So, I figure Montreal and New York are getting that feeling. The home-free feeling.
Steve Mason is out for the Philadelphia Flyers and Ben Bishop of the Tampa Bay Lightning (all 6'7 of him) is also on the sidelines. For how long? No one knows for sure. But fans of the Montreal Canadians (Tampa Bay's opponent) and the New York Rangers (Philadelphia's opponent) must be thinking about round two already.
Before you get there, you must get past your first round opponent.
And, neither team has ruled out the possibility of Bishop and Mason returning. What about Ray Emery and Anders Lindback? Are they easy pickings?
On the surface, Lindback should be no problem for the Habs: 8-12-2, 2.90, .891 this season. Not the second coming of Ken Dryden 1971, says I. But it's often, "What have you done for me lately" in hockey that matters the most.
Linback has actually been quite hot recently, if you take a closer look. Last 5 games? Okay, we have a loss to Buffalo where he didn't play good. His next game was a loss to Pittsburgh in overtime, allowing four goals. But only one of them was scored even strength, and it was against the Pens. So...
And then he came in relief against Toronto and slammed the door shut in a shared shutout with Big Ben. That happened to be the game that put Bishop on the shelf. But Anders stopped all 25 shots against. Against Philadelphia on April 10th, he stopped 34 of 36 shots for his second straight win. Then, he blanked Alexander Ovechkin and his mates for a 3-1-1 finish. Yeah, he's playing well right now. Add to that the Lightning home-ice advantage, and Montreal better think twice before looking too far ahead to round two.
Emery has been there before, unlike Lindback (Anders has played just 13 minutes of a game back in 2011). He took Ottawa to the finals in 2007. After an off-season the next year, he joined the Flyers. While an injury cut his season short, it was Philly that made it all the way to the finals in 2010. From there on in, he came back from that injury and has posted some impressive winning numbers. Last year, in 21 games with the Chicago Blackhawks, Ray won 17, lost only 1 and posted a .922 S%. The Hawks won it all.
So that's three times he's been a part of a team that made it through at least three rounds. He did not play at all in the playoffs last season, but got a much deserved ring. Razor came down to earth this year, going just 9-12-4, 2.96, .903
The thing about Ray is, he's a great character. Ever seen one of his goalie fights? The stuff of legend! And character is the thing that is on trial in the Stanley Cup playoffs, more than anything. Ray Emery also brings experience to this situation. More than the Flyers would have with a healthy Steve Mason. Mason has little playoff experience. His last playoff was for Columbus back in 2009. And all it produced was 0-4, 4.27, .878! Is five years of zero playoff experience going to make him ready for the playoffs. Yes, that 33-18-7, 2.50, .917 looks good. But this is the playoffs, a whole new ballgame! And it's against the Rangers, who are no pushovers! So in a situation like this, I'd still want to use Emery, at least in some games. Even a healthy Mason, you tell me: Is he going to have his hands full?
References
Steve Mason is out for the Philadelphia Flyers and Ben Bishop of the Tampa Bay Lightning (all 6'7 of him) is also on the sidelines. For how long? No one knows for sure. But fans of the Montreal Canadians (Tampa Bay's opponent) and the New York Rangers (Philadelphia's opponent) must be thinking about round two already.
Before you get there, you must get past your first round opponent.
And, neither team has ruled out the possibility of Bishop and Mason returning. What about Ray Emery and Anders Lindback? Are they easy pickings?
On the surface, Lindback should be no problem for the Habs: 8-12-2, 2.90, .891 this season. Not the second coming of Ken Dryden 1971, says I. But it's often, "What have you done for me lately" in hockey that matters the most.
Linback has actually been quite hot recently, if you take a closer look. Last 5 games? Okay, we have a loss to Buffalo where he didn't play good. His next game was a loss to Pittsburgh in overtime, allowing four goals. But only one of them was scored even strength, and it was against the Pens. So...
And then he came in relief against Toronto and slammed the door shut in a shared shutout with Big Ben. That happened to be the game that put Bishop on the shelf. But Anders stopped all 25 shots against. Against Philadelphia on April 10th, he stopped 34 of 36 shots for his second straight win. Then, he blanked Alexander Ovechkin and his mates for a 3-1-1 finish. Yeah, he's playing well right now. Add to that the Lightning home-ice advantage, and Montreal better think twice before looking too far ahead to round two.
Emery has been there before, unlike Lindback (Anders has played just 13 minutes of a game back in 2011). He took Ottawa to the finals in 2007. After an off-season the next year, he joined the Flyers. While an injury cut his season short, it was Philly that made it all the way to the finals in 2010. From there on in, he came back from that injury and has posted some impressive winning numbers. Last year, in 21 games with the Chicago Blackhawks, Ray won 17, lost only 1 and posted a .922 S%. The Hawks won it all.
So that's three times he's been a part of a team that made it through at least three rounds. He did not play at all in the playoffs last season, but got a much deserved ring. Razor came down to earth this year, going just 9-12-4, 2.96, .903
The thing about Ray is, he's a great character. Ever seen one of his goalie fights? The stuff of legend! And character is the thing that is on trial in the Stanley Cup playoffs, more than anything. Ray Emery also brings experience to this situation. More than the Flyers would have with a healthy Steve Mason. Mason has little playoff experience. His last playoff was for Columbus back in 2009. And all it produced was 0-4, 4.27, .878! Is five years of zero playoff experience going to make him ready for the playoffs. Yes, that 33-18-7, 2.50, .917 looks good. But this is the playoffs, a whole new ballgame! And it's against the Rangers, who are no pushovers! So in a situation like this, I'd still want to use Emery, at least in some games. Even a healthy Mason, you tell me: Is he going to have his hands full?
References
“Official Site of the National Hockey League” | NHL.com. National Hockey League.
Web. 16 Apr. 2014. <https://www.nhl.com>.
Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey
Statistics and History. Web. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
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