NJDevs26
Once upon a time...
- Mar 21, 2007
- 67,397
- 31,706
Continued from the last thread...
People are conflating two different arguments. The pure goons in hockey are far and few between now, that's the difference and teams that rely on them are behind the times. But you still need physical players that can play hockey - you can't win entirely on finesse either unless you have Crosby and Malkin. Wilson for whatever people think of him can play hockey. You still need and see guys like that, who are physical but can occasionally chip in offensively. You don't see guys like Cam who are only there to fight and can't hang at all with the speed game.
Well they did every game in Tampa. It was just the games in Jersey that were closely played and chippy. I'd say their physicality was a big difference in Game 4, not so much the other three games they won although missing Vat didn't help in the last two periods of Games 4 and Game 5 either.
People are conflating two different arguments. The pure goons in hockey are far and few between now, that's the difference and teams that rely on them are behind the times. But you still need physical players that can play hockey - you can't win entirely on finesse either unless you have Crosby and Malkin. Wilson for whatever people think of him can play hockey. You still need and see guys like that, who are physical but can occasionally chip in offensively. You don't see guys like Cam who are only there to fight and can't hang at all with the speed game.
But then why did a 'better' team goon it up like they did.
You can't say that they simply skated circles around us. My expectations going in was that would be the case - that their superior firepower would be evident...not that they would pound the crap out of us and send Vatanan and others to the dressing room.
In a pure Euro-style game, we could almost hang with their speed where many other teams couldn't; and have a chance in a horse race with a couple of bounces.
The physicality they introduced to the series may have not been THE difference, but it played a big role.
Well they did every game in Tampa. It was just the games in Jersey that were closely played and chippy. I'd say their physicality was a big difference in Game 4, not so much the other three games they won although missing Vat didn't help in the last two periods of Games 4 and Game 5 either.