The one and only NHL playoffs thread

[Guest starvenger]

I'd like to see Detroit-Toronto or Vancouver-Ottawa, but I'd take any competitive matchup.

[Guest Chuck Woolery]

You want a bold final prediction?

 

Canucks/Lightning.

 

I actually see it happening, too. Dallas will collapse early in the West, and with my bracket Colorado gets knocked out by Minnesota. From there you have a Vancouver/Detroit western conference final, and I could see Detroit collapsing there.

 

On the other side, Tampa Bay should be able to get by New Jersey and Washington, and from there they'd play either Toronto or Ottawa - and I think they could surprise 'em.

 

Just my gut, though. I'll be here until Sunday.

[Guest LaParkaMarka]

You know, I like that prediction. And not just because I'm from Vancouver.

 

Ok, maybe a little.

 

Anyways, the Lightning are underrated...they're a great team when they're on, much better than the horrible Caps. The Caps were embarrassed by the Nucks 6-0, and the Sens did a number on them too. They seem like the kind of team that can always beat out loser teams like Florida but can't beat the upper tier teams. Tampa though...if Bhulin or even Graham gets hot, they have enough firepower to smash through Washington/New Jersey. I'm not sure if they could take on the Sens, but the Conference finals isn't very far-fetched at all.

 

As for the Canucks...I'd *love* to see them make the finals, but I don't see them beating Detroit. Maybe Colorado, but not Detroit. I'll still be cheering them until I'm hoarse though.

 

I'm actually seeing an Ottawa-Detroit final...but I wouldn't complain if Tampa-Vancouver somehow happened.

[Guest treble charged]

on the score today, they reported that the first round games of the senators have not even sold out yet.

They didn't sell out their first game against Philly last year, either. I think that they'll eventually sell all their tickets, though, as fans have more to be optimistic about this year.

[Guest MaxPower27]

If I had the $$$, I'd go to a Lightning game.

 

But, it's Jersey's Sports Pub for me, home of the fewest amount of hockey fans! ONE!!!! (me)

[Guest nl5xsk1]

I think it will be Detroit and NJ in the Cup ... and I'm waffling about who will win. Sometimes I have the Devils, with Brodeur taking home the Conn Smyth; other times I think the Wings with one of their scorers taking the trophy (either Federov or Hull).

[Gert T 0]

Sorry I'm behind with my picks, but I'll give it a go:

 

West

Dallas vs. Edmonton Dallas in 5 OT games

Detroit vs. Anaheim Detorit in 6

Colorado vs. Minnesota Colorado in 5

Vancouver vs. St. Louis St. Louis in 7 (They may always self-destuct, but they usually win at least one round)

 

East

Ottawa vs. NY Islanders Ottawa in 6

New Jersey vs. Boston New Jersey in 7

Tampa Bay vs. Washington Washington in 6 (I think whoever I pick in this series will lose, so good for Lightning fans)

Philadelphia vs. Toronto Toronto in 7

[Guest bob_barron]

I'm going to game 3 so hopefully Toronto will win and it'll be a good game.

 

GO LEAFS GO!

[Guest evilhomer]

West

(1) Dallas vs (8) Edmonton - Dallas in 5

(2) Detroit vs (7) Anaheim - Detroit in 5

(3) Colorado vs (6) Minnesota - Minn in 4 (Don't flame, my wife is a huge fan of a Wild player, I have to make this pick, in reality of course it's Colorado in 4)

(4) Vancouver vs (5) St Louis - Canucks in 7, if Pronger is back healthy he'll make it an interesting series

 

East

(1) Ottawa vs (8) NY Islanders - Ottawa in 6

(2) New Jersey vs (7) Boston - NJ in 5, wake me when it's over

(3) Tampa Bay vs (6) Washington - Caps in 7, a lot of good players on the team who could come around

(4) Philidelphia vs (5) Toronto - Leafs in 6 -

GO LEAFS GO!

[Guest Bricks]

West

 

Dallas vs Edmonton - Dallas in 5.

Detroit vs Anaheim - Detroit in 4

Colorado vs Minnesota - Colorado in 4

Vancouver vs St. Louis - Canucks in 5.

 

East

 

Ottawa vs NY Islanders - Sens in 5.

New Jersey vs Boston - Devils in 4.

Tampa Bay vs Washington - Lightning in 6.

Philadelphia vs Toronto - Philly in 6. I think Hitchcock can get this Philly team deeper in the playoffs.

 

Colorado over Philly in 4 in the Finals as Bob Clarke weeps over the Forsberg for Lindros trade.

[Guest starvenger]

Here's an article I thought you guys might like. The actual article is here

 

Pests a factor in playoffs

By JON COOK -- SLAM! Sports

 

Ask any hockey expert what the keys to playoff success are and they'll all tell you: goaltending and defence.

