NHL Playoffs

[Asher]

Mmhmm.

BTW, told you Burrows wasn't on the same level as Iginla. If I weren't so lazy I'd look up last year's discussion where you got schooled on the matter.

43g vs 26g this year.

[Ben Kenobi]

Last year they were on the same level. Either Burrows is better than you give him credit or Iginla needs good players for him to be productive. Makes sense to me. Some people like Toews, Kesler, etc make the players with them better. Others do not.

[Flubber]

Last year they were on the same level. Either Burrows is better than you give him credit or Iginla needs good players for him to be productive. Makes sense to me. Some people like Toews, Kesler, etc make the players with them better. Others do not.

Wait a second -- didn't Burrows frequently play with Kesler who you are citing as a great player for making others better?? Why then was he around 60% of Iggy's goal production this year?

[Flubber]

Goals are goals. Whether they are 'soft' they all count the same. You might prefer a goalie that stops all the easy ones and gets totally outclassed, I'll take Bobby Lou, who can stop anything.

.

Yes ben we all know goals all count the same but some goals are far more deflating for a team than others. Anyone who has played understands how deflating it can be to give up a late goal and any player that actually played COMPETITIVELY can tell you how confidence shaking it is when the goalie lets in a real softie. When you start to feel you need to guard against the far out wide angles shots and that gets in youe head, it is not good.

They are winning games late. You simply choose to remember the games where they lose. The Canucks are amazing front runners, and have yet to lose all season in regulation with a lead after the first. Which is *insane*.

hmmm-- it was your stat that they trailed 11 minutes-- also why does regulation time matter in the playoffs ? its real hockey where a win is a win and a loss is a loss ( and yes ben they count the same but there are some wins that are better than others and ditto with losses)

[Ben Kenobi]

The caveat OT or no, they are close to 50-0 when carrying a lead after the first. Total domination. And you're griping about the few times when they do manage to tie it up and the Canucks usually win it anyways.

[Ben Kenobi]

Wait a second -- didn't Burrows frequently play with Kesler who you are citing as a great player for making others better?? Why then was he around 60% of Iggy's goal production this year?

Shows how much you really know about the team.

The lines in the playoffs -

Sedin/Sedin/Samuelsson
Raymond/Kesler/Burrows

In the regular season:

Sedin/Sedin/Burrows
Raymond/Kesler/Higgens(Hansen)

He did not play much with with Kes at all during the regular season.

[Ben Kenobi]

As for the myth, good players don't buy into it Flubber.

I played defense in soccer for a long time. We wanted the early goal because it meant that we could break the game open early on and win. Sure, sometimes they would press and get a lucky goal to close out with a tie, but most of the time we just crushed them.

Goals are goals. It doesn't matter how it gets there, you want to stop the most easiest ways for them to get there.

[Kitschum]

If anyone would like to convince me that Pavel Datsyuk is not the best all-around player in the world, I'm willing to listen.

Datsyuk can't hit and you must have missed Jaromir Jagr's hattrick against the US today. Thirty-nine years of age and still as good as ever!

You fool, still paying attention to the boring old Stanley's Cup when the World Championship is on.

[Asher]

Best hockey troll ever.

[Guynemer]

Awesome.



Though, one should note that Datsyuk led the Wings in hits in their last Stanley Cup playoff run a few years ago.

[Asher]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Bourne-Blog-What-makes-Pavel-Datsyuk-so-damn-go?urn=nhl-wp4735&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

What makes Pavel Datsyuk so damn good

When you're covering Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin(notes), you have a pretty good idea what you're in for — the guy throws zero off-speed pitches. Instead, he steps on the gas and drives his legs, throws the weight of his body onto his stick, and whips a shot toward the goal as hard as he possibly can.

When you're covering a player like Alex Kovalev(notes) of the Pittsburgh Penguins, you know what you're in for — sliders, knuckleballs, and change-ups. He's never going to be a drive-wide-and-jam-one-home guy. He's skill over will — that's not meant to be derogatory, just accurate.

And then there's Pavel Datsyuk(notes), flitting about like wisps of smoke, appearing here and there to suffocate offensive players before gusting back with the wind in the opposite direction.

His slapshot could be a slap-pass; his dish could be a look-off. If you go through a box of chocolate, you occasionally do know what you're going to get. Datsyuk's chocolate is all the same shape — and every time you have to guess what's coming.

In sum, he's the toughest player in the NHL to defend because of the breadth of his arsenal, and his ability to conceal which weapon he's going to use next. Defensemen are always guessing.

Try to comprehend how a player puts up point-per-game numbers while racking up some of his accomplishments, one of which is winning two Stanley Cups. After all, a player only gets so much ice time.

He's won the Selke for the league's best defensive forward three times, and is nominated again this year. He's won the Lady Byng for the league's most gentlemanly player four times (twice he won both in the same season). That in itself is mind-blowing.

The incomprehensible duality of being able to defend with ferocity without taking penalties is impressive enough, but to earn the label "gentlemanly" takes it to a whole other level. The best defensive defensemen in the league can certainly make no such claim (think Pronger, Chara, Weber), and his defensively apt peers on forward, if he has any, are more likely to be snarling aggressors like Ryan Kesler(notes).

It's only logical, then, to assume he's not from this planet. It has to be true, what with that ice cream cone shaped head and ability to use a stick made of black matter, I assume. I assume it's made of black matter, because apparently nobody's able to lift it when he has the puck, yet he's able to dictate where every other player's stick goes when he wants what they have.

And to wield that magician's wand and be able to gingerly, surgically massage the puck on zone entries only furthers my conviction. He took the puck into San Jose's zone earlier in this series, into a sea of feeding-frenzied Sharks, and deftly shifted 90 degrees, put the puck behind his own back and picked it up on the other side as to not expose it to defenders.

Even at a near stop, the defenders looked petrified — do we attack?

He changes the pace with a sharp fluidity, if that's possible, and they seem to know — if we go at him because he's stopped, he's going to dish to a linemate flying into the zone and we'd be hosed. If we give him space, well, then we've just given Pavel Datsyuk time and space in the offensive zone, which is just about as petrifying a concept as watching Gretzky with it, the father of the jam-packed arsenal.

He's one of the rare players in the league that nobody has a book on because of that seemingly endless creativity, his inability to get stuck in one mode which so many other forwards succumb to. It's easy to get locked in — "I'm shooting here" — yet he seems to have no lock.

In these playoffs, he's transcended being "one of the league's great players," and joined the upper echelon which once housed only Crosby and Ovechkin. And while Ovy seemed to have one foot out the door this season and Stamkos is still on the long journey to see if the club will someday accept him, it seems that Datsyuk has walked in the back door.

His game has no excess, just artistry. Somehow he's flashy but not showy, confident but not cocky, and along the way he helps folks remember what being a "fan" is supposed to be like.

The way the older generation discusses the greats of the game before us, deifying the heroes that brought them so much joy, I'll tell my kids about watching him at his prime.

I'm impartial on tonight's game, but if there were a reason to root for one team, it's to be guaranteed more Datsyuk. His highlight reel is an art gallery, and I'm not through looking yet.

[Ben Kenobi]

I hope we get to settle the issue of Kesler vs Datsyuk in the WCF. Go Wings!

[Ben Kenobi]

Jouez!

[Guynemer]

Power play looks awful.

[Guynemer]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUU