NHL Playoff Discussion Thread

[Asher]

He nearly pulled a Luongo. Only the hook spared him the full elimination.

[notyoueither]

The crowd in Washington is really good.

[Asher]

Are they littering the ice with debris and blaming the refs for everything?

[Ben Kenobi]

There will always be an excuse, and it'll never be the fault of a Canuck.

I don't know why you are so blind to the fact that Luongo never recovered from the dirty hit on him prior.

3 bad goals, and you don't wonder, maybe the hit affected him more then he's let on? He stops that wraparound, Canucks force a game 7 and would have played last night at home.

There's a direct trend in Luongo's play that the bigger the game and the more pressure he's put under, the worse he performs.

In the elimination game two years ago he was stellar. He was stellar all through the last month when the pressure was on. He had two straight shut outs to close out the season and stymied Calgary to clinch the division.

He is fine for big games, just had a bad game on game 6. We'll give you guys Luongo for 2 first round draft picks from Calgary though.

Not just in the last game, but the entire post-season. As the article above says, he had a reputation as a big-game goaltender without ever having won a big game. This playoffs was seriously damaging to his chances to be Canada's starter in the 2010 Olympics.

He has won big games. He stole a series against Dallas, and won handidly against St. Louis. Or were those not 'big games', because they weren't past the second round of the playoffs?

[Asher]

Oh, Ben.

[Ben Kenobi]

Here's the thing: Whether Luongo was injured or just had a bad game, the bottom line is that he let his team down when it counted most.

It was a cheap shot, in a game that you folks were doing fine, it was completely unnecessary, and the hallmarks of a loser squad. Did the Canucks run Khabibulin? No. We just don't play that way.

Bad game scenario -- If Luongo let the Hawks play bother him ("not the same after the hit"), then he's not the man that his reputation suggests. If this was true, the coach should have pulled him.

It's not a shame to get pulled after getting injured from a cheap shot, and I'm still not sure why AV didn't pull him.

Injury scenario -- If Luongo was injured, then he should have fessed up and taken himself out of the game. If he stayed in and played hurt, he was putting himself before the team.

Agreed here. I thought he should step up. We have a competent back up in LaBarbera who could handle a half a period of work.

My perception is that Vancouver got away from their recipe for success, trying to get on the attack and test the Hawks D (thus the reversal of the SOG stat compared to the rest of the series). This approach removed some of the defensive shield Luongo typically enjoys, putting extra pressure on the goalie and creating extra scoring opportunities for the Hawks. Who capitalized.

The only game they really played according to their normal style was game 3. They did run and gun to trade wins the first two, which I never understood from AV. Then AV pulled out the full trap with no forecheckers in game 4 despite not dressing Salo. I disagreed with that strategy then. They aren't designed to be a counterpunching, Lemaire style team. Almost pulled out the win and a 3-1 series win.

Game 5 was another disappointment. Late goals, poor officiating cost them another win. Game 6, again I thought they would come out on fire, and that didn't surprise me. I expected to see more run and gun in the 3rd just because of how the team played the rest of the way.

I agree with you that there were some serious errors in AV's approach to the Hawks, which is why he lost 3 in a row. They never had a consistant strategy or system, and kept changing up. That being said, I think the Canucks proved their versitality, in that they can play pretty much any style, but unfortunately the Hawks are probably the worst team to do that against. AV needed to stick to his style of 2-1-2, dump and chase, puck control which worked in game 3.

Oh and BTW, blaming the officiating is the hallmark of losers. Superior teams rise above the calls, ignore hostile crowds, fight through their opponents tactics -- and perform their best when the chips are down.

Calls were 5-1 against. Absolutely unacceptable in the playoffs. I don't care what you say, the Hawks were not that clean.

[Asher]

Oh, Ben.

I love your claim that calls were 5-1 against.

[Mon River Monarch]

Yep

I dunno if it'll top Wsh-Pit, but it has a chance.

Maybe the Original Six factor will elevate it above.

Did you watch? Even tho I'm a Pitt fan, it was kind of a letdown. No real drama. I don't think the game was anything close to what expectations were. I was shocked to hear after the game that the Penguins had ZERO penalties

No fights, no tension. On to the next series

[Asher]

For fun. PIM, excluding misconducts

GAME 1:
Canuck PIM: 6
Hawks PIM: 14

GAME 2:
Canucks: 22
Hawks: 20

GAME 3:
Canucks: 12
Hawks: 12

GAME 4:
Canucks: 10
Hawks: 8

GAME 5:
Canucks: 12
Hawks: 6

GAME 6:
Canucks: 8
Hawks: 10

TOTAL:
Canucks: 70
Hawks: 70

What the **** are you whining about, Ben?

[Asher]

Did you watch? Even tho I'm a Pitt fan, it was kind of a letdown. No real drama. I don't think the game was anything close to what expectations were. I was shocked to hear after the game that the Penguins had ZERO penalties

No fights, no tension. On to the next series

It was a typical boring Eastern Conference game. bunch of women playing.

[Asher]

Also, I can't let this comment go:

That being said, I think the Canucks proved their versitality, in that they can play pretty much any style

The Canucks lost, Ben. So they can't play any style aside from the one where Roberto Luongo stands on his head and is a 1-man team.

You were outshot every game that series but one. And the one where you did outshoot your opponent, Roberto Luongo was ECHL-quality.

The Hawks have proven that the Canucks were a one-man team, overly reliant on Luongo. Once he was out, so were they.

[Mon River Monarch]

It was a typical boring Eastern Conference game. bunch of women playing.

True, hockey in general is getting more boring

[Ben Kenobi]

The Canucks lost, Ben. So they can't play any style aside from the one where Roberto Luongo stands on his head and is a 1-man team.

Game 6 should have shown you that this was false. If Luongo had played the way he did against St. Louis, they would have beaten Chicago easily. His form dropped considerably.

It's not necessary for him to stand on his head, but a SV PCT of .920 is expected.

You were outshot every game that series but one. And the one where you did outshoot your opponent, Roberto Luongo was ECHL-quality.

And they still had 3 leads in the game, one with 5 minutes to go in the game. They blew 3 leads in the last 5 minutes in all the remaining games, which allowed Chicago to come back and win all three.

The Hawks have proven that the Canucks were a one-man team, overly reliant on Luongo. Once he was out, so were they.

One men teams don't score 5 goals in a losing effort. Oh, BTW, Luongo still outplayed Khabibulin even in the last game. ECHL quality? Why aren't you slagging Khabi?

[Asher]

Ben, the reason that the Canucks scored so much is they were far less defensively responsible. And that lack of responsible defensive play is why they were scored on so much.

When the game opens up, you can only prove you can play it when you win. Virtually any team can score 5 or more goals if they don't care about stopping the puck.

Are you admitting you were wrong about the penalties?

[Lord Avalon]

Detroit is movin' on!

Couldn't post at all last night.