Official NHL 2005-2006 Playoff Thread

[AJerman]

You'll need to beat Buffalo first.. Don't get ahead of yourself now. :p

Who said anything about Carolina stopping them? I'm talking about Anaheim first, then, should they win that series, the winner of the East.

[Napalm Frog]

Wow, edmonton beat both Detroit and San Jose? This is interesting. I love the underdog teams. They should have lost both series, and if this continues, they may have a chance at the cup. After all, it's been what, 16 years since their last? They deserve it more than Toronto!

[ForeverUnknown]

Well I just checked the upcoming Conference Finals schedule and there's only one game that will not be on OLN. UGH this isn't helping to showcase hockey.

[BroChaos Veteran]

dude did you ever watch my broadcast? i couldn't live without oln right now. too bad all their other shows are crap.

[ForeverUnknown]

I watched a few minutes of the first period but the girlfriend wanted to go to ESPN Zone to watch the rest of the game. So for the few min I watched, it was decent. Better than not having anything. Thank you for that :)

It's a little annoying that all games will be at 6PM local time. Makes it a little difficult to get to the arena on weekdays with traffic. Owell, just have to leave earlier.

[rajputwarrior]

i am sorry to say, but that was an elbow at the end of the second period... effin refs

[bayrider]

I thought ti was a blatant elbow too, but of course, Marchant gets a roughing penalty for a clean hit but elbows go uncalled.

[BroChaos Veteran]

too bad for anaheim. overall a pretty good game though.

[Erich]

Wow, edmonton beat both Detroit and San Jose? This is interesting. I love the underdog teams. They should have lost both series, and if this continues, they may have a chance at the cup. After all, it's been what, 16 years since their last? They deserve it more than Toronto!

Edmonton's Regular Season Records

Detroit 2-2

San Jose 3-1

Anaheim 4-0

Minnesota 2-6

St. Louis 1-3

Chicago 2-2

Columbus 2-2

Phoenix 2-2

They were less than 50% against the bottom 5 teams in the west, but above 50% against everyteam they played in the playoffs. Their problem is consistency, not a lack of skill or depth. Infact I'd say Edmonton has more skill and depth than Buffalo. Problem is they were SO INCONSISTENT during the regular season. They were also rotating goalies all season, even if one of the goalies was good enough to start, we'd never know cuz they were on such a tight leash, one bad game would mean you'd probably sit out until every other goalie had a turn with a bad game. They let Dwayne Roloson do his thing, start, he totally didn't look comfortable until the oilers 2-1 victory over the Mighty Ducks on April 13th. After that he now looks in his element. I'm not going to go as far to say he's a 'great' goalie, but he's playing like a starter which the oilers needed.

I even believe that not having a starting goalie all season benefitted the defense of the oilers. We became the #1 best defensive team in the league. How's that you ask? Our team allowed the least amount of Shots on net out of any team in the league during regular season play. Our goal scorers were trained to stop pucks with their teeth, and now that we have a goalie who can stop the rest of the shots that actually come to the net, we're a tough team to score on.

The only thing I've been surprised about is the "professional analysts" failure to recognize Edmonton as a force. I've even seen a couple analysts predict Anaheim in 4 or 5!?!?!?! Did they not see Edmonton beat Anaheim all 4 regular season games? Have they not watched the first 2 rounds of playoffs where Edmonton completely dominates at home? No, they're not underdogs, they are the number 1 most underrated team in the NHL. Do I think they can win the Stanley Cup? Definately! Will they? I have no clue, I'm not a fortune teller.

EDIT: As well I should add, the 2 losses against Detroit and the loss against San Jose both came after the Olympic break where Oilers were really skidding bad. They went from battling for the division title to, battling for eighth. The Olympics really broke something, they were a team that dominated in the third period all season long. After the Olympics, they would score early, but were lucky to hold onto a 2 goal lead in the 3rd. Going into the playoff they got their mojo back, and now they are a first AND third period team. And in classic Oiler style, it's been the third period where all their scoring is getting done.

