ATD #10 - Bob Cole Semifinals: Detroit Falcons (1) vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (6)

[papershoes]

Detroit Falcons
GM: EagleBelfour
Coach: Dick Irvin Sr.

Valeri Kharlamov - Vladimir Petrov - Boris Mikhailov (C)
Vic Hadfield (A) - Jean Ratelle - Rod Gilbert
Joe Klukay - Ralph Backstrom - Blair Russel
Harry Westwick - Pit Lepine - Mike Foligno
extras: Dan Bain - Lynn Patrick

Guy Lapointe - Ken Reardon
Doug Mohns (A) - Ken Morrow
Jim Neilson - Reijo Ruotsalainen
extra: Ivan Tregubov

Jacques Plante
Percy LeSueur

Power play units:
PP1: Valeri Kharlamov - Vladimir Petrov - Boris Mikhailov - Guy Lapointe - Doug Mohns
PP2: Vic Hadfield - Jean Ratelle - Rod Gilbert - Ken Reardon - Reijo Ruotsalainen

Penalty killing units:
PK1: Ralph Backstrom - Joe Klukay - Kenneth Reardon - Ken Morrow
PK2: Vladimir Petrov - Boris Mikhailov - Guy Lapointe - Harry Westwick


VS.


Toronto Maple Leafs
GM: Leaf Lander
Coaches: Ron Wilson, Pat Quinn

Bobby Hull (C) - Mats Sundin (A) - Alex Mogilny
Gary Roberts - Dave Keon - Jari Kurri
Bob Davidson - Mike Modano - Bob Nevin (A)
Brenden Morrow- Murray Oliver - Bill Ezinicki
extra: Evgeni Malkin

Babe Pratt - Allan Stanley
Barclay Plager - Stefan Persson
Mathieu Schneider - Ted Harris
extra: Tomas Kaberle

Turk Broda
Curtis Joseph

Power play units:
PP1: Hull - Modano - Kurri - Pratt - Stanley
PP2: Roberts - Sundin - Mogilny - Schneider - Kaberle

Penalty killing units:
PK1: Keon - Nevin - Pratt - Stanley
PK2: Oliver - Ezinicki - Plager - Perrson​

Click to read more...

 

[God Bless Canada]

LL pulled off a pretty big upset in Round 1. If he does it again, the term "Cinderella" will officially be associated with this team, because the Falcons are definitely one of the big favourites.

If Toronto thought the last series was tough for their defence, they haven't seen anything yet. Detroit's first two lines are dynamic. And you have to wonder who the Leafs can play against them. Is Allan Stanley fast enough to play against Kharlamov? He's definitely smart enough. His hockey sense is terrific. But Kharlamov also has terrific hockey sense, and he could pose a lot of problems for Stanley.

I'm expecting we'll see a lot of the Keon Line and the Modano line out there against the Kharlamov line, and LL won't worry so much about getting the right defensive pairing out there against the Kharlamov line.

I'm not sold on reuniting the GAG Line. They never won anything. And their playoff record as a line wasn't overwhelming. But they're in a second line role this time, so that should remove some of the pressure.

I think Toronto's fourth line could be a difference maker at some point. Wouldn't surprise me to see them out there against the Petrov line. I think they could be really effective against the GAG Line, with their speed and toughness.

The lack of playmaking presence on Toronto has been addressed, but it wasn't an issue in round 1. Bottom line is the Leafs have excellent offensive ability, and Sundin's smart enough to know to get the puck to Hull. (I just wish Mogs was smart enough to know that).

I'm guessing that either Lapointe or Mohns will be on the ice against Hull at all times. I'm sure that Hull's line will also get a steady diet of Backstrom's line. Incidentally, I think Keon and Backstrom are the two centres in the draft best-suited to third line play.

It's probably the best goaltending match-up of the second round. Broda vs. Plante. Plante's arguably the best goalie ever. Broda's magnificent in the playoffs. I had Broda as the first star in the last series. I'll probably have him as the first star in this series. Not necessarily because he's better than Plante, or because he'll play better than Plante, but I think he means more to his team than Plante. With the Leafs defence corps, you know that Broda is going to have a lot of very busy nights. It's great to have a backchecking presence from the forwards, but you need the elite defenceman. The Leafs don't have that.

Is Ron Wilson an ATD worthy coach? Maybe. Does the Wilson-Quinn tandem work? Probably. Will it be popular with the press? No. Is it a big step back from a team coached by Dick Irvin? Absolutely. Will that be the difference in the series? Perhaps.

 

[Leaf Lander]

in regards to coaching

2 heads are better then one

 

[shawnmullin]

Is Ron Wilson an ATD worthy coach? Maybe. Does the Wilson-Quinn tandem work? Probably. Will it be popular with the press? No. Is it a big step back from a team coached by Dick Irvin? Absolutely. Will that be the difference in the series? Perhaps.

Wait wait wait, are you saying Ron Wilson and Pat Quinn wouldn't be popular with the press? Talk about quote machines.

 

[EagleBelfour]

Hey guys, I was lcky enough to have a computer in my room, so I'll take a couple of minutes to wrtie my thoughts down. More to come sunday.

Very interresting matchup, first time against LL himself .

As pointed out, the Leafs will have their hands full against my top-2 line. Which defensive pairing will they play against the Army line? As GBC said, Allan Stanley was a very smart hockey player who use his positionning to counter his opponent, but all three of Kharlamov, Petrov and Mikhailov were also extremely smart hockey players. They were making play at high speed and I don't see how a pairing of Pratt-Stanley could be effective against them. However, they don't have much else at defense to play agaisnt myfirst line so perhaps it's the best way to go for them.

Now, which offensive line will play against the Army line? The third one is almost always the answer. Davidson and Nevin were goos defensive specialist and Modano, while not as good defensively as the other two, have the speed necessary to play with my first line. However, the second line probably would be a more effective line against the Army line and i know that at home, I would prefer the Army Line to play agasint the first or third line (If i need to match line, becausethe Army line are strong nough to play against any line and have great success). Roberts could hit (his he fast enough), while Keon is a favourite of mine and one of the greatest two-way player of all-time. The only question is: will Kurri lose some of his offensive abilities if hwe have cover Kharlamov all night long?

I understand the point that GBC pointed out that the GAG line were a underwhelming line in the playoff, and to a certain extent, he's right. A thing play in theuir favour though: they are not the focal point of my offensive. The Shore-Harvey-Gainey of this world will try to counter my first line and will very seldomly play against the GAG line. I would be scare having the GAG line as my first line in the ATD context. On my team, I feel they will thrive. It's not a Barcley Plager or a Mathieu Schneider that will shut them down.

To return to the fact that GAG line were underperforming in the playoffs. I think Rod Gilbert was infact a good playoff performer. 67 points in 79 games is almost on par with his regular season achivement. In 1972, the year when they went to the final, he managed 15 points in 16 games while Jean Ratelle was injured most of the playoffs. I already stated that they could of won that year if both Ed giacomin and Jean Ratelle would of played in the final. Best offensive forward and number one goaltender out agaisnt a very strong Philadelphia team. I know we can't re-write history, but it's still something to think about.

From what I've read, Hadfield role when playoffs came was a little different. Although he's almost on par with his regular season success, he had to play a little more defensive that he usually had to do. Some team wanted to go fire against fire and were playing their offensive unit against the GAG line, so he had to adapt a little.

On Ratelle side I will say that his true that a talent like him should have score more in the playoffs. It's mind buggling, because Ratelle was a very smart hockey player, great scorer and a very intelligent man. Those guys most of the time come big when it count. It's surprising though that you could say he was underperforming in playoffs with the Rangers, but was playing great post-season game with the Bruins. 56 points in 52 games in his first four years with the Bruins. Would be interresting to dig deeper to understand why his playoff stats changed that way.

Obviously, I want my third line and Guy Lapointe-Reardon to play as much as they can against Bobby Hull. The matchup is good for me though, have tremendous speed on my top-4 with big stay at home defenseman to counter Hull. My third line have the speed, the defensive ability but also very importantly, the strenght to counter Bobby Hull ( to a certain extent, I know no team can completely anihilate the Golden Jet, but this is probably the best opposition he will have all draft).

I see why GBC like LL fourht line. Ezinicki and Oliver were great hockey player (Morrow meh!), but my fourth line is also very good. Westwick could do it all: he was scrappy, could hit play great defensive hockey and go to the offensive if needed to. I already made the case that Lepine legacy was greatly overshadowed by the legendary Howie morenz and that one his own, he was complete and very talented individual. Few teams have a great fourth line center like Lepine. (LL could make a case with Oliver, but I'm sold to Lepine very much). Foligno physicalplay, strenght a good offensive abilities. Foligno very seldomly have the chance to play on a fourth, where he's the most effective.

Goaltenders: excellent matchup. The edge his obviously on my side, but Broda was a magnificiant goaltender, I have him nine of my list after the obvious top-7 + Durnan.

Coaches: haha, I like LL quote on this one, but seriously it's obvious the edge is perhaps even bigger than the difference between the quality of my defenseman and LL D. Dick Irvin is firmly into the top-5 best coach ever and he's coaching a great team for his style. Hard working, speedy team with some grit and scoring ability.

All in all, it will be a great serie, but I feel I will prevaled.

Hit me with your best shot LL (or anyone else), I'll be back tomorrow to counter anyone points.

 

[Leaf Lander]

ill hit u so hard that ill crush u like a can of coca cola

 

[Sturminator]

As pointed out, the Leafs will have their hands full against my top-2 line. Which defensive pairing will they play against the Army line? As GBC said, Allan Stanley was a very smart hockey player who use his positionning to counter his opponent, but all three of Kharlamov, Petrov and Mikhailov were also extremely smart hockey players. They were making play at high speed and I don't see how a pairing of Pratt-Stanley could be effective against them.

I think you're overstating the speed of the Army line just a bit. Kharlamov was blindingly fast, but Mikhailov wasn't an amazing skater (merely a "good" one) and Petrov was slow. Defending Kharlamov is the problem, not the other two.

To return to the fact that GAG line were underperforming in the playoffs. I think Rod Gilbert was infact a good playoff performer. 67 points in 79 games is almost on par with his regular season achivement. In 1972, the year when they went to the final, he managed 15 points in 16 games while Jean Ratelle was injured most of the playoffs. I already stated that they could of won that year if both Ed giacomin and Jean Ratelle would of played in the final. Best offensive forward and number one goaltender out agaisnt a very strong Philadelphia team. I know we can't re-write history, but it's still something to think about.

I agree with you on Gilbert. There's absolutely nothing wrong with Rod's playoff performances. Hadfield was allright in the playoffs, as well. You get the same Vic Hadfield in the postseason that you had in the regular season. I don't really think he's an ATD 2nd liner even given the chemistry, but he wasn't a playoff choker, either. Ratelle is the real problem. I'm not an expert on Jean's career in Boston, but in New York he really didn't react well to the increased contact in the playoffs. Ratelle was a softie. That's basically all there is to it.

As far as the "2nd line" argument goes, it depends. Of course the GAG line wouldn't be a good ATD 1st line - they're simply not talented enough. As a second line, their level of success may depend on the level of competition. They faced top line checking in their real world playoffs, but second-unit ATD checking is pretty strong, as well.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Ratelle in Boston and Ratelle in New York is night and day. He brought it in the post-season in Boston, which makes him really hard to rate. I'd say he needs protection throughout the line-up to excel.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Game 1:

The Societ triad dominates game one. Mikhailov and Petrov with a goal a piece and Kharlamov with a pair. The Maple Leafs are completely overwhelmed and have no answer for the line or for Jacques Plante.

Detroit Falcons win 4-0.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Game 2:

Detroit starts off strong with goals by Ratelle and Lapointe. But Hull ties it up with two second period goals. The tough defensive 3rd period is broken up with a Doug Mohns goal.

Detroit Falcons win 3-2.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Game 3:

With Toronto battling back from the brink, Keon scores an early goal. Gilbert counters for Detroit. Kurri gives Toronto the lead back. Kharlamov ties it up again. Backstrom gets the OT winner.

Detroit wins 3-2.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Game 4:

After losing two tough but close games, Toronto isn't letting impending doom intimidate them. Turk Broda has the game of his career and Hull and Sundin score.

Toronto wins 2-0.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Game 5:

Detroit comes out pressing with a Joe Klukay goal. But, in the second, Toronto stonewalls their momentum. Modano pots a timely goal to tie it up, but Plante won't let anything else through. Hull gets the OT winner.

Toronto wins 2-1.

 

[Nalyd Psycho]

Game 6:

Jacques Plante steals the show in a goaltending clinic. No matter what Toronto does, they are powerless. A late first period goal by Kharlamov is all Detroit needs.

Detroit wins 1-0.

Detroit wins the series 4-2.

Three Stars:
1. Jacques Plante
2. Valeri Kharlamov
3. Bobby Hull

 

[Transplanted Caper]

Congrats to the Falcons, and to LL for another great team.

 

[Leaf Lander]

that was the worst write up i ever read

 

[MXD]

that was the worst write up i ever read

C'mon. There were not many guys available to do write ups, and Nalyd was probably busy with something else.