Stanley Cup Playoffs '09

[bakakame]

Sorry I'm a little late making it this year. No offense to this community but I hardly ever check these forums anymore.

Let's take a look at the contestants:

East -

Boston Bruins
Goaltender Tim Thomas had the best GAA and S% in the league this year. The team plays a strong defensive game (the only team with fewer than 200 GA) and was 1 win short of the Presidents trophy.

Washington Capitals
Last year's top scorer Alexander Ovechkin netted another 56 goals this year and set team records (though it fails to do compensate for the fact that he's a trained chimp) but with an unreliable goalie in Jose Theodore they will need all the offense they can muster, having the second most GA out of all qualifying teams.

New Jersey Devils
They are in the playoffs again, which is probably what's to be expected from their slim (albeit faithful) fanbase. If you don't know who Martin Brodeur is I'll have to ask you to leave this thread. No, don't comment, just leave.

Pittsburgh Penguins
After losing the cup finals last season the team was in the midst of total collapse mid-this season. A coaching change and some trades before the deadline helped breath life into the team again as they jumped from 10th to 4th in the last 25 games. Led by NHL poster-boy Sidney Crosby and Art Ross Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin, the team is hungry for success, and hopefully won't be denied this time.

Philadelphia Flyers
Notorious for physical, and usually dirty playing styles, Philly lost their first-round home-ice advantage in the last game of the season. Also playing the first round with bitter sentiments, the team slumped in the waning games of the season and don't appear to have recovered themselves...yet

Carolina Hurricanes
Several key pieces still remain from the 2006 Cup champions, probably most importantly goaltender Cam Ward. Carolina got hot near the end of the season, though a hot team can cool off real fast.

New York Rangers
Dumping, then resigning perenial troublemaker Sean Avery certainly won't win the team any hearts and minds, but may give them the edge they need to win some games instead. With the departure of captain Jaromir Jarg, the offensive bite of this team has been significantly dulled, but they still posess one of the best goalies in the league.

Montreal Canadians
At first pegged to repeat as the number 1 seed, the team was nearly the definition of "epic fail" when for their 100th aniversery, nearly missed the playoffs. Possessing the tie-breaker over 9th place Florida, the team has potential with players like Alexie Kovalev and goalie Carey Price, but I highly doubt they will be able to pull out a miracle for more than a couple games.


West -

San Jose Sharks
Presidents Trophy winners, the team has a bad habit of choking in the postseason. The team also slumped late, entering the playoffs with back-to-back losses to the 13th and 14th place Coyotes and Kings. Expectations are high, though pattern recognition predicts they should be low.

Detroit Redwings
The slimy no-good @!^@&^ who won the cup last year. Again with a high seeding and managing to add young star Marian Hossa to their roster, Detroit looks poised for another run. However, their goaltending has become suspect as of late, Chris Osgood apprears to be showing his age and backup Ty Conklin is a competent, but not geat backup.

Vancouver Canucks
The only Canada-based team to never win the Cup, they have..... ok you know what, it's getting late so I'm gonna stop pretending I know the details about all these teams. I live in Pittsburgh so the only games I ever get to watch are Penguin games and the "NHL game of the week" on NBC. Fans of the teams can fill in their own run-downs.

Chicago Blackhawks
The 4th seed

Calgary Flames
The 5th seed

St. Louis Blues
The 6th seed

Columbus Bluejackets
The 7th seed

Anaheim Ducks
The 8th seed



East seedings:

(1) Boston vs (8) Montreal
(2) Washington vs (7) NYR
(3) New Jersey vs (6) Carolina
(4) Pittsburgh vs (5) Philadelphia

West seedings:

(1) San Jose vs (8) Anaheim
(2) Detroit vs (7) Columbus
(3) Vancouver vs (6) St. Louis
(4) Chicago vs (5) Calgary


And so with all that out of the way, my picks:


Boston in 4
NYR in 6
Carolina in 7
Pittsburgh in 6

San Jose in 7
Columbus in 6
St. Louis in 6
Chicago in 5

[Sagat]

Oh me oh my, with the Red Wings in the Playoffs the other teams should stop practicing their slapshot and start practicing their putting.

