Running Stanley Cup Playoff Thread

That's just it.

They have the edge, but their skill players, other than maybe Ryan Kesler, don't deliver. The Sedin twins dick around trying to use some sort of twin Matrix powers on the (totally aware) unaware instead of just attacking.

Vancouver had the edge in shots, and Rinne was outstanding, but you can count the really good shots on one hand.

 

The Canucks will get increasingly frustrated by Rinne's g goaltending. He is the ONLY reason the Preds haven't been blown out in the first two games.

This may be a series that goes seven games with a total of ten goals scored. Seriously, this is the hockey version of soccer.

At least tonight's game was watchable. And I don't remember who said it, but the Canucks are not a clutch and grab team.

This series may go seven and I'm not counting out the Preds although their top scorer was Erat who was 92nd in the scoring race.

If the Sedins ever get going this may end in five

 

I said the Canucks are a clutch-and-grab team, and they totally are. Watch how they defend, particularly on the wall. Free hand always off the stick and around the other guy's back. They trapped the entire regulation after they got up 1-0 as well. It was classic mid-to-late-1990s hockey.

 

I deleted my earlier rebuttal but this statement could not be more clueless. They did sit back at times but they are so far from a 90,s team that your statement really does not deserve a response. Their defenseman are encouraged to join the play more than any team in the league. The Preds have the worst set of forwards to ever be in the second round and the Canucks are a trapping team? My guess is this is the second Canuck game you have watched this year. Wow, one reason and one reason alone allows the Preds to compete, I'm sure you can even figure that out.

 

To start, clutch-and-grab and trapping are two different things.

The Canucks haven't trapped every game I've seen them (and I've seen them play about a dozen times). The absolutely trapped in this game once they took the lead. Their defenseman only joined the rush when it was tied, and they spent the time they were leading playing a three-back, one forechecker deep, one forechecker high system. They used those guys to cut off passing lanes and force the puck carrier to the outside for a dump in or a turnover. That's a trap anyway you slice it.

People think trap is such a dirty word - it's not. It's a system with as much validity as any other system, and the Canucks have used it throughout the playoffs when they get up. Heck, it's smart because it limits odd-man rushes against and can create odd-man rushes for you if you get the turnovers from your forecheckers. It's even smarter when you can combine it with holding, hooking and slashing with impunity as both teams were doing tonight.

And the Canucks have clutched and grabbed all year. It's why their coach was whining so much about the refereeing in the first round - he knows when the refs call the rules as they are written, his team will end up in the box a lot. The more they let go under that asinine rationale of "let the players decide the game," (which is dumb because not calling penalties is just as influential as calling them) the more successful his team has been. Again, like a trap, it's a style and if it works, more power to them. But it's something to be noted given how much people whined when teams like New Jersey did the same exact things.

Nashville is a very similar team in terms of style of play, though they have a less talented forward group. They are no strangers to running a trap or employing the clutch-and-grab tactics when it suits them. That's what allows them to compete with Vancouver when the Preds get better goaltending.

 

I think the Canucks will be surprised by the atmosphere in the room they'll be playing in next. Overwhelmingly surprised.

 

What you described there is completely differenet than comparing a team to the Stars and Devils of the 90's. Of course when a team is up they take less chances, that is different than saying a teams philosophy is to trap.

No team in the league can clutch and grab anymore, it is simply not part of the game like the rodeo of the 90's.

Nashville and Vancouver do not play similar styles, not sure what you are watching if you believe that.

 

Almost every team traps once they get a lead, particularly a against an offensively challenged team like the Preds. One of the great trapping teams were the Habs in the 70's.

And the clutch and grab reference is simply not true.

 

I haven't seen their second round games, but I have seen a good share of their games this year, being a Western Conference follower.

And the Canucks being a clutch and grab team is about the furthest thing from the truth.

 

Count yourself lucky you haven't seen any of their second round games, the hockey has been a snoozefest

 

That Rinne save when he dove across the crease was one of the greatest saves I've ever seen. My buddy said, "That wasn't that great; the dude shot it right at him." Psh. He still had to get across the crease and make the bang-bang play.

 

Sharks up 1-0 after on in Game 2. Seems like both teams spent most of the period on the penalty kill ... lots of hitting.