Didn't we have an NHL thread? Did these crappy new baords eat it or somehting?

Anyway - Rangers off to a good start in DC last night. i don't have a good feeling about this series and I think in a critical game Ovechkin will be the difference, but I think NY ahs a shot. Although Carolina is the tredny pick, i like the Devils to crush them. Boston should make short work of the reeling, injured Canadiens and i am HOPING Philly can beat Pittsburgh and their whiny, cheap shot team - but based on what i heard about last night, i am not feeling good about this.

In the west, i like Detroit to easily beat the Blue Jackets. They just have too much firepwoer and depth.

I liek teh Sharks over teh Ducks - but I think that could be a long and physical series for a 1-8 matchup.

i think the Canucks will get through, behind Luongo and a decent power play. The Blues got really hto down teh stretch - and its good to see them back in the playoffs, but I just think Vancouver is too good for them.

I will go with Calgary over Chciago, though the Hawks are clearly on teh rise. i liek to pick at least one canadian team to root for and Iginla is among my afvorite players in the league. Thsi should be a fun series and I like both team s- but i think Clgary will get through to teh next round.

Stag Lord said:

I don't recall seeing an NHL thread before, but I only check the boards every once in awhile now.

If the Rangers can keep Ovechkin in check they really should have a chance to advance. I think they have a chance regardless. Carolina might be the trendy pick but they are not going very far, if that series goes past 4 games it will be pure luck. i agree with Boston winning as the Canadiens are just to hurt. i have the same hope for Philly but they need to play a lot better than they did last night.

I think the only potential problem Detroit will have in the playoffs is if they start taking games as a given win.

I want to see St.Louis win but that's only because there is no way no how i can ever root for Vancouver.

Calgary is the better team but they seem to have lapsed into their problem of old - scoring. and Chicago does seem to be back on the rise, i'd really like to see them make a series of it.

i just can't make a pick for the Sharks or Ducks, I just want to see who ever wins lose in the next round.

In the meantime i'll just enjoy the playoffs and wait and see who the Wild hire as GM and then coach.

nope no playoff thread on these boards.

We we (flyers) played a little inconsistient, especially offensivly, but its tough when a stick parrall to a guy is a penalty (Asham's in the first period) that leads to a kick-in goal (Crosbies...) less then 5 minutes into the game. Not sure if we had the effort to win anyway, but the officiating was pretty bad in Game one, even to the level of frustrating the announcers. At one point Jim Jackson casually said, "Scudari has Powe in a headlock, and his helmet pops off, play continues." Plus Don Van Massenhooven really lets other teams score in abnormal ways against us, in two out of our last four games he allowed an illegal goal (the kick-in and the push-in against the rangers), but hey there is no bias on behalf of referees. Regardless we do need to play better, and the pens forecheck is what worried me most about this series and still does.

The rangers surprised the world a little with their win, and the Caps a lot. The Caps i think expected to win and thats never a good thing in the playoffs. If they play harder and get maybe one save on a short side shot from Theodore this time they should win. A really strong effort might be enough to shake some of the Rangers budding confidence.

Hate writing this but i think Carolina has no shoot against the Devs. Carolina's biggest problem is sustained Offense and they are a lesser version of the Devs.

Bruins in 5.

Sharks gettiong Shutout in game 1 = "NOT AGAIN!!!" in SJ. I dunno whta that teams problem is, but they can never find that playoff level.

Detroit looked sick last night against an up and coming CBJ team that ahd the right mindset at the start of the game and played hard. THough 0-4 on the pp in the first period with a 4-3 and 5-3 advanatge is not a good thing.

Flames-Hawks great series, great game 1.

I'm not shocked the ranges won game 1 - the Caps are better at teh top, but teh Rangers are a deeper team - and we are better edfensively (in goal, penalty kill and on the abck check) Its just that in the late games, the caps have the firepwoer to maybe take over. I'm not carzy about the matchup, but i definite;y think we have a shot.

unlike agaisnt teh Pens, who i jsut don;'t see the Rangers beating. The only wya to beat htem is to beath them up physically - which philly and Jersey can do, but NY can't.