 

Probe a little deeper and they'll add a third: clutch scoring.

 

A fourth? Likely chemistry. No. 5? Grinders. And the list goes on.

 

The point is that nowhere in that list are you likely to hear mention of the one element that is absolutely crucial to a long playoff run: a pest. Because well-coached and highly-skilled teams hate to think their playoff fortunes rely on a player whose talent is not to stop or score goals, but to disturb, disrupt and distract the opposing team's stopper and scorers.

 

When you scan the rosters of past Stanley Cup champions you're not going to find one that didn't include at least one player who qualifies as a "pest." The literal definition of which is: an annoying person or thing; nuisance.

 

For our purposes: someone you hate to play against.

 

Nearly every team in this year's playoffs has a pest and while not all those teams will win, you can be sure that none of them will win without one.

 

Not all pests are created equal, there is a hierarchy that is determined by the level of contempt directed at the player. That enmity is enhanced by the pest's ability to hurt a team with a hard hit or a clutch goal. The hostility meter varies from outright hatred (Darcy Tucker) to mild annoyance (Kris Draper), but whatever the level an effective pest has to be able to get under his opponent's skin to the point that they are more focussed on them than they are on the task at hand.

 

Unlike the regular season, pests can compensate for a team's lack of skill or depth. The highly-skilled Senators easily handled the plebeian Islanders during the regular season, but could have a tough time dispatching the pest-laden New Yorkers in their first-round matchup. The Isles boast four bonafide aggravators in Mike Peca, Steve Webb, Jason Blake and Dave Scatchard, who will attempt to get the disciplined Sens off their game with some questionable conduct behind the play.

 

But Sens fans needn't worry too much, as GM John Muckler anticipated his team's Achilles heel and went out at the deadline and acquired his own world-class disturbers in Vaclav Varada and Rob Ray. Together with Chris Phillips and Chris Neil, the Sens should be able to counter the Isles' attempts to shut down snipers Daniel Alfredsson, Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat and Radek Bonk.

 

In addition to Muckler, several other NHL GMs injected some abrasiveness into their lineup. In fact pests were more prominent than scorers on the shopping lists of NHL execs prior to the deadline.

 

Dallas got Claude Lemieux and Lyle Odelein. The Avs countered with Bates Battaglia and Bryan Marchment. Philly got Dmitry Yushkevich and Claude Lapointe. Vancouver added Brad May and Jersey acquired Grant Marshall.

 

Which additions have the biggest payoff won't be known for another two months, but all helped their team's chances of winning.

 

Here's a list of the top pests in this year's playoffs:

 

1. DARCY TUCKER, TOR: Has usurped the heavyweight title from Lemieux and is public enemy No. 1 in Ottawa, Long Island and Edmonton and will likely add Philly to that list by the end of the first round. Hits far bigger than his size and his constant yapping goads opponents into retaliatory penalties. Is most effective when he hits more and yaps less. Is like a rash that you know you shouldn't scratch, but you just can't help it. Together with Tie Domi, Gary Roberts, Bryan McCabe, Shayne Corson and Owen Nolan, makes the Leafs one of the most hated teams around.

 

2. VACLAV VARADA, OTT: Ironic that he should make his way to Ottawa, after being a thorn in the side of the franchise during the 1999 playoffs. Also made Eric Lindros's life hell in the 1998 playoffs when the Sabres swept them in the first round. Will undoubtedly do the same to Alexei Yashin, with whom he has tussled in previous playoffs.

 

3. MIKE PECA, NYI: Has managed to avoid the reputation as a "dirty" player, despite injuring numerous players with his open-ice hits. Likely cut short Pat Lafontaine's career when he elbowed him in the jaw as a member of the Canucks. Cried foul when Tucker knocked him out of last year's playoffs with a low hit, but then went out and did the same thing against Zdeno Chara earlier this year. May quickly replace Tucker as the target of Sens' fans wrath if he knocks out one of their star players.

 

4. CLAUDE LEMIEUX, DAL: His career is on the decline, but still has the ability to rankle opponents like he did during his hay days with the Habs, Devils and Avs. No doubt Flyers' and Red Wings' fans aren't likely to forget him scoring into an empty net in the warm up or planting Draper's face into the boards. When he's on there is no one more annoying than "Claude the Fraud." Look for Lemieux, Guerin, Hatcher and rookie forward Steve Ott to make life miserable for Dallas opponents.

 

5. SHJON PODEIN, STL: Just has that look of the proverbial s@$% disturber. Has never scored more than 15 goals in any one season, but always manages to come up with some huge tallies in the playoffs. Was a little/big part of the Avs' win in 2001 and helped the Flyers make the 1997 finals. Look for the Blues to use him against the Naslund-Bertuzzi line.

