New York Islanders vs. Carolina Hurricanes

[IPv6Freely 2092]

Game 1: Friday, April 26 at NYI | TV: NBCSN, 7 p.m.
Game 2: Sunday, April 28 at NYI | TV: NBC, 3 p.m
Game 3: Wednesday, May 1 at CAR | TV: NBCSN, 7 p.m.
Game 4: Friday, May 3 at CAR | TV: NBCSN, 7 p.m
*Game 5: Sunday, May 5 at NYI | TV: TBD
*Game 6: Tuesday, May 7 at CAR | TV: TBD
*Game 7: Wednesday, May 8 at NYI | TV: TBD

[IPv6Freely 2092]

I hate to say it but I think the Islanders are going to win this one. I'd definitely prefer it was Carolina though. 

[caveman27 208]

Watching today's game.  Should be good.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

A weird two day break in the schedule. Carolina has taken a strangle-hold on this series winning two on the road. Hopefully they can finish it off at home this week! 🙂

I have a feeling the Islanders are going to seriously regret not playing the second round in their old building. 

[Kgbeast 195]

Hurricanes are unreal. After grinding out the true top dog of the league, they absolutely domied Barry Trotz masterpiece. Being CBJ fan, it pains me to admit that Canes deserve this Cup or at least the runner-up. If CBJ check out on Bruins, Canes is my bandwagon. Talking about Barry Trotz, he is in my opinion the only Jack Adams finalists. Coop is a joke, Berube, ok. Trotz was given a team of pretty much nobodies and they stayed at the top of the standings all season and it was all to the Trotz credit.  

[BenBreeg 493]

Trotz definitely is in the top two for me.  It is a regular season award so Cooper is my other finalist, not sure which way I land.

Wasn’t expecting it to play out this way but then again wasnt expecting the Pens to get swept either.  At this point I think Carolina is probably my team except my son has adopted Dallas so I have to tread carefully.

[Kgbeast 195]

My problem with Cooper is not from playoffs, it is from the fact that he has a team that is skillwise unmatched in skaters and in goal. Leading team like this through the regular season should not require great deal of coaching. Just stand in the back and let them play. Similarly as Sully and Penguins. It takes a real coach with a real vision however to take a group of missfits and take them into playoffs. Galant, Tortz had that done in the last 3-4 years the way I see. This year, from a limited number of teams I have followed(only east really) Trotz is the one. A joke team, with joke goalies, (on paper at least) yet had tremendous success in the regular season. They should not have gone past the first round with that raster, cudos to them on getting 8 games in the post season. This just further proves that Trotz is a "master".

[BenBreeg 493]

Trotz spent a lot of years not moving past the first round, so I am not ready to call him the second coming of Scotty Bowman just yet.  And no, I don't think that just because you have a bunch of good players you just sit back and let them play.  Maybe in the NBA or lower levels of hockey but to do what they did in the regular season takes skill.  There are a lot of facets to coaching, not just Xs and Os.

Carolina seems to play a steady game, something that I think bodes well for the next two rounds.