NHL Playoffs Thread

[White Raven]

It is upon us once again, the quest for Lord Stanley's Cup. For Canadians (especially in the areas around Montreal, Calgary and Ottawa), it means that the majority of all sporting news will be filled with the madness that is the NHL playoffs. I am quite aware that in the states, it may be around the 6th most watched sport, but I'm sure of you will be cheering on your favourite teams. My team (Tampa Bay), finished dead last, so at least I won't be as stressed in the next couple of months. Anywho, here are the first round match ups:

EAST
(1) Montreal Canadiens vs. (8) Boston Bruins
(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (7) Ottawa Senators
(3) Washington Capitals vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers
(4) New Jersey Devils vs. (5) New York Rangers

WEST
(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (8) Nashville Predators
(2) San Jose Sharks vs. (7) Calgary Flames
(3) Minnesota Wild vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche
(4) Anaheim Ducks vs. (5) Dallas Stars

In the East I predict no upsets with Montreal, Pittsburgh, Washington and New Jersey winning their series. In the West I predict that Detroit, San Jose and Anaheim will win their series, and I have one upset prediction, with Colorado over Minnesota.

Anyone else gonna follow the NHL playoffs, and if so, who do you think will win the first round match ups?

:)

[Momiji]

Ask my cousin up in Michigan. I guarantee he'll be following it.

As for me, no.

[Roto13]

Go Habs Go! Going up against our mortal enemies, the Boston Bruins. GRRAR!

[Yar]

Let's go, Jackets! *clap *clap *clapclapclap. :cool:
Oh, god. Postseason depresses me...:(

I'm rooting for Washington kinda (Go, Ovie!), San Jose (Jody Shelley plays for them now :rolleyes2) and whoever is playing against Detroit. Too bad it's Nashville, as I wish them the worst. I am still bitter about losing 15 of the past 16 to those extinct cat bastards. :mad:

[Kirobaito]

WOOHOO!

Go Stars! Two dominating games = awesome.

Let's finish it up here at home, boys, and prepare for Detroit (or San Jose, or whoever).

[CimminyCricket]

WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD

Let's go, Backstrom! ^_^

[Yar]

WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD WILD

Let's go, Backstrom! ^_^

Please, oh please destroy Colorado. That piss-stain Adam Foote doesn't deserve for his team to advance much farther.

[Araciel]

Canadiens Canadiens Canadiens!

[Kirobaito]

Ducks are DEAD in the water.

WOOHOO, I love playoff hockey.

[Yar]

Ducks are DEAD in the water.

WOOHOO, I love playoff hockey.

I wish they would die. I can't believe they won by 5-2 last night.

[Kirobaito]

Ducks are DEAD in the water.

WOOHOO, I love playoff hockey.

I wish they would die. I can't believe they won by 5-2 last night.
The Stars outplayed them... they just got some incredibly fortunate bounces and situations. It'll be over in 6.

[Roto13]

WTF Boston?

[CimminyCricket]

WTF Minnesota?

[Kirobaito]

GOOOOO STARS!!!!!!!

[Yar]

I hate Detroit. It's amazing how a group of geriatrics can play hockey.

[White Raven]

Alright, so here were the results of the first round:
EAST
(1) Montreal Canadiens vs. (8) Boston Bruins - 4-3
(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (7) Ottawa Senators - 4-0
(3) Washington Capitals vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers - 4-3
(4) New Jersey Devils vs. (5) New York Rangers - 4-1

WEST
(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (8) Nashville Predators - 4-2
(2) San Jose Sharks vs. (7) Calgary Flames - 4-3
(3) Minnesota Wild vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche - 4-2
(4) Anaheim Ducks vs. (5) Dallas Stars - 4-2

I was pretty surprised on New Jersey's early exit, along with the Ducks collapse against Dallas. Anywho, here is the second round match ups:

EAST
(1) Montreal Canadiens vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers
(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (5) New York Rangers

WEST
(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche
(2) San Jose Sharks vs. (5) Dallas Stars

I predict Montreal and Pittsburgh continuing their winning ways, and Colorado and Dallas, coming out on top as underdogs in the West.

