How bout dem B's

[Sheamus]

Not the outcome we hoped for, but it was a great series Every game played to the max, right down to the wire The Caps are a good team and wouldn't be surprised to see them make it through the next round

[flyak]

Thomas did his job. No scoring when needed.

[Konrad]

Thomas did his job. No scoring when needed.

I would add Sidenberg on D plus 3rd and 4th line as well. Chara wasn't him self either. It wouldn't surprise me if he had some kind of injury that he played with. Early in the series I saw him going over the board after time out or something like that with a huge grim of pain. Commentators either didn't notice that or didn't want to bring it up.
The whole team didn't have that Bad A.. ("don't poke the bear") attitude like they had last year.

[GRH]

I follow this religously and my thoughts are...
1. No scoring, plagued them all year a bunch of 20 goal scorers but no snipers
2. No powerplay. Not only can they not score on the PP, but they can't set up in the zone half the time and its a momentum swing for the other team.
3. D played soft in playoffs. Usually the Bs are a tough bruising team, missing McQuid and adding Corvo and Mottua hurt them in the physical game. Chara, Seidenberg and Boychuk, even though they played decently were taken a lot more hits than given out by them.
4. Forewards failed to forecheck effectively, too many easy outs for them and we didn't take advantage of their "weak" defensive pairing. Especially Wideman!
5. Breakouts from our zone was poor positioning. Forewards were not down low enough, no short passes out of the zone too many times the wing were up near the blueline or even in center ice.
6. No urgency, seemed like the fans were more pumped up than the players!

Give Dale Hunter and the Caps some credit, he took a team that was all offense and got them to commit to a sound defensive first system. They blocked a ton of shots, kept everything to the outside, defense punished our forwards and played a close checking tight game with great goaltending (sound familiar?)

[Konrad]

GRH,

Great summary.
I agree almost 100% with you, especially on your last point, which made me miss them less this morning and this spring all together. I really didn't enjoy their hockey lately as much as I used to, mainly because of lack of urgency in their game. It felt like they were saving them self for the next round or were satisfied with the Stanley Cup from last year. Claude Julien style handcuffing their offense didn't help either ...
As for a Dale Hunter, I'll never give him credit for anything except for being a dirty goon all of his carrier. Because of that, I hate this guy almost as much as Claude Lemieux and Ulf Samuelsson both of them shortened carrier of my favorite Bruin Cam Neely
All of them and several more should never be allowed back in hockey for the same reasons.

PS.
I wonder if Holtby is one time wonder or he will emerge as a star goalie ...

[markn]

Boring style of hockey. B's have the puck the whole game yeah, but scoring chances? Lucic totally sucked.

[Sheamus]

Edit - Was going to mention Lucic but I see it was covered

[Sully60]

Ouch....No Goal Scorers = a Loss...Too bad,,It was a pretty gd year...Celts are next....Hope they win 1 round....Sul

[Hammerhead]

It's fishing season now

[flyak]

I know you diehard hockey fans will continue to watch. The Rangers/Sens game was great. The Devils/Panthers game was incredible. Marty played like the legend that he is. Next round. Rangers/Washington and Devils/Philly should be some great hockey.2 local Rochester boys, Gionta and Calahan. Devils/Rangers in the finals. Go Devils! Oates looks good behind the Devils Bench.
BTW, the coverage by NBC has been tha best I have ever seen. Every game in every series at the click of a remote. Where are the Canadiens team again?

[Konrad]

I know you diehard hockey fans will continue to watch.

Somebody is still playing hockey ? ....
Is is October yet ?

[GRH]

Watching the other series, don't they seem much faster than the Bruins/Caps series? Maybe the style Washington played slowed it down, but a noticable difference in game speed.

[GBT]

I'm with ya Fred,

Don't care who it is just hate to see the season end. Rangers / Ottawa was a frigging nail biter last night and Lundqvist saved their tails. last 5 minutes of the 1st and the 3rd period were Ottawa shooting matches.

Marty was hot last night as well and the Devil's looked like they wanted it more than game 6.


NBC has been great up until last night. Around here they didn't start showing the Devils/Fla game until after the Rangers/Ottawa game was over.......yet they went to it live between periods. Kinda like recording the game to watch when you get home and some one spills the beans as to what the score is/was! Loving that all the games from all series are on though.


As far as baseball.... I am more in to spectating at competitive ice fishing contests...Much more exciting ;-);-)



I'm also really looking forward to the "combined competition" for next years event.

[flyak]

G, Sometimes you have to check on the channels which have been broadcasting the games. CNBC, NBC. Sports etc. Rangers game was broadcast on 2 channels while the Devils were on another. I looked for the devils and couldn't fins them until i flicked on CNBC and they were on. Also, the Devils game didn't start until after 8:30. Rangers were already into the second period. I look forward to the series tonight also. Hopefully, Blues and Preds in the finals.