Official Hockey discussion thread

I feel in the opening minutes, it could have gone Vancouver's way. Shame the puck bounced over Henrik Sedin's stick. Yeah, Luongo was real bad. Vigneault did not use his time out after the second goal came :35 after the first. He could have stemmed the tide and gotten his team to settle down. I thought they could have battled back better if he did.
 
Game seven at home, after being massively outplayed in the final.
The fluky Bieksa goal to beat San Jose.
Surviving the meltdown to Chicago.
Vancouver feels like the team of destiny this year.
I see 2-1 Van on a late goal, or OT.
 
Vancouver has gotten lucky in Vancouver with either 1-0 wins or lucky bounces in OT. Boston on the other hand has manhandled Vancouver on home ice outscoring them 16-3. If Boston can bring that same intensity to game 7 there won't be a need for OT and Luongo will be shunned from Vancouver. We shall see.
 
I liked what the Sedins were doing in game 6. Instead of passing the puck across, between the dots  to no one, they were playing the puck from behind the net, and were getting better scoring chances. I think it's going to be a low scoring game.
 
For some reason I think Vancouver will win tonight going away. Something like 4-2 or 5-3. The Vancouver offense is way overdue to wake up, and Thomas, for as great as he's been all season (my fantasy hockey championship winning team thanks him), is overdue for a bad game. Vancouver needs to find away to make Thomas pay for the aggressive way he is attacking shooters (the Laperierre goal in Game 5 is a blue print).
 
I think if Vancouver can get the puck in deep and forecheck they will win. If they try and be cute with the puck and overplay it, Boston will win. They might try and do the latter because Tim Thomas is in their heads. They need to simplify the offense. The area behind the net has been open, not just for Vancouver, but Tampa Bay had their best chances from there. That can generate back door passes to set up chances that can beat Thomas. It can also create some havoc in front and stop him from playing aggressively. They have'nt beaten Thomas by setting up in the front of him. The defensemen of have been great to by boxing out the front of the net in this series.

I think if it is higher scoring than 2-1, then Boston will win. Surprisingly, they've been the better offensive team,  and it is'nt even close.
 
So they're ripping apart downtown Vancouver right now.
What a great part of the world I live in.
 
This just in. Reports are coming out of Vancouver that Roberto Luongo attempted to commit suicide last night, by jumping in front of a moving train. The attempt failed as the train was able to pass through his legs. :P
 
Sick joke Nigel, but warranted.

I cannot believe how the Sedins just disappeared in this series. Boston kept banging them and chipping them at every opportunity early in the series and ultimately it seems to have gotten to them. The game last night was terrible and only Kesler seemed to have any interest in winning it at all.

Thomas clearly ran away with the Conn Smythe voting, but I would have put Marchand #2. He was stellar all playoffs long. What a great way to start your career!
 
Yeah, the Sedins were not able to adjust and raise their game as the series went on. But when the top line struggles, the other lines have to do something and they could'nt. I agree that Ryan Kessler was the only one on Vancouver that wanted to win that game. But that being said, where was he in the previous four games? They got outplayed badly by Boston after the second game of the series. I thought they played well in that first period, but giving up the first goal really took the starch out of their game.

Boston won by getting contributions from every guy in their line up. From Tim Thomas, to the fourth line guys, to their defensemen, every one on the Boston Bruins did something meaningful to take away the momentum in the series and keep it on their side. Happy to see Rex go out on top, but sad to see him go. Good player and great guy.
 
I would just like to point out that both Sedins produced more in their Finals appearance than Crosby did when he won the Cup.

And that Luongo's Finals wasn't near as bad as Brodeur's in 2001.

I would like to take this moment to remind people about how the sports media shapes people's perceptions on who is a "winner" and who is a "loser."
 
Nigel Tufnel said:
I agree that Ryan Kessler was the only one on Vancouver that wanted to win that game. But that being said, where was he in the previous four games?
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He supposedly has a serious groin injury that needs lots of treatment, not sure why he was able to ramp it up for game 7 though.

GuineaPig said:
And that Luongo's Finals wasn't near as bad as Brodeur's in 2001.
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If by not nearly as bad, you mean that Brodeur gave up 5 fewer goals over the series and kept his team in game 7, then sure. Once Boston scored the first one last night, it was over.

