2009 NHL Playoffs

[LV KIX]

I know it may be a little late to start this thread now with openning rounds starting tonight... But here it goes anyway.

 

I just secured my tickets for the Capitals first round matchup... not great seats but I'm phsyched anyway.

 

Just want to see how members here felt about their teams going into the playoffs. If your team didn't make the playoffs are you pulling for any particular team to win The Cup?

 

Here are the matchups:

 

EAST

Boston (1) VS. Montreal (8)

Washngton (2) VS. NY Rangers (7)

New Jersey (3) VS. Carolina (6)

Pittsburgh (4) VS. Philly (5)

 

WEST

San Jose (1) VS. Anaheim (8)

Detroit (2) VS. Columbus (7)

Vancouver (3) VS. St. Loius (6)

Chicago (4) VS, Calgary (5)

 

Who do you like in Round one...?

 

MY PICKS

Boston in 6 games

Washington in 5 games

Carolina in 7 games

Philly in 7 games

San Jose in 6 games

Detroit in 5 games

Vancouver in 5 games

Calgary in 6 games

 

I'll post the next round once these are done... But I'm going with Washington and Detroit in the Stanley Cup.

 

Anyone else...?

[Evil Rick]

Since my team didn't make it obviously my interest is about half of what it has been in the past. There are some great matchups this postseason though. Probably the series I will be following most will be Detroit vs Columbus because it's Columbus' first trip into the playoffs and they split the season series with Detroit. Philly and the Pens should also be a good one. My picks:

 

Boston

Washington

Carolina

Pittsburgh

 

San Jose

Detroit

Vancouver

Calgary

[Dead Planet]

I'm usually terrible in picking winners but here goes....

 

 

Boston in 5

Washington in 5

Carolina in 6

Pittsburg in 6

 

San Jose in 6

Detroit in 7

Vancouver in 6

Calgary in 7

 

 

Of course as long as my Bruins win the rest are meaningless.....

[zacharyamelie]

Boston in 5- Montreal is my team, I'm a French Canadian, I have no choice, so I won't call it a sweep in respect.

Washington in 7 - Game 1 was fluke...right? Are Washington the new San Jose, can't win in the playoffs, let's hope not

Carolina in 7 - Brodeur might just pull it off...again, but I think Staal might be unstoppable

Pittsburgh in 5 - Flyers melted in game 1, their coach got fined 10,000$ I HATE the Flyers!!!!

 

San Jose in 6 - Anaheim takes too many penalties, it will catch up to them

Detroit in 5 - If Osgood plays just OK, they'll kill Colombus

Vancouver in 6 - Luongo is too good for St. Louis

Chicago in 6 - Calgary's played like shit for the past 2 weeks, but I hope thy can beat Chicago, not sure if they can.

 

If Detroit gets some decent goaltending, I'm sure they'll win it all again. I for one am picking San Jose, since I've picked them for the last 3 years, one of these years I'll be right.....right?

 

If Montreal or Colombus wins the Cup, I'll eat my shorts....a clean pair mind you.

[hsf]

Hot damn, the Canes are making it a series!

 

And, hoping that up 3-1, the Pens are poised to take game 5 at home!

 

Cold Coors Light and the playoffs. Does it get any better?

[Dead Planet]

All I can say is... na na na na hey hey hey goodbye Montreal.....

[jstoyz]

Prediction: Avalanche over Dead Wings in 6 games in WC Finals, then Avs will sweep the Florida Panthers in the SC Finals and bring the Cup home to Denver, the only city where it truly belongs! We might even get so excited that riots will break out in downtown Denver! With guys like Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Patrick Roy, Adam Foote, Adam Deadmarsh, and Mike Ricci, ain't no one beatin' that line-up.....

 

And you betcha that I'm gonna keep on celebratin' that 1996 (and 2001) championship b/c, well, professional hockey is on hiatus in the Mile High City for at least a couple of seasons. The "Avs" (un)officially called up the entire Lake Erie Monsters minor league organization this past regular season and will likely do so again next year--> and why wouldn't they given that the "Fightin' LaPerriere's," er, Monsters, battled valiantly and accomplished a hard earned 69 points and last place Western Conference finish. Not too bad for a minor league squad combined with a bunch of over the hill hacks. But two years oughta be enough time for them to track down a goaltender, 2-4 forwards, 3-6 defensemen and a couple or 4 centers......On second thought, 2012-2013 is startin' to look more appealing, so I guess I'll break out the purple- GO Colorado Rockies, let's see if they can manage at least a second to last place divisional finish. Damn this is getting exciting......Jeff.

[Clutch]

Do or die on Sunday for my Canes. Good news is that we are coming home for this one. This series had been black and blue to say the least and a true rivalry has developed with NJ.

[hsf]

Do or die on Sunday for my Canes. Good news is that we are coming home for this one. This series had been black and blue to say the least and a true rivalry has developed with NJ.

 

I'm crossing my fingers for you Chris. I hope the Canes knock the stuffing out of Jersey. I'd love to see Carolina end Jersey's season.

