NHL Playoffs 2012

[Silver]

Alright, with a week to go until playoffs, the standings still aren't set.

 

In the East, Florida(3), Washington(8) and Buffalo (9) are fighting for a spot.

 

In the West, it's Los Angeles(3), Pheonix(7), San Joses(8), Dallas(9) and Colorado(10).

 

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=39245

 

All these teams have 2 games remaining in the season and 4 points are all that separate them from golfing and going to the playoffs.

 

Also, Rangers and Canucks are fighting for top spot in the NHL, with both of them tied in points but Rangers having a tie breaker in more wins. Both teams have 2 games remaining as well and for Canucks to get the Presidents Trophy, the'll need to have 1 win over the Rangers.

 

Heh, imagine a repeat of the '94 Stanley Cup finals with Canucks and Rangers.

 

 

Anyways, what are your predictions for this year? Who do you want to win. I think my choice is obvious from my avatar.

[Majsju]

I want Vancouver to reach the final, only to lose the last game at home

 

On a more serious note, I want Vancouver to win. i don't support any team in NHL, so I root for the team with the Swedish players I think deserves a win the most, and I really think it is the Sedins turn.

[Silver]

So, all the teams are decided with no upsets unfortunately. Always fun to see a team come in from the back of the pack. Only thing left to do is see where the teams end up in the standings.

[Silver]

Wooo! Canucks are Presidents Trophy winners 2 years in a row!

[WWWwombat]

Bruins!

[Troilen]

Pens!

[balefired-ed2]

Round 1

Eastern Conference

New York vs. Ottawa> New York

Boston vs. Washington> Boston

Florida vs. New Jersey> New Jersey

Philly vs. Pittsburgh> Philly

 

Western Conference

Vancouver vs. LA> Vancouver

St. Louis vs. San Jose> St. Louis

Phoenix vs. Chicago> Chicago

Nashville vs. Detroit> Detroit

[Crossedx]

My 2 cents:

 

Round 1

Eastern Conference

 

New York vs. Ottawa

- New York has the edge here. Ottawa has had a tremendous season, proving many crititcs wrong with their 8th place finish in the east, and Karlsson on the blueline has been fantastic. However a lack of experience, depth and true up-front scoring ability, which New York surely has, will prove to be their downfall. Also, King Henrik anyone? NYR in 5.

 

Boston vs. Washington

- I always cheer for Boston, so I have to go for them again. This round should be theirs, but Washington has upset potential (Ovechkin is still a great player). Tim Thomas will have to be huge, but he usually is in the playoffs and Boston's forward power is only better when compared to last year. Boston in 6.

 

Florida vs. New Jersey

- This one is a tough one for me to call, I think both teams don't have what it takes to make it past the 2nd round, and it's a pretty even match up. Brodeur and Kovalchuk will pull through for the Devils to edge out a close on, NJ in 7.

 

Philly vs. Pittsburgh

- I don't think I've ever been this excited for a game 1 matchup in the playoffs. Two teams who you have to consider contenders. Pittsburgh has amazing ability up front (Malkin, Crosby, Neal, Kunitz, Staal... even Sullivan, Cooke, Tangradi will all be chipping in), have Letang on the blueline and Fleury in net. Philly has Giroux, Hartnell, Jags etc. I think Philly has a serious physical edge, but it won't be enough to take down the Pens. (But it will leave Pittsburgh hurting hard in the next round!) PIT in 6.

 

Western Conference

Vancouver vs. LA

- I don't like the Canucks. (Sorry to all the fans out there). That being said, they are a good team, and should be winning this series. However, it won't be easy, and LA is that team that could easily have been a 4th or a 5th seed. They have the ability to beat Vancouver, fingers crossed. (But realistically, Van in 7)

 

St. Louis vs. San Jose

- STL easily wins in the goaltending department. SJ has the better lineup (imo.). I think every game will be within a goal (discarding empty netters), maybe a few OT games too. STL beats SJ in 7 but only because of amazing goaltending.

 

Phoenix vs. Chicago

- Chicago in 5. PHO wins 1 game because of Smith. The Hawks are too talented as opposed to an inexperienced Phoenix team with no standout players.

 

Nashville vs. Detroit

- This will be a great matchup also, and really could go either way. Rinne just wins all the time, and Nashville sports some real solid players in their lineup. (oh and acquiring Radulov was a great move!). Anything can happen here, so I will refrain from predicting anything. But I do hope Detroit squeezes by.

 

Will update after the first round is done!

[Silver]

Western Conference

Vancouver vs. LA

- I don't like the Canucks. (Sorry to all the fans out there). That being said, they are a good team, and should be winning this series. However, it won't be easy, and LA is that team that could easily have been a 4th or a 5th seed. They have the ability to beat Vancouver, fingers crossed. (But realistically, Van in 7)

 

That's ok. Nobody likes us. We're used to it.

[Barmacral]

Disclaimer: I didn't follow this season at all, so I know nothing. I'm picking winners purely on personal preference.

