2010/2011 nhl thread

Yes, it's insanely early. But hey, take a peak, smile a little. You deserve it. We've had it rough. And I got a feeling YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET.

 

Those standings sure look good! Just hope Bailey and Andy Mac are ok. Mcdonald blocked a shot with his hand by accident tonight and he did not return. Bailey they said has a hip pointer and is day to day but sometimes those things take a bit longer.

Also, Matt Moulson is whats right with pro sports: http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/pu...t=AiNwLgLraMrs_JPNEyEjLlV7vLYF?urn=nhl-278962

 

Isles lose their 12th straight tonight

 

Isles lose their 13th in a row. A lot of good that did firing Scott Gordon. Maybe it wasn't the coach...maybe it was the lack of talent Garth failed to improve upon in the offseason.

Also Garth Snow actually tried to shut down Islanders point blank, a blog run by former Isles PR guy, Chris Botta. So lets get this straight...the only guy who actually does a good job covering the team and one of the few willing to cover the team, he wanted to shut down? Really? The sooner Charles Wang and Snow realize that you cant run a hockey franchise like its communist China with a restriction on people's opinions and thoughts the better off they will be. Here's the full story: http://nhl-red-light.si.com/2010/11/19/the-islanders-botta-ban-is-pointless/

 

Unbelievable Bruins game last night.

Check out this Youtube video of the first minute:

[video=youtube;MuJEGghkTns]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuJEGghkTns&feature=player_embedded[/video]

We're going to reach a point where people just stop dropping gloves with McQuaid. He's an absolute animal in those situations as evidenced last night by his demolition of Sutherby.

I know we have some B's fans on this board, so lets start drumming up the discussion as we head into the second-half and, hopefully, a long playoff run.

Also, the whole Rask vs. Raycroft matchup in net was just fantastic.

 

Once Atlanta or Phoenix move here for the 2011-12 season I will post a lot more

 

Tonight's Bruins game versus Montreal made me smile.

 

Jack was in rare form last night.

[video=youtube;kDgG_rIULgw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDgG_rIULgw[/video]

Unified, heading into this season, did you ever think that Marchand had this much touch in the offensive zone? Him and Bergeron on the same line has been a revelation. That first goal they scored last night along with Recchi was gorgeous.

Ryder played like a man possessed -- might have been his best game as a Bruin.

And the fights. Sure, the Timmy-Price matchup was lame, but it was a thing of beauty watching Boychuk and Campbell destroy both Spacek and Pyatt, respectively. If only Van Massenhoven let Lucic and Subban square off. Subban is a dbag, he needs to get his face re-arranged.

 

Crazy game, just off the hook.

 

Fun isles game last night...9-3 isles win 11 fights and a collective 366 penalty minutes. Old time hockey is back and its a beautiful thing.

 

Well, had heard of a golaie getting their face crushed with a punch before though..used to be goalies were off limits.

Maybe Marty McSorley will make a comeback along with Ricky Ray?

 

I was stuck with the TSN feed on TV but I went back and watched the Jack highlights, he was fantastic, rare from.

Marchand has been, like you said, a revelation. He SHOULD be in the Calder trophy discussion. He's 6th in rookie points even though he spent half the year on the fourth line and never plays on the powerplay. He's only averaging 13:00 per game, far less then the favorites for the Calder (Skinner, Couture, Hall).

I think he and Bergeron have some sort of brain connection, they are almost the same kind of player. Next year, after Rex retires, I'm REALLY looking forward to Bergeron/Marchand and Jordan Caron being together long term. Caron needs a little more seasoning but is such a similar player to Bergeron.

Speaking of Bergy, he is BACK to being what we all thought he would be before Randy Jones tried to kill him. He's in the conversation as the best two way forward in the league, he'll be a Selke finalist.

Subban is a chicken ****. He'll get his, the officials won't be there to save him everytime. He chirps and taunts, then conveniently finds an official to hide behind when things get rough. Komisarek got his and Subban will get his. He has started something with Lucic that he won't be able to finish.

The Habs were acting like they wanted to fight all night and then were surprised when they actually HAD to fight. Tough break.

Last night was the predictable let down, Sunday against the Wings will be a better game.

