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So Game one of the Stanley cup finals goes June 3rd from Vegas, a Quick turn around for the home team and a long lay off for the road team.
The story of the Western conference finals was really Aiden Hill. I thought his play was up and down and games 4 and 5 it looked at times that the Dallas Stars had finally broke him, but he was able to compose himself and get back to form to shut out the Stars. I will give you my pick for the cup between these two teams but lets dive into what makes these teams similar first. in the new NHL you need either a guy that can put up 100 points or a slew of guys that can give you a balanced attack and that is what we have here. Vegas has just a Bunch of dudes that just keep coming at you with speed, skill and size. watching them against Dallas they where just bigger stronger and faster. a late 30's Ryan Suter averaging 25 plus minutes a night looked like a liability out there. The Panthers aren't as balanced, However they do have 2 of the best 3 players in this series with Tkachuk and Barkov. I am not going to give you the Barkov is under rated shtick because at this point in his career, people they know and respect him. Both teams have a stud on defence that can log a ton of minutes and move the puck well. Actually all of the final four teams had that. It looked really bad for Ekblad early on in his career suffering concussion after concussion many thought he would retire, but he has come into his own. on the flip side obviously Pietriangelo has the Stanley cup championship pettagre. I think he is a little bit of a better skater than Ekblad who at times can look clunky. of course the 10 million dollar reason that the Panthers are here is the man we call goalie Bob. what a story coming off the bench down to the Bruins who had the greatest season in NHL history just to slam the door shut. I have always been a fan of Bobrosky and he is hot at the right time. I don't know if he will be able to survive the just waves that Vegas comes at you in. this will be a phsyical series and it should be a good one.. Knights in 6.
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We are deep into the NHL playoffs now and though I haven’t been following them closely it seems to me that Colorado is still the favorite, even though they have lost 3 straight to Vegas for the time being. They are clearly the best team on paper, but if you have to pick a weakness it would most likely be the goaltending, and yes I know that Grubauer is up for the Vezina, but it really just felt like a situation where no one could agree on the 3rd best goalie. They are scheduled to play Montreal if they get to the next round even though I don’t understand how we came to that conclusion in the COVID season but it is what it is. That would be a fantastic playoff matchup for no other reason than the history between the clubs and those Quebec fans however many there are will be savage and never forget when the Avalanche stole their beloved Nordiques. This Avalanche team goes as their star goes. Nathan MacKinnon has cemented himself in the conversation of best player in the world along with Sidney Crosby and I guess that guy that wears 97 for the Edmonton Oilers. The big fear for Montreal regardless who they face in the next round should be the same thing that they did to the Jets after coming off a sweep in round 1. Hellebuyck was chugging along and then their best player did something bone headed and got kicked out of the series. Needless to say whoever comes out of that Vegas Colorado series is going to win the cup.. I am just leaning towards the Avalanche. The NHL season is winding down and yes there is optimism for the Ottawa Senators, but that should be met with caution at the same time for several reasons.
Ottawa does have some fine young talent for sure, all I heard all year is Batherson and Norris look like they can be real players, and while that may be true they won’t have the luxury of catching teams by surprise next season as there is tape in on the young duo. For the most part this team going forward will go as Tkchuck goes and that is a little scary. Brady is a terrific player however, there are players around the league with much more talent, even though they won’t out work Tkchuck. Goaltending is another reason, and it can be said about any team in the league. Matt Murry was brought over to be the starting goalie, but was never able to stay healthy. They do have Anton Forsberg at times stepping up in his place and has always shown to be a capable backup, but at this stage of his career that is all he is. No matter who they are up against though the sens can not continue to employ the look out defense, giving up on average 33 shot attempts per 60 minutes means that they spend a lot of time in their own zone which, let's face it, is a lot more tiring than playing offense. The mystery player that the team so desperately wants to start showing off his skills is Connor Docker-Bedard who spent a handful of minutes in the NHL this year after graduating from the NCAA and will hopefully help the sens improve their team. We will see how this goes in a return to a normal season where they don’t have to play 3 of the best players in the league a total of 20 times. Players from a variety of teams such as Mcdavid, Drisital, and Matthews overshadowed and outplayed the sens all season. Bringing back a balanced schedule will certainly help them improve their game going forward. This team most likely is going to be in the middle of nowhere in the standings next year, good enough to maybe compete for a wild card, but not bad enough to tank for a guy like Shane Wright. |