 

6. MIKE KEANE, COL: Whether it's with the Habs, Stars or Avs, this guy is one major pain in the a@# to play against come springtime. A fringe player during the regular season, this veteran comes alive in the playoffs as his three Stanley Cup rings attest. Ironically he was traded from the Blues for fellow pest Podein at the 2002 deadline.

 

7. MARTIN LAPOINTE, BOS: Should have received more credit for Detroit's back-to-back championships from 1997-98. Scotty Bowman used the winger on his top line with Yzerman and Fedorov as a means of frustrating his opponent's top players. May get a promotion to Thornton's line in their opening series against the Devils.

 

8. DARREN MCCARTY, DET: Took Lapointe's place in leading the Wings back to the Holy Grail last spring. Together with linemates Draper and Kirk Maltby creates arguably the NHL's toughest line to play against.

 

9. BRAD MAY, VCR: Re-acquired from Phoenix at the trade deadline, but is currently injured. When healthy is one of the chippiest and most irritating forwards around. If he doesn't play in their first-round tilt with the Blues, the Canucks will still be glad they stopped other western conference teams from acquiring his services.

 

10. BRIAN SUTHERBY, WAS: Rookie is already known in junior for his grating play and the Tampa Bay forwards and defence will grow to hate playing against him by the end of their first-round playoff.

 

HONOURABLE MENTIONS: SCOTT STEVENS, BRYAN MARCHMENT - Not exactly pests in the truest sense of the word, but these two rugged and playoff-savvy defenders are known for their borderline hits that strike fear into the hearts of opposing forwards. That fear has the ability to disrupt an opponent's game plan and give their team a huge psychological boost.

[Guest bob_barron]

If Darcy keeps getting called for penalties in the playoffs- he's dead

[Guest MaxPower27]

In other words, Darcy Tucker is dead.

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

I might watch some of the Caps games, and I tell you, since there is (Thank God) no chance of them playing the Penguins in the playoffs, they will at least make it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

[Guest MaxPower27]

But, there's the possbility of them playing a better team, like the Lightning, in the first round, and ending up going golfing early.

[Guest nl5xsk1]

I'm so psyched that there aren't many Pacific time zone playoff teams this year. It's too hard to work the next day when the late game starts at 10 or 10:30 - especially if it goes to an overtime or two.

 

I looked at the schedule the other day, and only the Ducks and Canucks have home games that start past 10. (Edmonton didn't start later than 9:00, IIRC)

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Does anyone else think Philadelphia/Toronto may go 7 games?

 

 

I think Philly will pull out the upset, but I'm not counting on it.

[Guest starvenger]

Does anyone else think Philadelphia/Toronto may go 7 games?

 

 

I think Philly will pull out the upset, but I'm not counting on it.

It could go 7 games - I wouldn't bet against it.

 

And since Philly is #4 beating Toronto wouldn't be considered an upset. Well, outside of Toronto, anyway.

[Guest Memoirs of an Invisible Chevy]

The Flyers are winning the cup this year. Its my bold prediction.

[Guest RepoMan]

Props to ESPN for bringing back the Refer-Eye Cam.

[Urban Warfare 0]

updates on philly/tor? my cbc is showing oilers/starts which is 0-0 now

[Urban Warfare 0]

double post Islanders 2 Senators 0

[Guest RepoMan]

Tor 2 Phil 1 1st int.

[Guest RepoMan]

NJ 1 Bos 0 1st int.

[Urban Warfare 0]

1-0 dallas, modano scores

[Guest Memoirs of an Invisible Chevy]

Dallas will beat Oiler is 4.

 

Islanders will beat the Senators in 6.

 

Devil got Bruins in 5

 

Canucks got Blues in 7

 

Red Wings got Ducks in 4

 

Avalanche beats Minnesota in 5

 

Flyers over Leafs in 5

 

And I could cares less about thw Lightening/Capitals. Both teams suck.

[Guest starvenger]

Leafs-Flyers is 3-up at the 2nd intermission. Toronto had 2 shots and scored on 1 in the 2nd. And it's a Bizarro game since both Domi and Brashear have scored tonight...

[Urban Warfare 0]

its 4-3 for the leafs, dallas is loosing 2-1 and very suprisingly, ottawa is loosing 3-0

[Guest RepoMan]

Flyers choke again.

[Guest nl5xsk1]

Congratulations to Bob and all the other Leafs fans ... it's only 1 game, but winning that game gave your boys the home ice advantage.

 

Sadly, my game only showed me that the B's goalies will have to play as perfectly as possible to have a chance. Fuckin' Brodeur is going to be the death of me.