Stanley Cup Finals 2012: The Story So Far

Not a bad opener, in fact quite good.

Brodeur and Quick were good, but I'll give the edge to Brodeur because the Devils, I felt, missed finishing a few plays that could have changed the outcome.

That overtime goal by Kopitar was one of the nicest OT goals in a Stanley Cup Finals I've ever seen

The Kings needed this game more than them Devils, just as New Jersey will need game 2 more than Los Angeles.

9 wins in a row in this postseason, and 10 dating back to last year. Their last postseason loss was a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Sharks on April 14, 2011. It's been a long time coming

The way it was

1993

Los Angeles won game 1 vs Montreal on the road. I should saw Gretzky won it. 4-1 LA

1995

New Jersey won game vs the favoured Wings on the road, 2-1. I was their ninth straight win on the road in that postseason, sound familiar?

Attitudes In The Dressing Room At This Point:

Los Angeles: We can beat these guys, and we can win on the road, anywhere

New Jersey: These guys are for real and we need to finish plays better.

My three stars:

Brodeur

Quick

Kopitar

Game Rating Scale 1 (boring) - 10 (exciting)

8, more plays need to be executed and less give aways. But a good goaltending duel and exciting OT goal. Plus some bone crushing hits never hurts, eh?

The Kings: Playoff Veterans @ Such A Young Age!

I keep hearing that the Los Angeles Kings don't have experience, thus they will lose quickly and quietly.

What a bunch of bull.

Thing is, I took it on myself to look this up, and they do have experience.

Justine Williams played in the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals with Carolina, and has played 65 playoff games, lifetime.

Mike Richards played in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals with the Miracle Flyers and 77 playoff games, lifetime.

Dustin Penner played in the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals with Ottawa, and 54 playoff games, lifetime.

Jeff Carter played in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals with Philadelphia and 61 playoff games, lifetime.

Jarret Stoll (Not Staal, sadly) played in the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals with Eric Staal and 49 playoff games, lifetime.

Matt Greene played in the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals with Carolina and 44 playoff games, lifetime.

Colin Frasier played in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals with Chicago and 17 playoff games, lifetime.

Rob Scuderi (second oldest player on the team) played in the 2008 and 2009 Stanley Cup Finals with Pittsburgh and 75 playoff games, lifetime.

Drew Doughty has no Stanley Cup Finals experience, but played in the 7 gruelling games in the 2010 Olympic games!



That brings us to the coach, Darryl Sutter. In his second year with Calgary, back in 2004, he took them to game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Sutter has coached 115 playoff games, lifetime. In addition, he played in 51 playoff games, lifetime.

Simon Gagne, I left out for the last. I don't know if I would want to play, given that he is recovered from concussions, which as we saw earlier this year (in the case of Sidney Crosby) can come back at any moment. Gagne is the 2010-2011 Sidney Crosby of 2011-2012. He missed the last 46 games of the season (and 14 playoff games, so far) with his third concussion. If it matters, he's played in the 2010 Stanley Cup finals with the Flyers. Oh yeah, the Kings could use his playoff experience (105 games). Is it worth the risk? Ask Lindros, as a teammate of Gagne in the 1999-2000 regular season and playoffs.

NHL Playoffs: How They Reveal Character, Especially The Masks Ones.

The great men's basketball coach at UCLA, once said that sports don't build character, they reveal it.

NHL playoffs this year? No exception!

Character is what is on trial in the NHL playoffs, not talent. The mentally strong survive, while the weak fade into oblivion.

Believe it or not, I have also seen some character being build this postseason, already.

The Washington Capitals have always looked good on paper, during the regular season, at the All Star Game Skills competition.

But somehow, not quite in the playoffs. All that could soon change.

With their 4-3 win this afternoon, right there in Boston, the Capitals are one win away from pulling off an upset of the defending Stanley Cup champions.

I guess the newest character is the most ulikeliest of them all, Branden Holtby.

All of 7 regular season games this year, to go along with 14 last year.

Now, granted, his career record is now 21,  14W / 4L / 3OTSOL /  2.02GAA / .929S% / 3 SO, but did anyone expect him to perform this well.

See, this is why the Capitals have struggled in the postseason, they've never had the goaltender who can steal series, or even one game for them in situations like this.

Holtby stats in this year's postseason, his first, are: 5, 3 / 2 / 1.86 / .946 / 0, shades of Jaraslav Halak two years ago. And he has everyone in the Caps locker room believing in themselves.

