2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread Predictions / Discussion

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[Antigoth]

Round 1

Western Conference		Eastern Conference
#8 - Los Angeles Kings vs. #1 - Vancouver Canucks		#8 - Ottawa Senators vs. #1 - New York Rangers
#7 - San Jose Sharks vs. #2 - St. Louis Blues		#7 - Washington Capitals vs. #2 - Boston Bruins
#6 - Chicago Blackhawks vs. #3 - Phoenix Coyotes		#6 - New Jersey Devils vs. #3 - Florida Panthers
#5 - Detroit Red Wings vs. #4 - Nashville Predators		#5 - Philadelphia Flyers vs. #4 - Pittsburgh Penguins

Make your predictions, will update as the playoffs progress.

[kbjone]

Sharks, and to hell with the other teams.

But I do LOVE playoff hockey... best playoffs in all pro sports.


EDIT: DOH!

[dilbert505]

Round 1

Western Conference		Eastern Conference
#8 - Los Angeles Kings vs. #1 - Vancouver Canucks		#8 - Ottawa Senators vs. #1 - New York Rangers
#7 - San Jose Sharks vs. #2 - St. Louis Blues		#7 - Washington Capitals vs. #2 - Boston Bruins
#6 - Chicago Blackhawks vs. #3 - Phoenix Coyotes		#6 - New Jersey Devils vs. #3 - Florida Panthers
#5 - Detroit Red Wings vs. #4 - Nashville Predators		#5 - Philadelphia Flyers vs. #4 - Pittsburgh Penguins

I hate when heart and head argue for two different things. I'll give each of them their due:

Heart (rd. 1)
Canucks
Blues
Blackhawks
Predators

Rangers (I hate them, but I'm not stupid)
Capitals
Panthers
Flyers

Rd. 2:
Canucks
Blues

Capitals
Flyers

Rd. 3:
Blues
Flyers

Champions: Flyers
-----------

Head:
Rd. 1: Canucks
Blues
Blackhawks
Red Wings

Rangers
Bruins
Devils
Flyers (too much of a coin flip for me to overrule what I want here)

Rd. 2:
Canucks
Red Wings

Rangers
Bruins

Rd. 3:
Canucks
Rangers

Champions: Rangers

[BigPimpin]

East:
Rangers in 5
Devils in 6 - This is one of the deepest teams since the Devils won the cup in 2003.  Rolling 3 deep on lines and fighting hard after a really bad start.  I think the team will also be amped to blow up PDB's old squad.  Meanwhile, Florida's got one line and a young, promising defensive corps.  As long as we can shut down Florida's one line, we're in good shape.
Bruins in 7 - Washington will somehow show up for most of this series and, like the true erratic team they've been all year long, get their doors blown off in a do or die Game 7.
Penguins in 7 - cue Mark Henry's "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Ass Kicked"

West:
Canucks in 5
Blues in 4
Phoenix in 7 - this is who I'm rooting for to win the West.
Detroit in 6

[Queensryche]

So did anyone see what Jagr did after he scored the go-ahead goal tonight?

I got a picture of it:

[dilbert505]

OK, +1 cowbell for finding Trollface Jagr. That's awesome.

[Queensryche]

Flyers up 3-0 in their series after shelling the Penguins and winning today 8-4. 133 total penalty minutes with two separate melees erupting.

I am stunned. I would've never predicted this unless I was intentionally trying to wind up a Penguins fan. Are these even the Penguins? Their defense sucks right now and they're making stupid mistakes.

EDIT: And now the Kings are up 3-0 after a 1-0 win over the Canucks. Two Stanley Cup favorites heading in are on the verge of being eliminated.

Perhaps as a Canucks fan you can help me figure this out Goth: what the hell has happened to the Canucks' puck-handling and passing? It's been awful from what I've seen. And what happened to make their power play so bad?

[Antigoth]

Perhaps as a Canucks fan you can help me figure this out Goth: what the hell has happened to the Canucks' puck-handling and passing? It's been awful from what I've seen. And what happened to make their power play so bad?

Game 1 the Canucks hooped themselves by taking 6 straight penalties in a row. Take away the two PP tallies that the Kings had, (IE - Gifts from Canucks stupidity) and Vancouver wins game 1.

Game 2 - Lou let in some softies.

Game 3 - Look at the last two minutes, and the Canucks, playing short handed, force LA to play the entire power play in their own end.

That being said - Quick is stonewalling the Canucks. Quick in the lone reason why the Kings are even in the playoffs.

