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Once Fleury was able to withstand the onslaught of the first half, you knew Crosby was just going to pull some magic out of his hat and that would be the difference maker. If it's any consolation to the Caps, the series is not over yet. In 2011 the Bruins lost the first 2 games at home too, then rallied to win the next 2 games in Montreal on the way to the cup. If Fleury's confidence takes a hit, then that could potentially open the floodgates. Caps had a lot of shots, but it seemed like many were from the perimeter with the Pens conceding space. I didn't see many deflections, tip ins, or crease crashing. Not that it cost them the game, but that's definitely an avenue they have to get back in this series.
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# ? May 1, 2017 17:36 |
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# ? May 11, 2024 15:59 |
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Phil Kessel, despite his healthy usage of the 3rd dimension, is a one dimensional player.
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# ? May 1, 2017 17:36 |
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I want the pens to win if only for the meltdowns
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# ? May 1, 2017 17:36 |
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RC Cola posted:It'll be great when Crosby wins another Conn Symthe with Kessel having 20 more points in the post season.
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# ? May 1, 2017 17:47 |
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Pornographic Memory posted:lol wow sorry about your blackhawks and your secondary teams not all bringing you happiness at once dude Psh the preds oilers sens and caps are still in it
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# ? May 1, 2017 17:50 |
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Aphrodite posted:Phil Kessel, despite his healthy usage of the 3rd dimension, is a one dimensional player. Yeah, but when your one dimension is sniping corners that's still p. good.
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# ? May 1, 2017 17:53 |
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If you're going points, it's Malkin. If you're going goals, its Guentz. If you're going all around play, it's Crosby. If it's by number of times your butt clenched, it's MAF. Kessel is fantastic and I am thrilled he plays for the Pens, but I'm not sure by what metric you give him the Conn Smythe (assuming things continue to play out as they have been).
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# ? May 1, 2017 18:14 |
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The Sens aren't going to win the cup so it's irrelevant but Karlsson would be my choice right now. Crosby would be up there too. I haven't watched enough of the west.
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# ? May 1, 2017 18:28 |
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Crosby scored the important goals in game 1. In game 2, his backchecking led to the Guentzel goal and then he made an amazing defensive play to rob Schmidt of his open net chance. Some of the other Penguins have played well but Crosby and MAF are the heros so far. I know I'm in the minority but I'd rather have played against Murray. The Capitals haven't had much trouble with him.
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# ? May 1, 2017 18:35 |
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Slappy Pappy posted:Crosby scored the important goals in game 1. In game 2, his backchecking led to the Guentzel goal and then he made an amazing defensive play to rob Schmidt of his open net chance. Some of the other Penguins have played well but Crosby and MAF are the heros so far. Murray was pretty good last year against the Caps although the only game I can remember him stealing is the game 3 one where Letang was out.
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# ? May 1, 2017 18:48 |
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The NHL hasn't given Crosby an award he didn't deserve and there's a much better argument that he should also have won the Hart in 2010 or 2013.
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# ? May 1, 2017 18:50 |
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Spring Break My Heart posted:The NHL hasn't given Crosby an award he didn't deserve and there's a much better argument that he should also have won the Hart in 2010 or 2013. The 2016-17 Conn Smythe was far more of a career recognition thing than a commendation of his play that year.
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# ? May 1, 2017 19:01 |
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Crosby is a robot, he does not need a heart. Just more ram and bigger fans.
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# ? May 1, 2017 19:01 |
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xzzy posted:Crosby is a robot, he does not need a heart. Dont you mean.. HART?
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# ? May 1, 2017 19:04 |
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I was reading Crosby's wikipedia page because of this conversation. I didn't know he has an Emmy.
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# ? May 1, 2017 19:05 |
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Benson Cunningham posted:If you're going points, it's Malkin. If you're going goals, its Guentz. If you're going all around play, it's Crosby. If it's by number of times your butt clenched, it's MAF. Steve Simmons Schadenfreude Scale
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# ? May 1, 2017 19:06 |
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Jamwad Hilder posted:I was reading Crosby's wikipedia page because of this conversation. I didn't know he has an Emmy.
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# ? May 1, 2017 19:18 |
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Insert your own bunny/pageau joke (CC;: Grack)
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# ? May 1, 2017 19:20 |
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I was looking for the struck by lightning GIF but couldn't find it.
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# ? May 1, 2017 19:25 |
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ThinkTank posted:The 2016-17 Conn Smythe was far more of a career recognition thing than a commendation of his play that year.