Goaltending is like that. You get into situations where you should have been scored on, but instead, because you weren't you feel like you've been given another chance. Like another chance at the other end.

And it's all over the playoffs.

Detroit has been the first team to lose. And they lost because of Pekke Rinne. How about Rinne's stats: (5, 4 / 1 / 1.81 / .944 / 0). Similar to Holtby, and the kind of stuff you need from your net man if you are going to beat a team like Detroit. And yes, I know Detroit had a worse record then Nashville, but lets face it, the pressure was on Rinne. He had to prove his league leading 43 wins and 1, 987 saves weren't and fluke. Just like getting the Preds to round two last year wasn't just by accident.

Clearly it wasn't.

Los Angeles has a chance to knock out Vancouver, having taken a 3-0 series lead (now down to 3-1) thanks to Jonathan Quick, who already posted a career high 3 playoff wins, almost as many as he won the last two playoffs combined.

Gotta start somewhere!

In addition to three wins, his GAA is 1.76 and his S% is .952. I suppose that's all just a matter of luck, right?

The series might not be over yet, as Corey Schneider, taking over for Roberto Luongo, leads all goaltenders with a GAA of 1.02 and .969 S% in two games.


Elliot and Halak (Hey, I though he was just a fluke after 2010) have San Jose down 3-1 and grasping for air. When is the last time you saw two goaltenders on the same team, bot with a GAA under 2 (1.51, 1.73) and S% around .950 (.944, .935)?


Craig Anderson has the Ottawa Senators (the 8th in the East) thinking upset. How about this: The Senators have never lead in any of the 4 games so far, yet have come out on time twice in overtime. The reason is, the Rangers, sans game 1, haven't ever been ahead by more than two goals at any point in this series. Anderson has been keeping the Senators in every game, game 2 onwards.

Phoenix has come out on top 3 times so far in overtime against Chicago, and amazingly, their only loss so far was at the same stanza. Here's honestly, how their three wins have gone, if we throw away game 3:

One goal lead, late in the game, Chicago ties it, Coyotes win it in overtime.

And their one loss, so far?

One goal lead, late in the game, Chicago ties it, wins it in overtime.

So as you can see, every single game has gone to overtime, which is also where you need goaltending. Mike Smith has faced more shots (164) and made more saves (154) than every other goaltender except Holtby, who has stopped 175 of 185 shots.

Scott Clemmensen's only previous postseason experience came back in the 2006 playoffs, all of 7 minutes for the Devils.

But this year, he has come back to haunt them.

Taking over for Jose Theodore (momentarily) he helped Florida to a 2-2 vice-like-deadlock with the Devils, picking up a key win in game 3.

And as for the Pens and Flyers, the first 4 games had no goaltending, but game 5, a 3-2 Penguins win, both Marc Andre Fleury and Ilya Brzygalov shined. Looks like that series is coming down to goaltening, after all!

Anyone surprised?

Stanley Cup 2012 Predictions, 1st Round: Blues VS Sharks

St. Louis (2) VS San Jose (7)

Offense

St. Louis

Forwards

Backes (82 GP, 24 / 30 / 54)

Oshie (80, 19 / 35 / 54)

Perron (57, 21 / 21 / 42)

Berglund (82, 19 / 19 / 38)

Arnott (72, 17 / 17 / 34)

Stewart (79, 15 / 15 / 30)

Defenceman

Pietrangelo (81, 12 / 39 / 51)

Shattenkirk (81, 9 / 34 / 43)

San Jose

Forwards

Thornton (82, 18 / 59 / 77)

Couture (80, 31 / 34 / 65)

Marleau (82, 30 / 34 / 64)

Pavelski (82, 31 / 30 / 61)

Clowe (76, 17 / 28 / 45)

Defenceman

Boyle (81, 9 / 39 / 48)

Burns (81, 11 / 26 / 37)


Edge: (Slight) San Jose

Defence

St. Louis



Defenceman

Jackman (81, (+20)

Shattenkirk (+20)

Pietrangelo (+16)

Russell (+13)

Forwards

Steen (43 GP, +24)

Perron (+19)

Oshie (+15)

Backes (+15)

Arnott (+13)

D'Agostini  (55, +12)

Sobotka (73, +12)

San Jose

Defenceman

Vlasic (82, +11)

Boyle (+10)

Forwards

Pavelski (+18)

Thornton (+17)

Havlat (39, +10)

Marleau (+10)