Anyhow the Canucks have a strong team this year, but seem to lose steam near the end. Sort of like Toronto, only they lose steam before the playoffs even begin.

[bakakame]

Just wait, you'll see; Detroit is poised for another hasty first-round exit. I will then be able to die happy, while laughing myself to death at Hossa for running off to a team in hopes of piggy-backing his name on the cup.

[Happy_Smiles]

lol you're both wrong, it's the Rangers year!! I can feel it!!!!!

Let's Go Rangers Let's Go!!!! WOooooooooooooooooo

[Eris]

Let's Go Rangers Let's Go!!!!

My mind automagically transformed your post like this.


Let's Go Rangers Let's Go!!!!

Go Rangers Go!!!!

Go Go Rangers!!!!

Go Go Power Rangers!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0YkXmebAGM

(Why is it impossible to find a power rangers intro on youtube that's embeddable?!)

[Diocletian]

Eris watched the Power Rangers? Hm.

Anyways, that's all my input since as an American all I do is drink beer and go to frat parties to rough up some fans of the opposing football team.

Go Canuts!

[Eris]

Eris watched the Power Rangers? Hm.

Yup. When I was like 7 years old. It was the latest rage.

[jtdlives]

All I have to say is GO WINGS!

[Fionn Mac]

The Penguins are ready to take down any team that's in the way of their Stanley Cup win. Malkin, Crosby and my boy Sergei Gonchar are going to lead the Pens to a much awaited Stanley Cup.

[bakakame]

4/8, but got the series length on 3 of them correct.

Round 2 starts tomorrow with Vancouver hosting Chicago.

Highlights of round 1: Ranger's blew their series lead against Washington. Pens secretly dressed Ben Roethlisberger durring game 6 to lead them back for the win. The chimp in skates took 30 shots before netting his first goal of the post-season.

Round 2 matchups:

East -

(1) Boston vs (6) Carolina
(2) Washington vs (4) Pittsburgh

West -

(2) Detroit vs (8) Anaheim
(3) Vancouver vs (4) Chicago


And the predictions:

Boston in 5
Pittsburgh in 6
Anaheim in 5 (die you red-wheeled bastards!!!!!!!)
Chicago in 7

[Dr. Evil]

Okay, Boston's winnin Lord Stanley's cup, hands down. With that rock-solid D and Thomas playing like a young Patrick Roy, no team stands a chance!

Finals:

Anaheim V Boston
Boston in 6

Post 400!

[bakakame]

The lack of interest in sports on this board is dismaying.

Conference Finals start tomorrow at 3:00 EST with Detroit hosting Chicago.

Round 2 highlights: Carolina upsets Boston, though almost blew a 3-1 series lead. Blooper goal in OT of game 7 wins it for the Hurricanes. Washington finds a new goalie in Varlamov, who pretty much single-handedly stole 3 games for the Capitals. Crosby leads the postseason in goals and points (adding 8 goals and 5 assists vs Washington), adding extra hilarity to the Semin comments earlier in the season claiming Sid was "nothing special" (Semin failed to score a goal in 7 games and 15 shots on goal against the Pens). Chicago ended their series against the Vancouver Canucks in 6 games, the only series this round not to go to 7, they managed to solve Luongo for 21 goals against in 6 games. Finally, the most evenly matched series of the second round seemed to be Anahiem vs Detroit, which was decided in a fairly exciting final few seconds of game 7.


Round 3 matchups:

East -

(4) Pittsburgh vs (6) Carolina

West -

(2) Detroit vs (4) Chicago

Once again 50/50 in round 2, I'm 6/12 total. Round 3 prediction:

Pittsburgh in 6
Chicago in 5

So there we go, I'm calling a Stanley Cup Final matchup as a 1992 repeat Chicago vs Pittsburgh!

[~DizzyElf~]

I'm a Tampa Bay Lightning kinda girl.

