The sens should be in pretty good shape if they can somehow stop Emery from trying to handle the puck. It seems like every time he touches the puck outside his net I have to hold my breath. Leave it up to your defensemen for crying out loud. Practice over the summer and give it a try again next year but for the love of god, don’t leave the net during the finals.
Leaf fans watch hockey?
Sens into the finals losing only three games in the entire conference playoffs. I don’t see them losing four in the Finals. God willing, soon The Captain will hoist the Grail and the Cup will return to Canada.
Strangest thing happened yesterday. I turned on my radio to catch the wings game and it sounded like they were playing a rerun from the 02/03 series. Did anyone get the score from the real game?
Okay. Maybe not. Shades of though. Detroit outplayed most of Anaheim for the better part of three periods only to be outplayed by Giguere. Now they find themselves facing elimination and heading back to the duck pond for game six.
It’s not hopeless for Detroit. They’ve outplayed Anaheim for most of the last two games. It’s just a matter of getting the biscuit past Giguere, which they’ve done in the series a couple of times. Keep getting shots and get somebody in front of the net to pounce on the rebounds. The power play, stagnant yesterday, needs to get going again. Getting the puck out of their own zone is starting to be problematic and led to a bad goal…again.
Anaheim has momentum on their side. Game four is starting to look like the turning point of the series. The penalty kill finally held of the Wings power play after four games of being porous. If not for Giguere though, the playoffs would be lost. He’s come up huge in the last two games. The important thing for the Ducks in game six is not to rely on Giguere so much. He can steal games, but giving a team like Detroit double your shot total is playing russian roulette. Okay, more like swedish roulette. Detroit is just too good offensively for a team known for it’s defense to be surrendering scoring chances to.
I’m waiting to hear from the Canadian consulate in DC as to when the viewing partyfor the final series is going to be - and if in fact we should go drink the beer there while watching the game, or go to a Canadian-owned pub to do it.
I agree with the criticism of the call on sliding into the net, though I recall it as delay of game. I didn’t see any way for him to avoid upsetting the goal. The Senators will need to be a bit more disciplined and avoid silly penalties if they want the cup.
Lousy turnover on the part of the Wings to blow game 5. They seemed to be the superior team but goalies have stolen series before and it might happen here.
Still hoping for a Detroit-Ottawa final so I’d be happy whoever won.
I was watching that too. They went with the Preakness coverage on NBC and shifted the hockey coverage over to Versus. You didn’t have to go to the computer, if you get Vs. on your cable lineup. Keep that in mind in case they pull similar bullshit on future games.
Woop! My bad. It was delay of game.
No Versus for me. I chose satellite due to the $40 price differential, but as a result, lost out on CBC and Versus. Of course, if I did have cable, I’da been watching on CBC anyways…
Concur…although it seems that momentum means nothing in this series. This is the ultimate series in adjustments for the losing team to overcome the previous winning team.
As a Ducks fan…I certainly hope so…but I’m not counting on it. Detroit is still dangerous.
Game 3 had Detroit 1-9 (11%) on the PP, that would be acceptable in the PK department IMHO…but you’re right on the other 3 games. (50%, 29%, 40%)
I would tend to disagree that Giguere has made less spectacular saves because Detroit did not crash the net as much as they have in the first 3 games. Many shots are being made outside the hash marks or bad angle shots…most notable was yesterday’s game. Also, the traffic in front of Giguere was minimal at best. I do attribute that to Anaheim’s defense which has improved since the game 3 fiasco, either by rushing Detroit into a long distance shot, or by making the bodies in front of the crease pay the rent for occupying it.
I agree that Anaheim was definitely outplayed yesterday, but still managed to keep it close (especially the 2nd period PK)…the trend I noticed was that if Anaheim kept it close after 2 periods (Detroit does best in the 2nd for this series), then Anaheim usually manages to take over in the 3rd and even more so in OT. Had Detroit scored just once on the PP in the 2nd, then we would be having quite a different outlook on the two teams. When we (my oldest son and I) were watching the game yesterday, I commented to him right after the 2nd period ended, “Ok, Anaheim weathered the storm and are only down by one, watch the Ducks get this one.” I believe the Ducks were just as confident about coming back as I was. I was sweating it there in the end of the 3rd, but still confident. In OT…no sweat…just a matter of time before the Ducks found a way.