Edited May 20, 2006 by Erich

[AJerman]

The only thing I've been surprised about is the "professional analysts" failure to recognize Edmonton as a force.

Welcome to Carolina's world ;).

You know, I'd really like to see Carolina and Edmonton play for the Cup. The analysts heads will be spinning trying to decide which team is really just the fluke and won't make it past... oh wait, they will have already made it past every other round :rolleyes:

Being a redneck from North Carolina who chews tobacco all day while driving around my tractor on my giant farm and not knowing anything about hockey, I've completely given up on anyone else's opinion. As someone else said on the Hurricanes message board... Forget respect, win the cup. That's how I'm going after it from now on :)

Hope to see you in June!

[Toastyone]

:pinch: grah! Stupid Miller and his good goaltending! :angry: I was actually yelling at my TV :p

[BroChaos Veteran]

miller has been on fire. need to break that ice, get him a little uncertain.

[bayrider]

Miller has proven me wrong. I thought he wouldn't do so good against Carolina, especially after having a few days off and comming off a bit rusty. I think Miller has got the Canes solved. They like to shoot from bad angles and bury the rebounds and opportunities. Thats what they did in Montreal and NJ but Miller's rebound control is ruining their game plan.

I know for a fact Miller has a relatively weaker glovehand compared to his other spots, thats where Carolina has to shoot. So far it looks like its going to be an interesting series, thats for sure.

[Erich]

Miller's a tough goalie to get "uncertain." But on the same token, he's FAR from unbeatable. The biggest problem with scoring against miller is it's rare you get a second opportunity on the same play. If he makes a stop your not gonna see a rebound, much like kipper, but unlike the kipper he's not as tough to beat with a good first shot. Plug up his line of site, get lots of deflections, get him moving cross ice with a screen preventing him from seeing the pass. And you will score lots on this guy. Fire shots he can see all the way, and expect little scoring. This is the same goalie that has been pulled quite a few times after giving up 6 goals during the season.

[bayrider]

Well he is a rookie... but so is Cam Ward and Ilya Bryzgalov! Only Roloson has playoff experience.

[AJerman]

Hopefully we will learn from game 1 and come back tonight in game 2. Miller played very well and several of Buffalo's goals were on blown defensive plays by us, so hopefully we can eliminate those as well. Unfortunately I'm going to miss the beginning of the game because I stupidly scheduled to go take a look at a car half and hour before the game starts. Oh well, I'll still catch most of it.

GO CANES!

[Wrezal]

IMO i think that Edminton should beat Anaheim i mean atm its 2-0 to Edminton and in the season Edminton beat Anaheim 4-0 so well I say they have a good chance as they fair well against the big teams, but well we will see how it goes!

[bayrider]

What an exciting end-to-end game in Carolina. Probably the most exiting i've seen all year.

[BroChaos Veteran]

so yeah, um, how about that third period? :p hope ya didn't blink. there was a goal almost every other minute.

[bayrider]

Anyone watching the Carolina/Buffalo game? The 2nd period of this game is better than the best hockey games all year combined!!

[BroChaos Veteran]

howabout the finish at the end? ryan miller man....the kid is amazing.

what happened to anaheim? they gonna get swept?

[bayrider]

The finish was exciting, but what 1 goal lead isnt exciting the last 10mins of the game in the playoffs??

I thought the 2nd period was equally amazing, if not more!!

Miller is going to be an amazing goalie, and proved to me this playoffs that he is the better of the 2 rookie goaltenders (the other being Lundqvist who had a phenomenal season).

[BroChaos Veteran]

haha, yeah, not much in sports is better than the flourish at the end of a 1 goal difference playoff game :p

[mikebiacsi]

Ducks won 6-3 last night, although i doubt they can come back from 3-1 down. I was watching highlights on nhl.com and to say the commentator was biased would be a bit of an understatement.

Looked like a good game though.

[BroChaos Veteran]

would be nice if they could stretch it out, hopefully 6 or 7 games.