Running Stanley Cup Playoff Thread

I think Boudreau is a pretty decent coach. However, his propensity to complain and whine about every call that goes against them in the playoffs doesn't do much to highlight his fortitude. Seriously, for him to even discuss that the too-many-men penalty from Game 3 -- when replays showed six Caps on the ice and nobody really even near the bench -- isn't always called and that some referees view that a different way ... it's just the way Boudreau is.

The playoff losses go on the players, but when you have a coach looking for excuses so often it gives the players reasons to make excuses instead of working to be better the next game.

The Caps of the Ovechkin era have much more talent, in my opinion, than those of the Bondra-Ridley-Ciccarelli-Langway era Caps. Those teams made a habit of blowing leads in playoff series, often against teams that might have been better than them. This team continues to lose to weaker sides. A change has to be made, and you can't blow up an entire roster. It just isn't feasible.

And don't feel bad for Bruce. If he is canned, he'll have another head coaching job within a few weeks, if he wants it.

Oh, and Ovechkin was terrific. He did everything he could. He impressed me a hell of a lot. But that and four wins out of nine games is still 12 short of a Cup. I think he'll get one eventually, but this has to sting.

 

The Tampa Bay Lightning are one of those franchises in sports I never, ever, ever think about -- like the Bucks and Texans. But it is noteworthy that they have won seven consecutive playoff games, three of them elimination games, and nobody has mentioned anything positive about them on this board -- just bitching about Washington choking.

 

Most of the people bitching about Washington choking are Caps fans. Well, I know at least two anyway.

 

Really going out a limb there, eh JR?

 

I mentioned at the beginning of the season that I thought Tampa was going to be trouble. The Bolts' top line is as stout as any in the league. The third line in that series was tremendous. I'll be having nightmares about Sean Bergenheim for the entire offseason.

 

Nice to fly under the radar with a seven game playoff winning streak.

I was suprised to read they haven't been to a conference final since 2004. Seemed like their Cup win was more recent than that to me.

With St. Louis and Lecavalier, they'll always have a puncher's chance.

 

In addition, Tampa plays that 1-3-1 with precision. With all the offensive talent they have -- and they really do -- they are amazingly consistenty and flawless in their execution of that trap. And yes, it's a trap. For the most part, they are a very boring team to watch. They sit back in that 1-3-1 and rarely put on a heavy forecheck. They wait for mistakes, and then let their high-level talent make teams pay, both through turnovers and through a lethal power play.

Tampa is a very dangerous team. Nobody else in the league plays that exact system. It's not easy to plan against. You have to A) Be willing to dump the puck and not try to skate through it; B) Dump away from the defenseman's side of the 1-3-1, forcing a forward to be the first to retrieve; C) Have guys willing to go balls-out to chase down the dumps; and D) Finish your chances, because you won't get a ton. The Penguins did a decent job with A, B and C, but their talent wasn't good enough to finish plays. The Capitals seemed to get a little impatient, even though they seemed to have a good grasp on how to beat that system in the regular season (maybe Tampa changed it up a little in the series, I don't know).

The Sean Bergenheim thing, though, is just ridiculous.

 

It's Boucher's thing. Been doing it before this year.

http://beta2.tbo.com/sports/sports/2010/sep/21/sp-bolts-stars-buy-into-bouchers-system-ar-29839/

 

You think Boudreau will get another head coaching job that quickly? I'm very skeptical. If he couldn't get past the second round of the playoffs with all of the talent he has had in Washington, what team ready to contend for a championship is going to feel comfortable taking him?

You're right that it is far more the players' fault than the coach's fault. But it still reflects badly on a coach. In all sports, plenty of badly flawed coaches have won a championship in spite of themselves simply because they had far more talent than anyone else (see Bob Brenly, Joe Girardi, Brian Billick, etc.). If Boudreau couldn't even get past the second round with the Caps' talent, why would an up-and-coming team looking to win the Cup choose him?