Blackhawks v. Bruins

[boogielicious]

"Old time hockey.  Eddy Shore." - Hanson Brothers.

Good to see two of the original teams in the finals.  Brings back memories of Bobby Orr and Bobby Hull.

[jimmyc]

Yea, and Phil Esposito, Stan Makita, Magnuson, etc. etc.

[Chilli Dipper]

It's going to be the first Stanley Cup Finals between two Original Six squads since 1979. Now that's old school.

[Ernest Jones]

Originally Posted by Chilli Dipper

It's going to be the first Stanley Cup Finals between two Original Six squads since 1979. Now that's old school.

The Good Guys won that one!

[NuclearMike]

Although I've lived in Texas for 34 years I grew up in Joliet IL and I'm still a Hawks fan.  Go Chicago!

[dennyjones]

If the Red Wings can't win it all, I'd like to see Chicago win.   Detroit had Chicago on the ropes and let them escape. but I believe Chicago is the best team playing.

[GaijinGolfer]

Its going to be a great series.  Both are great teams who like to hit and have great goaltending.  Im probably biased, being a Hawks fan but I see the Hawks taking this one.  IMO, the Bruins just dont have the talent to run with the Hawks.  The Bruins havent yet played a team that can score at will, plays great defense, hits you hard and has great goaltending.

The Pens were close but the Pens dont play defense and their stars didnt show up in that series.

I fully expect the series to go 6 or 7 games but if the Hawks show up and play their game, they should be able to get it done.

[boogielicious]

Originally Posted by GaijinGolfer

Its going to be a great series.  Both are great teams who like to hit and have great goaltending.  Im probably biased, being a Hawks fan but I see the Hawks taking this one.  IMO, the Bruins just dont have the talent to run with the Hawks.  The Bruins havent yet played a team that can score at will, plays great defense, hits you hard and has great goaltending.

The Pens were close but the Pens dont play defense and their stars didnt show up in that series.

I fully expect the series to go 6 or 7 games but if the Hawks show up and play their game, they should be able to get it done.

That is what the media said about Boston versus the Penguins.  Pitt averaged 4.2 goals per game before playing Boston.  Penguins were the odds on favorite to win the cup.  Their great offense was held to zero power play goals and two goals total in the series.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by GaijinGolfer

Its going to be a great series.  Both are great teams who like to hit and have great goaltending.  Im probably biased, being a Hawks fan but I see the Hawks taking this one.  IMO, the Bruins just dont have the talent to run with the Hawks.  The Bruins havent yet played a team that can score at will, plays great defense, hits you hard and has great goaltending.

The Pens were close but the Pens dont play defense and their stars didnt show up in that series.

The Pens were a team that could score at will. They play pretty darn good defense too - you know there was a stretch where they gave up 11 goals over 12 games? And "their stars didn't show up"… possibly because they were playing the Bruins? Crosby and Malkin were having a pretty good playoffs until Boston.

Now, the Pens also hit unlimited goal posts, and not once in the series could you say "the Pens got a lucky break there," but go ahead - overlook the Bruins all you want. It'll depend on which team shows up - the one that barely beat the Leafs or the one that beat the prohibitive favorite.

[Ernest Jones]

As much as I despise the bruins, they are for real. Anyone who thinks they don't have the talent to shut down teams is not watching. Pittsburg's goaltending has been suspect IMHO. I think the HABS would have given Boston a much harder time than Pittsburg. Pittsburg should have played their game not the bruin's game, that was stupid.

[Ernest Jones]

As much as I despise the bruins, they are for real. Anyone who thinks they don't have the talent to shut down teams is not watching. Pittsburg's goaltending has been suspect IMHO. I think the HABS would have given Boston a much harder time than Pittsburg. Pittsburg should have played their game not the bruin's game, that was stupid.

Oh, and one more thing... GO HAWKS!

[Bo the Golfer]

This will be a great matchup but Bruins in six (no bias being from Boston I assure you (; ). Think the Pens had stretches of decent defensive play but that's clearly not their game and with average at best goaltending the series loss is no shock. Of course no one up here was talking sweep but we had a quiet confidence.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Ernest Jones

As much as I despise the bruins, they are for real. Anyone who thinks they don't have the talent to shut down teams is not watching.

Pittsburg's goaltending has been suspect IMHO.

I think the HABS would have given Boston a much harder time than Pittsburg.

Pittsburg should have played their game not the bruin's game, that was stupid.

The Habs, ha. Give me a break. Yeah, they'd have given Boston a harder time than the second leading points getter in the entire NHL. Right. A team that was 3-0 against them in the regular season.

