Drake_Marcus

Malkin is the key. If he plays like he can the Pens are really fearsome. If he disappears they're screwed. Where's Mike Richards when you need him? (likely golfing) And the Wings are the defending Western Conference champs... not many people have us as favourites to come out of the West. Although if you base it only on post olympics play the Wings should be scaring the crap out of people.

Those two really scare me. The Canucks offense is pretty scary. I'm just glad Luongo's struggled so much since the Olympics... he's pretty much our only chance of killing them.

On paper? No. In practice? The Caps have allowed 3 fewer goals, so yes. Add to that the fact that Green is an offensive monster (and a hilarious defensive liability).

Even with all the games he's missed his numbers are still sick. Henrik will get all the accolades but Daniel is just as good.

GAA: 24th in the league Sv%: 35th in the league That Fleury didn't beat the Wings. Why do you think Howard is starting next week? If past play made you a fearsome goalie Ozzy would be starting. Fleury is as far removed from his Finals play as Ozzy is. Except Fleury has never been an elite goaltender at the NHL level aside from a 35 game span in 07-08. The only time he's posted impressive post season numbers was that same year-- 07-08. Osgood's got a history of ratcheting his play up in the postseason. Regardless, no one is afraid of Ozzy right now and no one should be afraid of Fleury's pathetic numbers. And you're right-- I can't compare the Caps to the Pens. The Caps have 120pts and the Pens have 99pts. The Caps Past Cups mean nothing now. Wait, maybe they do for you. In that case the Canadians will win the Cup this year since they have 24 championships. The Ducks are only 3 years removed from their Cup run, maybe they're a threat this year. Let me check the standings.

Remember when he put Sedin through the glass one night? I miss Fischer

GAA: 24th in the league Sv%: 35th in the league Ray Emery has better stats than Fleury. Seriously. I just thought it was a funny mental image.

Watching his skull get beat I'm pretty sure you could actually see Cooke forget how to do math.

First of all I think Melrose is a ******-canoe, but you're misunderstanding what he said. He said that Stamkos wasn't physically ready for the NHL. And he was right. People commented on his lack of muscle at the draft. If you asked Stamkos what the biggest difference between this year and last year was he'd say it was his conditioning/strength and his confidence. Just go back and watch Stamkos' first games-- he was weak as a kitten and got pushed off the puck with ease. Then he got the message and started hitting the weight room hard. It's no surprise that his impressive talent can finally show out there. He's finally training in the weight room like an NHL player should.

Because they're a superior team in every single facet of the game. (which is funny considering the lulzy defense the Caps have) Don't forget that their reigning mvp has been injured on and off all year. The Pens are screwed without Malkin in the postseason. Shutting Crosby down is pretty damn easy without having to split your defensive assignments between him and Malkin.

The Sens are screwed. They shouldn't even bother showing up. Then again... remember the Rangers vs. Capitals series last year? If not for Fedorov's goal the Rags would've likely knocked out the mighty Caps. Fleury is a joke so there's no guarantee the Sens can't blow the Pens out a few times. I still wouldn't put a penny on the Sens.

3rd youngest according to the nhl.com article. Regardless, he's got a superior point per game rating which means he's a more significant point scorer.

He wasn't injured?

I just watched that game. It was epic. I still have to question the intelligencer of not resting the Sedins after they've played 25 mins just so Henrik can try and get a fifth point. Are individual awards more important than playoff success? What if one of the Sedin's got hurt? It was completely asinine to leave them out there after the Canucks were up 6-2 with 15mins left. Henrik already had 4pts at that point-- just rest your stars and look ahead.

I'm a hockey card nerd too

Maybe I didn't give Crosby fair treatment. Let's look closer at some details, ok? In 19 games against the Rangers, Islanders, Panthers and Leafs Crosby has 22 goals. That's right-- he scored 22 of his 49 goals in just 19 of his 79 games. Against the Islanders and Leafs alone he's scored 10 of his 49 goals (in 9 total games against those two terrible clubs). Now who's reaping the rewards of playing horrible teams? Oh, and in 5 games against the Islanders he's piled up 12 pts. Just in case you thought it was just the goals he racks up against the worst teams.

I was thinking about this earlier and I thought I'd test your theory. Ovechkin has 109pts with 29 of them coming from within his division. That means he scores 26.6% of his points against s*** teams. He plays those terrible teams 39.0% of the year. Know that that means? He gets more points against better competition. That's the exact opposite of what you stated. What about Crosby? He scores 37.5% of his points against his own division opponents. Dear Lord! Your plan has completely backfired. Maybe it's just points, right? Let's check! What's this? Who leads the league in goals scored within their own division? Crosby does! Let's check on Ovechkin-- he's got 10 goals in 19 division games. Huh. That means he's still not feasting on a weak division. Edit: fixed a link.

How many EN points does Crosby have? In his career? I'm willing to bet he has quite a few too. By the way, if Ovechkin had played as many games as Crosby this season he'd have 7 more goals and another 10 more assists. So that'd be 128pts on the season in the time it took Crosby to get 104 pts. That must sting for you, eh? Crosby can't even touch Ovechkin when Alex spots him 10 games.

Who are we to question the words of a guy with Burrows' postseason resume?

And what about all the goals he scored on s***ty Washington teams? If you think Semin and Backstrom are carrying Ovechkin and not the other way around you're nuts.

Jealousy doesn't suit you Carman.

Yeah I was just about to post a thread about it.

Yeah I was just about to post a thread about it.

I forgot about that one. It's right up there with the similar travesties LA, Anaheim and (almost) St. Louis put out there.

I definitely agree that there's no reason for the hate here. The kid got his 500th point last night. That's pretty sick. Dude the entire East is like that. There's a reason why the top 3 goal scorers are from the Least.