O-VER-TIME, O-VER-TIME, O-VER-TIME Over here, Islanders fan. Still watching. Didn't post because I didn't watch yesterday's game.
Let me be the first to say I'm pretty shocked that this series is tied. The hawks have been far from their best but still find a way to get it done. That third period was utterly disgusting. At the start it looked like the hawks finally found their game, and cruised to a 2 goal lead, but then just inexplicably stopped playing defense entirely and let in 3 more in about 30 seconds.. 2nd fastest 3 goals in playoff history lmao. The hawks overcame that though. Multiple overtimes, a goalie change, kane coming back from injury, lack of defensive depth and then losing one of our dmen on top of that. The hawks have managed to keep overcoming every obstacle. This team is ready to win a cup for sure. I'm just pretty scared because Anaheim is clearly ready to win a cup to. Pretty sure the east is going to get smashed in the final again this year.
I can't say I'm surprised, I just don't underrate the Blackhawks after the past few years. The team has a ton of heart. Chicago shuffles their team around, but they've still got the same core of players on offense that carried them to their last two Cup victories, and that to me is critically important. You've got guys who have climbed the mountain and been at the summit more than once, who are still very dangerous on the offensive end. I'd still rather see the Bolts win because I like their fast-paced style of hockey, and it would be very entertaining to me to see Martin St. Louis force a trade out of Tampa Bay, take his team to the Cup Finals, lose in the Finals, then watch his old team pass by his new team and win the Cup the following year. And St. Louis might be my favorite player of the modern era, too.
I feel like that's a misconception now though honestly. the hawks are not the offensive powerhouse they once were. Pretty sure they finished bottom half of the league in scoring this year.. but they finished tied for #1 in defense, and that's where the real core of the team is. Keith and Seabrook. hjalmarsson and oduya. but oduya is showing signs of his age, and the 3rd D pairing is anyone's guess usually. hossa is showing signs of his age too. he can still skate and pass with the best of them, but he seems to not be able to find the back of the net anymore for whatever reason. Patrick Sharp too, but sharp doesn't have the speed or strength or defensive game that Hossa does either. And it's the depth players I look at too. the secondary scoring seems way down. we've struggled through the whole playoffs so far, Minnesota notwithstanding lol. this team just feels worlds apart from that 2013 team that blew away every team that was unlucky enough to get in our way. last year was a struggle and I was hoping for better this season but it's just been more of the same alarming trends to me. I look at the LA Kings and the Boston Bruins and I worry about where this team might be headed in the next few seasons.. As long as stan bowman and Joel Quenneville are running things I think we'll always be a contender or thereabouts though, but I'm not sure if they'll be able to continue having the same success we've had. right now we have a lot of good prospects starting to come through though and the moves made at the trade deadline demonstrate that we have a savvy and capable gm, so I'm still hopeful.
I wanna see Anaheim win tonight and the series. I want to see Tampa beat the Rangers to move on. Ducks vs Lightning cup final.
never seen the blackhawks look so bad before.. but we were down 3-0 to Nashville in the first period and they're as physical as the ducks are and we still won that game..
It's never done for the hawks. why doesn't anyone understand that? that tying goal had shades of patrick kane from game 6 in philly
Blackhawks/Ducks has been my favorite series of the playoffs, both NHL & NBA. Not many great series', but this one has held weight so far.
game 5 was the second most painful loss I've ever felt in sports, I think. only behind game 7 vs LA last year. I haven't been able to watch sports for the at day cuz the whole world wants to talk about that fucking ducks hawks game and I can't take it. Better see a strong response from the hawks tonight. I've downgraded my opinion of the ducks though. Last year's LA kings were still scarier than these ducks. they're still a great team though, but over the span of these games I've started to see a number of cracks in their armor, weakness in their game. unfortunately the hawks haven't done a great job taking advantage of them. Anderson looked like he didn't know which way was up during the last game but they never even got to attempt a shot on him in overtime. that can't happen. and game 5 was such a huge tactical fuck-up on beudreua's part. He said on tv "we can't sit back against this team or we'll have a comeback in 10 seconds". then what do the ducks do? they sat back, and big surprise, the hawks come back and force overtime. we totally let them off the hook. it's as if the ducks all went on vacation after the first period. you'd never see Daryl Sutter's LA kings (or lots of other teams) looking so complacent like that, imo.
Been havin issues with my iPods wifi the last week so I haven't been on. NYR/TB has been so unpredictable. But being so familiar with this situation, I have a lil confidence we can pull it out Friday, but like usual it can easily go either way 'Too blessed to be stressed'
I am routing for Tampa but knew they would blow six and go to NY to make it extra hard Sent from my iPhone using Cocaine
Heart says ANA-TB SCF, brain says CHI-NYR SCF. Heart is guessing TB in 7. Brain is saying Chicago in 5.
my heart and my brain both say rangers hawks in the final. that's what they've said since before the playoffs even started and I'm not changing my mind now. There's just no fucking way the hawks are going to let another game 7 slip, especially after the sound beating we put on Anaheim tonight. we just have to do out and do it again. and as for the rangers, it's game 7 at home with Henrik lunqvist, what else needs to be said? hey by the way, what happened to that guy who wants to get rid of crawford and start darling? Crawford has been great ever since getting his net back. I don't hear anyone asking coach q who's going to start the next game anymore..lol