T1B

Should be the best of the conference finals pitting the Sharks D against the speed of the Hawks.

Sharks jump on top first 1-0 in the 1st.

Exciting game.

Neimi was a freak.

1-0 Hawks.

The Sharks seem to be headed toward a quick WCF exit.

...as usual Marleau forgot to come to the game again...at least Thornton is out there visibly trying.

Like I said, the Hawks are a younger version of the Wings but with more bite and hunger. I'm not too fond of their goalie but he's gotten the job done up to this point. The Sharks had success at home and the Blackhawks had a road winning streak entering those first two games...something had to give. Right now, I see a team in full control going home with a 2-0 lead. Yeah, the Sharks are starving for a trip to the finals and a chance at a title but I don't see the Hawks being denied this time. This was the wrong team to run into. They're going to be in cap hell this summer and we'll see a shakeup with their lineup so this is their only chance to win with this group of talent.

The one thing the Sharks can hang their hopes on is the Hawks can look dominant in their wins but also, they can play undisciplined and sloppy and lose big in games. The games the Canucks won, they preyed on the Hawks mistakes. The Sharks need to get those opportunities and capitalize like they did against Detroit or this thing won't go back to NoCal.

Hopefully the Blackhawks win the next two and the Renfairy disappears from this forum for another 20 years.

I don't watch much hockey except when the playoffs roll around, but it seems to me that teams have figured out Nabokov . . .

... he's great at making tough saves head-on, but if you use another player to screen him from the shooter, he's bad at seeing around it. You can get some cheap goals that way.

Can't put 100% of the blame on the goalie for screen shots. That first goallast night was just a great play by the shooter.

Just as a general commentary on the art of screening the goalie...the new rules have lead to that becoming a bigger part of the "half court" offense of a hockey team. I've seen that become the #1 weapon for the Wings offense and how it plays in so well with their puck possession game and their offensive-minded defensemen. Before, they had guys like Shanahan, Hull, Fedorov, and even Yzerman work on getting into dead spaces in the zone for one-timers but now, it's become about getting a crease/net presence in front of the goaltender. The Wings were a completely different team without Holmstrom and Franzen out of the lineup this season. Those are two of the best in the business at screening the goalie.

Since defensemen are more restricted on what they can do to engage that forward, they're able to raise hell at the top of the crease or in the low slot. I've loved the plays that come off that such as, the high slot deflection, where a forward stands around the hash marks and deflects shots in the goalies field of vision to give them a different angle to account for and the art of the bank shot off the end boards to allow the crease-crasher a chance at that puck to get a one-timer or attempt to jam the puck in as it enters the crease area.

In this series, you have big body guys like Byfuglien and Clowe that are very good at getting front of the goalie and causing problems. There's a fine line between those guys that will stand in the line of fire to screen a goalie and those who are the crease scavengers that will float around the zone but will crash the crease during a scramble to knock in a loose puck. It's definitely become an art form onto itself where guys like Ryan Smyth and Holmstrom have made their careers out of it and it's moving onto another generation of players.

.m2 wrote:I don't watch much hockey except when the playoffs roll around, but it seems to me that teams have figured out Nabokov . . .

... he's great at making tough saves head-on, but if you use another player to screen him from the shooter, he's bad at seeing around it. You can get some cheap goals that way.

Any goalie in the NHL can make the basic save on a face-up chance with a shooter and an unimpeded shot as long as they are sound with their angles and don't kick out the juicy rebounds. The whole point of a screener is to make the goalie uncomfortable and have to look around bodies while he shuffles back and forth in the crease. The combination of quick puck movement and traffic in front of the net is hell on a goalie. So many times you see a shot go through where goalie literally never saw it coming.

It's on the defense to keep the puck at the perimeter and to prevent as many shots from going through as possible. It's why forwards that are daft at blocking shots are so good on the PK. You don't want guys that will flamingo and let those point shots get through to the goalie and allow them to go in while their goalie is blind to the world.

I hate the "pull-up shot" where a guy will come in on the rush and shot from 60 feet and the goalie is set and in a position to make an easy save. Sometimes that's a designed thing to either cause a rebound or for the goalie to eat the puck and force a draw in their zone. When you have teams clog up the neutral zone and make crossing the blue line so difficult, it becomes a team's only offense to just fire a long shot in on goal at the off chance that goalie coughs up a rebound or they're leaky and give up a bad goal.

Shoalzie wrote:I hate the "pull-up shot" where a guy will come in on the rush and shot from 60 feet and the goalie is set and in a position to make an easy save.

Wanna be a bench coach for the Capitals?

Believe me, that crap gets on my nerves. Some guys can drop their shoulder and drive towards the net on the rush and make the defenseman actually defend and put pressure on the goalie.

Not to always bring up my team but the Wings can do that for big stretches of the game when a team seems to take away their ability to gain the zone and move the puck around. Instead, the lead guy will gain the blue line and instead of wait for help, they just rip a shot right into the crest on the goalie's jersey.

