Official NHL 13-14 Playoffs Thread

[rocker87]

I'm 5'8 and 160, like some junior league draftee.

[CJ]

I'm small myself. Probably the smallest, in terms of weight, of TBL. 5 foot 7 and 130 pounds.

Ok! Then don't come to Finland. I don't wanna beat smaller people (or people with shades). That's not fair.

It'd be interesting to know what "sizes" the TBL community is?!

Batdad must be a small guy cuz he has such a hugh mouth!!

*sorry for the offtopic posts, I'm drunk*

[philou21]

Of course they won philou. Look at that post a few above yours. Sheesh.

Woopsie, you've made one mistake so far. Maybe you'll finish with only a poor 50% success rate.

Habs were lucky Price is on fire, especially in the third because they played awfully. The third goal was pure luck but Rask did not looked too good on that. Oh and Marchant is a real loser, poor guy I almost pity him.

Rags/Habs going to be interesting especially in front of the net. If Price keeps going like this and the King stays like the past 3 games not much goals will be scored in that serie.

[Kopi]

good Kings won last tonight...3:3 now with ducks...Kopitar another point and thats his 17th and ofcourse topping the league!

Just wanted to ask you, you that are die hard nhl fans, is Kopitar one of the most underrated players in nhl (of stars)?

Here in Slovenia many do not appreciate or understand what he means to the Kings and his roll and NHL overall. Since basketball is 1st sport here and even guys from Slovenia that sit on bench in NBA kinda get more recognition..

[philou21]

I think Kopitar is a little bit of an underdog in the NHL but he is doing a good job with the Kings.

[batdad]

LOL if 6'4 225 is small...well.....I back up my words princess CJ. Cannot believe i have to cheer for Habs now.

Of course knives are out in pitt. Lemieux (according to Eliiot Freedman, one of the few sources who gets the good info) wanted to let Bylsma go last year, and Shero talked Mario into an extension. Now...out again, and Sid not getting anything done....duh. Knives should be out. They were terrible. Sid's concussion a couple years ago,...has not done him any good, and he has just not played well enough in the playoffs. Neither has Fleury. Since they won the cup they have not been the same. Need to do something. I would not be shocked if both Shero and Bylsma get the heave. Blew another chance.

Kopi is awesome. Size, skill, speed. What more do you want? OH wait...a brain, and team concept...oh wait...he has those too.

Interesting stat also acquired from Friedman. Chicago since having Toews and Kane in the lineup have been tied in a series 2-2 on 7 different occasions. In the games following the 2-2 tie (games 5,6,7) the Hawks record: 14-0-0. They have won each and every time in 6 games. Ridiculous. Even more insane Patrick Kane's stats in those games. ( I am not researching them but apparently outlandish.)

This season Chicago has won 8 playoff games. Kane and Toews have the winners in 7 of those games.

These guys just know how to elevate. When they want to they are ridiculous as are Keith, Seabrook, Crawford, Hossa, Bickell, etc etc

[coombs14]

Kopi is an amazing player. I'd put him up there with Bergeron and a healthy Kessler as one of the best two-way pivots in the game.

Toews is far and away the best though.

[philou21]

The Hawks are fluffing awesome. Back when Pitt won the cup in 2009 with Sid, Malkin and all those talented young guys they were all talking about an upcoming dynasty but now the real upcoming dynasty could be the Blackhawks. They absolutely have everything to be good for a long time. Good young guys full of talent, a good depth and some good signatures and not really overpaying like crazy. I wouldn't be surprise that they win the Cup this year again.

Even if the Habs did a 100 pts season I really wasn't expecting them to be there. Price and Subban have a big word in this as well as the 3rd and 4th liner guys, more than the first that's for sure. Dale Weise has been amazing so far. Mike Weaver as well. Everyone were bashing Bergevin for getting those "useless" guys (always quick on the freak out in Qc) and now they all love them.

Pacioretty/Vanek were invisible most of the time but Max seems to wake up slowly. Vanek though...not sure that MTL should sign him. I liked what I've seen on him but it was a short period of time not an entire season. He still have pts in the playoffs but it's looking like more of those points that you get by 1.Luck/opportunity or 2.Because you're talented and sometimes even without forcing you can just do the little thing that helps. Hell give some space to Galchenyuk already.

With that being said, I wouldn't have guessed them so far and they really got a good chance to beat the Rags I think. I can't believe what it could looks like in Qc if the Habs make it to the final, oh god. But there, against the Hawks, Anaheim or LA they will get DESTROYED that's for sure.

[CJ]

LOL if 6'4 225 is small...well.....I back up my words princess CJ.

Oh, then I was mistaking. I had to guess. So you're huge as your mouth then. Makes sence.

Talking about Kopitar, he's an awesome player all around. The offence ability he has is really great + I'd nominate him for a Selke trophy also!

[Primis]

RE: Pittsburgh....

I think Bylsma is an ok-but-not-great coach. Both Shera and Bylsma deserve blame for the state of things. Those stating PIT has no depth are absolutely correct. PIT is built like an Eastern team, BOS is built like a Western one with their depth.