:)

[Kirobaito]

Alright, so here were the results of the first round:
EAST
(1) Montreal Canadiens vs. (8) Boston Bruins - 4-3
(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (7) Ottawa Senators - 4-0
(3) Washington Capitals vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers - 4-3
(4) New Jersey Devils vs. (5) New York Rangers - 4-1

WEST
(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (8) Nashville Predators - 4-2
(2) San Jose Sharks vs. (7) Calgary Flames - 4-3
(3) Minnesota Wild vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche - 4-2
(4) Anaheim Ducks vs. (5) Dallas Stars - 4-2

I was pretty surprised on New Jersey's early exit, along with the Ducks collapse against Dallas. Anywho, here is the second round match ups:

EAST
(1) Montreal Canadiens vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers
(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (5) New York Rangers

WEST
(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche
(2) San Jose Sharks vs. (5) Dallas Stars

I predict Montreal and Pittsburgh continuing their winning ways, and Colorado and Dallas, coming out on top as underdogs in the West.

:)
As awesome as that would be, I honestly don't see anybody beating Detroit this year. I think Dallas can take San Jose, but it will be quite hotly contested. Either better or worse, Dallas just beat the most physical team in the playoffs in Anaheim, and should be the more physical team against San Jose. It won't be little Eastern Conference fairy skating like Pitt/Washington, that's for sure.

[White Raven]

Yeah the East's most physical team is definitely the Flyers, but I really don't see them coming out of the East. Depending if Osgood can remain good (:p), yeah I agree, Detroit looks like the heavy favourites right now.

:)

[Yar]

Call me crazy, but I don't think Detroit will take the cup. I see Montréal or San José winning.

[Chunk]

Cast's lvl 4 resurrect ...

Been a hockey fan for years but this past season was boring. But I digress.

Anyways I'm hoping for a Pens/Sharks final. Although the Stars are looking like too good of a team.

With the way the 2nd round has gone it's looking like an All Pennsylvania match up for the east and the Stars/Redwings for the west.

[Kirobaito]

No goal? That's one of the most awful calls I've ever seen. Morrow didn't kick it at all, and any rational objective human being would have been able to see that. That's absolute BS.

[Yar]

Well, the cup isn't going back to Canada this year.

Canada sucks. ;>

[Kirobaito]

SSSTTTTTAAARRRSSS WWWWIIIIINNNNNNN!

Greatest. Game. Ever.

This was the best battle of goalies I've ever seen. Turco and Nabokov were absolutely spectacular.

[Chunk]

Great game... too bad I fell asleep before it was done. What was it, 4 overtimes?


1. Now we have Detroit vs. Dallas
Should be good, have had some interesting playoff match ups in the past


2. Penguins vs. Flyers
All PA. match up, what more can I say.



I'll predict Stars vs. Penguins for Cup final

[White Raven]

Sorry for the delay in the conference finals, but I've been out of the country and busy moving.

Anywho, here are the results of the last round:

EAST
(1) Montreal Canadiens vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers - 4-1
(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (5) New York Rangers - 4-1

WEST
(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche - 4-0
(2) San Jose Sharks vs. (5) Dallas Stars - 4-2

I was pretty surprised when I got home from Florida (Where hockey doesn't seem to exist even with 2 teams :mad2:) to see that Montreal had been so easily taken care of. Perhaps they were too overrated, but probably the young goal tending didn't help.

Here are the conference finals (Already in progress):

EAST
(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers (Penguins leading series 2-0)

WEST
(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (5) Dallas Stars (Red Wings leading series 2-0)

Looking pretty bad for Philly and Dallas so far. Seems that the young ones in Pittsburgh have it going and Detroit seems unbeatable.

:)

[Kirobaito]

Man, it's too bad that a) The Stars couldn't have started playing this intensely earlier, or b) Holmstrom would have gotten called for his interference in the early games that led to half of Detroit's goals.

Anything can happen, though. Back to the AAC now. We can DO this, boys. We can DO THIS.

EDIT: Effin' incredible that there's no peep out of the NHL for Draper's bush league crosscheck to Morrow in the face. *sigh*

[White Raven]

Yep, isn't looking that good for your team. :( Maybe it's all a desperate plot by the NHL to make hockey popular in Detroit again.

