Washington vs Pittsburgh

[psulion22 402]

Good?  Yes.  Less than fantastic?  Absolutely not.  Crawford was good, if that, but not fantastic in '15.  Murray was good, but not fantastic in the half of the games he played last year.  Fleury was good but not fantastic to start last year, and got his team to the conference finals.  Even the first year, Murray was pretty good but not fantastic, 

[chippa13 1844]

Oh, for Chist's sake, I think this has run its course.

[215BroadStBullies610 435]

People will do anything to validate their "point" haha. 

[psulion22 402]

1 hour ago, IPv6Freely said:

Crawford is the only one I can think of. I still say the Hawks won their cup in spite of him rather than because of him. He was "just okay". 

But otherwise I agree with both of you, if I'm reading the responses correctly:

• Top tier goaltending is generally a must to win
• Poor goaltending will end your season quickly
• Average goaltending can potentially get it done if the defensemen and defensive system is good and executes well
• Asking a goalie to steal games too many times is a recipe for disaster no matter how good he's playing

I agree about Crawford.  They won that Cup in spite of him.  And the reality is for all of Murray's heroics, the team in front of him is way more responsible for his success. I don't want to say they win in spite of him too, because he does steal them some games.   He is much like Crawford in that he has a bad glove and average puck control, and causes a lot of problems that he then bails himself out of, making him look spectacular.  But he allows too many soft goals.  If you look at their shot totals and charts, you'll see how little work he actually has to do.  In 2016, the Pens held their opponents to 25 shots or under in 11 of the 22 games Murray played.  The Sharks didn't record 30 in any game, with their high being 26.  The Bolts recorded 30 or more twice (30,37), but were also held to 20 or under twice, including 17 in Game 7.  And all of that was despite two games in each series going to OT, which increased the shot totals.  In fact, in the two final elimination games, the Bolts and Sharks were held under 20 shots (17 and 19 respectively). Both were shut outs.

The crux of the argument here is in the bullet points.  I believe the first should read "Top tier defensive systems and defensemen are generally a must to win", with the rest holding true.  You could make the third  "Average defenses can potentially get it done if their goaltending is out of this world".  But the problem is that we haven't seen that second one since Thomas in 2011 or maybe Quick in 2012 (his defense was better than average imo).  We've seen a lot of teams riding the hot or elite goalie only to lose to the better defensive team though.  It's just a difference of opinion.

Edited May 1, 2018 by psulion22

[chippa13 1844]

Some people just have to get the last word.

[marka 526]

Howdy,

Think anything will happen with Wilson?

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/05/tom-wilson-washington-capitals-pittsburgh-penguins-controversial-hit

All my friends (that are Pens homers) are screaming for his head, basically.

2nd game in a row (Dumoulin was last game) , this one ends up with a broken jaw/concussion.  At some point it seems like its not "bad luck"?

Even if its just barely this side of "legal" as a new hockey person I'm starting to see some reasons why that whole "code" thing might have something to it.

Mark

Edited May 2, 2018 by marka

[Jamarquan 201]

My point wasn't related to the series at hand, as such I got rid of my comment. Carry on.

Edited May 2, 2018 by Jamarquan

[UCMnumber8 32]

18 minutes ago, marka said:

Think anything will happen with Wilson?

I would anticipate at least a game, given his history of borderline/dirty hits, not to mention the public outcry of Pittsburgh and everyone else calling for the DoPS and his head on a pike. He has a hearing today regarding the hit, so we'll see what they level against him.

 

He's gonna cost the Capitals a shot at this series making bonehead moves like that. Sure, you can say he has put up relatively decent numbers, and his physicality has been felt through both rounds so far. I understand making a legal, hard hit, since the playoffs are harder, and every game needs to be played like it's elimination time. You go balls to the wall, but still retain some discipline and be level-headed. Going out and being Matt Cooke 2.0, gooning it up and laughing after you destroy an opposing player while he lies on the ice with a concussion and broken jaw isn't going to win games nor any love from the other side, re: first round against the Islanders in 2015.

 

I want to like Tom Wilson, I really do. I want to believe and hope he could be an asset to this team, but he's been a liability more than anything. From an accounting standpoint, while assets plus liabilities will always equal owner's equity, liabilities still detract from and hurt the bottom line.

[chippa13 1844]

He has actually had a rather clean record but I do think this will result in a game. If he kept coming with his right shoulder it would have been fine but when he twisted to lead with his left and made direct contact with the jaw, that is where he screwed up. Concussions may occur without main point of contact to the head but broken jaws do not.

[UCMnumber8 32]

Holy non-second round exit, Batman! The Capitals actually did it!

[IPv6Freely 2092]

Ah, bummer. I would have loved for Tampa to beat the Penguins but sad to see them lose to Washington. Oh well. 

[215BroadStBullies610 435]

Glad for Ovi. I want him to win a Cup. Probably won't happen but he is one of my favorite non-Flyers players and have always been a fan of his. Looking forward to the TB-WSH showdown.