Edge: (Wide) St. Louis

Goaltending

St. Louis

Halak (46GP, 26W / 12L / 7OTSO / 1.97 / .926 / 6)
 
Elliott (38, 23 / 10 / 4 / 1.56 / .940 / 9)

San Jose

Niemi (68, 34 / 22 / 9 / 2.42 / .915 / 6)

Greiss (19, 9 / 7 / 1 / 2.30 / .915 / 0)

Edge: (Wide ) Combined goaltending, St. Louis. (Wide) Starting Goaltending, St. Louis

Toughness

St. Louis (55 Team Fights)

Reaves (60GP, 15 fights)

Crombeen (40, 10)

Nichol (80, 6)

Stewart (6)

San Jose (49 Team Fights)

Clowe (9)

Winchester (67, 8)

Vandermeer (25, 6)



Edge: Neither

Season Series

St. Louis

4-0-0

San Jose

0-4-0


Edge: (Wide) St. Louis

Prediction: Blues in 5 games

Stanley Cup Playoffs, 1st Round: Coyotes VS Blackhawks

Phoenix (3) VS Chicago (6)

Offence

Phoenix

Forwards

Whitney (82GP, 24G / 53A / 77PTS)

Vrbata (77, 35 / 27 / 62)

Doan (79, 22 / 28 / 50)

Korpikoski (82, 17 / 20 / 37)

Hanzal (64, 8 / 26 / 34)

Langkow (73, 11 / 19 / 30)

Defenceman

Yandle (82, 11 / 32 / 43)

Ekman-Larsson (82, 13 / 19 / 32)

Chicago

Forwards

Hossa (81, 29 / 48 / 77)

Sharp (74, 33 / 36 / 69)

Kane (82, 23 / 43 / 56)

Toews (59, 29 / 28 / 57) *

Stalberg (79, 22 / 21 / 43)

Bollard (76, 19 / 18 / 37)

Defenceman

Keith (74, 4 / 36 / 40)

Leddy (82, 3 / 34 / 37)

Edge: (Neither slight nor wide) Chicago

Defence

Phoenix

Defenceman

Aucoin (64GP, +14)

Klesa (65, +12)

Forwards

Whitney (+26)

Vrbata (+24)

Hanzal (+12)

Chicago

Defenceman

Seabrook (+21)

Keith (+15)

Forwards

Sharp (+28)

Hossa (+18)

Toews (+17)

Kruger (71, +11)

Carcillo (28, +10)

Edge: (Slight) Phoenix
 

Goaltending

 

Phoenix

Smith (67GP, 38 / 18 / 10 / 2.21 / .930 / 8)

LaBarbera (19, 3 / 9 / 3 / 2.54 / .912 / 0)

McElhinney (2, 1 / 0 / 0 / 1.67 / .944 / 0)

Chicago

Crawford (57, 30 / 17 / 7 / 2.72 / .903 / 0)

Emery (34, 15 / 9 / 4 / 2.81 / .900 / 0)


Edge: (Slight) Combined goaltending, Phoenix. (Wide) Starting goaltending, Phoenix

Toughness

 

Phoenix (39 Team Fights)

Bissionnette (31GP, 8 fights)

Chipchura (53, 7)

Torres (79, 6)

Chicago (51 Team Fights)

Mayers (81, 12)

Bollig (18, 8)

Carcillo (6)

Shaw (37, 5)


Edge: (Slight) Chicago

Season Series

Phoenix

3-1-0

Chicago

 
1-2-1


Edge: (Slight) Phoenix

 
Prediction: Coyotes in seven games

Stanley Cup Playoff Predictions, First Round: Panthers VS Devils

Florida (3) VS New Jersey (6)



Offence

Florida

Forwards

Fleishmann (82GP, 27G / 34A / 61PTS)

Weiss ( 80, 20 / 37 / 57)

Versteeg (71, 23 / 31 / 54)

Kopecky (80, 10 / 22 / 32)

Defenceman

Campbell (82, 4 / 49 / 53)

Garrison (77, 16 / 17 / 33)

New Jersey

Forwards

Kovalchuk (77, 37 / 46 / 83)

Elias (81, 26 / 52 / 78)

Parise (82, 31 / 38 / 69)

Henrique (74, 16 / 35 / 51)

Clarkson (80, 30 / 16 / 46)

Sykora (82, 21 / 23 / 44)

Zubrus (82, 17 / 27 / 44)

Defenceman

Larsson (65, 2 / 16 / 18)