Finally... I wanted to believe the Canucks could win without Daniel Sedin. I was wrong. The lack of Wonder-Twin Magic is hurting the Canucks.

Also... the refs are garbage.

Henrick takes a forearm shot to the chin, leaves the game, and the Canucks wind up on the Penalty Kill.

LA Ices the Puck. The Canucks touch up, with time still left on the clock. The refs let time run out, rather then blowing the whistle, and allowing the Canucks another face-off.

LA is playing well. Vancouver is making mental mistakes.
Schnides played lights out tonight. The one goal was when a defender left Brown to sit all alone in front of an open net, waiting for a rebound.

!@#!@

Of course, my girlfriend is a bloody curse. Each game she's said "Oh no, this game is going to last forever, it's going to be a really late night!" and each time she's said it (Games 1 & 3) LA scores the game winning goal within 10 seconds of her opening her mouth.

She's promised not to watch any more Canucks playoff games for the rest of the series.
I'll let you know how that turns out.

[/fanboy rant]

[Queensryche]

Perhaps as a Canucks fan you can help me figure this out Goth: what the hell has happened to the Canucks' puck-handling and passing? It's been awful from what I've seen. And what happened to make their power play so bad?

Game 1 the Canucks hooped themselves by taking 6 straight penalties in a row. Take away the two PP tallies that the Kings had, (IE - Gifts from Canucks stupidity) and Vancouver wins game 1.

Game 2 - Lou let in some softies.

Game 3 - Look at the last two minutes, and the Canucks, playing short handed, force LA to play the entire power play in their own end.

That being said - Quick is stonewalling the Canucks. Quick in the lone reason why the Kings are even in the playoffs.

Finally... I wanted to believe the Canucks could win without Daniel Sedin. I was wrong. The lack of Wonder-Twin Magic is hurting the Canucks.

Also... the refs are garbage.

Henrick takes a forearm shot to the chin, leaves the game, and the Canucks wind up on the Penalty Kill.

LA Ices the Puck. The Canucks touch up, with time still left on the clock. The refs let time run out, rather then blowing the whistle, and allowing the Canucks another face-off.

LA is playing well. Vancouver is making mental mistakes.
Schnides played lights out tonight. The one goal was when a defender left Brown to sit all alone in front of an open net, waiting for a rebound.

!@#!@

Of course, my girlfriend is a bloody curse. Each game she's said "Oh no, this game is going to last forever, it's going to be a really late night!" and each time she's said it (Games 1 & 3) LA scores the game winning goal within 10 seconds of her opening her mouth.

She's promised not to watch any more Canucks playoff games for the rest of the series.
I'll let you know how that turns out.

[/fanboy rant]

On the referees.......

I agree with you there. In fact, I'll flat out say that in each series the officials have been terrible. What particularly irks me is the fact that from most of the games I've watched, the refs won't call penalties after the second period. I can understand "letting them play", but there's been more bad non-calls than I can remember from any point in the past. Unless it's completely blatant, the refs aren't calling penalties, particularly if it's a close game.

I can remember particular individual series where the officiating was bad, but for each series in an entire round? I'm stunned at how bad it is.

[rocky_iwata]

So did anyone see what Jagr did after he scored the go-ahead goal tonight?

I got a picture of it:

But the thing is that comeback wins after 0-3 in North American style playoffs mostly happened in NHL, right? It does look grim for Pens but that doesn't mean they are completely done like being in MLB or NBA.

[Turd Ferguson]

How does Shea Weber only get a light fine for blatant thuggery while Carl Hagelin gets a THREE GAME suspension for elbowing? Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to excuse what Hagelin did, but to me that's something that could have been handled with just a five minute major. Shea Weber should have at least had to sit a game out.

[CRASHER]

How does Shea Weber only get a light fine for blatant thuggery while Carl Hagelin gets a THREE GAME suspension for elbowing? Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to excuse what Hagelin did, but to me that's something that could have been handled with just a five minute major. Shea Weber should have at least had to sit a game out.

This should explain it

http://www.nhlwheelofjustice.com/

[Queensryche]

How does Shea Weber only get a light fine for blatant thuggery while Carl Hagelin gets a THREE GAME suspension for elbowing? Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to excuse what Hagelin did, but to me that's something that could have been handled with just a five minute major. Shea Weber should have at least had to sit a game out.