That Isles/Pens game was right out of the 70's and I loved every second of it. The Pens got EXACTLY what has been coming to them for weeks. They taunted the Isles and got it fed to them. Long suspensions are coming though. Godard will get at least 10 (likely 12), Gillies will get 8-10 and multiple game suspensions will likely hit a half dozen players. You can expect both teams to get heavily fined as well.

 

More Atlanta news

Looks like 2011-12 is in play

http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-thrashers-blog/

 

Big decision coming this week on the Coyotes...Hopefully they pull the plug

 

I met Zenon Konopka yesterday. Nice guy. Talked for a bit about the team and some of the players.

 

Gigantic game tonight. Screw the Habs, win the game.

[video=youtube;grPFxYCxDHg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grPFxYCxDHg&feature=player_embedded[/video]

 

What a playoff so far! Man did i want Chicago to win tonight, minus the fact i had money on them it would have been cool to see! Vancouver is in trouble though.

 

Why do you think that? They just got a giant monkey off their backs. I'm pretty sure they love where they are at right now.

 

The only way they win the cup is if their other goalie can come back and play. Luongo is soooooo overrated its not even funny. Oh well at least I got to enjoy the Hawks winning the Cup in my lifetime. Guess I'll be pulling for the Lightning the rest of the playoffs.

 

They almost blew a 3-0 series lead and almost lost game 7...Vancouver did not look like the best team in the league this series

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

So ... almost and almost. Are you saying the Blackhawks are no good? Because that is definitely not what I saw in that series. Granted the Sedins need to step up their game, but I would still bet on the Canucks against anyone else with the possible exception of the Wings.

 

Schneider had cramps and could have played game 7 if that's what they wanted.

 

Its amazing how different Round 2 is from Round 1. Looks like the break hurt the Caps and the Red Wings big time.

 

Agreed. I would have taken the Wings over the Sharks and not given the Lightning much of a chance against the Caps. Good thing I wasn't in Vegas.

 

Anyone think I'm happy?

 

I bet!

Sadly my Sabres will lose Lindsey Ruff I suspect.

 

Canucks move on, Sedins still needing to find their game. Maybe getting away from Weber and Suter will help.

 

They were barely matched up with those two as the series progressed, it was mostly Klein and O'Brien.

 

They spent more time working against Kesler's line the last two games but they definitely started out 100% on the Sedins. Strangely I think just moving to a less defensive oriented Shark or Wings series will probably help the Sedins more than anything. Always kind of liked the Bruins since the days of Terry O'Rielly. Watched him thump a couple Colorado Rockies hockey players in the same game when I was a kid and kind of liked them ever since. Hopefully we get a Nucks - Bruins final. Of course that will be where we part ways.

 

Its great that Game 1 isn't until Saturday night, with the Bergy concussion and all. Thoughts on Kelly filling in between Marchand and Recchi? Hopefully we're not in for a drastic drop-off from an offensive production standpoint, but that line had some serious chemistry.

They've been beastly in the postseason.

 

Kelly will fill in early, it's up to Clode to decide whether it is working or not and change it QUICKLY. We can't sit around waiting for it to work and be kabonged before we know it.

I would have done this...

#1: KHL
#2: Rex - Pevs - Marchy
#3: Ryder - Kelly - Seguin
#4: Sugar - Soup - Paille

Peverley offers much more offensively than Kelly. Seguin/Kelly/Ryder played about a dozen games together after Kelly was brought in and it started to click a little at times. We'll see though. Lines 2 and 3 will get tossed into the blender anyway once Clode shortens the bench. Seguin won't see ice after the first period unless it's a blow out, it is not Clode's style. I pray he gets some powerplay time (2nd unit).

I honestly don't think we see Bergy for the entire round, any game he plays from now on is a bonus to me, he was playing his best hockey in three years to...it ****ing sucks. Losing him effects everything we do. He takes 75% of the defensive zone faceoffs, is the first penalty killing forward on the ice, makes the 2nd line roll, is our shutdown centerman and plays the point on the 2nd unit on the powerplay.

As much as we'll miss him we can get through.

#1) the KHL line has to keep rolling like they did against the Flyers. Looch was starting to pick it up big time and Krech was ridiculous the entire series.

#2) Discipline. We MUST stay out of the box. We are the best 5 on 5 team in the league and Tampa makes their living on special teams.

