2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I'm so torn on how good Philadelphia is. All the stuff about coaching is probably true and there's a lot of talent on that squad.

 

But we're still talking about a team that had a +9 goal differential in the regular season and has only faced one good team in the playoffs.

 

I guess I'll settle for "They are better than I wish they were and hopefully not good enough."

[UMFan83]

Truffle, I definitely recognize that the Flyers are much better than their regular season record indicates. I remember how hyped they were a couple season ago with tons of young talent. They will give the Hawks a tough series. While I am glad to have seen them come out of the East instead of Washington or Pittsburgh, I think the Flyers were probably the 3rd least team I wanted to face coming into the playoffs (yes over NJ).

[TruffleShuffle]

this has to be one of the worst goalie matchups in stanley cup final history, right? michael leighton is a journeyman and niemi is an unproven 26 year old rookie who was the backup for much of the season.

[Flames24Rulz]

Truffle, I definitely recognize that the Flyers are much better than their regular season record indicates. I remember how hyped they were a couple season ago with tons of young talent. They will give the Hawks a tough series. While I am glad to have seen them come out of the East instead of Washington or Pittsburgh, I think the Flyers were probably the 3rd least team I wanted to face coming into the playoffs (yes over NJ).

 

No, NJ's trap style would have been disastrous.

[17 Seconds]

this has to be one of the worst goalie matchups in stanley cup final history, right? michael leighton is a journeyman and niemi is an unproven 26 year old rookie who was the backup for much of the season.

 

no. michael leighton sucks and niemi doesn't.

[TruffleShuffle]

this has to be one of the worst goalie matchups in stanley cup final history, right? michael leighton is a journeyman and niemi is an unproven 26 year old rookie who was the backup for much of the season.

 

no. michael leighton sucks and niemi doesn't.

 

ok so what goalie matchups in the nhl finals have been worse?

[TruffleShuffle]

Truffle, I definitely recognize that the Flyers are much better than their regular season record indicates. I remember how hyped they were a couple season ago with tons of young talent. They will give the Hawks a tough series. While I am glad to have seen them come out of the East instead of Washington or Pittsburgh, I think the Flyers were probably the 3rd least team I wanted to face coming into the playoffs (yes over NJ).

 

No, NJ's trap style would have been disastrous.

 

the problem is, they didn't play it as well as they had in the past, kovalchuk has no commitment to defense whatsoever, and brodeur just isn't as good as he was in his prime. he was outplayed by boucher and looked very average in the playoffs (actually in the whole second half of the season). the devils weren't really that good.

[SpongeWorthy]

Marc Andre Fleury vs. Chris Osgood.

[17 Seconds]

i just meant that you're selling niemi short by implying that he's part of a "bad goalie matchup". leighton is the only bad goaltender in this series. the better question would be "is michael leighton the worst goaltender to play in a stanley cup?"

[17 Seconds]

Marc Andre Fleury vs. Chris Osgood.

 

cam ward vs dwayne roloson was pretty bad too

[TruffleShuffle]

Marc Andre Fleury vs. Chris Osgood.

 

no, fleury is very good. cam ward is good too.

[SpongeWorthy]

I don't really know what I'm talking about. I do know that I've seen a lot of Penguins and Wings fans gripe about Fleury and Osgood over the years.

[17 Seconds]

Marc Andre Fleury vs. Chris Osgood.

 

no, fleury is very good. cam ward is good too.

 

not really. those guys reputations seem to be living on their draft status and stanley cup runs. especially fluery

 

marc andre fluery has had only one good season. the rest of his career he's been mediocre to bad.

 

cam ward is a pretty solid goalie now (not great), but he was atrocious during the regular season before his cup run. if we're talking about goalie matchups heading into a final, he was a worse bet than niemi.

Edited May 25, 2010 by 17 Seconds

[TruffleShuffle]

they probably bitched about fleury because he wasn't good when he came up at 19 years old. he's had good numbers the past few years and made the canadian olympic team, most of whose players are pretty good. his biggest problem is that the pens defense isn't that good and lacks top flight talent.

[17 Seconds]

marc andre fluery has a .907 career save percentage, and was at .905 this year. he's only had one year over .912.

 

really, fluery has to be one of the more overrated players in the NHL at this point.

[TruffleShuffle]

Marc Andre Fleury vs. Chris Osgood.

 

no, fleury is very good. cam ward is good too.

 

not really. those guys reputations seem to be living on their draft status and stanley cup runs. especially fluery

 

marc andre fluery has had only one good season. the rest of his career he's been mediocre to bad.

 

cam ward is a pretty solid goalie now (not great), but he was atrocious during the regular season before his cup run. if we're talking about goalie matchups heading into a final, he was a worse bet than niemi.

