2014 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs (predictions and discussions)

Allegedly? Who's bigger?

 

No one. And it's not even debatable.

 

Exactly.

 

He wasn't terrible, but let in a few soft goals. Lundqvist did not. Fleury won Games 2 and 3 because the Rangers offense was garbage. He didn't make mistakes and played solid but didn't have to stand on his head. When the Rangers had a power play it looked like they were shorthanded.

 

You're wrong and have been for weeks now. It's a solid four-line team.

 

It's getting close to that point. Hockey, more than any of the other team sports, seems to have teams whose playoff record doesn't match the regular season record. In other words, the hockey playoffs seem less predictable and true to form than the playoffs in any other sport.

 

Damn. The warhead is about to go off in Pittsburgh. No telling who will be left once all is said and done. As a Pens fanboy, totally sucks that it came to this. Love to hear folks thoughts, though.

I'd have never in a million years thought I'd be sitting here five years post-Cup, having not seen the Pens win one game past the second round.

There are so many questions. WTF happened to Crosby? How do they manage the cap moving forward? Is it that hard to build a playoff-capable team around Crosby and Malkin? Do they overreact and do something stupid? Who is available, and that would make sense?

 

You mean like the Capitals in 2010?

 

You can't win it all every year, and Crosby was playing hurt.

Tweaks, changes, improvements? Sure.

But don't overreact.

 

Exactly. What is gained by making your team worse?

Winning cups isn't easy, especially when you get goaltending(not this year) like they have from Fleury.

 

I didn't want the Penguins to go out, but the best thing about it was that it undercuts all the bullshit analytics that have so many people buzzing these days.

From Puck Donkey:

"Crosby’s possession numbers for the postseason were sick: 63.7 percent Corsi rating, with the Penguins generating 11.7 percent more shots than when Crosby wasn’t on the ice in one-goal games."

You can possess the puck and generate all the shots you want. If you can't put more than one of those shots in the goddamned net and your team loses, what good does any of it do you?

 

I'll let it go after this, but the Penguins were outshot 35-15 in Game 3. Fleury was outstanding. Lundqvist gave up a 35-foot Crosby wrist shot through the five-hole. A very weak goal. It happens to everyone.

Fleury was GOOD in the playoffs. Good enough to be in the conference final right now. He'll never be Lundqvist, but he's won a Cup and could win another with the right system and effort in front of him.