shadow47

Thread locked.

You've got some serious issues. Hasek played in 58 games in '94 and won the Vezina. He had more shutouts this year and his GAA was 1.95 to 2.05 this year. Kiprusoff and Lundqvist had 13 and 14 more losses each this year. If Hasek had played in 14 more games and lost them all, would he fit your idea of what "a Vezina goaltender make here"? Certainly Brodeur or Luongo are the clear 1-2 but Dominik is a clear number 3 based on his season...apparently, as I said, giving up almost half a goal more per game is excuseable as long as you have played and lost 14 extra games.

Really some great posts here--well done

Kiprusoff 40-24-9, 2.46 GAA, .917 SP, 7 SO Lundqvist 37-22-8, 2.34 GAA, .917 SP, 5 SO ------------------------ Hasek 38-11-6, 2.05 GAA, .913 SP, 8 SO This seems a bit retarded to me. Apparently that extra goal against every 250 shots (based on the difference in save percentage) made all the difference. Then of course there's the fact that he had more shutouts, a third and a half a goal less per game and as many wins in 20 less games. But if that's the way they want to run their league, then...

Which is pretty sad, actually.

You're right, I have some cave drawings to get back to...just thought it was worth offering a match to those of you in the dark.

a. Yes, I know the story. It's a pretty oft-told tale of such amazing creativity one would be daft to forget it. b. Well, for starters, there's the limp husk of a once living being that is being exploited for some sort of 'effect'. Then there's the players, who likely would prefer not to be sliding face first through the bodily fluids of an octopus. And finally, there are apparently crazy fans like myself, who would just prefer if some facet of the world could be conducted without some sicko display. Let's face it, most fans are at the game to chug a beer and act the idiot...whether this involves chucking cephalopod, booing his own team, slapping bare bellies with the stranger next to him... ...am I missing something?

I'm not saying NHL tradition is a bad thing, it's just a stupid justification for throwing dead things on the ice. And all I'm asking you to ask yourself is why is the octopus aspect of your idea of tradition so important and beloved???

This whole octopus connection has gotten WAY out of hand. Merchandise, a glowing, sneering giant octopus hanging over the ice? An octopus on a Wing's goalie mask? Why can't fans throw plush or plastic octopi a la Panthers '96? Throwing dead mollusks at your heroes cannot be considered worship--frankly it is extremely overrated/outdated. And disgusting. Personally I would hate to be on the ice and see that kind of thing happening. And before people argue TRADITION there are some pretty heinous things done in the name of it so that's not a solid argument.

Did you guys catch the blown Schick call late last night? The Stars were on the powerplay trying to tie it with Luongo swimming and the Knucklehead defenseman intentionally knocked the net off. No call, and then seconds later a penalty to Dallas. It was sooooo blatant, pretty sad it was not called...I'm all for letting players play the game when it matters most but you cannot have guys knocking the net off whenever there's a loose puck. The Stars had the puck at the point, too, it's not as though it was heading down to Turco. That one call by RS might end up royally screwing Detroit.

It didn't affect the outcome of the game (fortunately), but one of the troubling things about this game was the Flames "goal". Did it not appear as though the shot was, first, deflected DOWN initially by the Flame player in front, and as it entered the net, skip off the crossbar and down to the back? Using the crossbar as your reference, that was clearly no goal. By eyeballing you couldn't tell, but just by the laws of physics that goal should never have been. I do not care at all about the shutout but it would be nice if the league could get calls like this right once in awhile. Edit: McLennan will most likely get under 10 games IMO. Probably more like 4.

Winning is not the issue...it's what matters, but we are talking about the goaltending, not the result. In Game 2's, Hedberg lost 2-1 and Fleury won 4-3. Both goalies showed up to play, the difference is Fleury's team came with him and Hedberg's didn't--could Lehtonen have played any better than that? Fleury stunk up the place in Game 3, 4 goals on 25 shots. The point is that Fleury's play has been out of control in the series, and inserting a vet like Thibault as early as Game 2 could've helped calm a green Penguins team. The fact that they rallied for a win does not erase the fact that series could be 3-0 if not for a third period comeback in Game 2, and goaltending has played a part because MAF has been worse in the playoffs than in his regular season. As for Atlanta, they are one of the oldest teams in the league and traded away a wealth of prospects to arm themselves for a long playoffs...Hartley took a chance sitting Lehtonen and it paid off with sparkling 'tending from Hedberg but the rest of the team couldn't make it happen. In the end, the Thrashers will win and lose as a team, whoever is in net. But suggesting it was mistake in using Hedberg is ignoring the fact that he played as well as you can hope a goalie to play.