 

Round 1

Eastern Conference

New York vs. Ottawa> Ottawa

Boston vs. Washington> Washington

Florida vs. New Jersey> New Jersey

Philly vs. Pittsburgh> Pittsburgh

 

Western Conference

Vancouver vs. LA> Vancouver

St. Louis vs. San Jose> St. Louis

Phoenix vs. Chicago> Chicago

Nashville vs. Detroit> Detroit

 

Western Conference

Vancouver vs. LA

- I don't like the Canucks. (Sorry to all the fans out there). That being said, they are a good team, and should be winning this series. However, it won't be easy, and LA is that team that could easily have been a 4th or a 5th seed. They have the ability to beat Vancouver, fingers crossed. (But realistically, Van in 7)

 

That's ok. Nobody likes us. We're used to it.

 

I like Vancouver!

[randsc]

As long as the Canucks follow the Way of the Leaf, they will never win the Cup.

[Rufae]

Go Predators!

 

"Howard, Howard, Howard, You Suck!

 

It's all your fault. It's all your fault!"

 

 

Just say'n.

[Silver]

Damn it to hell. The one person everybody was worried about, Luongo, is playing great. But the rest of the damn team is playing like crap. Half the goals on us are from retarded turnovers. The other half with a stale and uninspired special team.

[Crossedx]

@Silver

 

Don't worry man, those two losses will spur the canucks to bounce back hard. When you guys get your other sister (Sedin.. ) back you'll see a huge difference in scoring

[Troilen]

Least you aren't giving up 3 and 2 goal leads and just generally playing horrible defense like the Pens are =(

[Silver]

Gotta admit though, Pittsburgh-Philly games certainly aren't boring.

[Crossedx]

Gotta admit though, Pittsburgh-Philly games certainly aren't boring.

 

That's for sure. Even if you're cheering for Philly here, cheer for the Pens to win a few games so that we can see more of what happened today. What a ridiculous game!

[randsc]

Quick is better than Luongo or Schneider. Though Schneider really didn't play badly, I wouldn't have pulled him for giving up one goal.

[balefired-ed2]

This Pens vs Flyers series reminds me of last year's Nucks vs Bruins series. One team is clearly playing better hockey, and the other team reacts to this with a whole array of cheapshots. The weird thing is, over the past few years Pitt has become the far dirtier team, which used to be a Broad St Bully thing.

 

Pittsburgh should be ashamed of the way they have conducted themselves this series, especially Bylsma, Crosby, Asham, and Neal.

 

This is getting damn close to a Wings vs Avalanche fiasco. Yeah, it is entertaining, but the line has to be drawn somewhere, otherwise you are risking serious injury.

[Crossedx]

This Pens vs Flyers series reminds me of last year's Nucks vs Bruins series. One team is clearly playing better hockey, and the other team reacts to this with a whole array of cheapshots.

 

 

Are you saying that Boston was reacting with the cheap shots in last years final? Because then I definitely disagree with you. Remember the Rome hit on Horton? There was a lot wrong from the Canuck side too including Kesler's olympic diving performance (last night too lol)

[randsc]

I'm going to have to assume that balefired-ed2 meant exactly the opposite, that the Canucks responded to tough but legal play with cheapshots. Otherwise, he was watching a different series.

 

The King's putting up video clips of springboard divers after Kesler's little stunt is eff-ing hilarious.

[balefired-ed2]

^Yep. I started the series rooting for Vancouver, but the way they played was bullshit. Remember the finger biting? The only reason that series went to seven was because Luongo, who everybody likes to rag on, stood on his head three times. The Sedins no showed that entire series.

[Silver]

Heh, it's nice to see these forums are completely different from the majority. Usually everybody hates Luongo. I personally love him, think he's great though he does have off games/streaks. And even then it's usually the minority that point out none of the rest of the team helped him during those times.

 

I don't like Kesler's actions either. I think he should stop acting and start playing, which he hasn't done since before the playoffs started.

 

Final note, I'm really feeling indifferent to Canucks winning the series, let alone a single game. The way I see it is the only played and lost a single game, the last one. They didn't bother to even show up for the first 2 besides Luongo.

[Crossedx]

I'm going to have to assume that balefired-ed2 meant exactly the opposite, that the Canucks responded to tough but legal play with cheapshots. Otherwise, he was watching a different series.

 

The King's putting up video clips of springboard divers after Kesler's little stunt is eff-ing hilarious.

^Yep. I started the series rooting for Vancouver, but the way they played was bullshit. Remember the finger biting? The only reason that series went to seven was because Luongo, who everybody likes to rag on, stood on his head three times. The Sedins no showed that entire series.

 

Ah ok my bad then!

I agree with what you're saying :)

 

Also @Silver, Luongo is just a scapegoat, people will pick him even when he's not playing bad, and even though Schneider played well in game 3, Luongo could have started that game because he played fine the first two games. I think that if Sedin comes back Vancouver might get that boost needed to rally the series!

 

On a side note, did you guys see some of the hits over the past few days? Torres on Hossa was disgusting (that'll be the remainder of playoffs for Torres, it should be!). Definitely a rough playoffs all around.

 

Anyone dare to do an over/under on PIMs in the PIT-PHI game tonight?

[randsc]

I'm just glad that the PIT-PHI series should shut Super Mario's hypocritcal trap. Don't complain about chippy play while employing Matt Cooke.