On teh Biron goal two weks ago - eh, he didn't blow the whislte. Shoudl he have? Questionable.

Hey sellsword - its really good to see you back. Sorry about the disappointing season for the Wild.

I try to check in on the boards when i remember .

yeah it was a disappointing season, but when they can't resign Brian Rolston ( i hear new jersey is doing well) and half the roster would be playing with an AHL team if they were on any other team it just isn't that surprising. i have a lot of respect for lemaire and his coaching abilities but it is time for a change and new direction.

another view from a different perspective of the unabashed bias on the part of NHL refs.

www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/20090419_Flyers_Notes___Timonen__Referees_treat_Pens_differently.html

Watching Detroit again, with my old Red Wings hat I picked off the ground in 1990 on! I don't follow until the playoffs, so good to see Detroit up near the top again.

I like Detroit's chances as well but i'm also happy that i get to watch the Rangers/Capitols tonight.

It kind of bugs me that I have the sports pack on my satelite system but any of the playoff games that are not VS get blacked out for me.

Well, I showed up late to this party! I guess that shows how much I like navigating around these boards.

In San Diego we have the same problem with the Ducks games. We're in the Ducks market, so their games get blacked out on Vs. Problem is, none of the cable companies down here carry the channel that covers the Ducks (well, AT&T does, but they just got to SD this year). Most companies just have FSW, but they cover the Kings.

Argh... the refs and Pens issue... don't get me started. I've already typed and deleted so many things just now.... I need to stop.

I absolutely hate Torts, but I love what he's getting out of the Rags right now (with the exception of tonight's game). I didn't expect the Rags to keep up with the Caps in scoring. I was worried the Caps wouldn't be able to get over losing the first two games without any veteran leadership on their team, but they got it going tonight.

Looks like the Sharks decided to choke in the first round this year. It's nice of them to switch it up for those of us who are sick and tired of them choking in the second round. Why bother getting eveyone's hopes up? I'll be at game 3 tomorrow! ~Yee haw!! I hope my fried doesn't kill me when his team chokes again.

As for the Devs and Canes, good series. Looks like the Canes are trying to make it a physical game hoping to exploit the Devs PK, which was iffy down the stretch. Now, if we could only get our PP going....

Yeah - the Capds came out flying and afetr Callhan hit the post, tehy cleaned our clock good. I suspected the inconsistent Rangers I ahd been wathcing all year would show up at some point, so - no surprise here. What it sets up though is an absolutley decisive game tomorrow night. typically I consider Game 5 to be the critical game in a seven game set, but in this instamnce, i think whoever wins Game 4 will go on to win the series. Should be exciting.

whats so frustrating about this series is that it could easily be 3-1 in our favor...and i'm sick of hitting the post while the pens bounce one in off of their body parts (at least one each gamein this series)...just bad luck i guess.

well well well, we finally have a game where a) sid gets called for a penatly (allthough he got away with a blantent hook at one point and then litterally two seconds later faked the refs into a high stick call by flinging his head back like he got shot when he got bumbped by a shoulder) and b) a pens goal that shouldn't count gets disallowed (thats 1 out of 3 for those keeping track...). We've now outplayed them in the majority of 4 straight games, the luck and the calls seem to be evening out a bit...dare i hope for two more in a row???

Deathjester26 said:

Looks like you picked a good game to go to.. maybe the Sharks will live up to their potential this year after all...

Let's Go Pens!!!! Malkin and Crosby for co-MVP!!! The Flyers suck!

To Lars and all of the Flyers fans: boo-hoo!!!

boo-hoo...figures a pen fan would say that.

87 or 71 falls down in game 5 and the whole arena in The Pitts is screaming for a penalty.

way to show up after game 4 btw...real fans don't lurk.

Taht Malkin kin in was so blatant I couldn;t beleive the refs took as long as htey did to disallow it. Good win for the Flyers though. I stayed with this one for its entirety and enjoyed it a lot. I suspetc Game 7 will be really tough to win at the Igloo. I almsot wish you guys ahd gotten a point off of us in those last two in the regular season so you could have finished fourth.