And as a note to Ottawa and fans…whoever comes out of the West…will spoil that glazed look in your eyes. As I have said in the OP, it really comes down to the health of the team that comes out of the West. Granted…Kunitz and Schneider are hard losses for each Western team to take…but the depth of each Western team has shown that they will be able to persevere. Barring any injuries to any top offensive or defensive player(s), I still think the Cup is going to either the Ducks or Wings…and most likely at this point in time…Ducks.
yawn First Ottawa was going to choke against an up-and-coming Penguins team. Then Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey defense was going to completely shut down Ottawa’s offense. Next, Buffalo’s superlative offense going to expose Ray Emery. Doom-and-gloom predictions about the Senators do not impress me; I’ve heard it all before.
Sorry, but if you do recall in my OP back before the playoffs even started, I predicted the West coming out to win the Cup outright, barring significant injuries to their team regardless who was the East representative…Ottawa, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, etc. I made no such commentary about Ottawa’s past chokes…that my friend, was totally immaterial to me. What mattered to me was that the West is superior to the East, end of story.
Recall my last paragraph of my OP, regarding the Ducks:
Given the way that Ottawa has utterly laid waste to the East, to say that Ottawa can only win if the Western team is decimated by injuries is preposterous. This isn’t some two-bit eighth seed that just managed to sneak into the playoffs and is riding a hot goaltender. This is a team with the best line in the NHL, bar none. This is a team that eviscerated a better defence than Detroit can put up, and shutdown 2 offences that put Anaheim’s to shame. Believe what you will, but this Ottawa team will not be an easy matchup for whoever comes out of the West.
Before the playoffs I would have agreed with Yeticus Rex about Ottawa’s chances against a western team, but lately I’m getting that “team on a roll” vibe off the Sens. And even with Anaheim up 3-2 as of now, their defense has not impressed me so far. Detroit’s had the better chances in most of the games. And Alfredsson and Spezza have been beating the other teams’ defenses like gongs all through the playoffs. Anaheim will be tough to get past (assuming they win one more game–not a cinch), but I don’t think the Sens are a “no chance” either.
Not A Tame Lion, How do you feel about the Ducks playing at home tonight? I think the Wings have been playing well (minus a couple periods) and am excited to see how they come out “do or die” tonight. You think this is the end of the series or will we have a game 7 in Detroit? Either way I’m hoping the Wings win tonight so there is a game 7. This series turned out to be a lot better than I had expected.
I had Anaheim figured as the best team in the West from the start, though I was hoping the Sharks could upend them in a long series. So based on what I thought coming into the playoffs, the Ducks should close it out tonight. But a couple of things make me back off from that.
The Ducks had to rely heavily on Giguere to save them the last couple of games. Even in winning, Anaheim was on their heels the whole time. Or so it looked to me. The Wings seemed to be the ones pushing the play throughout those games, especially the 3rd period on Saturday. Anaheim won because of a lucky bounce on Selanne’s goal in OT, and because Giguere was everywhere he had to be.
The other thing is, I can’t get out of my mind the way Detroit was almost dead in game 4 against San Jose, until they tied the game in the last minute and won in OT. The Wings have been resilient in a way I didn’t think they had in them. So I don’t think the Ducks are a cinch to win it tonight. And if they don’t, I suspect they’re boned in game 7.
Either way, I think we’ll see a good finals series coming up.
Right now, Ottawa is eerily similar to the 2003 Ducks who rode a hot goaltender and beat the snot out of Detroit, Dallas and Minnesota before falling to the Devils in 7 with a suffocating defense. Ducks have the experience at this level…Ottawa does not. Detroit has even more experience…Ottawa does not. Detroit had 199 GA in the reg. season compared to NJ’s 201 and the Ducks 208…while Ottawa sits with a 222 GA. That does not impress me when we talk about Ottawa’s defense. As for offense, it’s true that Ottawa comes in at 288 GF compared to the Ducks 258 GF and the Red Wings 254, but I argue that those goals are inflated against “the shooting gallery” East teams. Other things to consider…Ottawa was 4-5-1 in the regular season against West teams, while Detroit was 6-3-1 and the Ducks were 6-2-2 (39GF, 31 GA) against the East teams. Did I say it was going to be easy? No. But I do expect the West to come out on top. The stats are there to back it up. Yeah, Ottawa is on a roll, but let me ask you this…Isn’t the Ducks or Detroit on a roll also?
