Brian707

Tampa will have to go thru salary cap hell after they resign Stamkos, like the Hawks did and will with the Kane/Toews contracts. Also after Stamkos resigns the Toews and Kane deals will look like bargains compared to what he signs for. I do forsee Tampa being a force for many years to come. As for this series, I honestly think any of the three teams the Hawks faced in the playoffs this year(Nashville,Minnesota, Anaheim) would beat Tampa in a series. The west is far and away a better conference. I think it will be Hawks in 6.

Ok while we wait for tomorrow night: This happened two years ago today https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO_g0ZsF4C8 This happened five years ago today

Since all but two of the games will be on NBC the resort should have the game on. I would venture to guess a lot of Chicago and Canadian people will be there and want to watch.

Here is the full SCF schedule Gm1 Wed Jun 03 8pm ET Gm2 Sat Jun 06 7pm ET Gm3 Mon Jun 08 8pm ET Gm4 Wed Jun 10 8pm ET Gm5 Sat Jun 13 8pm ET Gm6 Mon Jun 15 8pm ET Gm7 Wed Jun 17 8pm ET

That's cool, would be nice to win the Cup in a home Game 6 for once. And yes, I know, 24 hours ago we were discussing next year's roster and now we're discussing the Finals. Suck it. Or win the Cup at home in game 4.

I believe Bruce Buedreau is 0-6 in game 7's. I know the Ducks have blown 3-2 series leads the last two years with game 7's at home. The pressure is all on the Ducks. The key to Saturday is to jump on them early.

I think the top 4 will all be playing most of this game anyway. Cuminsky-Timonen-Runblad(two of those) won't get much more than 6 minutes each.

Wait what? I don't feel like doing a piece by piece breakdown so I could be wrong but I remember watching Ladd and Byfuglien then watching Stalberg and John Scott try to replace them. Guys like Pirri, Skille, Frolik, Campoli and Morin would have had no place on a blackhawks line in 2010. The 2011 team was better...after losing Campbell and Brower they started to get the pieces of the next Cup team on board like Leddy, Oduya, Saad, Shaw, etc Don't forget Fernando Pisani!

Eh, I don't expect them to win the series. I don't know if that counts as gloom and doom or not. It's just the simple probability of needing to go 2-0. But I'm not particularly sad about it. They're an awesome team, they won *at least* 10 playoff games, and there are fans of 26 teams with nothing going on right now. If they lose, I'll go watch my Cup DVD. Or my other Cup DVD. We have two to choose from. I expect them to be Cup contenders right back again the next two years. They might go out in the first round or they might win it all. I'm not particularly convinced the 2011 or '12 teams were any worse than the 2010 team. The 2012-13 team was pretty darn special, but that was the confluence of Saad on the way up and Hossa and Sharp still nearly at the top of their games. The 2010 team>2013 team 2011 had half of their team gutted and thanks to the Wild snuck into the final playoff spot. Granted they came back from a 3-0 deficit and forced OT in game 7, but that team had several flaws. 2012 I believe the team had the best record in the NHL at the all star break but then had a horrific 9 game losing streak and had a concussed Toews miss the last 20 something games and then ran into a hot Mike Smith in the playoffs.(Crawford haters, yes he did give up two terrible goals in OT in games 3 and 4, but if Mike Smith didn't sport a .950% save percentage those games don't get to OT) As for this year and this series yes it always is tough to comeback from 3-2 deficit, 79% of the time the team leading wins the series. But I still like the Hawks chances.

Does this look like a guy you want to bet on in a game 7 if it gets that far? http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/boudreau.gif

That seems pretty darn do-able to me. Yup, this won't be as bad as 2010. They might not be serious Cup contenders in 2016 or 2017 but they will soon after. They win tonight, and while it will be a road game 7 the pressure will be on the Ducks. It does piss me off that Q pissed away game 3, Bickell pissed away game 5 but the Hawks are far from dead. Gloom and doom all over the place, here, the radio, the tv.

I used to know the details better, but I'm pretty sure if he retires we take a nasty cap hit. Yes it will be a big cap hit, unless the Hawks do the "Pronger" loophole

Well the Ducks were in this spot last year vs the Kings and [expletive] the bed. From the Committed Indian: "This is where the hope comes. As I have personally hammered for the last month, a team needs to carry a 55% share of possession or have a .930 save percentage to even have a chance(Against the Hawks in a series). Right now, the Hawks have out attempted the Ducks in 5 games 349 to 317 at evens, and Frederik Andersen has come back to Earth with a .924 save percentage. Also, this Ducks team was in the very same boat last summer against the Kings. The Kings had a 57.6% share after 5 games, and Anaheim had stopped .938 of the shots they saw between Hiller, Andersen, and Gibson. How did that end up? There is still one game at home left. Make it count, and then force the series to a true coinflip scenario. Make this Hawks team win a Game 7 on the road, or make the Ducks win one at home, which they have blown three straight under Bruce Boudreau" And not that it matters, I will be attending game 6 and the Hawks are 16-1 when I attend a playoff game.

I don't listen to Mully and Hanley anymore. I find them intolerable. But Timonen sure hasn't been good...so it's hard to argue. I agree, I only keep them on when they talk Cubs or Hawks. Usually it's mindless babbling about Cutler or Rose.

Anyone else catch Mully and Hanley after 8am this morning? Jamal Mayers was on ripping Timonen to shreds. Saying he had a great career but the game has passed him by. Which we all know, but it was odd seeing a player be so bold so soon after he retired.

Exactly The point is to make it more interesting. That doesn't. Take 6 points after a TD and try to make it 8? Or just move on to kickoff with 7 points? Most people find the extra point kick boring and go take a leak or grab a beer. Moving it to the 15 yard line isn't going to make it more interesting. At least this rule as it is now will cause more coaches to go for two points.

Exactly

I think they actually played better at the end of that Coyotes series besides the last game where they just crapped the bed. Also, didn't realize that 5 out of 6 of those games went to OT. Nuts. Crawford gave up two of the softest game winning goals that I can remember in Games 3 and 4 of that series. He did get up those softies, but those games never should have gotten to that point. Mike Smith played like Ken Dryden.

Al Leiter?

Not to mention I think the Ducks will begin losing their cool as they get frustrated as the series goes on, ala the Canucks from a few years ago. Their coach seems to lose it too when things take a turn for the worse.

Stayed up to watch the game, Very tired, so glad they won becasue it would make today suck. Got the split, I thought they played better in game 1 than 2 though.

I hope Q doesn't mess with the D pairings too much with Cuminsky being a lefty. As for the series I said Hawks in 5, I am sticking to it. As others have said, the Hawks looked like the better team and if Kane had buried that chance early I think it would have been a totally different game.

They can after the Hawks eliminate the Ducks. And Kanye's music sucks, and is a terrible human being

Just saw on Comcast Sports Net Central that Andrew Shaw's brother is working the Wrigley construction as an iron worker. It was a pretty cool story, and got to know some of the Cubs players.

Yep, they almost had that last year, but instead got LA-NY. If I remember correctly that didn't get good ratings.