One unpopular thing I've been stating is that Crosby ABSOLUTELY should take flak and blame here too, and that it's probably time that if PIT wants to get rid of Bylsma, they bring in a really unpopular head coach who will kick Crosby in the butt a bit. Because he seems to desperately need it somehow. Those saying Bylsma and Crosby maybe aren't getting along, I think the opposite is true. I think maybe Bylsma has (maybe even unknowingly) let Crosby do whatever he wants, to the team's detriment.

I'm sick of constantly hearing about how the "best player in the world" can't seem to find much of anyone acceptable and effective to play on his wing. These years and wings later, maybe it's time to admit the common problem there is Crosby and not everyone else. He probably needs a Scotty Bowman to his Steve Yzerman, or a Ken Hitchcock to his Mike Modano, to get him to change his game in a way. Both Hitch and Scotty are abrasive and demanding of their stars, and both Yzerman and Modano had to ultimately change their games for their team's success. While Crosby maybe doesn't need the same defensive kick in the butt those other two did, he maybe does need to learn to sacrifice his own stats a bit more or something in order to better complement his wingers.

If Pascal Dupuis, Chris Kunitz, and Colby Armstrong are the only acceptable options to play with your superstar to keep him happy, perhaps your superstar has some issue that needs to be addressed.

One other thing I've been saying: can you IMAGINE if it was Washington and Ovechkin going through this instead of Crosby and PIT? Ovechkin would be absolutely torn to shreds by absolutely everyone.


As for Boston... *shakes head*... kinda' a waste. Chara and Iginla don't exactly have a ton more shots left. If they can ever wrap their mind around winning games by scoring goals again... I don't want to hear about how they "missed" Seidenberg. Seidenberg is not great skater either and while he may have helped against DET I don't think he would have much against MTL. They got out-hustled and out-skated by MTL. And stick tap to PK Subban with the movie villlain line before Game 7 talking about the atmosphere, noise, and energy in Boston... "I can't wait to take that all away from them".

[ForNever]

If we lose tonight I think I'll have to skip reading this particular thread for a week.

No but seriously, it's been an epic series between the Ducks and the Kings, but I still think that Anaheim deserves to win. Looking forward to it. Unfortunately the game is played 4 am Finland's time, so...

[philou21]

So Shero is out and Bylsma is getting an "evaluation" it seems.

[Primis]

That's.... not how you show up for an elimination game, Anaheim.

[philou21]

Yup one way game for L.A. Loved the ovation by both teams and the crowd for Selanne, he totally deserves it.

[CJ]

I'm so sad now. It was "most likely" Teemu's last game.

[DJP19]

Montreal and New York start at 1pm(EST) today. The NHL is walking a fine line interfering with the World Championships like that some real powerhouse games this afternoon (SVK vs. ITA/ SUI vs. KAZ).

Side note: really hope Montreal loses. As much as I don't like the Rangers...ugh Montreal

[YZG]

Montreal should make it. I think they'll lose this afternoon, then win the series in 6. The two teams are very similar, but Montreal has a little edge on defence IMO. That should make a difference. No one has any real pressure in that series, as everyone made it further than expected. Should be interesting.

In the West... I see LA narrowly beating the Hawks in 7.

[philou21]

I think they'll lose this afternoon

Well that was spot on!

[YZG]

I think they'll lose this afternoon

Well that was spot on!

Hehe, yes, quite. They got routed much more badly than I expected, though. They kinda needed to be brought back on Earth after eliminating the Bruins. It's done now, I think they'll play better from now on.

Media are making a "big deal" of the winning percentage of the Habs when Peter Budaj kicks the puck at the beginning of training sessions. I think they're something like 7-0 when he does kick it and 1-4 when he does not. Gaston Therrien was even a bit angry before the game yesterday, saying the Habs would lose because Budaj didn't kick the puck. Superstitious bunch...

[DJP19]

Other than the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd period, the Habs looked pretty solid

[philou21]

Media are making a "big deal" of the winning percentage of the Habs when Peter Budaj kicks the puck at the beginning of training sessions. I think they're something like 7-0 when he does kick it and 1-4 when he does not. Gaston Therrien was even a bit angry before the game yesterday, saying the Habs would lose because Budaj didn't kick the puck. Superstitious bunch...

Bha, let them be! They should be more anxious about Price's leg than anything else. I'm not sure he'll be at 100%.

[philou21]

Price will be out for the serie against the Rags. Basically MTL are done.

[Peter_Doherty]

Sad for Price and Habs, but really pathetic by Therrien to go after Kreider when it was an obvious accident created by a slash to his right knee from a slowmotion Emelin.

[philou21]

I'm still not sure about that, Kreider doesn't seem like a bad dude though. The fact Kreider is a fast guy might cause that kind of accident at some point I guess.

[Peter_Doherty]

Kreider is far from a dirty player, he just has so much speed and power that he can't really handle it at times. Add a slash on the knee to that when in full speed and trying to shoot the puck = crash.