2011-12 NHL season

[Drew Doughty]

the blackhawks were a 2 seed that got the toughest road through the conference that they possibly could have gotten. not sure what else they could have proven. would it have been better if they went through a detroit team that got wiped out in 5 games (by the team the hawks swept)? i suppose they got kind of lucky drawing the flyers in the finals, but at that point the flyers obviously were playing better than their regular season selves.

 

also, the canucks weren't really known as the perennial chokers yet when the hawks beat them. that had kind of melted down against the hawks the previous year, but that series in the cup year was the one that kind of gave them that reputation as headcases, then they cemented in in the last 2 years. don't forget, the vancouver thrashed the hawks in game 1 (at chicago) and then were up 2-0 early in the second game.

 

chicago was a very good team, but i am pretty sure, looking back, that they had a significantly easier road than a lot of teams. san jose chokes in the playoffs every year (last year they lost two games to a team that didn't have a real #1 or #2 center and didn't have an offense even when they DID have a #1 center, then finally got roasted in the conference finals again). vancouver didn't have the headcase/mental midget thing down cold, but they were on their way and it all started that year when they just melted down. it's the same roster now, nothing changed. it's the same dumb players doing the same dumb things. chicago played exceptionally well anyway, but i don't know if they ever got a chance to show how good that team really was.

 

i'm not saying they don't deserve the cup, but it was a really easy road in hindsight. the kings have followed a similar pattern this year, it's not really something to complain about. they've played well, but the teams they've played have pretty obvious flaws and were missing players (or, in phoenix's case, just not that good).

 

i just get the feeling that both teams in the finals kind of lucked out in their matchups. i'm not sure there are better teams sitting at home, but just feels like both teams caught their matchups at the right time as much as anything. for the kings, i mean, if they don't blow one of the last to vs SJ and wind up in 7th, they catch the blues with halak and probably never have to deal with an unhealthy pietrangelo. that could've changed the whole western conference landscape.

 

i guess the ultimate point is that it takes a lot of luck to get to the finals, and skill just puts you in a better position to get lucky.

[UMFan83]

OK here were the 8 Western Conference playoff teams that year. What would be a harder route?

 

1. San Jose

2. Chicago

3. Vancouver

4. Phoenix

5. Detroit

6. Los Angeles

7. Nashville

8. Colorado

 

Remember, San Jose, Vancouver and Nashville are not difficult and Detroit lost in 5 games to San Jose. So we're looking at Detroit going through Phoenix, Colorado and then Los Angeles being the hardest potential route?

[Drew Doughty]

i think detroit was a better matchup both of the last two years than the san jose team that went in their place. the 4-1 series was not that lopsided. in fact, detroit won the only lopsided game. the games went 4-3, 4-3, 4-3 in SJ's favor, 7-1 in DET's favor, then 2-1 in SJ's favor. they won that series with a negative goal differential, which is a perfectly san jose thing to do. a detroit/chicago series would've been great. come on, they were one year and one marian hossa removed from trouncing the hawks easily. it would've at the very least been a closer series than the poop performance san jose put out there. doesn't the theory go something like...if you win games by blowouts and lose the close ones, it tends to even out in the end? the 5 game sample was too small to let things actually even out.

 

that's the only thing that really could've gone differently, i guess. they were a better team that faced a pair of teams with post-season demons and a decent nashville team. the kings faced a team with post-season demons, a team with no playoff experience, and phoenix. the devils faced florida, a philly team that can't play defense or find goaltending, and a nyr team that underachieved all playoffs and was very obviously tired. that's how it goes. you get skilled enough to catch the breaks. if boston scores the OT winner against washington, NJ gets NYR in round 2 and that probably goes entirely differently. it takes an awful lot of luck to get deep in the playoffs.

[NewUserName]

couple of thoughts on this line of discussion.

1. almost every Stanley Cup winning team gets some breaks along the way

2. It doesn't make a difference if Vancouver were known as mental midgets in 10 or not...that is what they were

3. I think Detroit actually outplayed SJ in 10, but there was some awful questionable penalties/dives that gave SJ 5 on 3 for 2 game winning goals

4. I do not think Drew is underscoring that the Hawks were the best team in 10...that is really without question. I do think Detroit would have given them a much better series than SJ though.

[UMFan83]

Right and I'm not arguing the Hawks had the toughest road to the Stanley Cup, just that the Hawks didnt face a 'real threat' on the way to winning the Cup.

[17 Seconds]

the homer inside me likes to think that the blackhawks are the ones that turned vancouver into headcases

[NewUserName]

the homer inside me likes to think that the blackhawks are the ones that turned vancouver into headcases

 

Maybe the rest of the team, but Luongo was already there.

[Drew Doughty]

the homer inside me likes to think that the blackhawks are the ones that turned vancouver into headcases

 

could be, but i mean...it takes a special group of idiots to be haunted as badly as they are by the playoffs. they turned chelsea dagger into a thing more than the blackhawks themselves did. kesler, burrows, bieksa, lapierre, luongo...these guys all have meltdowns. they all do dumb stuff. seems like more of a character issue that would've come out one way or another, and the blackhawks just happened to be there (repeatedly) when it manifested.

