68 replies to this topic

[darkmanx]

1st place in the league

That matters alot come playoff time right ? Isn't that why they play the game.. for the regular season record....

[GMRwings1983]

The East is a joke. The Red Wings are the best team in the league.

I don't know how to elaborate beyond that.

Great argument.

You should be a political analyst.

[Broken 16]

As much as I'd like to see a Det/Pitt match-up, I'd be very intrigued with a Det/Phil SCF, if we were so blessed. That would be an intense series. Rematch even.

Edited by Broken 16, 12 December 2010 - 07:27 PM.

[GMRwings1983]

As much as I'd like to see a Det/Pitt match-up, I'd be very intrigued with a Det/Phil SCF, if we were so blessed. That would be an intense series. Rematch even.

I wouldn't.

Everytime we play them, they seem to bully our team out of the game.

That would be a bad matchup for us physically, especially in the final round of the playoffs against a team that would be super hungry after coming so close last year.

[Broken 16]

I wouldn't.

Everytime we play them, they seem to bully our team out of the game.

That would be a bad matchup for us physically, especially in the final round of the playoffs against a team that would be super hungry after coming so close last year.

I guess I don't prefer easy roads to glory.

[mindfly]

I wouldn't.

Everytime we play them, they seem to bully our team out of the game.

That would be a bad matchup for us physically, especially in the final round of the playoffs against a team that would be super hungry after coming so close last year.

You have to beat the best, that's the way i see it, philly is easily the best team in the east and if detroit can't beat them well i guess they aren't worthy to become champions.

[GoWings1905]

Great argument.

You should be a political analyst.

Do I really need to justify that the East is a joke? Islanders, Devils, Sabres, Senators, Leafs, the entire Southeast Division besides choking Washington is mediocre at best. The Penguins are a great hockey team, but their point total is going to be seriously inflated at the end of the season because of the competition they face.

I think the Red Wings are the best team in the league. They play in arguably the toughest division (Pacific is close) and have just three fewer points than the Penguins with three games in-hand. The Red Wings depth is unmatched and we all know Z owns Crosby.

[mindfly]

The only team with similar depth are philly and vancouver, but vancouver have such low lowest level you can't take them as a real good contender, when they are on their game they are scary good but that doesnt happen often enough, boston is another dark horse, they have the goalies and the discipline/structure but doesnt score enough goals.. Philly.. i just get scared of them, they roll all lines and dmen just like detroit does, but they also have a questionmark in goal.

Edited by mindfly, 12 December 2010 - 07:48 PM.

[GMRwings1983]

Do I really need to justify that the East is a joke? Islanders, Devils, Sabres, Senators, Leafs, the entire Southeast Division besides choking Washington is mediocre at best. The Penguins are a great hockey team, but their point total is going to be seriously inflated at the end of the season because of the competition they face.

I think the Red Wings are the best team in the league. They play in arguably the toughest division (Pacific is close) and have just three fewer points than the Penguins with three games in-hand. The Red Wings depth is unmatched and we all know Z owns Crosby.

Winning 12 consecutive games is difficult against any competition.

We've seen the Wings lose to these supbar teams many times before. Strength of schedule is important, but you can't just discredit an entire team's run because they play in a different conference.

[VM1138]

Only good teams can go on those kind of winning streaks.

Didn't Toronto go something like 9-0 to start the season this year?

I'd also like to point out that while Pittsburgh and Detroit have both played relatively weak teams the last 12 games or so, Detroit has had multiple back-to-backs and hardly any rest. Has Pittsburgh played a similar schedule?

[MulesWillFly93]

I totally agree there an good team, but to say winning streaks makes a team good instantly is ridiculous. If Pens were to play a team with a shutdown player (Zetterberg / Datsyuk for example) then Crosby streak would end and probably along with their winning streak because hes doing everything for that team right now, playmaking, scoring, playing defense. Philly is the only team I see posing a problem for the Wings because of there depth, goal scorers on 3 lines and a good 4th grind line. Leino would enjoy it im sure, along with Pronger too.

