NHL: The Playoffs

The Game Room
21

New York Rangers vs Ottawa Senators

I can’t pick against my own team, not when they’re up against a team they went 3-1 against* and outscored 13-8.

  • Admittedly, with one shootout victory.

Ottawa in 6

Boston Bruins vs Washing Capitals

Washington has no goaltending, no defence and they’re up against the defending champs. No chance.

Boston in 5

Florida Panthers vs New Jersey Devils

Florida just is not a good team at all. Their goal differential is 11th in the Conference. They were 18th in shots against. They may have lucked into the playoffs, but it’s over now.

New Jersey in 5.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs Philadelphia Flyers

Philly is a very strong team, but the Penguins seem to have gotten completely healthy at exactly the right time. Both Malkin and Crosby seem to be going and I think that will be enough to overwhelm the Flyers in the end.

I do have to say though, that the last time Ottawa played Pittsburgh, they blew them out of the water by attacking with a heavy forecheck and forcing their defencemen to make a litany of turnovers. If that wasn’t just a fluke bad game by their blueline Philly is certainly a team built to take advantage of that.

Pittsburgh in 7.

Vancouver Canucks vs. Los Angeles Kings

LA wasn’t able to put it together all year despite a wealth of talent. I don’t see them figuring it out against the President’s Trophy winners. The Canucks will need Daniel Sedin if they want to win the Cup, but I’m not convinced they’ll need him to advance to the second round.

Vancouver in 6

St. Louis Blues vs San Jose Sharks

I have to admit, I’m just biased against the Sharks. Maybe it’s because I don’t like Thornton. Maybe I just like the idea that I’m not a member of the only fanbase plagued with a team that chokes every year.

I’m not convinced of how good the Blues really are, but I think that they have enough to get past a Sharks team that seems to be regressing.

All bets are off if Brian Elliot is the Blues’ starter. I don’t care what his stats look like, he’s not this good.

St. Louis in 7

Phoenix Coyotes vs Chicago Blackhawks

It’s more than a little silly for me to be making Western Conference predictions, to be honest. I’m don’t think that I watched a single Coyotes game all year. Phoenix was barely the best team in a bad division(I know, I know, glass houses). Chicago has a fantastic group of talent even if the depth isn’t there anymore, and I think that will be enough to get them through.

Chicago in 6.

Nashville Predators vs Detroit Red Wings

Haven’t we already done this series? Detroit and Nashville, it’s game one and the arena’s going nuts…

Hang on, that’s not the Joe…

I have to admit that I have a huge soft spot in my heart for the Predators, who have shown their expansion cousins in Columbus, Minnesota and [del]Atlanta[/del] Winnipeg how to build a team (and they are quite a few non-expansion teams who should be taking notes. Step 1, draft Shea Weber in the second round…)

Anyway, the Predators seem to be a team on the rise while Detroit, finally, seems to have lost a step(let’s see how long that lasts). I don’t like Detroit’s chances scoring against Suter, Weber and Rinne.

Nashville in 7.

Bonus Prediction: The home team wins every game in this series.

22

Dallas: 31 wins in regulation, 4 wins in OT, 7 wins in the shootout, 35 regulation losses, 1 loss in OT, 4 losses in the shootout. Net in this scheme: 115 points, or 119 if by ‘tie’ you mean ‘losses in the shootout’, since the NHL doesn’t countenance ties any longer.
LA: 31 wins in regulation, 3 wins in OT, 6 wins in the shootout, 27 regulation losses, 6 losses in OT, 9 shootout losses. That’s 111 points, or 120 if you give them a point for the shootout losses. So I guess it all depends how you treat that.

Frankly, I think the big travesty is the shootout. Notice that they don’t do shootouts in the playoffs–it’s too random for a game that ‘matters’. Screw that–if the regular season games don’t matter enough to keep playing OT periods until someone wins, they don’t matter enough that we can’t put up with ties. Change those shootout numbers, both wins and losses, to ties, and under your scheme we get:
Dallas: 31 wins, 4 OT wins, 36 losses, 11 ties = 112 points
LA: 31 wins, 3 OT wins, 33 losses, 15 ties = 114 points

If we go back to the previous system of 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie or OT loss, then we get 81 points for Dallas, and 83 points for LA. So the only system where Dallas definitely gets in is Rickjay’s, where you just count the wins. As a Stars fan, I have to admit that gives me a fuzzy warm glow; but I just can’t bring myself to treat shootout wins and losses the same as regulation wins and losses. It just seems wrong, somehow.