Edge: (Slight) New Jersey

Defence

Florida

Defenceman

Garrison (+6)

Forwards

Goc (57GP, +5)

New Jersey

Defenceman

Salvador (82, +18)

Forwards

Josefson (41, +10)

Edge: (Slight) New Jersey

Goaltending

Florida

Theodore (53, 22 / 16 / 11 / 2.46 / .917 / 3)

Clemmensen (30, 14 / 6 / 6 / 2.57 / .913 / 1)

Markstrom (7, 2 / 4 / 1 / 2.66 / .923 / 0)

Foster (1, 0 / 0 / 0 / 0.00 / 1.000 / 0) [I think they should start him!]



New Jersey

Brodeur (59GP, 31W / 21L / 4OTSO / 2.41 / .908 / 3SO)

Hedberg (27, 17 / 7 / 2 / 2.23 / .918 / 4)

Edge: (Pretty much even) Combined goaltending. (Slight, due to experience) Starting goaltending, New Jersey

Toughness

Florida (41 Team Fights)

Barch (41GP, 9 fights)

Gudbranson (72, 7)

Bradley (45, 6)

New Jersey (50 Team Fights)

Janssen (48, 11)

Boulton (51, 11)

Clarkson (5)

Mills (27, 5)

 

Edge: (Slight) New Jersey

Season Series

 

Florida

2-1-1

New Jersey

2-2-0

Edge: (Slight) Florida

 
 

Prediction: Devils in 7 games

Stanley Cup Playoffs, 1st Round: Bruins VS Capitals

Boston (2) VS Washington (7)

Offense

Boston

Forwards

Seguin (81 GP, 29G / 38A / 67PTS)

Bergeron (81, 22 / 42 / 64)

Krejic (79, 23 / 39 / 62)

Lucic (81, 26 / 35 / 61)

Marchant (76, 26 / 27 / 53)

Peverley (57, 11 / 31 / 42)

Kelly (82, 20 / 19 / 39)

Horton (46, 17 / 15 / 32) *

Pouliot (74, 16 / 16 / 32)

Defenceman

Chara (79, 12 / 40 / 52)

Washington

Forwards

Ovechkin (78, 38 / 27 / 65)

Semin (77, 21 / 33 / 54)

Johansson (80, 14 / 32 / 46)

Backstrom (42, 14 / 30 / 44)

Laich (82, 16 / 25 / 41)

Chimera (82, 20 / 19 / 39)

Brouwer (82, 18 / 15 / 33)

Perreault (64, 16 / 14 / 30)

Defenceman

Wideman (82, 11 / 34 / 45)

Carlson (82, 9 / 23 / 32)


Edge: (Wide) Boston

Defence

Boston

Defenceman

Chara (+33)

Bouchuk (77GP, +27)

McQuaid (72, +16)

Seidenberg (80, +15)

Corvo (75, +10)

Forwards

Bergeron (+36)

Seguin (+34)

Kelly (+33)

Marchand (+31)

Peverley (+15)

Pouliot (+13)

Washington

Defenceman

Alzner (82, +12)

Hamrlik (68, +11)

Forwards

Ward (73, +12)


Edge: (Slight) Preventing goals, Boston. (Wide) Overall defence, Boston

Goaltending

Boston

Tim Thomas (59GP, 35W / 19L / 1OTSO / 2.36GAA / .920 S% / 5SO)

Rask (23, 11 / 8 / 3 / 2.05 / .929 / 3)

Turco (5, 2 / 2 / 0 / 3.68 / .855 / 0) **

Khudobin (1, 1 / 0 / 0 / 1.00 / .978 / 0)

Washington

Vokoun (48, 25 / 17 / 2 / 2.51 / .917 / 4)

Neuvirth (38, 13 / 13 / 5 / 2.82 / .903 / 3)

Holtby (7, 4 / 2 / 1 / 2.49 / .922 / 1)


Edge: (Slight) Overall goaltending. (Neither wide nor slight) Starting goaltending, Boston

Toughness

Boston (75 Team Fights)

Thornton (81 GP, 22 fights)

Campbell (78, 10)

McQuaid (8)

Lucic (7)

Washington (35 Team Fights)

Hendricks (78, 13)

Brouwer (6)


Edge: (Wide) Boston

Season Series

Boston

1-2-1

Washington

3-1-0


Edge: (Slight) Washington


Prediction: Boston in 6 games

* injured

** ineligible