Stanley Cup Playoffs!!!

[Grubendol]

Hello Hockey Fans!

So, with just a couple of games left to the season and the matchups almost all formed up, I want to talk pucks and fights with all my Opti-friends…

Who’s your team? Are you happy with matchups?

I’m a lifelong Pens fan and am ecstatic they have cinched up the first place Atlantic seed. And I can’t believe they are a game away from locking up #1 overall considering it was just two seasons ago they weren’t even in the playoffs.

If the current rankings hold, that would mean finishing the season with two games against the Flyers and then heading into a 7 game series with the Flyers. There were enough fights in their last game to last an entire playoff series so it should be nice and bloody before it is all said and done.

Current Rankings…

Eastern Conference
Team
GP
Pts
1. y-Pittsburgh 81 102
2. y-Montreal 81 102
3. * Carolina 81 92
4. x-New Jersey 80 97
5. x-NY Rangers 80 95
6. Ottawa 81 94
7. Boston 80 92
8. Washington 81 92
9. Philadelphia 80 91
10. Buffalo 81 88
11. Florida 80 83
12. Toronto 81 83
13. NY Islanders 81 77
14. Atlanta 81 74
15. Tampa Bay 81 71
* = Division Leader

Western Conference
Team
GP
Pts
1. z-Detroit 81 113
2. y-San Jose 81 108
3. y-Minnesota 81 97
4. x-Anaheim 80 98
5. x-Dallas 80 95
6. x-Colorado 81 93
7. x-Calgary 81 92
8. x-Nashville 81 91
9. Vancouver 81 88
10. Edmonton 82 88
11. Chicago 80 86
12. Phoenix 80 80
13. Columbus 80 80
14. St. Louis 80 75
15. Los Angeles 81 71
* = Division Leader

[Leo Hadley Jr]

Well, my team " the Sabres" were eliminated last night so now I will pull for the Wild in the west. I lived in Minnesota for two years and attended a lot of games in the Xcel energy center. They have great fans and I hope they have a great run.

As far as the East, I hate all eastern teams except my own but I did gain a lot of respect for Pittsburgh the other night. They stood up very well to the cheap shot Flyers and that was a bloodbath. I would love to see that series but I am sure the Flyers will choke. My hats off to Syd the kid for taking all those sticks in the face and coming up swinging. I think the Penguins have a great shot.

[Grubendol]

Thanks for the support LabRat ;)

Y’know I have to say watching the Pens/Rangers games from the weekend, you’d think that the Rangers were the #1 seed from the commentary at NBC.

Anyway, yeah, the Flyers game was a real bloodbath and the refs were calling it like a playoff game. I don’t know how many times a player can be slashed in the face, punched in the head, clotheslined or take a skate in the face without a penalty being called but that game was pretty darn close to setting a record in that category.

The big difference between the Pens of last year and the Pens of this year is that they have the physical toughness to stand up to that kind of beating. Laraque, Ruutu, Letang, Orpik, etc. have all become that much tougher. I can’t remember the last Pens game I saw where Laraque didn’t pick a fight or Ruutu didn’t taunt someone into one.

[obxeyeguy]

Well, my team " the Sabres" were eliminated last night

Ditto that from me, but hey, they just were not that good this year. I don't really like the pens, but they are very good team. The flyers seem to be going for that vintage flyers hockey:hammer:. Depending on what carolina does match-up wise, I may try to get there and catch a game.

[Grubendol]

The flyers are the Oakland Raiders of the NHL….Perrenial Thugs who manage to beat teams up enough to win an occasional championship ;)

[For-Life]

My team is D.O.A. and D.U.M.B. Yep, the Leafs

Either way, I predict that it will be the Ducks beating the Canadiens in the finals

[cocoisland58]

I've been a Wings fan all my life. I have a possible connection for playoff tickets and I'm crossing my fingers. Maybe I'll even try to sneak the octopus in. Is there anything more fun than being at a hockey game? And I mean here in the north where they were meant to play. Man I live for fights.

[Scott]

I have got to say go WINGS!!!! With last nights amazing win less than 11 seconds left in the game, the Red Wings won the Presidents Trophy for an unprecidented 6th time giving them home ice throughout the playoffs. I would love to see Detroit vs. Pittsburgh in the finals

[Grubendol]

Detroit Pittsburgh would be a blast. Two incredibly offensive teams pitted against each other for 7 games.

Sadly, as good as Detroit is (and probably Pittsburgh too), Detroit hasn’t done terribly well in the playoffs lately.

