Running Stanley Cup Playoff Thread

You can't win the Cup with a mediocre, young goalie like 2010 Niemi. You need a proven playoff veteran like 2011 Niemi.

 

Christ, is that your argument? They have teams that play behind them, you probably thought Sabathias should have won the cy young, don't you?

 

No, I did not. I was rooting for Felix Hernandez. I guess I didn't think as logically as I could have, reacted more on impulse, to the Niemi-bashing. he did have a lot of help last year - the Blackhawks were loaded - but he still performed.

 

He was okay against Nashville, bad against Vancouver, awesome against San Jose and terrible against Philadelphia.

The lesson here isn't that he's a good goalie. It's that you don't need a good goalie to win the Cup.

 

But if your goalie is average, you better be able to get that puck out of the zone, because average goalies don't work well in a hot kitchen.

Tom Barrasso is a good example of an average puck stopper who could clear the puck with anyone. His name is etched twice.

 

No what you need to is to score enough to overcome average goaltending.

 

Preds really blew it. Losing two at home. Then again, you never know, home ice does not matter as much as home court in hoops or homefield in football. I could see the Preds winning 3 in a row because Rinna is that good. That throw down by Suter, their captain, is inexcusable. 1 shot on goal in 47 secs. of 5 on 3? They must really be offensively challenged. I'm just rooting for the Preds so that the Sharks can get home ice.

 

Notable about that throwdown was the fact Kesler just got up and skated away and didn't risk a retaliation penalty. Last year he would have poleaxed Suter and ended up in the box himself.

 

Rinne can steal three straight games, but Nashville just doesn't have quite enough firepower to beat Vancouver. Luongo, although I've never been sold on him, isn't a terrible goaltender by any means and he's got a much deeper team in front of him.

However, anytime you've got a goalie like Rinne and a shutdown defenseman like Weber, you're going to at least have a chance.

 

If Wings blow a 3-goal lead at home... (sigh)

 

Wings did, but managed to get the series to Game 5.

 

I'm a pretty level headed guy but I can't tell you how much I love that the Bruins swept those gutless pukes from Philly.