 

(And I'm hoping the Game 4 Pens show up, not the Game 5 Pens, for Game 6. This is getting to nerve-wracking to deal with Philly winning Game 6 and then coming back home in a best of 1 series with Philly having all the momentum after winning two.)

[hsf]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I don't know why they didn't give an effort like that in Game 5, but after letting themselves get knocked around early, the Pens came back with strong effort (and a bit of luck) and eliminated the Flyers in 6.

 

Now it's on to some well-deserved rest and awaiting the results of the of the other two series (hopefully Rangers and Canes wins).

[stormspell]

Nafuckoff farted two easy goals between the legs as usual, but the Sharkies were lucky and managed to jump the gun in OT one more time. Still it is a horrible agony to watch such determined team playing their hearts out to get busted day in and day out by an ultra-lame-ass goalie... ugh!

[Clutch]

Do or die on Sunday for my Canes. Good news is that we are coming home for this one. This series had been black and blue to say the least and a true rivalry has developed with NJ.

 

I'm crossing my fingers for you Chris. I hope the Canes knock the stuffing out of Jersey. I'd love to see Carolina end Jersey's season.

 

(And I'm hoping the Game 4 Pens show up, not the Game 5 Pens, for Game 6. This is getting to nerve-wracking to deal with Philly winning Game 6 and then coming back home in a best of 1 series with Philly having all the momentum after winning two.)

 

Thanks Jay, we need all the help we can get. Licking my wounds from the annual draft party but all in all I feel good. Great weather also helps. Braves game early, Canes at 7:30.

[Clutch]

Canes up 3-0 in the 2nd. Hope we can hold on for game 7.

[hsf]

Congrats Chris! Tuesday night's gonna be big!

 

LOVE to see the Canes take out the Brodeurs!

 

(Crossing my fingers Hank figures out his troubles before the game starts. Do NOT want to see Ovechkin make it out of the first round.... EVER!)

[zacharyamelie]

Boston in 5- Montreal is my team, I'm a French Canadian, I have no choice, so I won't call it a sweep in respect.

Washington in 7 - Game 1 was fluke...right? Are Washington the new San Jose, can't win in the playoffs, let's hope not

Carolina in 7 - Brodeur might just pull it off...again, but I think Staal might be unstoppable

Pittsburgh in 5 - Flyers melted in game 1, their coach got fined 10,000$ I HATE the Flyers!!!!

 

San Jose in 6 - Anaheim takes too many penalties, it will catch up to them

Detroit in 5 - If Osgood plays just OK, they'll kill Colombus

Vancouver in 6 - Luongo is too good for St. Louis

Chicago in 6 - Calgary's played like shit for the past 2 weeks, but I hope thy can beat Chicago, not sure if they can.

 

If Detroit gets some decent goaltending, I'm sure they'll win it all again. I for one am picking San Jose, since I've picked them for the last 3 years, one of these years I'll be right.....right?

 

If Montreal or Colombus wins the Cup, I'll eat my shorts....a clean pair mind you.

 

Well I did pretty good, 7 out 8 series predicted. The Sharks just can't win it. I love my 7 games with Staal being too much in the NJ/Canes series. Damn I was so right with that one.

[hsf]

Hey Chris! Congrats on that win! (Wasn't looking good there for awhile.)

 

Fuck the Caps and Ovechkin! The Rangers suck it bigtime! As much as they carried the play early on and they couldn't finish things out. (I know they were the lower ranked team, but they made it THAT far. DAMNIT!)

[Clutch]

Hey Chris! Congrats on that win! (Wasn't looking good there for awhile.)

 

Fuck the Caps and Ovechkin! The Rangers suck it bigtime! As much as they carried the play early on and they couldn't finish things out. (I know they were the lower ranked team, but they made it THAT far. DAMNIT!)

 

Could not agree more Jay. I was simply hoping for OT but to get a win, WOW! Here's to round 2!

[Dead Planet]

Well I got 6 of 8 in the first round......the second round is going to be much more difficult.....

 

Boston & Carolina........this one has me worried, my Bruins had it easy in the first go round but they will have to really suck it up against the Canes, Ward looks great and Thomas will have to be as good for them to win...anyway got to go with Boston in 6....

 

Pittsburgh & Washington........this one should go 7 and I think if Pittsburgh's Fleury plays as well as he did in the first round their offense will win it for the Pens...

 

Vancouver & Chicago..........another close series but once again I think the goalies will tell the tale with Luongo winning it for the Canucks in 6...

 

Anaheim & Detroit.............I really don't know what to think of this matchup, I didn't give Anaheim much chance of defeating SJ but they crushed them, so considering that Hiller looks a lot better than Osgood I'm going with the Ducks in 7....

 

All of these series are going to be great to watch.....

[LV KIX]

In the second round I'm gonna call my picks guesses instead of predictions.

 

Boston over Carolina

Washington over Pitt.

Vancouver over Chicago

Detroit over Anaheim

 

And I'll say all series will be decided in anywhere between 4 and 7 games.

 

It just seems that Detroit can just turn it up another level once the playoffs start... It's gonna be hard for anyone to knock them off.