 

so i don't get it, are you saying that osgood sucks and niemi is good? because they're pretty similar, both put up very good numbers behind great defenses. your assessment of fleury is laughable.

[SpongeWorthy]

A hockey buddy of mine submits that Tom Barrasso vs. Ed Belfour in 1992 was a bad one.

[17 Seconds]

Marc Andre Fleury vs. Chris Osgood.

 

no, fleury is very good. cam ward is good too.

 

not really. those guys reputations seem to be living on their draft status and stanley cup runs. especially fluery

 

marc andre fluery has had only one good season. the rest of his career he's been mediocre to bad.

 

cam ward is a pretty solid goalie now (not great), but he was atrocious during the regular season before his cup run. if we're talking about goalie matchups heading into a final, he was a worse bet than niemi.

 

so i don't get it, are you saying that osgood sucks and niemi is good? because they're pretty similar, both put up very good numbers behind great defenses. your assessment of fleury is laughable.

 

i never even said anything about osgood.

 

and you can say what you want aobut my assessment of fleury, but where are the results? can you please show me? he's had exactly one good season, and one average one.

 

and like sponge said, my friend in pittsburgh always bitches about fluery and shares the opinion that he's still living off his cup run hype.

 

i just don't understand how you can possible call fluery a "very good" goalie when the results usually aren't there.

[TruffleShuffle]

roman cechmanek had a GAA of .923 playing behind a very good flyers team for three years. he sucked one year in the playoffs and was traded to L.A., a not good team, his save percentage went down to .905, and the next year he was out of the league. playing behind a really good team and a really good defense/defensive system matters. using only save percentage to determine the quality of a goalie is dumb.

[Magnetic Curses]

fleury's career hasn't been nearly worthy of #1 overall pick from that draft. he's average.

[17 Seconds]

roman cechmanek had a GAA of .923 playing behind a very good flyers team for three years. he sucked one year in the playoffs and was traded to L.A., a not good team, his save percentage went down to .905, and the next year he was out of the league. playing behind a really good team and a really good defense/defensive system matters. using only save percentage to determine the quality of a goalie is dumb.

 

this might be relevant if fleury didn't play behind a good team

[brinoch]

roman cechmanek had a GAA of .923 playing behind a very good flyers team for three years. he sucked one year in the playoffs and was traded to L.A., a not good team, his save percentage went down to .905, and the next year he was out of the league. playing behind a really good team and a really good defense/defensive system matters. using only save percentage to determine the quality of a goalie is dumb.

 

this might be relevant if fleury didn't play behind a good team

 

The Pens are defensively suspect. They are good, but not great on defense. The Hawks' defense is far, far superior.

[TruffleShuffle]

roman cechmanek had a GAA of .923 playing behind a very good flyers team for three years. he sucked one year in the playoffs and was traded to L.A., a not good team, his save percentage went down to .905, and the next year he was out of the league. playing behind a really good team and a really good defense/defensive system matters. using only save percentage to determine the quality of a goalie is dumb.

 

this might be relevant if fleury didn't play behind a good team

 

the penguins defense wasn't good this year, i watched a lot of games on FSN pittsburgh. their #1 defenseman (gonchar) has never known how to play defense and the rest of the defense corps (orpik, letang, goligoski, eaton, mckee/skoula) is not very good.

 

also, are you classifying fleury's 2007-08 season as good (.921) and 2008-09 (.912) as average? if so then i guess niemi is just average, which does not do much to invalidate my assertion that this is one of the worst goalie matchups in stanley cup finals history.

[17 Seconds]

again, i never argued anything about the matchup. on paper, yeah.. it's one of the lesser matchups ever. i just thought you were selling niemi short by seemingly comparing him with leighton, who sucks. niemi doesn't suck.

 

and im not saying fluery sucks. i'm just saying i don't understand how you can call the guy "very good" when he's been pretty mediocre for his career.

[UMFan83]

Marc Andre Fleury vs. Chris Osgood.

 

no, fleury is very good. cam ward is good too.

 

not really. those guys reputations seem to be living on their draft status and stanley cup runs. especially fluery

 

marc andre fluery has had only one good season. the rest of his career he's been mediocre to bad.

 

cam ward is a pretty solid goalie now (not great), but he was atrocious during the regular season before his cup run. if we're talking about goalie matchups heading into a final, he was a worse bet than niemi.

 

so i don't get it, are you saying that osgood sucks and niemi is good? because they're pretty similar, both put up very good numbers behind great defenses. your assessment of fleury is laughable.

 

I think in 5 years it could look like a horrible goalie matchup, but including the playoffs he has started 53 NHL games in his career. I think it's way too early to make a determination that he's good or not. But it certainly bodes well that he's playing so well in the playoffs. The defense has a ton to do with it, but it's good to see Niemi hold his own when the Sharks throw 45+ shots at him twice in the series and only allow 3 goals.