The play I like is the one where the attacking player gains the zone and then pulls back at a point position while the trailer goes to the net and either the shooter puts a bouncing shot on net that is hard to control and allow the trailer to get the rebound or do the shot-pass thing and put a hard crisp pass on the stick of the guy streaking to the net for a quick deflection where the goalie actually has to work to make a tough save.

Waiting on the 3rd....

1-1.


Well played game by both teams so far.

Marleau showing up big the last two games. Finally.


Headed to OT

You can't win games against a good offensive team when you only score two a night.

They're just a better team in every regard...

Oh well, at least they didn't get beat by an inferior team this year.

The Hawks really haven't deviated from their regular season goal differential...3.2 goals for per game and 2.48 goals against per game to 3.27 and 2.57 in the playoffs.

I think what's shining through in this series is the Hawks' superior depth up front. This Hawks team is similar to the Wings team last year where they still have top guys like Toews and Keith on cheaper deals for one last year and it allows them to hang onto guys like Sharp, Byfuglien, Bolland and Versteeg. They're in a tough spot with the cap next year so there is major urgency to win this year considering the Canucks are on the come and the Wings have cap room this summer. It's not to say they won't drop off but they just won't have this same depth next year. They really have a dynamic group of forwards and boast the best defensive pair in the league. I think it's their title to lose (unfortunately).

Shoalzie wrote:Canucks

I laughed. The Canucks are finished. I see no potential out of that current lineup.

Screw_Michigan wrote:

Shoalzie wrote:Canucks

I laughed. The Canucks are finished. I see no potential out of that current lineup.

Are you joking? They've got a great group of younger forwards and have Cody Hodgson waiting the wings. What killed them this year was their banged up defense and Luongo fell apart in the Chicago series. They've got their core locked up long term...the Sedins, Kesler, Burrows, Edler and Luongo. I just don't see what you're seeing.

The two teams are very close in quality... the Blackhawks are the slightly better team.

The Sharks have been good at slamming, dumping and chasing the puck, and getting plenty of shots on net, but the Blackhawks have superior speed and puck handling and that is killing the Sharks.

I said it before, this was the wrong team to run into when you're trying to break a long-time playoff whammy. The Hawks were at this stage last year but were humbled by the Wings. Now, the Hawks are back again and they're 60 minutes from the finals.

There's no denying the Sharks' talent but it's the old curse rearing it's ugly head again of not every star is showing up to play at the right time...Marleau has 4 of their 5 goals. The Hawks superior depth has been the difference...Toews has a goal in the series but they've gotten goals out of Byfuglien, Sharp, Bolland, Brouwer and Ladd. The Sharks can't match the Hawks depth up front and they look even less deep when they can only get goals from one guy.

With this game at home and a chance to wrap up the series and go to the finals, I have a hard time thinking the Hawks don't finish it off this afternoon. It's been almost 20 years since they've been to the finals...I can't see them being denied now.

2 years 8 months ago I boldly declared that Old Man Wirtz dying was the best thing that could happen to the franchise. I knew I was right.

Swept



Even if it didn't feel like a sweep... the games were so close.

I'll be pulling for the Hawks.

Being that I was born in Chi-town and raised there as a youngster.

.m2 wrote: Being that I was born in Chi-town and reared there as a youngster.

FTFY.

Look at the bright side m2. The last team to have 4 straight 100 point+ regular seasons and not make the Stanley Cup Finals (1976-1979 Islanders) went on to win 4 straight Cups.

Nabakov is a pussy. Who's gonna be their new netminder?

Screw_Michigan wrote:Nabakov is a pussy. Who's gonna be their new netminder?

Tim Thomas?

MuchoBulls wrote:

Screw_Michigan wrote:Nabakov is a pussy. Who's gonna be their new netminder?

Tim Thomas?

No, the Caps are gonna sign TT.

I heard Vesa Toskala is available.

MuchoBulls wrote:Look at the bright side m2. The last team to have 4 straight 100 point+ regular seasons and not make the Stanley Cup Finals (1976-1979 Islanders) went on to win 4 straight Cups.

Yeah, heard about that but I don't see the connection.

'Nabby' maybe top 5... but, we need a better guy between the pipes.

The Sharks are nowhere near that teams scenario.

Nabakov isn't coming back unless Sharks' brass has a brain fart. Go find a goaltender that makes $500k and put a decent fucking defense in front of him and you guys will have a better shot.

Screw_Michigan wrote:

MuchoBulls wrote:

Screw_Michigan wrote:Nabakov is a pussy. Who's gonna be their new netminder?

Tim Thomas?

No, the Caps are gonna sign TT.

You'll have to trade for him...he just signed a new deal with the B's at the end of last season. I think he has 3 or 4 years left on the deal.