I miss playing dearly, but I almost died from a pancreatic problem almost 5 years ago and came out of it with a hernia in my midsection which makes physical exertion difficult and a body check potentially deadly. No hockey since.

[For-Life]

Detroit has a great team this year, but it will be questionable about how their goalies will do in the playoffs. Hasek is one of the best all time, but he is fragile. Osgood has had a good year, but he was never really great when he was young, and age has not helped out much

[cocoisland58]

Detroit has a great team this year, but it will be questionable about how their goalies will do in the playoffs. Hasek is one of the best all time, but he is fragile. Osgood has had a good year, but he was never really great when he was young, and age has not helped out much

True. But dang the old guys can still get out there can't they? Cheli is 46! The thing with this team is that we have some of the best European players in the entire league. Some of them are still babies but seem to be maturing at a rate faster than the old guys did in their youth. This may not be a Stanley Cup year but, been there. It's no longer about the big win for me, it's about the game. God I miss the old days when Gordie Howe and Alex Delvecchio owned the ice. No helmets, no teeth, blood everywhere. Brings a tear to my eye.

[FullCircle]

Speaking as a Blackhawks fan, we'll gladly take ol' Cheli back! We'll take him off our hands. It's the least we can do. :bbg:

[jediron1]

Detroit Pittsburgh would be a blast. Two incredibly offensive teams pitted against each other for 7 games.

Sadly, as good as Detroit is (and probably Pittsburgh too), Detroit hasn’t done terribly well in the playoffs lately.

I miss playing dearly, but I almost died from a pancreatic problem almost 5 years ago and came out of it with a hernia in my midsection which makes physical exertion difficult and a body check potentially deadly. No hockey since.

Well I don't know what happened to your last post but it looks like when my son does his web designing. But now for Hockey I will be rooting for Montreal if you saw the final standings 1. Montreal 2. Pittsburgh and so forth. Montreal has great tradition and their fans are just fanatical. I think the series between Montreal and Boston will be pitting two old time franchises against each for the first time in many years and the Forum in Montreal as always will be sold out with 20,000 plus screaming fans. Lets go Hockey. :cheers:

[Grubendol]

I tried to copy data from the NHL site and it didn’t want to post…created a mess. It’s cleaned up now.

If the Pens can’t win, I will definitely be pulling for whatever Canadian team is left. It’s been too long since Canada won the cup.

[Grubendol]

LOL!!!!

An Ottawa doctor helped to make things worse for the Sens in the series!

Ottawa eye doctor helps enemy Penguins goalie

3 days ago
OTTAWA (AFP) — A Canadian optometrist has unwittingly given the Pittsburgh Penguins an advantage going into their opening National Hockey League playoff game Wednesday against her darling Ottawa Senators.
Optometrist Janet Leduc wrote in a letter to the Penguins' coaching staff some months ago that their goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury, could improve his game if he ditched his trademark yellow pads.
Accompanying her letter was a graph describing how quickly human eyes identify various colors, she told AFP.
Leduc explained that the human eye spots yellow more easily than any other color and that is why ambulances, fire hydrants and school buses are often painted yellow.
"This means that of everything on the ice, the most visible object is Marc-Andre's goalie pads," she wrote.
"When the play is so fast, this is an advantage to your opponents," she said. "They can easily pick out your goalie, net and where to aim the puck in a split second."
"At your level of competition, a small thing like this can make the difference between a successful or unsuccessful shot on net."
Leduc suggested that Fleury switch to white goalie leg pads to blend in with his background of ice, goal netting and boards.
Recently, he apparently took that advice and with a new white blocker, trapper and pads improved his statistics to a personal record 0.921 save percentage and 2.33 goals against average.
Now the Penguins will open the Stanley Cup playoffs against Leduc's favorite team.
With Ottawa's captain Daniel Alfredson sidelined by injury, the Penguins are heavily favored to defeat the Senators in the NHL Eastern Conference best-of-seven first-round series.
"Isn't that awful?" Leduc said. "But the Senators were way ahead of Pittsburgh in December when I wrote the letter."
Leduc said she is "horrified" by the thought that the Senators could be defeated by the Penguins in the first round of the NHL playoffs because of her meddling, but said she was only looking to help out a young goalie from Quebec.
"I'm a huge Senators fan, but Fleury is a good kid and I just thought he needed someone to tip him off about the yellow pads," she said.
"My advice hasn't made him a better goalie," she added. "But it has made it a bit harder for his opponents to score on him."

I love when this business of ours ties in to hockey!