Okay, anyone who thought Minnesota and Anaheim would get this far, come out and try to convince us. Both these series could go either way, both will likely be long ones. Care to guess who'll win? I'll guess Sens and Ducks.
Devils-Ducks. Borrrriiiinnnnnnggggg! Can't believe not one of what I consider to be the best 4 teams in hockey, Detroit-Dallas-Colorado-Vancouver, could get past Anaheim or Minnesota.
Ha. Exactly what I was thinking. They way the playoffs have gone so far, I'm not even gonna bother guessing. All I know is that I'm happy for a Ducks/Wild West showdown and I hope the Sens destroy the Devils.
Wild vs Ducks is as open as a playoffs series can be. Sens vs Devils is also hard to predict a favourite - Sens already play their best playoffs ever and seem to have overcome their annual problems there; Devils are much more experienced - in their five Stanley Cup semifinals they won three times, but this were the last three times (last time dropped 94 to the Rangers); only direct playoff meeting was 98 in the first round when 8th seed Ottawa won in 6.
I don't mean to sound ludicrously arrogant, but I have a feeling you can start engraving the Devils' name on the Cup now.
QUACK QUACK QUACK What a pass from LeClerc to Sykora, who held it just enough to get Fernandez to go down, then roofed it. Why do I get the impression that we haven't seen the last of multi OT games in this series?
Or for the next, if the Quacks advance. Isn't it now a rule that Game 1 of any series they're in goes at least to the second overtime? Heh. Before the season, in our NHL thread, my pick for "Best Bad Team" was Anaheim, but I had no clue they'd be this far along. Damn. But I won't count Minny out. There's a photo of them next to the word "tenacious" in my dictionary. Congrats to any fans of the four remaining teams. This has been an enjoyable and memorable postseason, and my team didn't even make the playoffs(!).
I think it's pretty safe to say the Stanley Cup will go back to the Eastern Conference after a two-year stint out west.
Agreed, minny and anaheim dont match up well agianst either ottawa or jersey....anaheim might stand a chance..with kariya sykora, oates, ruchin and thomas...and giguere...but thats it, i predict ottawa and anaheim in the finals..and ottawa in 5
Guess we'll have to see how it plays out, because I'm not sure I agree with you guys. I won't be bummed if NJ or Ottawa win, but... Between the two teams, Anaheim and Minny dispatched four of the best teams in hockey, including the past two Stanley Cup champions. The Ducks did it in pretty impressive fashion, not requiring seven games in either series. The Ducks have one dimension Minnesota doesn't seem to -- they're adaptable. Anaheim seems to play well against fast, slow or mid-tempo teams, and don't seem to care much about gimmicks like the modified trap the Wild use (the depleted Sharks tried it against Kariya's line earlier this year and got torched). And Minnesota's got the top scorer and assist man in the postseason (Gaborik and Zholtok, respectively), who put up big numbers while eliminating teams that aren't necessarily slouches in the first two rounds, but then again Minny played more games than anyone. I think the West has a better chance if it's Anaheim, and it's no given the Eastern team will roll. Except on paper, which we can also use to wipe our *****.
That's what you get when you have the Devils in the Cup Finals. Ottawar against either West team would be a much better series. What do you know, your posts can be easily fixed in this forum, too.
Ottawa shell-shocked New Jersey Saturday, but the Devils showed some resiliency in the overtime loss. The Sens have the definite advantage with their speedy forwards, but I still wouldn't count NJ out just yet. As I said in the Round 1 thread, the Ducks' amazing turn of fortunes I think is not merely due to the emergence of Giguere, but also because of the addition of solid veteran talent - the additions this season of Niedermayer, Ozolinsh, Sykora and Oates doubled the cumulative playoff experience on the Ducks overnight. Excellent roster moves by Ducks GM Bryan Murray to bring guys in who've been there before - all four of the new boys have played in the Stanley Cup Finals and Ozo and Syky have hoisted the Cup. The Wild are a resilient group and I would expect no less from a Jacques Lemaire-coached team. For those of you bemoaning the so-called "triumph of system hockey" and the fact that the "big boys" of the Western Conference are sitting at home (or coming home from the World Championships, props to Canada) , a big fat raspberry to you. Me, I still see quite a bit of excitement left in these playoffs.
Dear Mr. Ducks-fan-as-of-three-weeks-ago, Please check the ages of the players on the current Stars roster (not the 1999 roster) and compare them to the ages of the Ducks' players. Sincerely, A Stars fan who had to deal with no playoff berth last year during the rebuilding
Not so fast, Yamamoto. As much as I enjoyed watching the Disney company hockey team whack, yes I said whack, your assistant coach-stealing franchise, I am NOT on the (other) Quacks bandwagon. In fact, it'll be tough to swallow if Los Patos Potentes do bring the cup to SoCal, as their fans will truly be insufferable to this 25-year King supporter. Also, remember that I threw in the descriptive term "overpaid" (Hi, I'm Bill Guerin) when refering to your SouthStars. Yours, A fan of Uncle Phil's second favorite team
Don't hate the Stars just because Barry Melrose is the most successful coach in the history of the LA Kings. If you were Dave Tippett, and you were given a choice of waiting around for that job or going to a team that has smart hockey people in its front office, wouldn't you have made the choice that he did? I'm pretty much rooting for whomever comes out of the East, since I can't stand the Minnesota hockey fans just on general principle and I can't stand all that the Ducks represent. At this point, I'm giving a slight edge to the Dallas Stars Alumni Club over at the Meadowlands. The fact that Bill Guerin is the best you can come up with for that descriptor on the Dallas Stars tells me that it was really intended for the Red Scourge. Sincerely, A fan of Uncle Lamar's 14th favorite team
What in the blue hell have the Devils done to deserve 4 penalties in the first 10 minutes? This is fucking off the wall. And Elias hits the post on a SH breakaway.
Vancouver is one of the youngest teams in hockey, we are not overrated, look at some of our stats this year..to lazt tto list them, but i imagine you remember that detriot game....Vancouvers paroll is only 35 million, one of the lowest in the league
Classic Devils win there. Not flashy, but a very opportunistic offense... the no-name guys can kill ya. This is going to be a heck of a series.
Giguere is about to set milestones in NHL. He's the first goalie to start a playoff series with three shutouts since 1945. And in game four he needs 35 minutes and 16 seconds without goal against to get the all-time record held by Detroit's Normie Smith since 1936.