Whew. Well the series ain’t over yet but the Wings did what they needed to do: get two wins in a row and build some momentum.
Good game. The Sharks were getting pretty chippy at the end.
It’s a chicken-egg question: Are the records of SJ, ANA & DAL artificially inflated because they get to ‘beat up’ on the ‘lowly’ LA & PHX, or vice-versa do the lowly teams have peculiarly bad records because they have to face juggernaut teams so often?
In this case, I’d say the latter is more correct. Having watched a lot of hockey this season, it seems to me that LA was considerably better than their record indicates - probably about as good as Carolina or Toronto.
Deal. Alfredsson with another goal and another assist so far tonight.
And on to the Conference Finals! Bring on Buffalo – I want a chance at revenge!
That’s called “sending a message.” Of course the message being sent is “we lost badly,” but they sent a message nonetheless.
The only problem is that sending a message doesn’t work in the playoffs where every game counts. Next game, the refs are going to be keeping a tighter eye on the Sharks to prevent any bad behavior because of their antics in the third period of this game.
Fucking Canadian prejudice.
It’s done.
Maybe now Lamoriello will let the fucking coaches coach.
Because all we looked like this entire playoffs was a bunch of individuals trying to justify their contracts.
The jobs are distinct for a reason.
Take nothing away from Ottawa, although Rysto is still an asshole. They played great hockey and deserved to advance. But damn me if the Devils didn’t look like guys trying to make the And-1 Tour.
When you said the “series was as good as over,” was a 5-game Devil-ass-kicking what you were referring to?
Lamiorello should lose his job. Irrespective of what he’s done as GM, firing Julien with three games to go and giving himself the job was disgraceful, and the team didn’t play well for him.
I’m saying it’s not a chicken and egg thing. LA’s record was not materially better v the rest of the conference as opposed to the Pacific division. If you are saying had LA been in the eastern conference their record would have been better, I can agree with that. As far as the western conference, I’d say the advantages or disadvantages of being in the Pacific division were so minute as to not be worth mentioning. Except to a team like Colorado who would have made the playoffs if they had played Phoenix and LA more often (or for that matter St Louis, Columbus or Chicago 
.)
Well, the Avs were 1-3 against the Kings (but 3-0-1 against the Coyotes).
EDIT: Just to be thorough, the Avs were also:
3-1 vs. the Bluejackets
1-3 vs. the Blues
2-2 vs. the Blackhawks
but I concede these sample sizes are too small to be very meaningful.
I never said that. 
Go Sabres!
Buffalo vs. Ottawa: Ottawa has had a seemingly easy go of the playoffs, dispatching Pittsburgh and New Jersey. Buffalo has struggled against the New Yorks. Can Ottawa avenge last years defeat at the hands of the upstart Sabres? I don’t think so. Ottawa played a very young Penguins team and a one line New Jersey team while (IMHO) Buffalo played against two overachieving teams from New York. I know I’ve been wrong guessing against Ottawa so far and I’ll probably be wrong again, but I just don’t see Ottawa getting past the Sabres. I like their depth, their play, and their goalie. Buffalo in 6.
Ottawa has shut down the East’s third-best offence and has dominated the East’s best defence. Ottawa would have finished first in the East if Buffalo hadn’t piled up points in the shootout – and guess what? Buffalo doesn’t get to play for the shootout in the playoffs. Ottawa played amazing from the end of December on, and picked up a pile of points on Buffalo down the stretch, who pretty much coasted after their great start. Ottawa was 5-2-1 against Buffalo this season, with two of those losses at least partly due to Martin Gerber, who won’t be touching the ice in this series outside of the warm-ups. Ottawa has the best puck-moving defence in the league, and that’s rapidly become the second-most important quality in the NHL(goaltending, of course, is still the number one priority). Ottawa, right now, is playing the best hockey in the conference. Ottawa in 6.
I dare not call anyone back in Buffalo. They’re suffering from Sabre fever over there. They’re not thinking rationally, I tells ya.
The more I think about the back and forth of this discussion, the more I see it as a damnation of the current scheduling stupidity. Hopefully it only lasts one more year.
This is hilarious. Lindy Ruff is trying to sell that Buffalo is the underdog in this series. You’re the President’s Trophy winners, Lindy. I find it very interesting that the Sabres are trying to dodge the pressure of being a favourite in a tough series.
Now, I’m no good at math, but I bet if you divided the number of dual-Stanley Cup-AND-PT-winners by the number of seasons that have been played in which the President’s Trophy has been awarded, I bet you’d get a low percentage.
The PT winner is the underdog.
Go Sabres!
You’d find that you’d be wrong. The President’s Trophy winner has won the Cup 30% of the time – by far the highest percentage by NHL ranking.
But NON-President’s Trophy winners have won the Stanley Cup 70% of the time.
70 is a bigger number than 30 and therefore a non-PC team is more likely to win.
The Sabres are the underdogs and you and your stinking statistical knowledge based in logic and analysis can take a walk.
I feel guilty about starting the whole ‘how good is the Pacific division’ thing, so I ask everyone, please, let’s just let it drop and concentrate our energies on laughing at Happy Scrappy Hero Pup? Thank you.
However, I won’t be laughing if the Sharks play tonight like they did on Saturday. I slept in and only caught the last half of the 3rd period of game 5, but what I saw was ugly. They just laid down like dogs–a disgrace considering they were literally seconds away from a 3-1 lead. They need to go into primal mode now, at the very least defend the home ice and refuse to lose their last home game. If they go out tonight they should have a tough time looking in the mirror come tomorrow.
Caught most of the last period of yesterday’s game. Great stuff. I sat there wondering, what the hell is wrong with the American sports spectating public that they’re not in love with hockey? Nothing beats the Stanley Cup playoffs, year after year. We here on this thread are the lucky ones, the ones who get it.
And I got to say, I’m starting to take a shine to that Ottawa team. I my local crew can’t get it done, I think I’d be up for seeing the Cup back in Canada this year.