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:04 |
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This year so far I'd go: Penguins: MAF - They're giving up 37 shots a game. Yeah they're scoring (eventually) but he has been their best player in most of their wins. Capitals: Oshie - I guess? It feels weird picking anyone. Rangers: McDonagh - Although this could be Lundqvist if he turns it around. Senators: Karlsson - Probably the best player in the playoffs so far. Predators: Rinne - Their D has been really good but I don't think any of them have stood out and he has a .950 Blues: Allen - Pretty easy choice. Oilers: McDavid - Feels like he has a lot more to give but he's been their best player. Ducks: Getzlaf - The best forward in the playoffs so far imo. Maybe the best I've ever seen him play.
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:15 |
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https://twitter.com/JGPageau/status/858882722630176768 Good Ole Pageau
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:19 |
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Loqieu posted:RAS, read this if you want to punch the wall: i mean i knew all of this already but still eeuugghhhggg
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:22 |
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T-Bone posted:Oilers: McDavid - Feels like he has a lot more to give but he's been their best player. Two stinkers aside, Cam Talbot is the only reason the Oilers are still in the playoffs.
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:33 |
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ThinkTank posted:Two stinkers aside, Cam Talbot is the only reason the Oilers are still in the playoffs. Ehhh I guess you could make the case but they're carrying the play more than they've been given credit for. In his two shutouts they gave up a combined 39 shots. Those two huge losses have to count for something. Although McDavid kinda has been underwhelming by his standards so unless you want to give it to Draisaitl I wouldn't protest too loudly.
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:38 |
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a false posted:i mean i knew all of this already but still eeuugghhhggg Yeah this is why I've complained about AV before and then everyone laughs and goes "haha oh sure we'll take him back you don't know what you're saying!" AV is really bad with defense. It's holding the team back. What do you do? He's benching his 2nd and 3rd best defensemen and relying on a pairing that is bad by every single measurement including the eye test and it has cost them playoff games. What do you do? This is one of the bigger reasons why the Rangers have to find a way to move guys like Staal or Girardi because the coach is never ever going to believe them to be anything but top defensemen for this team at the detriment of better players. Skjei scored two goals last game and got benched. What the gently caress
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:38 |
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a false posted:i mean i knew all of this already but still eeuugghhhggg I'm looking forward to Glass going in for Buch and playing 13 minutes in game 3
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:38 |
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Mike_V posted:I was looking for the struck by lightning GIF but couldn't find it. Thanks for reminding me about this gem
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:41 |
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Where did the AV = good coach stuff come from anyways? He did well with the Canucks but he also had two guys who were almost generationally good in their prime in the Sedins plus an elite goalie and he still did dumb poo poo then like play Glass a lot. Seems like a guy who has decent systems but who also has his favorites who suck terribly which I suppose makes him no worse than the average NHL coach but I don't see how it makes him good either. But I suppose all of these criticisms will probably be applied to Sullivan some day when he's not coaching Crosby/Malkin although at least in his Pens tenure he hasn't shown favoritism towards vets with the possible exception I guess of Kunitz but Kunitz isn't gamebreakingly bad and Sullivan has shown an ability to switch things up when something isn't working rather than banging his head on a wall.
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:43 |
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I think he is a good coach at certain things. I think he's been good at getting a lot out of the Rangers forward depth on a team without any legit superstars and bringing along some young players and making them productive. It's not like the Rangers were a team that everyone expected to be at the top of the eastern conference for the past 4-5 years. but he knows jack poo poo about defense or how to evaluate defensemen. e: even the Glass thing wasn't a huge deal because he's a fourth liner that never played a ton, but AV seems to be panicking at this point for some reason.
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:48 |
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zack "conn smythe" kassian
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:50 |
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Xtanstic posted:Thanks for reminding me about this gem I was at the game when that happened, I think downie got tossed, and absolutely every poster here thought he should be suspended for that. SAS has wisdom in its aging
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:50 |
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Tossing Downie from a game is never wrong Anyways more rangers bitching So here's the thing...Gorton has been busy signing some pretty decent prospect style defensemen. Older guys who could step in right away or be real close. Bereglazov, Pionk, etc. He acquired Smith who has been one of the better Rangers defensemen despite AV being an idiot and benching him last game. But...does it even matter with AV coaching the team? If Gorton got rid of Girardi and Staal would AV even play these guys? The D HAS to be rebuilt and Gorton is acquiring some pieces to do it but the coach has to move on from the way he's evaluating the team right now.