If you want to pick on Brodeur you should talk about the 2010 Olympics!
GuineaPig said:
I would just like to point out that both Sedins produced more in their Finals appearance than Crosby did when he won the Cup.
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2009 SCF Crosby 2 assists
2011 SCF Henrik Sedin 1 goal
2011 SCF Daniel Sedin 1 goal, 2 assists
 
I don't criticize Brodeur for the Olympics.  He had a bad game, and in a tournament like that that's all it takes to lose your job if you're a goaltender.  It's not like Luongo played excellent.  Hell, I he best goaltending performance by a Canadian at a recent Olympics, in my opinion, didn't even result in a medal (Roy in '98).

As for the 2001 SCF, Brodeur posted an 0.870 save percentage.  That's atrocious.  New Jersey dominated Colorado; Colorado only managed to average a little under 21 shots/game.  Brodeur's play was a huge factor in their loss.  Which isn't to say I'm defending Luongo's performance; it was pretty bad too.  But for those that say "winning is all that matters," the Canucks were pretty lucky to win 3 games in a series in which they were outscored 21-7.  And they won those games in large part due to Luongo's play in them.

And just as a sidenote, Daniel scored 4 points; 1 goal and 3 assists.  Once again, I'm not saying they played well, but they're going to be called chokers and losers for that SCF performance that was quite similar in offensive production to Crosby's in 2009.
 
Game 6 and game 7 were very similar. Vancouver comes out strong, Thomas shuts the door, then Boston scores.

Habberdasher said:
He supposedly has a serious groin injury that needs lots of treatment, not sure why he was able to ramp it up for game 7 though.

Click to expand...

Yeah, Kessler was injured by the Boychuck hit in game 2.  He played with alot of emotion last night. Too bad everyone else did'nt on Vancouver. It seemed after game 2 Boston was just able to run over Vancouver. The Bruins were able to keep their composure in the series and dig down deep, battle back and just impose their will over Vancouver. The Bruins surprised me this whole playoff season. From battling back from an 0-2 series with Montreal,  breaking the 1-3-1 of Tampa to grabbing the Canucks by their throats after game 2 and not let go.

The Sedins really are'nt the goats, they had to face Chara and Seidenberg 90% of the time. The Canucks did not get the scoring from the Kessler line to overcome it. The team, as a whole stunk after game 2 and Alain Vigneault did not really make any adjustments and was outcoached by Claude Julien.
 
Not trying to start trouble. I'm just a Devils fan.

I blame Brodeur for plenty of losses over the years. 2010 to Carolina, 2008 to the Rangers, etc, but outside of Game 1, Brodeur didn't play terribly in that series. Let's not forget Roy almost single-handedly giving the series away by straying away from the net for much of the series.

Brodeur is as positionally sound goalie as you will find, he is always in position so he doesn't make a lot of highlight reel saves (a la Thomas or Hasek) because he is in position. He also tends to face fewer shots for a couple of reasons. 1) of course the Devils usually have a stellar defense, but 2) his puck-moving skills help clear the zone and 3) his rebound control limits follow-up shots. So a team may get 1 or 2 on him, but rarely a flurry of 5-6 shots at a time. For those reasons his save % is rarely among tops in the league.

Now let's talk about something we can all agree on: the awful Pierre "Hey Edzo" McGuire, and Eddie "I don't actual provide any color in my commentary" Olczyk. :bigsmile:
 
LMAO..Pierre McGuire. I like Eddie O. Not as good as J.D. or Bill Clement, but he is alright.

I liked the Darren Pang interviewing Chara. He taped the mike to a stick. Hahahaha. Panger only came up to the C on Chara's jersey.
 
Reminds me of all of the Chara vs. Gionta battles over the years.

My problem with Olcyzk is that he probably has the experience and insight to offer reasonable commentary, but he makes it as boring as possible. Case in point, last night Doc noticed some jawing between one of the centers and the linesman before a faceoff. So he asks Edzo (a former centerman) what kind of things are discussed, what are they saying to one another, not word for word, but the gist. And all Olczyk comes back with is something along the lines of "just trying to make sure it's a fair drop." He's a smart guy (and McGuire is too) -- just look at their idea to call a timeout seconds before Boston scores the shorty -- but I would prefer a color guy who adds some "behind the scenes" knowledge to the broadcast.
 
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