[NewUserName]

the homer inside me likes to think that the blackhawks are the ones that turned vancouver into headcases

 

could be, but i mean...it takes a special group of idiots to be haunted as badly as they are by the playoffs. they turned chelsea dagger into a thing more than the blackhawks themselves did. kesler, burrows, bieksa, lapierre, luongo...these guys all have meltdowns. they all do dumb stuff. seems like more of a character issue that would've come out one way or another, and the blackhawks just happened to be there (repeatedly) when it manifested.

 

I think Alain Vigneault is a large part of the problem also. I cannot believe that they could just get a bunch of dumb players, I think some of the stupidity has to be from the bench.

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

Devils in 7, snitches.

[sneakypower]

omg Kopitar

[UMFan83]

omg Kopitar

 

That was [expletive] amazing and enjoyable. Great ending to a good game 1. Found myself watching this game more than Heat Celtics. Hockey is awesome.

 

That was a perfect fake by Kopitar and an even sweeter backhanded pass to find the breakaway attempt.

[17 Seconds]

that kopitar goal reminded me of this one

 

[Drew Doughty]

anze kopitar is the greatest human of all time

 

after a few years of being a merely great two way player (merely) (lol) he is now a game breaker too. the progression he's made in the last 4 months is pretty phenomenal.

 

sure hope the ice is better in game 2. don't have high hopes since i believe radiohead has concerts in the prudential center each of the next two nights.

 

also anyone that bought into the stupid belief that drew doughty wasn't awesome must be pretty mystified by his continued amazing play (both ends of the ice) in this playoff run. he has been absolutely spectacular. except for his goofy meltdown in OT of game 5 against phoenix, hard to have any gripe with his play almost literally from the time game 1 of the vancouver series started. the only average game he had all playoffs long was game 4 against vancouver, and he still was okay. he did go backwards a bit (really, not that much), but he was still pretty awesome the last two years.

[jersey cubs fan]

sure hope the ice is better in game 2. don't have high hopes since i believe radiohead has concerts in the prudential center each of the next two nights.

 

It was miserably humid, and hot the last few days but it's perfect weather here today and I believe it's going to be nice the next couple days, which should help.

 

But yes, Radiohead is there.

[Drew Doughty]

sure hope the ice is better in game 2. don't have high hopes since i believe radiohead has concerts in the prudential center each of the next two nights.

 

It was miserably humid, and hot the last few days but it's perfect weather here today and I believe it's going to be nice the next couple days, which should help.

 

But yes, Radiohead is there.

 

Yeah, that's what I read...some people said they had never or very rarely been in a building that warm. HOPEFULLY the nicer weather helps the ice in game 4. That was among the worst ice I've seen in the NHL in the entire time I've watched. It was also remarkably bad in game 4 of the Phoenix series when I was there. That was the stretch that they had like 3 basketball games and 2 hockey games over the course of 3 days at Staples.

[UMFan83]

Wow that's a tough goal to give up for Brodeur. Gonna be kicking himself for that one.

 

Kings up 2-0 going to LA....I wouldnt be surprised if they sweep

 

Another pretty entertaining game to watch.

[NewUserName]

Wow that's a tough goal to give up for Brodeur. Gonna be kicking himself for that one.

 

Kings up 2-0 going to LA....I wouldnt be surprised if they sweep

 

Another pretty entertaining game to watch.

 

yes it was.

[Drew Doughty]

I don't think that one's on Brodeur...Carter just dominated the whole play. Skates in the zone, blows around the defender, throws the puck at the net, fields the rebound, skates around more guys, and fires a wrister through a screen against the flow. He has one of the best releases in the game, it's a really, really hard save to make.

 

Also Carter is amazing the Kings are my heroes I love life etc

 

What really sucks for NJ is that they clearly outplayed us. They didn't dominate, but they were better than us. They disrupted our breakout, they mitigated our forecheck, they controlled most of the game...and they lost. That sucks.

[TruffleShuffle]

i [expletive] love when the devils lose. one of the best things in sports.

[bcl412]

I'm not sure how I feel about an 8th seed winning the cup. If you count OT/shootout losses as regular losses they had a losing record in the regular season.

[Drew Doughty]

I'm not sure how I feel about an 8th seed winning the cup. If you count OT/shootout losses as regular losses they had a losing record in the regular season.

 

If you count points, they qualified for the playoffs and then dismantled everyone.

[TruffleShuffle]

I'm not sure how I feel about an 8th seed winning the cup. If you count OT/shootout losses as regular losses they had a losing record in the regular season.

 

they underachieved pretty badly for most of the year, but they picked up carter late and also started to get a little more healthy. i picked them to win the cup before the year started so i'm not too surprised - more surprised that they only finished 8th in the conference.

[UMFan83]

Gotta marvel at this Kings run. 15-2 so far and their only 2 losses have come when they were already up 3-0 in the series. They have not lost a single pressure game the entire playoffs do far.

[Guest]

Gotta marvel at this Kings run. 15-2 so far and their only 2 losses have come when they were already up 3-0 in the series. They have not lost a single pressure game the entire playoffs do far.

 

If they win Game 4, they'd equal the 1998 Edmonton Oilers for best record in a single postseason. They'd go the same number of games in each series as well (4-1, 4-0, 4-1, 4-0).