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:55 |
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Ginette Reno posted:Where did the AV = good coach stuff come from anyways? He did well with the Canucks but he also had two guys who were almost generationally good in their prime in the Sedins plus an elite goalie and he still did dumb poo poo then like play Glass a lot. Seems like a guy who has decent systems but who also has his favorites who suck terribly which I suppose makes him no worse than the average NHL coach but I don't see how it makes him good either. When he took over the Canucks he didn't have elite Sedins, he had 70pt mid 2000s Sedins who were a lot less impressive. He coached an all defence, tight checking style and took that team to the playoffs on the back of a Hart trophy nominated Luongo. He managed to lead a team that was essentially the Sedins plus the rancid dregs of the WCE era up front to the playoffs and rightfully won the Jack Adams as a result. He then managed to carefully transition the team to an all offence style built around the Sedins and a skating defence that has become the norm in the NHL today. Pretty much every line combination he developed worked (including turning Alex Burrows into a 35 goal star just thre years after he managed 9 whole points in a season). His system was highly entertaining, and it showed he could be far more than the defence only coach he was hired for. In fact, he's now probably the most adaptable coach out there at the moment. He's drat good at assessing the strengths of his roster and playing to them. He gets overly attached to certain role players, but so does any coach. The Tanner Glass thing was the exception and not the rule in Vancouver. I can't think of any player who wasn't played pretty much the right amount aside from him. Add into that pioneering some pretty novel tactics like zone starts (which amazingly enough weren't a thing until he realized it was best to just use the Sedins in the attacking zone and everyone immediately copied it) and some variations on zone entries and I'd say he's a pretty drat good coach. Did he benefit from a good roster? Yes, but then again he also got the most out of them and many players from the Canucks at that time credit him with bringing their game to the next level. I don't think it's a complete coincidence that the team lurched into overwhelming suckiness the first couple seasons after he was fired. Regardless of the teams he's been in charge of, he's been to the playoffs 10 of the 11 years of his second stint as an NHL head coach averaging 103pts a season and been in two SCF and a Conference finals. That's drat impressive no matter how you shake it. ThinkTank fucked around with this message at 21:00 on May 1, 2017 |
# ? May 1, 2017 20:57 |
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Wonderllama posted:I was at the game when that happened, I think downie got tossed, and absolutely every poster here thought he should be suspended for that. It looked pretty bad in the heat of the moment, and Downie had a history of being a shithead. Obviously it doesn't look at bad now, but I remember at the time thinking Downie purposefully folded Crosby's leg in half to shred his knee.
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:58 |
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wtf kind of name is Neal Pionk
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# ? May 1, 2017 20:58 |
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ThinkTank posted:When he took over the Canucks he didn't have elite Sedins, he had 70pt mid 2000s Sedins who were a lot less impressive. He coached an all defence, tight checking style and took that team to the playoffs on the back of a Hart trophy nominated Luongo. He managed to lead a team that was essentially the Sedins plus the rancid dregs of the WCE era up front to the playoffs and rightfully won the Jack Adams as a result. Yeah and I mean I agree with a lot of this too but lately he's had some big blind spots with the Rangers roster, it's tough to watch, and I feel like the talk about making adjustments and changing stuff up after last season has fallen by the wayside and the Rangers are kind of making the same mistakes all over again.
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# ? May 1, 2017 21:01 |
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ThinkTank posted:Regardless of the teams he's been in charge of, he's been to the playoffs 10 of the 11 years of his second stint as an NHL head coach averaging 103pts a season and been in two SCF and a Conference finals. That's drat impressive no matter how you shake it. Yeah I'll give you that. I just feel like I've been reading complaints about player usage with him for like 12 years now but he definitely has had a lot of success.
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# ? May 1, 2017 21:08 |
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Ginette Reno posted:Yeah I'll give you that. I just feel like I've been reading complaints about player usage with him for like 12 years now but he definitely has had a lot of success. I think player usage becomes an extreme example of trying to wring out maximum win potential out of a lineup. If that's your only complaint, surely your coach's systems must be good enough that we don't have to bemoan yet another Therrien dump-in. Remember the days when the Red Wings fans would argue about their 3rd defensive pairing despite having Babcock as coach?
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# ? May 1, 2017 21:11 |
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# ? May 11, 2024 15:59 |
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Yeah, '08 '09 was RW defense pairing argument stadium (Lilja sucks!!)
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# ? May 1, 2017 21:21 |