 

And why so many Ovechkin haters...?

[zacharyamelie]

In the second round I'm gonna call my picks guesses instead of predictions.

 

Boston over Carolina

Washington over Pitt.

Vancouver over Chicago

Detroit over Anaheim

 

And I'll say all series will be decided in anywhere between 4 and 7 games.

 

It just seems that Detroit can just turn it up another level once the playoffs start... It's gonna be hard for anyone to knock them off.

 

And why so many Ovechkin haters...?

 

 

I'm with Dave with the picks. But I wouldn't be surprised if I got none of them right.

[Guest Swyrm]

In the second round I'm gonna call my picks guesses instead of predictions.

 

Boston over Carolina

Washington over Pitt.

Vancouver over Chicago

Detroit over Anaheim

 

And I'll say all series will be decided in anywhere between 4 and 7 games.

 

It just seems that Detroit can just turn it up another level once the playoffs start... It's gonna be hard for anyone to knock them off.

 

And why so many Ovechkin haters...?

 

I'm with these picks as well. Being from Boston I think it's obvious who I want to go all the way.

[hsf]

What a GREAT game so far!

 

I know it will be difficult to keep Ovechkin in check like this the whole game (let alone the whole series), but the fact that they are able to do it and keep most of the game in the Caps' end is good. Mike Green looks to have showed up big. I'm waiting for the Caps' big rush here. They're not getting shots too much yet, but when that barrage comes, the Pens had better be prepared. (Good luck Fleury!)

 

If the Pens could go in up at least 2 after the first, that would be a good start. Let's hope they convert on the PP.

 

GO PENS!

 

(Oh, and as much as Don Cherry can be off the mark, I agree with him about Ovechkin's grandstanding. Fist pumps are great; shows aren't necessary. Go to Broadway (not the NYR) if you want to do that. And he's good and not a Penguin. Don't need much more reason than that. Plus, I've ALWAYS hated the Caps. They are natural rivals for the Pens (particularly after those Mid-90s playoff series), right after the Flyers.)

 

**** DAMN the Caps are quick! Brooks Laich made that goal! I mean, Bradley made the luck pass and Fleury's laziness gave up that juicy rebound, but if Laich hadn't hustled, that play never happens. That's the scary part about the Caps. They are WELL-ROUNDED. It's not just Ovechkin. Pens (and Fleury) have to get tough.

[Clutch]

What a GREAT game so far!

 

I know it will be difficult to keep Ovechkin in check like this the whole game (let alone the whole series), but the fact that they are able to do it and keep most of the game in the Caps' end is good. Mike Green looks to have showed up big. I'm waiting for the Caps' big rush here. They're not getting shots too much yet, but when that barrage comes, the Pens had better be prepared. (Good luck Fleury!)

 

If the Pens could go in up at least 2 after the first, that would be a good start. Let's hope they convert on the PP.

 

GO PENS!

 

(Oh, and as much as Don Cherry can be off the mark, I agree with him about Ovechkin's grandstanding. Fist pumps are great; shows aren't necessary. Go to Broadway (not the NYR) if you want to do that. And he's good and not a Penguin. Don't need much more reason than that. Plus, I've ALWAYS hated the Caps. They are natural rivals for the Pens (particularly after those Mid-90s playoff series), right after the Flyers.)

 

**** DAMN the Caps are quick! Brooks Laich made that goal! I mean, Bradley made the luck pass and Fleury's laziness gave up that juicy rebound, but if Laich hadn't hustled, that play never happens. That's the scary part about the Caps. They are WELL-ROUNDED. It's not just Ovechkin. Pens (and Fleury) have to get tough.

 

Tough game Jay. At least the Pens were in it. My Canes played hard but just didn't have the extra effort. Cam was pulled too far from the net several times. Hope they play better today. To steal one in Boston would be huge, however unrealistic that sounds.

[hsf]

You're so right Chris. But, as talented as Washington is, the Pens have no one to blame but themselves. They shot themselves in the foot thrice. Stupid penalties to go down by 2 men and give up the PP goal. Horrible rebound on the Steckel goal. And abominable D on the on Fleischmann's goal.

 

Not to mention the "save of the playoffs" on Crosby. I know I'm being facetious when saying that and for no other reason than it was against the Pens. Varlamov did one helluva job on that. But, it dismays me Crosby couldn't lift that puck in the slightest. (Then again, it probably was unimaginable that he'd need to and Varlamov just made an incredible save. And I couldn't do it. So I guess I'll just stuff a sock in it.)

 

They'd better bring the effort in game two.

 

Good luck with tonight's game Chris!

[LV KIX]

Looks like the second round might have some great series. I'm getting ready to head out to the Caps games now. I missed game one to go up to Jersey for the Retrospect Showcase in Jersey. I did stop in Wilmington, DE. to watch the game though. No reason why game 2 shouldn't be as great as game 1. Ha... nothing I like better then seeing Crosby picking himself up off the ice. If game 2 of the Caps and Pens goes like the other second round series it could be all tied up going to Pitt.