[CimminyCricket]

I can see it.

[Yar]

Omfg, they're CRYING?!?!

[Kirobaito]

Yep, isn't looking that good for your team. :( Maybe it's all a desperate plot by the NHL to make hockey popular in Detroit again.
Oh, I'm not sad. This month by the Stars has done more for this Metroplex than you could probably imagine.

Since the Dallas Mavericks "lost" the 2006 NBA Finals after leading 2-0 (losing four straight, the third in most controversial fashion), here's what we've witnessed as Dallas sports fans:

2006 Rangers - make a trade deadline deal, miss playoffs
2007 Cowboys - make playoffs, lose on a botched snap from a field goal with a minute left that would have given them the lead in their first playoff game
2007 Mavericks - finish 67-15, best record in the NBA, before losing in the first round of the playoffs to the 8th seed
2007 Stars - lose in first round of the playoffs
2007 Desperados (Arena Football) - finish 15-1, best record in AFL history, lose in their first playoff game on freak play after freak play
2007 Rangers - finish 75-87
2008 Cowboys - finish 13-3, best record in NFC, lose in their first playoff game to a team they'd already beaten twice
2008 Mavericks - make a huge deadline deal, fade down the stretch, lose in 5 games in the first round of the playoffs

We really, really, really needed a run like this from one of our teams after the above torture of the last two years. They showed plenty of heart, plenty of grit, and we're very, very proud of our Stars. Detroit was just better, and we knew that before the series started.

I'm happy.

[White Raven]

Yeah, Dallas did a great job this year beating out 2 heavy favourites (Ducks and Sharks). They've done a lot of rearranging this season and I think next year they'll be a big contender. :)

EAST
(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers - 4-1

WEST
(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (5) Dallas Stars - 4-2

Onto the Stanley Cup Finals...
(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (1) Detroit Red Wings

Although this is a great match up for the NHL, I may not even watch a single game of it. I'm not a huge fan of Pittsburgh at all, and I think Crosby is definitely overrated. If I had to pick, I'd say Detroit in 6.

[Yar]

I love to see that hockey in Dallas does so well.

[Chunk]

Been a Pens Fan since that Momentous day in 1984 =)

So I guess you know who I'm cheering for.

Although I must admit, Detroit probably has the best system in hockey to date. Their scouting, bringing up of young prospects is astounding. Be it from Europe or NA.

Cheers
Go Pens

[Proxy]

GO WINGS!!
The only reason I want the Wings to win (and it looks to be an easy task for them thus far) is cause of that !^@%^$#%$! Crosby. Whiney little b*^!$
Zett > cocky ass-fuck.
GO WINGS.
Better team too :)

[White Raven]

Game 1: Detroit 4 - Pittsburgh 0
Game 2: Detroit 3 - Pittsburgh 0


Another game, another dominant win by Detroit. Not looking that good for Penguins, Detroit it capitalizing on all the young guys mistakes, and are not getting enough shots off on Osgood. Adding Roberts to the mix apparently didn't help, but did add some grit. The desperation is beginning to show with the punches being laid on 'fragile' Franzen, although Osgood shouldn't resort to his overdone falls. Perhaps its time to try out Conklin? We'll see Wednesday. :)

[Chunk]

Even with Pitt's win last night, Detroit was still almost going to win. I'll give that one to Pitty, as they also did ring it off the crossbar a few times. On every occasion Osgood looked around all confused.

[Gogo]

Ugh. Game 5 and Detroit can win it all tonight.

[Tavrobel]

Hi! Welcome to triple overtime at 3-3, with Detroit having 3 games in the series, compared to Pittsburgh's 1.

EDIT: Not for long. 4-3 Penguins.

[Proxy]

gay boots =( fuck sake...

[ljkkjlcm9]

I have to say, even though the Penguins have won two games... they still seem to be dominated almost constantly during the games. Their goalie seriously is keeping them alive.

THE JACKEL

[Proxy]

I think detroit is playing with them. what other reason could it be?

[White Raven]

Well, Pittsburgh now only trails 3-2, though they barely got through Game 5 even tho they dominated most of it. I still don't think that they could string 3 wins in a row against the Wings. Wish they wouldn't go 3 OT's, twas a late night last night :p