#3) Our forecheck. We have to be aggressive. Tampa's system means you must dump it in. Make their D turn and get it, go in strong, hammer them early and often, force turnovers. If we try to carry it through the zone on them we are cooked.

#4) Our defense. This is an extension of the above. They must get the first pass off quickly and sharply to the forwards moving so they can move through the neutral zone with speed or get to center with speed and get good dumps. Roloson is not a good puck handler, we can take advantage of that. Dennis Seidenberg was BRILLIANT from game 4 against the Habs on. He makes the engine run. When he is pinching down the wall we play well, when he is backing off and being conservative we get into trouble. I really think Kaberle finally makes an appearance in the playoffs this series.

I think the rest helps us in a big way. Roloson was playing really well and he could lose his edge with the time off. If we stay out of the box, get offense from the guys we should get offense from and Timmy is Timmy we win in 6. If the officiating is tight and we take a bunch of penalties we are in trouble.

 

Outstanding Gm #7 between Sharks and the Wings, I thought San Jose was going to choke the series away but Marleau finally showed up a bit.

 

Atlanta come on down or up in this case

 

The Bruins marketing department has been on fire since last season with the Bruins Hockey Rules campaign. Here's a banner located downtown:



and another:



This one was from last season:

 

Fantastic writeup, Uni.

Its going to be great to have Darth Quaider back in the fold tonight, as Hnidy was brutal in his limited ice time last series.

This series is going to be fantastic. Tampa's top guns scare the ever-loving s*it out of me. We played them very well during the regular season, but we never saw Lecavalier and Roloson. Leave it to two former Hockey East studs (St. Louis - Vermont and Roloson - UML) to derail this dream Bruins season. I'm very nervous.

Also, how badly are you rooting for a Vancouver-Boston finals?

 

Cause of Derek Boogaard death unclear

Sorry if this has been posted.......


-R.I.P-

 

Yes, Hnidy was flat out awful. His presence (or Long Wolf's lack of presence) essentially gave us 5 D to play with for a few games. Quaider adds a physical presence on the back end although his mobility scares the hell out of me but that has been the case all year.

I'm terrified of Tampa's powerplay, that's it. They are a brutal 5 on 5 team. They clog it up and hope to beat you on the powerplay, doing essentially nothing 5 on 5. Hell, they don't even try to score 5 on 5. I think we'll have Z and Seids (They will play a TON) out against Malone/Stamkos/Gagne to start. Tampa's third line has been on fire but our third line matches up very well with them.

Tampa's back end is mediocre. Their third pairing is laughable.

I'm 100% convinced if we stay out of the penalty box we will win this series and quite handily. If we run around and take penalties (and Tampa gets away with diving, which they do more than any team in the league) we are in big big trouble.

I want absolutely NOTHING to do with a Vancouver Boston Final for many reasons.

1.) Their fans are insufferable. not all of them of course but living here and listening to them is driving me insane. For the most part they acting like it is their right to the Cup.

2.) In my apartment building, when the Canucks score a goal you can hear all the surrounding apartments explode with cheers. Air horns the whole thing. I can not quite describe it, it is totally crazy. If I had to hear that garbage when MY team gets scored on I'd likely lose it.

3.) I really like my friends. If my Bruins were playing the Canucks in the Finals I'd likely lose a few of them.

4.) There is no way in hell I'd be able to get a ticket to a game. Round 3 tickets went on sale earlier this week, they sold out in less than a minute (after the 16,000 season ticket holders got theirs). Prices were $290-$800. Lower bowls are going for between 800-1200 each right now. My buddy is a season ticket holder and he got the prices for the Cup Final round. Cheapest seat in the house is $400 face value. His tickets are first row of the balcony at one of the bluelines and they are around $500 each. Insane.

One hour until game time.

Oh...don't know if you heard but Bergy skated with the "Black Aces" yesterday. IF he is symptom free for a few days he's back, maybe as soon as game 3.

 

Just awful. Outplay a team and get blown out. Does not help that the powerplay is still dreadful, Timmy was awful (let in 2 softies) and the defense was terrible.

Glad it is not a best of one.

 

Seemed like Tampa jumped out to the lead and the B's just sort went to sleep.