I guess we could take away the point for OT losses. Then we get Dallas 80, LA 78. So I could get on board with that as a Dallas fan. :slight_smile: But the real upshot is, the reason that Dallas looks better in the win column than LA is that Dallas was 7-4 in the shootout compared to LA’s 6-9. And I really don’t think this says anything at all about which team was better.

23

Without cable, I’m watching the playoffs on my iPhone! Interesting there is no way to pay for legal video coverage online in the USA. You can buy the radio feed for all playoff games for $4.99

24

Depending on the game, can you either get live feeds from TSN.ca or CBC.ca (HNIC)? I think they air some games live, but it might be available only in Canada (I have the option with CBC to watch NSH-DET if I want). Have a look!

This is part of the awesomeness that is Canada: every single playoff game is available to me, several on CBC (which is free) and the rest on either TSN or RDS.
What are the odds that the Pens-Flyers game includes the appearance of a stretcher at some point? I’m beginning to think they are pretty good… :smack:

25

Since last year’s playoffs, the Canadian stations have gone digital. I just rescanned my over-the-air channels, and I’m in the US, watching Hockey Night in Canada in high def. :cool:

26

High def, and on a 46" screen here. Life is good.

I know one linesman who shouldn’t be officiating any more playoff games, if the league has even the tiniest bit of integrity. I know, I know, I’m hilarious. :smack:

The NHL MUST start having automatic goal reviews. Their referees are just too incompetent. In this day and age, it’s not like proof that they screwed up isn’t trivial to obtain.

27

Kinda funny. I picked the preds to win the series against the wings, and apparently the NHL has too. The calls going against the wings and the ones being ignored that would be against the preds are absolutely ridiculous. So far game 1 has been a fucking joke.

28

Fricken Rinne always becomes Hasek when he plays the wings :frowning:

29

Shea Weber turned into Hulk Hogan for a second. Penalty worthy? Roenick certainly seemed to think so. I want to say yes, but as a Wings fan I may be biased.

30

Shea Weber is a dumbass. I’m not a fan of either team (nor do I particularly dislike either team) and cheered goals by both teams (those are my credentials) and that punch was stupid, dangerous and uncalled for. Were this the regular season, I’d actually expect a suspension. I’d hand one out in the playoffs too, but who the hell knows what this dumbass league will do?

ETA: here’s the dumbassery

“punch” is putting it nicely.

31

WHOOOO!!! FLYERS UP ONE!!!

And look at them Rangers! (makes plane crashing sounds) :smiley:

32

Dude, don’t get cocky – it’s just one game. “Your over confidence is your weakness.”

33

“Your faith in your defense is yours.”
Overtime has not been kind to Pittsburgh’s winter sports teams this year.

34

They had damn well better suspend him. He deliberately and blatantly rammed Zetterberg’s head into the boards. If they’re serious about head shots, they have to suspend him for multiple games due to the intent alone. This wasn’t even a check gone bad where he may or may not have been intending and couldn’t change course in time. He punched Zetterberg a couple of times and then shoved Zetterberg’s head into the glass with his hand.

35

So, is there full blown panic in Vancouver right now?

36

I agree. That’s an obvious intent to injure. Weber should be suspended for at least a game or two.

37

Gotta love bandwagon fans!:smiley:

You realize the Flyers are playing the Pittsburgh Penguin, right?

38

I second that, since there was no penalty called because of its timing, there has to some sort of punishment. My guess would be only one game though.

39

The box score indicates that Weber was given a two-minute roughing penalty at 20:00 of the third period (with Gary Bettman in the house…even dumber). I presume the referees could have given a more severe penalty if they wanted, but they perhaps figured they’d leave it to Shanahan. Or they are incompetent and thought it was a hockey play. Or a bit of both. Sadly, anything is possible in this league.

While I understand the logic that playoff games are “worth more” than regular season games and so suspensions are shorter, I also think it’s bullshit - the act that deserves the suspension is just as brutal no matter when it happens. At least if there were some sort of objective standard and consistent judgement, it would bother me less. I hate to bring up old news under a previous “disciplinarian”, but Rome’s hit on Horton was a legal play, although late, and led to a 4 game suspension in the Finals. Weber’s actions were never legal, at any point of the game. I don’t believe the extent of the victim’s injury should even be a factor in these decisions. The more I see it, the more I think of it, the longer I want Weber’s suspension to be.

40

Unbelievable.

Does anyone, anywhere, actually think that the NHL gives a damn about player safety? Does anyone actually believe Shanahan is competent at this job? So it’s irresponsible and reckless, but only worthy of a stern warning and a trivial fine “but don’t do this again.” Are you fucking kidding me? Balls up and do your job, Shanahan!

:rolleyes: