The two SoCal sweeps of this playoffs were not surprising at all.

Kale Hulls

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May 15, 2013
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Vegas is going to crush San Jose, Nashville is going to crush Vegas, Pittsburgh is going to crush Nashville.
 

Mallard

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Apr 19, 2017
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Seems like something in common for Ducks and Kings was the fantastic goaltending by Gibson (honorable mention Miller) and Quick. I don't know about LA but if the Ducks had an average goalie we probably would not have made the playoffs.

I don't think it's shocking the Sharks beat us in this series but I don't think many expected a sweep TBH. If the Ducks played Games 1-3 like they did in 2/3 of Game 4, we may have gotten a win or 2. BUT it doesn't matter cause we sucked beyond belief and SJS deserved it.
 
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Pierce Hawthorne

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Yeah, I had San Jose beating the Ducks in 6 but that was only because the Ducks managed to steal home ice and I figured they'd split games 1 and 2, then the Ducks would win at home again when the Sharks went up 3-1 in the series.


But the Sharks managed to win both games on the road and after that it was clear that series wasn't going beyond 5.


Ducks are done. They dont have a core to compete anymore. Some good players but not enough to be a true contender.
 

Thenameless

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As much as I want Vegas to take it all, I'm still surprised that a team with LA's pedigree went down without a fight. That team still scares me.
 

Frosty415

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The TSN/Sportsnet/ESPN analysts all had the majority pick ducks over the sharks, in fact I feel like the Sharks have been pretty underrated all year, they have a young team and bright future post Marleau/Thornton era.

Same thing for Vegas, a ton had picked the Kings.


Sports analysts are all just opinions, it's so subjective.


Regardless, both sweeps were pretty surprising.
 

Blue Goose

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Seriously, Vegas played so good defensively and Fleury made the saves he needed to. But i was really impressed how every forward on the knights played a solid two way game. Didn't see one player dog it in d-zone, on top of that they have a very mobile defense back there. Now we'll see how they play against a SJ team that has way more depth than the kings.

From what I've seen this season, there's really only been two Knights who didn't play a solid two-way game: one of them was acquired at the trade deadline and is now sitting in the press box watching the playoffs once Perron came back; and the other one went back to Russia.

But the Sharks managed to win both games on the road and after that it was clear that series wasn't going beyond 5.

I guess I can defer to the Ducks fans, but I thought they played pretty well in San Jose, other than the obvious second half of Game 3. In that game, they were controlling play for the entire first half, but unluckily found themselves down 3-1 at the halfway point. After that, the wheels fell off, but they looked competent before that. And I thought they played excellent in Game 4, but couldn't solve Jones.

As much as I want Vegas to take it all, I'm still surprised that a team with LA's pedigree went down without a fight. That team still scares me.

I couldn't imagine a sweep either, especially when you looked at the regular season series between the two. Vegas won the first game (Nov 19) after they scored a couple of bad early goals against Quick (which he presumably wouldn't allow in the playoffs) and then held off LA for the rest of the game. The second game (Dec 28) went to OT. And the Kings imposed their will on the Knights during their home-and-home sweep at the end of February.
 
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Hal 9000

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Let's be honest, the advanced stats committee isn't surprised by the two SoCal teams that both got swept. LA and Anaheim were 16th and 22nd in CF% respectively. 18th and 22nd in FF% respectively. 18th and 22nd in SF% respectively. Unlike Minnesota and Colorado who at least did well limiting quality chances (Minnesota one of the best teams in this category), LA and especially Anaheim were mep (Anaheim was flat out bad) in this category. They also got a ton of favourable bounces and calls go their ways this season. If Winnipeg and Nashville defeat their opposition in game 5, this will be the first time in a long time where advanced stats have truly dictated the game and it's about time, because we need some justice for actual objective analytics instead of biased eye test.
Can you link us to your pre-playoff predictions?
 

BigKing

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San Jose has speed to match up with Vegas and more top-end talent.

Kings couldn't score. Major kudos to the Vegas PK. In a series that Vegas only outscored the Kings 7-3 over four games, being so strong on the PK was huge.

I wanted the Vegas match up as I didn't respect their defense and I felt the Kings could shut them down. Kings did shut them down but couldn't score in a whore house.

As for advanced stats dictating who wins, aren't you using the poster franchise for advanced stats as an example? Pretty sure the Kings were the advanced stat darlings after 2012 through 2014 while the Ducks never have been but still went to two conference finals in the past four seasons.
 
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Osprey

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OP, your argument about how advanced stats "truly dictated the game" because the losers had lower CF% in the regular season is completely undone by the fact that, in their playoff series, ANA beat SJ in CF%, 53.17% to 46.83%. That's a monstrous difference. If you can predict a sweep from Corsi numbers over the season, then you should really be able to predict a sweep from Corsi numbers over the series, itself, yet I find it hard to believe that the advanced stats community would really predict that the team that would have the 46.83 CF% in the series would sweep the team with the 53.17%.

NHL.com - Stats

Both losses were not surprising, but the fact that they were both sweeps was. As someone said, sweeps are usually at least a bit surprising. A team that maintained an approximate 0.600 point percentage throughout the season should be expected to win at least one of the first four games of the series. There's so much parity nowadays that sweeps are less common than they used to be and predicting them is harder than ever (and certainly can't be predicted with Corsi; just look at WSH leading CBJ in CF% by a whopping 55.13% to 44.87% despite having lost two games already).
 

Rorschach

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Oct 9, 2006
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And better team. Vegas is far better than the Sharks.

No, the Vegas team is definitely is not better except in lower in depth. LA's lack of lower end depth got exposed due to the suspension of Doughty and having two everyday defensemen hurt along with Jeff Carter still coming up to game speed. Vegas got lucky to meet a Kings team at 60% strength that couldn't even clear their own zone on routine plays.
 
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Do Make Say Think

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Just like last year, when you weren't surprised Pittsburgh (16th in CF%), Anaheim (19th) and Ottawa (22nd) made out 3/4 of the conference final teams, am I right? ;)

As if one needs enhanced stats to realize the Ducks have sucked all season. But thanks for letting us know.

The point of the tread isn't to praise analytics. It's for OP to gloat how he backed "the right horse".

As usual with people like OP: when a team defies analytics they will say "outlier" and when they get the desired results "Im so GUD!".
 

Bizz

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Oct 17, 2007
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lol that it? all you can do is talk about the past LA?

Let's talk about the future, with your team being in the Pacific basement for the next decade while Vegas and SJ steamrolls the division.

Motherf***ing Arizona will win a Cup before you win your next one.
 

kingsfan28

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Feb 27, 2005
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lol that it? all you can do is talk about the past LA?

Let's talk about the future, with your team being in the Pacific basement for the next decade while Vegas and SJ steamrolls the division.

Mother****ing Arizona will win a Cup before you win your next one.



What makes you think SJ is all of a sudden on the rise? A full decade of futility and counting.
 

kingsfan28

Its A Kingspiracy !
Feb 27, 2005
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About LA sweep. But...but....but the defense is so important in play-offs and it wins cups they say. :sarcasm:

Defense did win the first round, and it does win cups. . Vegas smothered LA and prevented scoring chances, gave Fleury a chance to make the save. Hell, the Kings only gave up 7 goals in the series, the same number they gave up when they beat the Rangers for the Cup.
 

kingsholygrail

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lol that it? all you can do is talk about the past LA?

Let's talk about the future, with your team being in the Pacific basement for the next decade while Vegas and SJ steamrolls the division.

Mother****ing Arizona will win a Cup before you win your next one.

"This will be the year!" says increasingly nervous Sharks poster.
 

Hint1k

Registered User
Oct 27, 2017
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Defense did win the first round, and it does win cups. . Vegas smothered LA and prevented scoring chances, gave Fleury a chance to make the save. Hell, the Kings only gave up 7 goals in the series, the same number they gave up when they beat the Rangers for the Cup.

Relax LA fans, I was not bashing LA, you don't need to defend it.

HFboard is full of the wrong narratives. Like for example:
1) Points is the indication of who is the best player (hint: goals is the real indicator).
2) Or "defense win cups" (hint: in reality offense wins cups and regular games and any other type of games).
3) Or "Corsi/any advanced stats" show how strong is a team (hint: advanced stats actually show a team style, not a strength).
4) Or "one talented player can win cup" (hint: in real life even Gretzky did not win anything "alone").

So I made a sarcastic comment about those wrong narratives and how the reality likes to make fun of them.
 
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