coach, but he's got a less severe version of the same problem that Peters has. Bowman's system (which they both have stolen and modified just enough to claim they didn't steal) requires a certain kind of roster and Toronto's roster only kinda sorta fits the bill. It's improved a lot since he first got there and nothing worked for a year or so, but his blue line corps in particular isn't really suited to that five man Euro movement game. I think Babcock proved in Anaheim that you can play that system with North American style grinding forwards, but you've still got to have a quiver full of those flexible, mobile Euro style defensemen. They've got some of that, but not enough ... my opinion only.

Everybody seems to turn up their nose at the basic, dumbed down North American trap and grind style of hockey but ya know what? It's a heck of a lot easier to build a roster to play that game than it is to try anything else.
 
dwind said:
Mo called it having all 5 skaters in your tv screen. I call it a school of fish.
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Yup, and it works ... IF you have the right guys. If you don't, then you can coach them 40 ways to Sunday and you're going to get beat like a drum. Ask Detroit. Everybody thought Anaheim was going to fall apart when Babs left, but they rather quickly converted to a more conventional system that's easier to run and easier to stock with players and they've been fine. More than fine.
 
OK ... let's catch up.

Last night's action leaves us with:

Vegas sweeps LA in a series that saw only 13 total goals. Pretty sure that's not a record or anything but take away the 3-2 result in Game 3 and you've got some seriously defensive hockey. Weird thing ... whenever I caught parts of these games, the action was fairly free flowing ... only nobody was scoring. Two solid defensive systems and two good goaltenders will do that.

Winnipeg took a 2-0 win in Game 4 to lead Minnesota 3-1. Frankly the Wild have looked outclassed in this series. They managed a bit of push back in their first hone game, but it was back to business as usual in game four. I'd be surprised if the Jets let this go longer than 5.

Washington finally won an OT game 3-2 to fight back after dropping the first two games against the Blue Jackets at home. TIGHT game without a ton of quality chances either way. This series is still up in the air.

Tonight ...

Flyers host the Pens for Game 4 trailing 2-1 in a wild, high scoring series. I've got NO idea how this mess plays out.

Devils host the Lightning trailing 2-1 after finding their legs in Game 3 on home ice. This is a big one and will likely spell the difference between a quick series and a slog. Tampa obviously would love to avoid the latter.

Avalanche host the Preds trailing 2-1 after also salvaging some dignity with a Game 3 win. These have been fun games to watch as two fairly big and very aggressive sides wail on each other.

Sharks host the Ducks with the series sweep in their sights. It's duck season, it would seem.
 
jeffbear said:
OK ... let's catch up.

Last night's action leaves us with:

Vegas sweeps LA in a series that saw only 13 total goals. Pretty sure that's not a record or anything but take away the 3-2 result in Game 3 and you've got some seriously defensive hockey. Weird thing ... whenever I caught parts of these games, the action was fairly free flowing ... only nobody was scoring. Two solid defensive systems and two good goaltenders will do that.

Winnipeg took a 2-0 win in Game 4 to lead Minnesota 3-1. Frankly the Wild have looked outclassed in this series. They managed a bit of push back in their first hone game, but it was back to business as usual in game four. I'd be surprised if the Jets let this go longer than 5.

Washington finally won an OT game 3-2 to fight back after dropping the first two games against the Blue Jackets at home. TIGHT game without a ton of quality chances either way. This series is still up in the air.

Tonight ...

Flyers host the Pens for Game 4 trailing 2-1 in a wild, high scoring series. I've got NO idea how this mess plays out.

Devils host the Lightning trailing 2-1 after finding their legs in Game 3 on home ice. This is a big one and will likely spell the difference between a quick series and a slog. Tampa obviously would love to avoid the latter.

Avalanche host the Preds trailing 2-1 after also salvaging some dignity with a Game 3 win. These have been fun games to watch as two fairly big and very aggressive sides wail on each other.

Sharks host the Ducks with the series sweep in their sights. It's duck season, it would seem.
Click to expand...

Did anyone catch the brutal cross check that Eric Staal took to the neck without a call last night? The fact the NHL on ice officials did not even call a minor penalty yet everyone else sees that as a suspension is troubling to say the least. Morrissey should be given a game or two, that was vicious.
 
CanadaCanes said:
Did anyone catch the brutal cross check that Eric Staal took to the neck without a call last night? The fact the NHL on ice officials did not even call a minor penalty yet everyone else sees that as a suspension is troubling to say the least. Morrissey should be given a game or two, that was vicious.
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He was called to the Principal's office. I expect he'll be missing at least the next game, maybe more.
 
Minnesota has over $90 million invested in two contracts-- Parise and Suter and that financial commitment has not paid off. After six years, not sure that Minnesota is any better than any other playoff team. Those guys are talent, but can't stay healthy and haven't been able to lead the Wild to the promised land.
 
The interesting thing about the Western Conference is how the style of play of the winning teams is mirroring the Eastern conference's speed and skill approach. The traditional big power teams (LA, Anaheim) are on the way out....and in a pretty jarring way with sweeps (likely for Anaheim).

I have complained for a couple years about the playoff format and once again the NHL is blowing it. The 2nd round is setting up to what could/should possibly have been the conference Finals with Nashville vs. Winnipeg and Tampa vs. Boston. With what Vegas just pulled off and how the 2nd round is shaping up it has been a pretty great post season so far.
 
He deserved that suspension. I can't see how you can argue that he was attempting to make a hockey play that just went wrong. He faced Staal and lifted his stick and cross checked him in the neck. You can get away with a cross check to the trunk of an opponent, but when your cross check nails your opponent in the neck/head that should be a suspension every time.

Patrick O'Sullivan on NHL radio disagreed and thought that Morrissey was trying to cross check Staal him in the shoulder. Well first of all, cross checking is illegal to begin with, but of course they allow some level of if in front of the net. If you attempt to make a play that 'by the book' is illegal, and end up smacking a guy in the head or neck as the principle point of contact while performing that illegal act? Sorry Patrick, I completely disagree with your assessment of that play and the need for supplemental discipline.

And screw the refs for the 'we didn't see it' nonsense. That is total BS.
 
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