Not to put down Ottawa as they’ve certainly done more than I’ve predicted for them, but they really haven’t had the hardest run of it. Pittsburgh was talented but young and that showed through in the series. New Jersey had one offensive line and Brodeur and Brodeur certainly didn’t play anywhere near his ability. Buffalo had been flailing since the playoffs started, having a harder time than they should’ve against the New York Islanangers before (with the exceptions of Chris Drury and Ryan Miller who both deserved better for their play) choking against the Sens.
In the West, you’ve got two top to bottom deep teams with stellar goaltending (for the most part) that’ve been playing their best hockey against some tough opponents. Detroit had to make it past Calgary and a very talented San Jose team before making a fight of the Anaheim series. Anaheim didn’t have as tough a path to the conference finals, but Giguere has been flat out stealing games for the Ducks.
I’m with Yeticus. Whoever makes it out of the west, barring critical injuries, is going to be a hard team for Ottawa to beat.
Actually, Giguere has had an easier time of it in the last 2 games because the shots from Detroit (albeit quite a bit more than earlier) are easier saves to make since the shots are coming from the outside the hash marks and bad angle shots as opposed to the crashing style Detroit was using earlier in the series that was more successful for them. Detroit needs to do that again to win tonight.
As for Selanne’s “lucky bounce”…“Luck” comes from working hard consistently…like the hard forechecking from McDonald AND Selanne to cause that turnover from Lilja. “Luck” comes from actual knowledge that Hasek will go down and cover the bottom half of the net and knowing that Selanne had to lift the puck to put it behind him. “Luck” came from Selanne practicing over and over that pick and shoot move that he stated in the postgame interview and how it now paid off. Was it really a “lucky bounce”? No. That was skill.
The 2003 Ducks were a fluky 8th seed who got hot for a month and a half. Ottawa’s ranked third in their conference. They’ve lost 11 – eleven – games since December 23, including the playoffs(excluding [del]shootouts[/del] ties).
And if you believe that Ottawa is just riding a hot goaltender, you clearly haven’t been watching them at all in these playoffs.
Yeah, I heard that one a lot going into the Jersey series. It still fails to impress me.
Now hold on just one minute. Ottawa’s offence is inflated playing against the East, but the Ducks’ and Wings’ defence aren’t inflated playing against the West? Just keep telling yourself that. I don’t see either Detroit or Anaheim holding off offensive players anywhere near the caliber of Sidney Crosby, or teams with the firepower of Buffalo. Ottawa’s allowing 2.13 goals per game in the playoffs, and held both Buffalo and Pittsburgh – #1 and #3 overall in goals scored this season – to 2.00 goals per game.
A lot of those games against the West came early in the season when Ottawa was terrible. You can pretty much throw that stat out the window. As to the other two’s record against the East, that’s completely meaningless. The West representative will have to face Ottawa, not the weak sisters of the East.
So basically, Pittsburgh played terribly against the Sens, the Devils played terribly against the Sens, and Buffalo played terribly against the Sens. Wow, Ottawa sure was lucky that the #1, #2 and #4 ranked teams in the conference all played so badly against them.
It couldn’t be that maybe, just maybe, Ottawa’s heavy forecheck disrupted their opponents game plan and made them look bad. No, clearly the only way that Ottawa will ever win a playoff series is if their opponent completely fails to show up.
Yeah, go ahead dismiss the WHOLE playoff season of the Ducks as a fluke… :rolleyes:
Emery’s a hot goaltender? Take a look at which conference those top 5 save % goalies come from.
But the trend continues…just ask Gretzky when the Islanders shut down Edmonton for the Cup in 1983. I bet the Islanders made an impression on him.
And what teams did Buffalo and Pittsburgh fatten up on?
…and that is what Ottawa had to go through to get to the finals.