Pittsburgh played their game. Got away from it a little bit in game #2 but that's because they pressed hard after game #1 where nothing went their way. The game could have easily been 3-0 Pittsburgh five minutes in. Buddies for the Sabres texted and said the same thing.

Pittsburgh's goaltending was not suspect. In game 2 their defense was suspect, and towards the end of game 1 because they had to push to try to score, but that was it. Pittsburgh's goaltending (Vokoun) and defense gave up 3 goals in the last 5 periods of hockey.

Not a single break went the Pens way. If Game 1 was 1-0 or 2-0 inside the first five minutes, the series likely plays out very, very differently. Rask had a save percentage of something like 0.985. NO TEAM can beat that with ANY offensive output of their own.

The question is: which Boston shows up? Which Chicago? Boston almost lost to freaking Toronto, and Chicago almost lost to Detroit. The NHL isn't like the NBA where the team with the stars always seem to advance.

[boogielicious]

Originally Posted by iacas

The Habs, ha. Give me a break. Yeah, they'd have given Boston a harder time than the second leading points getter in the entire NHL. Right. A team that was 3-0 against them in the regular season.

Pittsburgh played their game. Got away from it a little bit in game #2 but that's because they pressed hard after game #1 where nothing went their way. The game could have easily been 3-0 Pittsburgh five minutes in. Buddies for the Sabres texted and said the same thing.

Pittsburgh's goaltending was not suspect. In game 2 their defense was suspect, and towards the end of game 1 because they had to push to try to score, but that was it. Pittsburgh's goaltending (Vokoun) and defense gave up 3 goals in the last 5 periods of hockey.

Not a single break went the Pens way. If Game 1 was 1-0 or 2-0 inside the first five minutes, the series likely plays out very, very differently. Rask had a save percentage of something like 0.985. NO TEAM can beat that with ANY offensive output of their own.

The question is: which Boston shows up? Which Chicago? Boston almost lost to freaking Toronto, and Chicago almost lost to Detroit. The NHL isn't like the NBA where the team with the stars always seem to advance.

That is why I like Hockey better than Basketball.

[Ernest Jones]

Originally Posted by iacas

The Habs, ha. Give me a break. Yeah, they'd have given Boston a harder time than the second leading points getter in the entire NHL. Right. A team that was 3-0 against them in the regular season.

Pittsburgh played their game. Got away from it a little bit in game #2 but that's because they pressed hard after game #1 where nothing went their way. The game could have easily been 3-0 Pittsburgh five minutes in. Buddies for the Sabres texted and said the same thing.

Pittsburgh's goaltending was not suspect. In game 2 their defense was suspect, and towards the end of game 1 because they had to push to try to score, but that was it. Pittsburgh's goaltending (Vokoun) and defense gave up 3 goals in the last 5 periods of hockey.

Not a single break went the Pens way. If Game 1 was 1-0 or 2-0 inside the first five minutes, the series likely plays out very, very differently. Rask had a save percentage of something like 0.985. NO TEAM can beat that with ANY offensive output of their own.

The question is: which Boston shows up? Which Chicago? Boston almost lost to freaking Toronto, and Chicago almost lost to Detroit. The NHL isn't like the NBA where the team with the stars always seem to advance.

Habs won 3 out of 4 matchs vs Boston this season, and yes, I do believe the HABS would've been a better match-up for the Bruins. The HABS are a little more experienced at NOT playing the bruin's game, we've learned the HARD way, lol, you beat the Bruin's with speed, frustrate their D and let them start taking the bad penalties. The Laffs almost pulled it off but their D is a joke.

Regular season stats don't necessarily transfer over to playoff performance, Boston's a good example of that right now.

Agree that Pittsburg didn't have a single bounce go their way.

[jamo]

As someone is as fair-weather a fan of hockey and the Bruins as one can be and who doesn't claim to know anything about the sport, I'm just enjoying the entertaining games. Especially since I can't stand the Heat or Spurs.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by boogielicious

That is why I like Hockey better than Basketball.

I can't stand basketball. I don't even care to watch it in person let alone on TV.

[RPMPIRE]

Originally Posted by iacas

I can't stand basketball. I don't even care to watch it in person let alone on TV.

I used to like basketball but kinda grew out of it. After watching more baseball, football (and futbol), and hockey, I feel each score in basketball is so watered down. I now like watching sports where scoring is more difficult and one goal (or run) means a whole lot more than repeatedly shooting a ball through a hoop throughout the game.

I feel like it's the same story every season for the SJ Sharks. They get to the semis and then done. Very surprised to the the Blackhawks play really well against the Kings, especially with how goal stingy they are at home. Not a fan of either the team in the finals, but I'll put my money on the Blackhawks to win.