This should explain it

http://www.nhlwheelofjustice.com/

Amusing. Not quite as funny as the NHL's Suspension Flowchart, but still good for a few laughs........

After further consideration, "Shea Weber Mode" wins, plain and simple. Not quite "DAMMIT PRONGER", but still very funny.

As to answer your question Rock........the Penguins are gonna need to do a lot of work just to win Game 4. Their defensemen are playing poorly, Marc-Andre Fleury looks dazed and confused, and it seems the Pens as a whole run out of gas come the third period. Unless there's a drastic change, I don't see how the Penguins could possibly come back to win. Talent and skill-wise, they've got it. Mentally though, I question it.

EDIT: Not to mention that out of all the seven-game series ever played in the NHL, only four times has a team come back from being down 3-0 to win 4-3. So the Penguins will be fighting history as well, since probability indicates the end is a formality.

[Queensryche]

And we're still waiting for the rest of the Eastern Conference to finish up.

Wake me when they know who the Flyers will be playing next round.

Also: has anyone seen Panthers president Michael Yormark attempt (and fail miserably) at being an Internet troll? Someone called him out on Twitter over his assertion that Devils fans are responsible for the team no longer selling toy rats, and he tweeted back "You have 70 followers. No one cares what you think." Then he began mixing it up with other Devils fans.

I don't know whether to laugh or shake my head over his behavior.

[CRASHER]

Also: has anyone seen Panthers president Michael Yormark attempt (and fail miserably) at being an Internet troll? Someone called him out on Twitter over his assertion that Devils fans are responsible for the team no longer selling toy rats, and he tweeted back "You have 70 followers. No one cares what you think." Then he began mixing it up with other Devils fans.

I don't know whether to laugh or shake my head over his behavior.

Hey it's made a dead and lifeless series now fascinating hasn't it??

I actually know the girl he called out since she used to post on the same Devils board I do....they wanna get her more followers then president troll has

speaking of:
https://twitter.com/#!/FMichaelYormark

 

[Queensryche]

Dear Washington Capitals,

Thanks a bunch!

Signed,
The Philadelphia Flyers

[dilbert505]

P.S. C'mon, Ottawa. Be a pal, eh?

Your good buddy,
Homer

[Antigoth]

Dear Washington Capitals,

Thanks a bunch!

Signed,
The Philadelphia Flyers

Am I the only one who thinks that the Flyers would have matched up well against Boston, seeing what they did to Pittsburgh?

I know I didn't pick the Caps to win the series, and previously expected the Bruins to go into Mop-up mode against whatever was left of the Pens/Flyers, but I'm thinking the Flyers may just be in position to win the east.

P.S. C'mon, Ottawa. Be a pal, eh?

Your good buddy,
Homer

Yes please!

[Queensryche]

Dear Washington Capitals,

Thanks a bunch!

Signed,
The Philadelphia Flyers

Am I the only one who thinks that the Flyers would have matched up well against Boston, seeing what they did to Pittsburgh?

I know I didn't pick the Caps to win the series, and previously expected the Bruins to go into Mop-up mode against whatever was left of the Pens/Flyers, but I'm thinking the Flyers may just be in position to win the east.

I agree with that sentiment. My thank-you to the Capitals was more along the lines of "Thank GOD we don't have to play the Rangers next round."

And yes, Ottawa winning would be awesome. If anyone here is from Ottawa, I'd be willing to buy them a six-pack of beer of their choice should the Sens eliminate the Rangers.*


*I'm not kidding. Said offer is legit. First person from Ottawa to take me up gets it. If no one from Ottawa posts by the start of the second round, then you'll get it Goth.

[Queensryche]

On a different note........can hockey fans/journalists/pundits PLEASE all collectively back away from the cliff they're all about to jump off of?

I say this because I suddenly see people suggesting that the teams that've been eliminated have to do something drastic in order to get back to the form they were in previously. Examples:

-Chicago Blackhawks: TRADE KANE!
-Vancouver Canucks: TRADE KESSLER/THE SEDINS!
-Pittsburgh Penguins: TRADE MALKIN/STAAL!

I'm fairly certain that by tomorrow afternoon some Bruins beat writer/pundit will be saying TRADE CHARA or suggesting something else drastic.

Anyways, this has been going on, and in all of the cases I've seen, the line of reasoning boils down to "Well, the Flyers blew the team up, and it worked!"

