Three Game 7's tonight! Will NBC/Comcast get their dream series of Philly and Pittsburgh or will the home ice prevail and the Rangers move on? Can LA make the improbable comeback? Will St. Patrick lead his team to glory and a meeting with the rested defending champs? Oh, and by the way, Montreal and Boston commence their series tomorrow night.
Tonight should be fun - three game 7s. Who would have thought? At least two of them can't go wrong for me - I like the teams on both sides. The third game...well I'm OK with one side, and hate the other...so that one could go wrong or it could go right.
Oh well, I guess Parisi gets some playoff success, and I am sorry the Rags won, and that San Jose blew a 3-0 lead, and......... On to round 2! Go Pitt Go Chicago Go Boston or Montreal Go LA or Anaheim
Shocked that the Avs lost. On to Round 2.... NY Rangers have the better goaltending but can they outscore the Penguins. I think not, Pens in 5. You know I have to go with my Habs over the Bruins in 6/7 games. Would not surprise me if Bruins win in 6 or less. Chicago will make quick work of the Wild in 4 games. Blackhawks have found their championship groove. LA and Anaheim...I think the Ducks jump on a weary Kings teams and win in 5. The second round series tend to be short due to injuries and fatigue. The one series which might go long is the Canadiens/Bruins as both teams are rested. GO HABS GO!
If the Flyers would have had 5 more minutes, they would have tied the game. They blew it in a 10 minute stretch of the 2nd period, which stinks because they have the Penguins number. Mason has revealed himself to be a stud goalie, but the Flyers desperately need new d-men.
Oh what a night! After some not-so-great results for me earlier in round 1, this night ended just perfectly for me. Rangers take out Philly! Yay! (not pro-Rangers, just anti-Philly!). LA completes the comeback for only the 4th time in NHL history - winning after being down 3-0. I have no dislike of SJ at all, and would have been fine with them, but LA is one of MY teams...been following them since 1990, when I lived out there. And the last game - Minn vs Colorado - I loved that series, they both played with more heart than all the other 1st round teams combined, and both deserved to move on. In the end, I preferred Minn over Co just because they haven't won a cup yet, and Colorado has 3...but I'd have been OK either way. Sounds good - I'd be happy with that. Though I think it might go 6 games. I agree on both counts - I think Boston will win in 5, but I'd go with the Habs over Boston as my preference. I don't necessarily want Montreal to win the Cup, but getting Boston out after 2 straight years in the Stanley Cup is a worthy goal. Boy do I hope not - go Minnesota - find a way, get the passion, make some comebacks...you MUST get rid of Chicago!!! (though I can see this as the most likely sweep too). Tough one - I love both of these teams. I hate it when teams I like have to play eachother. I'm happy with whoever moves on, and sad for whoever doesn't. I'd love to see the Kings slip by only because they deserve a special something after coming back from a 3-0 deficit, but they are going to be tired and worn out...and Getzlaf appears to be back and doing fine, so well-rested Anaheim might indeed be able to jump on them. Just don't get comfortable if you go up 3-0 on L.A.!
So far, about as expected. Pit-NY: draw, might go back and forth, BOS-Mtl: draw but probably because Boston hadn't woken up yet, LA-Anah: this one could be tough - a potential game 7?, Chi-Min - sadly, looking like a sweeper.
Holy Jumpin'! The Canadiens took another game 7 from the Bruins last night! The Kings are making me look bad by taking the Ducks into a Game 7. Hope to get my next round predictions in before it starts but the weather is going to be turning better down here after today. However, you know I am taking the Canadiens over the Rangers.
I will go again with what I want to see happen: Habs over Rags Chicago over either I am happy that my good friend Zack Parise will not be winning anything this year!
Well I'm tasting the possibility of a NY - LA final...something I admit would make me very happy to see! Can't say never though - there have been WAY many 3-1 deficit comebacks this playoff season - so I do not write off the possibility of a Chicago-Montreal final. I do hope though to see the LA-NY final - I'm not a Montreal hater, but still feel like they have plenty of Cups in their history...I kind of like NY from way back, though I haven't really supported them as a fan since the early 90s. LA on the other hand has been one of MY teams for decades, and I thoroughly support them. Chicago is the only one I genuinely want to see go away - they've been there, done that enough lately, and I don't want to see them repeat back-to-back, let alone get a 3rd cup. LA-NY is ideal for me, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping.
I will continue to pull for Montreal. NY Rags in the final let alone maybe win it is the worst case for me. Don't care if the Sox win another series, Cowboys or Eagles win the Super Bowl, but the Rags and the Cup is the worst!
Les Canadiens are still kicking. They have played better with each game and should have won Game 4...blast you goal posts! Interesting fact...Dustin Tokarski (wearing #34 below) played for the Syracuse Crunch in the first half of the 2012-2013 season before being traded to the Hamilton Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are the AHL affiliate of the Canadiens.
Oh. My. God. Could they give me more of a heart attack? Game 7 Western Conference finals, goes to O.T.!! Thank you Kings for pulling that one out, pushing out Chicago from a 2nd straight, and providing a big coast-to-coast, NY-LA battle for the cup. This should help hockey ratings (at least in the U.S.) - NY and LA are big markets, but especially the NY market. Some of those final playoffs were scoring nice ratings on NBC - highest in 6 years. With Montreal and Chicago too, those are 4 huge metro areas. I know this thread sort of died off when Montreal got shoved out, but I'm going to try to keep it alive at least until the end of the Cup!
I have recovered (sort of) from the Canadiens loss. The Finals comes down to one thing...can the Kings score on the Rangers. From watching LA, I think NY will have no trouble scoring on them. I know all the experts think the Western conference is better and more exciting. It could be because they do not have the goaltending of the eastern teams. In a battle of goaltending and defense, I have to side with the Rangers. Their veterans have had a few days to rest and recover. If the series goes past 5 games, the Kings might be able to wear down the Rangers to take a long series especially with all the travel which the Rangers are not used to.
The rest should help NY - at least for the first game or two - they might steal one in LA to start it off, and kill the home-field advantage. And King Henrik is certainly consistent and solid. The key on the LA side is if Quick is playing average, which is still pretty good but possibly not good enough for the Cup, or if he turns on his freaky game, in which case he's almost impossible to score on. The goaltending on that side CAN be excellent, it's just not always consistent - the year LA won the Cup, Quick was astounding all through the playoffs. He was more human this year, with Carter being the savior for the Kings this playoff season (what a nice acquisition that turned out to be!). Then again, with LA, who honestly is going to feel safe with a lead on them this year? 3 consecutive 7-game wins, 2 come from behind series, and half-a-dozen games where they came back from a deficit to win. Basically, it's not over against LA until the clock hits 0 and you still have a lead on your 4th win - other than that, I would remain very cautious with any lead if I were NY.