Agree that the Wings could beat the Pens right now for sure (© Homer), and I agree that winning streaks do not make a team good or ensure a good result in the playoffs, but I do think the winning streak is a result of them (or at least Crosby) being good right now, and I think as long as Crosby stays healthy, they'll keep doing well, even if they do slow down. I just think that if you're going to look at how a team is doing now and make a playoffs prediction based on that, you're going to want to take the team's past history into account as well as their current play. So yeah, on one hand, past winning streaks by themselves didn't predict zip for the Caps because it didn't take their history into account, but I think the Pens' current streak, coupled with their recent playoffs history (and that's the important part), can be somewhat insightful for how they'll do later on in the playoffs.

[VM1138]

The only team with similar depth are philly and vancouver, but vancouver have such low lowest level you can't take them as a real good contender, when they are on their game they are scary good but that doesnt happen often enough, boston is another dark horse, they have the goalies and the discipline/structure but doesnt score enough goals.. Philly.. i just get scared of them, they roll all lines and dmen just like detroit does, but they also have a questionmark in goal.

That would scare me most in the playoffs. It seems that every playoff run the Wings run into some nobody goalie who plays out of his mind. It just wouldn't be the playoffs without one of those goalies going deep it seems.

[Theophany]

That would scare me most in the playoffs. It seems that every playoff run the Wings run into some nobody goalie who plays out of his mind. It just wouldn't be the playoffs without one of those goalies going deep it seems.

Plays out of his mind, or the Wings manage to make him look like a Conn Smythe-quality goalie by taking bad shots?

[titanium2]

Dan Ellis comes to mind.

[GoWings1905]

Winning 12 consecutive games is difficult against any competition.
We've seen the Wings lose to these supbar teams many times before. Strength of schedule is important, but you can't just discredit an entire team's run because they play in a different conference.

Agreed. But over the course of 82 games, it is a huge advantage to play against so many subpar teams in the Eastern Conference. I'm not trying to discredit the Pens winning streak; I just don't think when push comes to shove they are a better team than the Red Wings.

[scottj]

That matters alot come playoff time right ? Isn't that why they play the game.. for the regular season record....

Duh... the President's Trophy is the most strived for trophy in all of sports

where you been?

Edited by scottj, 12 December 2010 - 11:13 PM.

[10 Minute Misconduct]

I think Philly would beat us. Always have a problem with teams with Pronger on em. Hungry from last years loss just like Pittsburgh was. Do not want.

Tho we'd prolly be hungry to after losing in 09'.

[stormboy]

Winning 12 consecutive games is difficult against any competition.

We've seen the Wings lose to these supbar teams many times before. Strength of schedule is important, but you can't just discredit an entire team's run because they play in a different conference.

i agree. LGWers have been saying "LOL east SUX!" every year, and yet the pens beat us in the SCF two years ago.

all it takes is a bad game by your goalie, a out-of-sync night by your forwards, a few defensive gaffes by your d-men, or an out-of-character performance by even a single player on the other team, and you've just lost to a basement-dweller. i think we've all seen this happen to the wings plenty of times. we got blown out by atlanta. and, honestly, i was expecting the wings to lose to the devils the other night, just because they were SUPPOSED to win easily (which they did, and i was glad).

if the pens hadn't gotten off to a rocky start, they'd be so far in first right now it wouldn't be funny. then again, we're not even halfway through the season, and if crosby cools and the other guys don't pick it up, who knows where we'll be in a few months.

also, i don't think anyone's mentioned this yet: what if ovie heats up? washington is still doing well in the standings, and ovie is having a very subpar year goal-wise (i haven't seen them play, only going by stats). they're still very much hanging in there (last night's beating from the rangers notwithstanding) and if ovie starts netting goals things could go their way in a hurry.

[Hatethedrake!]

It doesn't really matter which team is the best right now. The best team in June is all that matters.

[Doc Holliday]

I wouldn't.

Everytime we play them, they seem to bully our team out of the game.

That would be a bad matchup for us physically, especially in the final round of the playoffs against a team that would be super hungry after coming so close last year.

Detroit lost the last game against Philly due to Osgood's poor goaltending.

The next game they won. Philly has not won in the Joe since the mid 90s. What makes you think they "bully" us out of anything?