Time for my annual hockey playoffs thread

[snoopy]

DVRing it!

Gotta play in a softball game tonight, but will watch the game as long as I don't hear that Louango (sp?) let in some more softies.

[Sirius]

I'm going to say he was pretty respectable, at least by the standards of the league as a whole. Didn't quite look like the #2 goalie in the league though. (P.S. I don't think he's ever been a superstar this season though... regardless of what the stats say - the GAA/Sv% probably say more about the ability of the defensemen to limit opportunities than Luongo himself.)

Was a good game all-up. The refs went hands-off again, but it didn't turn the game into a circus, so it worked out alright.

[dissent]

There is great sadness in chi-town.

Does his happy dance.

Boston in 7.


does his happy dance

[Avder]

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Roberto LuBrongo.

[CDN_Merlin]

I give you a tainted win. The ref's were all for Boston.

[snoopy]

Turned on the live game as Boston scored the 4th goal. I'll go back and watch the entire game sometime.

[Sirius]

The refs dropped a lot of calls both ways - I couldn't say Boston got the better end of that.

[CDN_Merlin]

Sirius, you got to be kidding me. I'm open minded enough that I can admit defeat, but even the commentators were saying there were to many non calls. For me, if it's a penalty in the regular season, it's a penaklty in the play offs. Boston got away with many that ended up being goals on the preceeding play.

[Avder]

I will agree that there were too many non calls. During the first period of the game it felt a lot like Game 7 between the Bruins and Lightning, and then Emrick announced that it was the exact same officiating crew. I was genuinely surprised that any penalties were handed out at all during the game.

That said, I didn't see much from the officials that tilted the game in the Bruins favor. The Nucks never matched the intensity of the Bruins during this series and the only reason they won all three at home were good bounces that went their way. Boston finally stepped up in this game and played on the road much like they did at home. They shut the Nuckers down and took it to Luongo. Luongo didn't even have a clue where the first goal came from, he put another one in himself, and he didn't sacrifice the body enough to stop that one where it went in during a trainwreck. He never had what it took in this series, and he choked, bigtime.

The Nuckers lost, and they only have themselves to blame. Deal with it.

[Sirius]

The Nuckers lost, and they only have themselves to blame.

This I can agree with. I can't think of anything that would have changed the outcome of the game. The Canucks had a few opportunities but couldn't make them count, whether it be Kesler panicking and fumbling shots, I think one of the Sedins doing the same thing, and Burrows not able to pull the trigger fast enough and losing his window to Chara - they were way out of their usual composure, and you just can't get goals against a tight defense when you're like that. Combine that with a couple key mistakes by Luongo and they never had a chance after the first one.

After they finally regained their confidence at the last minute against Chicago, and actually managed to make the Sharks look a lot worse than they really were, I thought they might have what it takes - but apparently a few more years of playoffs may be in order to toughen up a little. These guys have the skills to make it happen eventually (though probably a window of only a few years before people start to retire - I figure Salo won't be around much longer) - even Luongo can be good, if only he were as consistent as his opponents - but it seems like the mental side of their game still needs a little more work.

[Avder]

Well Merlin, your cup drought continues, but you got your Jets back.

[CDN_Merlin]

Yes it continues. But I am a strong believer that the ref's were favouring Boston. Sadly, it's much harder for a CDN team to get into the finals since we only have 6(7) teams compared to 20+ in the US.

[Sirius]

A Canadian team should still, in theory, have been able to win since 1993 - at least if all things were even. I haven't been following the sport for very long but the impression I've gotten is that most of the Canadian teams have been mediocre for a while... it looked like there were occasional good seasons from the Flames, Oilers and Canucks, and the Canadiens have at least been good enough to make the playoffs regularly, but not much more than that.

[Avder]

Yes it continues. But I am a strong believer that the ref's were favouring Boston. Sadly, it's much harder for a CDN team to get into the finals since we only have 6(7) teams compared to 20+ in the US.

I am sorry, but I just cant agree with you on this. I didnt see any evidence of bias towards Boston. Can you cite some specific plays?

[CDN_Merlin]

In games 3 and 4 there were many instances where Boston should of gotten a penalty but didn't and it ended up in a goal for them. Had the play been called, they wouldn't of scored. It was like this the entire series.

[snoopy]

Yes it continues. But I am a strong believer that the ref's were favouring Boston. Sadly, it's much harder for a CDN team to get into the finals since we only have 6(7) teams compared to 20+ in the US.

I am sorry, but I just cant agree with you on this. I didnt see any evidence of bias towards Boston. Can you cite some specific plays?

Here's my take on that: putting away the whistles except for the blatant stick penalties favors the bigger, stronger team. There was a pretty big size difference in the series, and while the whistles were put away for both teams, the Bruins were the team that had to size and strength advantage to benefit from the change in the refereeing style. I don't like the fact that games were called differently series to series. I understand that you let the teams play a bit more during the playoffs, but I don't agree with putting away the whistles.