But last year they sucked; and they didn't
cut it at all this year.

So Rangers all the way!

[Sagat]

Osgood certainly didn't look rusty or aged in the 7th game with the Ducks.

[rf switch]

Go Hartford! "The Whale"

[bakakame]

Heck of a playoffs for the pens so far. Hat tricks earned by both Crosby and Malkin so far. Pens are contenders!

[bakakame]

(sigh) Well, I guess it's a rematch.

Not much to highlight in round 3. Pens swept Carolina, Detroit ousted Chicago in 5.

Again, still 50/50. 7/14 overall. Going for the over .500.

Stanley Cup Finals matchup:

(2) Detroit vs (4) Pittsburgh

My pick:

Pittsburgh in 6.

so, um.... let's go pens!
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/1808/ourfinesthour.jpg

[jtdlives]

I'm looking forward to it. I think it will be a good series. I think Detroits depth will end up wining them the series.

[~DizzyElf~]

Detroit has it in the bag tonight.
go red wings.

[Fionn Mac]

Penguins end the Redwings who were too old and too slow to keep up. And who still couldn't win even with Sidney Crosby, the best player in hockey, out of the game with an injury.

[Princess Minako]

If Crosby was so great where were all his goals this series? He's young and maybe up and coming, but hardly the best player.

The Red Wings are STILL a good team. Don't forget the 5-0 shut out that was not that far ago.

Obviously you're a bandwagon jumper that doesn't really know much about Hockey. If so you would not dismiss such an amazing team with "old and tired". Especially due to the third period performance of the Red Wings.

[bakakame]

Crosby wasn't big on the score sheet this series because 1) he was being shadowed nearly every shift by one of the best 2-way players in the league, and Detroit's best defensive pairing, and 2) his wing-men weren't finishing when Crosby set them up.

Malkin won MVP pretty much with the points being the tie-breaker. They both played outstanding all post-season. He'd better win the Hart Trophy as well.

Yesterday was quite an eventful day. My Sister got married (ok, we really need "cry" and "hug" smiley's) and the Pens won! Couldn't watch them win since I was watching her get married, but s'all good. Gonna go to the victory parade, 2nd this year;)

[Buruku]

Frig I wish I would have watched Hockey this year. (Go Red Wings)

[Princess Minako]

I'm not downplaying Crosby's skill, I just do not agree he's the "best player in the league". He didn't get goals because damned good defensive playing was shutting him down, that's their job. That's why it was a seven game series.

I will not argue that the wings did not deserve the cup. They didn't show up for 2.5 periods of that game. It was PAINFUL. The team didn't actually show up until half way through the third period. In which it was too little too late. I've loved and followed the Red Wings since 1994 when they lost the cup to the New Jersey Devils. Nothing irritates me more than band wagon jumpers that get on when their team is winning and spout propaganda crap like "so and so is the bestest omg" When they obviously don't really follow whats going on.

Crosby decided to try to ride The Mule, he got bucked and QQ'ed all the way back to the locker room. He should have gotten a holding penalty ontop of it.

Its pretty OBVIOUS that Betteman hates the Red Wings, calls were not consistent within the series. Wings have always played with the cards stacked against them, but that performace was not a Red Wings performance that night. They lost the cup due to their own playing. Hey now, there's always next year!

[bakakame]

I hate the Red Wings more than any franchise across any sport. Truth be told, I'm an Avs fan, but I'm a Pittsburgh native so I reserve the right to be a Pens fan as well.

Crosby and Malkin are about equal, though even now if I had to give an edge to one of them, it'd be Sid. And since he's the one that most teams (like Detroit.....) seem to CHOOSE to throw their best against, it feels like a fair consensus.

As for the "hold" I think slinking over in pain from a shot to the knee is forgivable, especially since Dats could have been called for interference for that hit to begin with.

Lastly, if anything it seems that the Wings are given more liberties than any other team. The officiating was allaround lacking, and admittedly I was laughing my *seat* off when the announcers pointed out the 21 seconds the Pens got away with having an extra player out.