To which I say yes, it did. But there are so many things that happened that made jettisoning Mike Richards and Jeff Carter work in the end. Here's some of the biggest examples:

-Sean Couturier falling to the Flyers during the draft
-Sean Couturier turning out to be a Ready-For-Primetime Player
-Wayne Simmonds coming over in the Richards trade and doubling his goal total
-Scott Hartnell becoming the forward everyone thought he would be when he entered the league
-Claude Giroux becoming The Best In The World (Don't sue me, Vince)
-Jaromir Jagr having plenty left and embracing a new role

Those are the biggest examples I can think of. If one of those things doesn't happen, then the Flyers' makeover isn't nearly as successful as it would've been. For every example of it working, there's probably a dozen examples of a radical revamp that failed miserably.

I thought my cousin Brian in Pittsburgh was being crazy when he told me the Penguins should consider trading Malkin for pieces they need. But reading around, I see the same line of thought for the other eliminated teams. And to that, I say please back away from the cliff and take a couple deep breaths. Or have a quaalude. Just calm down.

[dilbert505]

On a different note........can hockey fans/journalists/pundits PLEASE all collectively back away from the cliff they're all about to jump off of?

I say this because I suddenly see people suggesting that the teams that've been eliminated have to do something drastic in order to get back to the form they were in previously. Examples:

-Chicago Blackhawks: TRADE KANE!
-Vancouver Canucks: TRADE KESSLER/THE SEDINS!
-Pittsburgh Penguins: TRADE MALKIN/STAAL!

I'm fairly certain that by tomorrow afternoon some Bruins beat writer/pundit will be saying TRADE CHARA or suggesting something else drastic.

Anyways, this has been going on, and in all of the cases I've seen, the line of reasoning boils down to "Well, the Flyers blew the team up, and it worked!"

To which I say yes, it did. But there are so many things that happened that made jettisoning Mike Richards and Jeff Carter work in the end. Here's some of the biggest examples:

-Sean Couturier falling to the Flyers during the draft
-Sean Couturier turning out to be a Ready-For-Primetime Player
-Wayne Simmonds coming over in the Richards trade and doubling his goal total
-Scott Hartnell becoming the forward everyone thought he would be when he entered the league
-Claude Giroux becoming The Best In The World (Don't sue me, Vince)
-Jaromir Jagr having plenty left and embracing a new role

Those are the biggest examples I can think of. If one of those things doesn't happen, then the Flyers' makeover isn't nearly as successful as it would've been. For every example of it working, there's probably a dozen examples of a radical revamp that failed miserably.

I thought my cousin Brian in Pittsburgh was being crazy when he told me the Penguins should consider trading Malkin for pieces they need. But reading around, I see the same line of thought for the other eliminated teams. And to that, I say please back away from the cliff and take a couple deep breaths. Or have a quaalude. Just calm down.

I will say that Vancouver should pursue at least one major change this off-season: trade Roberto Luongo. Cory (Corey? Not sure which is the proper spelling) Schneider is more than ready to take the reins out there, Bobby Lu never did live up to his hype as the best goalie in the world, and reallocating his money somewhere else while picking up some positive assets would be a major step forward for the team. Not blowing them up, per se (not like our "what's the most ludicrous thing we could make happen" discussion where I checked to see if Henrik and Daniel Sedin for Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal worked in Capgeek's trade machine), just a solid, rational change that might help them get over the hump if done right.

[BigPimpin]

This is funny in the respect that QR and I have had private conversations on the virtues of a Miller for Staal/Fleury trade.

And in what could be one of the best playoff GIF's ever:

[Antigoth]

Schnides is the real deal for Vancouver. With Eddie Lack waiting in the wings, they are so deep with Goaltending talent, it's kinda ridiculous.

Dealing. Bobby-Lou will be good for Vancouver, and bobby-Lou. I'm really surprised they haven't eaten him already, as Vancouver tends to eat its goaltenders.

[BigPimpin]

Schnides is the real deal for Vancouver. With Eddie Lack waiting in the wings, they are so deep with Goaltending talent, it's kinda ridiculous.

Dealing. Bobby-Lou will be good for Vancouver, and bobby-Lou. I'm really surprised they haven't eaten him already, as Vancouver tends to eat its goaltenders.

This I've been curious about...who will take on the Luongo contract and not deal back an equally absurd contract back to the Canucks?

[CRASHER]

This I've been curious about...who will take on the Luongo contract and not deal back an equally absurd contract back to the Canucks?

How can you not say "absurd" and "NHL" in a sentence and NOT instantly say "Toronto" as a response? :p

Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it.