Caught the end of Devs-Canes after the Flyers closed it out. Let me tell you - s great as Lundqvist has been - that game showed some of the best goal tending i ahev seen in yeras. cam Ward has really elevated his play and this series has been by far hte most compleeing one to wtahc in the first round.

Caught a little of Duckks -Sharks late - i am still surprised the Ducks managed to take two in the Shark tank. They now have a chokehold on the srries and Sna Jose has to wonder what happens to that team come April.

Well, after being underwhelmed by the B's effort in game 1, I was really happy with how they played against the Habs over the course of the next three games. It's strange to be rooting for Tim Thomas, who I remember vehemently rooting against in college as he played for a conference foe and had a way of getting under opposing fans' collective skin. And Bitz, who's from my alma mater, should be getting *more* ice time, dammit!

While I wait for round two I'm heavily rooting for the Rangers to pull off the upset since they'd match up with the Bruins, which would mean (a) some friendly smack talk with a few Ranger supporting friends (Stag, I'll be gentle ), and (b) being able to see games on local tv, oh yeah!

lol.....

NBC decided today (before the Rangers Caps game) that if there wasn't going to be a game 6 in that series, they would pass on showing the Devils Canes game 6 on Sunday and stick to their regular line up of shows. Gotta love NBCs commitment to this tv deal. I swear, if it isn't the Rags, Wings, or Pens NBC couldn't care less.

Boy are the Sharks a let down. They are so mentally fragile and ready to collapse at the first sign of any difficulties. Combine that with their lack of being responsible with the puck in their own end and it's a disaster.

Deathjester26 said:

Sadly Vs really isn't that much better about it.

What makes it really funny is that one would think that people would want to watch Broduer possibly break Patrick Roy's record for playoff shutouts. not that it would happen of course but the possibility is there. Plus a number of people are saying that it is the best 1st round series of these playoffs. But I wouldn't really know as i have only been able to see the highlights of those games.

I think Versus is showing the Devs Canes game tomorrow. It's the only game of the series that was originally even scheduled for a national audience.

The Caps and Rags will be playing anyway, so no biggie.

lol @ Lars! Actually, I don't lurk! When I posted in this thread, it was the first time that I had been to this forum in at least two months! No real need to come to these boards anymore since the game died (in my eyes).

Anyways....

Your Flyers suck! Up 3-0 and at home and they can't hold the lead????? WTF!!!

LOL

Let's go Pens!!!

i'm still trying not to puke.

I think our third goal was what did us in that game. I think the team took a deep relief breath after that and then got cought flat footed and ran out of gas when they had to try to push back again. That said we still drilled the post late (i think that brought us up to 20 goal post hits in 6 games) and game a Joffery Lupul lifting his shot off this ice away form tieing it.

This is an effort i can live with. We could have won every game excpet game 1 and with a couple of bounces (and maybe calls, but until crosby dies i don;t think the flyers are going to get any of those against the pens) our way we would have easily won the series in 5 games.

Still need to upgrade our D men. Boumaster would be ideal, but i'd settle for komarsick. That means Jones, Lupul, and Carle are probably gone (no real loss their, carle might be nice in a few years but not worth the $$ right now).

Oh an Bruno, don;t get too comfortable in that second round....i don't see your babies getting 3 more wins this year. too inconsistenent and still no depth (until gonchar scored you had what 5 goal scoreers, malks, crosby, guerin, eaton, and kenedy?)

Lars said:

Oh! Snap!! Especially if you pull the Devils for round two!!

Leave it to mathlete to get the trash talk started in here.

The only real tarsh to talk about are the Rangers who are going to lose this thing now. sickeneing. thsi whole series is a micropcosm of the season - overachieving early and accumulating unexpected success, followed by a reversion to far below form and disappointing failure.

Yes - they rode hot goal tending and spirited defense to an early lead - but they played completely without discipline Friday and yesterday. Tehy'll be done tomorrow night and it will be tim to bring in some honest tog oodness firepower. Or fire Staher and bring in a real GM. i'd take either.