NHL Playoffs

[Alex Pelan]

Well, I was a devout Whalers fan back in the day...until they were taken away from me unjustly. Now I don't really follow hockey that much anymore as a result, although I have gone to a couple Rangers games... so in conclusion, go Whalers!

[fred]

Originally Posted by Alex Pelan

Well, I was a devout Whalers fan back in the day...until they were taken away from me unjustly. Now I don't really follow hockey that much anymore as a result, although I have gone to a couple Rangers games... so in conclusion, go Whalers!

lol, i remember back in the day, I knew so many people that were heartbroken bout that one. At least the 'Canes made it to the finals a couple years ago.

Flyers 1 Leafs O.

SOB (Society of Orange and Black) 2004. This IS the Year. Join the Club at HfBoards.

[IMDWalrus]

Wings won today, 5-2. The series is tied at one apiece.

The Wings are my favorite team - living in Michigan may have something to do with that - but I'm still rooting for a few other teams...

I want to see a Detroit/San Jose conference final, and a Montreal/Toronto matchup in the East. Far more than those, though, is my dream...a Detroit/Toronto cup final. If that happens, I wouldn't care who wins...seeing my two favorite teams make it into the finals would be more than enough for me.

[Matt Attallah]

Originally Posted by IMDWalrus

Wings won today, 5-2. The series is tied at one apiece.

The Wings are my favorite team - living in Michigan may have something to do with that - but I'm still rooting for a few other teams...

I want to see a Detroit/San Jose conference final, and a Montreal/Toronto matchup in the East. Far more than those, though, is my dream...a Detroit/Toronto cup final. If that happens, I wouldn't care who wins...seeing my two favorite teams make it into the finals would be more than enough for me.

That would be nice 2 of the original 6 at it agian...

Did you know that when the NHL first born - all it took was 8 wins in the playoffs for the stanley cup?

But see - Detroit just had to scout what they where up aginst. I'm not worried...

[Bill Gold]

GO SHARKS! 1 win away from their first ever trip to the Conference Finals!

Originally Posted by Bill Gold

GO SHARKS! 1 win away from their first ever trip to the Conference Finals!

Even if the Sharks manage to get past the avalanche (and the way they are playing right now, it wouldnt suprise me) I think the Sharks have about as much chance of taking the Cup as the chance of George W Bush voting for John Kerry in the upcoming election. The Sharks played in one of the weakest divisions in the NHL, and are still a young team. Seriously, I think the cup is going to stay in the East this year.

[Bill Gold]

Originally Posted by D.J. Fluck

Even if the Sharks manage to get past the avalanche (and the way they are playing right now, it wouldnt suprise me) I think the Sharks have about as much chance of taking the Cup as the chance of George W Bush voting for John Kerry in the upcoming election. The Sharks played in one of the weakest divisions in the NHL, and are still a young team. Seriously, I think the cup is going to stay in the East this year.

Whether or not they played in a weak division doesn’t matter, and that’s even debatable. They finished with the 3rd best record in the NHL, with the 4th best defense. You may think that doesn’t mean anything either, but they dispatched the Blues in 5 games without much effort and without 2nd line center Alyn McCauley and 3rd line left wing Scott Thornton for the majority of the series. In fact, rookie Marcel Goc (who is exactly 5 days younger than me) playing in his first ever NHL game had an assist on the series clinching goal against the Blues. The Sharks have displayed incredible depth all year, and have relied on 3 rookie defensemen (Rob Davison, Christian Ehrhoff, and Tom Preissing) for the majority of the season. After adding veteran winger/center/everything Curt Brown and journeyman defenseman Jason Marshall (who helped anchor Minnesota’s relatively young defense to the Conference Finals last year) the Sharks have a reasonable chance of getting past either Calgary or Detroit (if they can win 1 of their next 4 games). Even if the Sharks don’t win the cup this year they will, for all intents and purposes, add speedy left wing Marco Sturm for a run at the cup next year (or whenever the lockout ends). The Sharks have built a solid team out of spare parts and cast offs from other teams and even their own (Alex Korolyuk was a regular scratch for Darryl Sutter). They’ve got a good chance this year, and they should be a competitive team for years to come.

[Lil' Lavery]

AVS!!!!! So what if they lsot last night. The last 10 teams to win a game 1 by 3 or more goals went on to LOSE the serires. heehee...victory for the avs! Plus, calgary is VERY similar to the team who knocked Detroit out last year, the Mighty Ducks of Anahiem, in the fact of their physical style, great goalie, and for amazing ability to stick around when being totally out-played. Even if detroir win, Colorado will send them home on their way to a 3rd stanley cup. I mean, look whats happened the last 2 time NJ won the cup, colorado won the year after, and colorado won the next year(95, and 2000 NJ victories, 96 and '01 Colorado victories).

[Pat Fairbank]

euughhh... that was embarassing... Montreal lost 4-0 to Tampa... oh well, Go Habs Go!

GO LEAFS GO!
GO HABS GO!

[Matt Attallah]

Wings all the way baby!

I'm not worried right now. Just some learnin' going on about calgary. No sweats yet...

Avs just needed a wakeup call..and playing like crap and losing 5-1 definately was the alarm clock...its much better then playing hard and losing by a goal in overtime....that just hurts the spirit


Go Avs!

[Bill Gold]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

AVS!!!!! So what if they lsot last night. The last 10 teams to win a game 1 by 3 or more goals went on to LOSE the serires.

Actually, only 6 of the last 10 teams to win game 1 by three or more goals have lost the series. Besides, stats like those don't really mean anything because they aren't team specific stats. The fact of the matter is, if the Sharks keep playing the way they have for the majority of the season (skating hard, tenacious forechecking, quick transitions from defense to offense, great PK, average PP, great goaltending, and sound defense zone coverage) then the Sharks have a very good chance of knocking the Avalanche out of the playoffs. Having home ice against the Avalanche is huge for the Sharks who, like the Avalanche, are undefeated at home in the playoffs thus far. Also, if Aebischer starts game #2 this afternoon he'll be lit up again. He was VERY shaking in game #1 (kicking out rebounds into the slot, not seeing unscreened shots, and very sloppy puck handling when he had to). If I were Granato I would start Salo without hesitation.

Btw, DJ, it was 5-2.