Hartley made a good move switching to Hedberg; Lehtonen was lousy in Game 1 a la Fleury in Pitt (although he's played slightly better since). A lot of pressure for the first-timers, so it doesn't hurt to go to a veteran who has won in the playoffs before. The fluke goal on Hedberg was the first goal, not the winner, so effectively they didn't "lose on a fluke goal"...BTW is that fluke goal Hedberg's fault? So fluke goal aside you've got a goalie giving up one goal on 38 shots and you're putting the guy who lost you Game 1 back in? Makes no sense, JH played well enough to get a win and Atlanta should have the goalie who has the most chance of winning in there for Game 3. Someone mentioned Lehtonen's confidence and maturation, this will certainly help both since it is basically a throwaway game now taking Hedberg out.

That would be true back-to-back games for the Dom, eh?

If the Wings are up 3-1 after 4 games, play Osgood in Game 5. He has shown he can come in and contribute to the team, so let him. If he loses, you can come back with a fresh Dom in Game 6. Once the series gets to 6 or 7 games, you've got to play Hasek, but I have no problem with letting Osgood have a Game 5 at home to finish them off.

Not that this incident needs to be dissected further, but Hasek's motivation for diving was obviously drawing a powerplay for the Wings, who had done nothing offensively at the time, and the Calgary powerplays were like 5-0 at the time, so he was probably thinking the refs were on the lookout for ANYTHING they could even up with--thus he tried providing them with something, to no avail. And no player will ever ADMIT to diving due to the NHL's new policy on diving, fines and lists and such. He dove, as many players do, and it didn't work out. He didn't singlehandedly lose the game--Detroit had a period to score again and they managed 1 in 60 minutes...that's not how you win. Who cares, it's just regular season, the Wings got the Conference so what difference does it make? That was the only way CGY could win, a freebie goal? Oh no, the Wings are going to be so scared going in to Round 1. Remind me again why people talk about this so much?

The Wings are a team all the way, and team defense is what makes it easier on the backline, not just Nicky Lidstrom. I'd have to say Dom just because if he weren't around playing great every night you'd have MacDonald as your starter for three quarters of the season. None of the forwards have been too consistent other than Datsyuk and Z, who haven't been overly.

Miller is a great goalie...if anything the team in front of him makes him look worse because they're such an offensively-minded one. He is top 7 in the league and only going to get better with age. That said, a Detroit/Buffalo Final will never happen. How many times does the top point-getter make the finals, much less the TOP 2? That said, Buffalo making the finals is a real possibility.

I agree with Jwo, SJ in five. Nashville's goaltending is suspect, San Jose's is slightly less suspect. The fact that if either goalie starting falters the other goes in usually sets up for playoff failure, Carollina excepted. SJ's offense is too strong and this series will end the same way the last one between these teams did.

I've got a bad feeling Detroit will lose this series. Calgary is scary good IN Calgary, and one of the first two games in Detroit is an afternoon game. We know Detroit has problems with afternoon games, so right there, there is a good chance of a 2-1 or even 3-1 hole. To boot, the sucks at NBC pushing back the schedule will force Dominik Hasek to play in back-to-backs for the first time all year, who knows how he will react, if he will be a little tired or whatever. And for all the crying about being physical and avoiding grinding teams for the playoffs, Detroit likely couldn't have drawn a more grinding team without facing Minny. Not to mention Detroit's offense, excluding the throwaway finale, was less than impressive in the last 10 games of the season. I have little optimism.

Speaking to the guy who said Kipper could steal this series, Detroit is probably the easiest and most likely team to "steal a series" against, since they put so many lousy shots on goal, they will make MK look stellar. Look at the other night against Khabibulin. 58 shots in a 65 minute game? It seemed more like 30-35 to me b/c some of them were so low quality. The past has shown this team has an awful time finishing...they might do better if they didn't waste their chances so--whether they win or lose, it's safe to say they will make the CGY goalie look amazing.

Osgood has been fine this year, but you can't really justify calling it "a great year". He's hardly played, and most of his games have been against weak teams. A few great games does not a great year make. Zetter, took the words out of my mouth.

So, first it's reported he's being sat to avoid injury, now some reports are his thigh is sore again. I know he got knocked around in the CBJ game. What is the official word on this? P.S. Anyone think it's deja vu Babs joking about it a la Murray last year in Ottawa (announcing Dom as the starter when he wasn't, etc.)?

Speaking of goaltending, who starts for MTL? Halak got yanked against NYR and Huet finished the game after a long injury layoff. My money's on the Canadiens if Huet's playing, Raycroft has been average for Toronto and that should tip the scales the Habs way...ought to be an interesting first round with Buffalo/Montreal.

It will be ironic if after signing a 15 year deal Ricky D has to retire due to his concussion issues. Cha$$$$$$$$Ching!