Post-Game Talk: Eastern Conference Finals Edition

[Cliffy1814]

For what it's worth, Bovada has

Rangers + 220
Hawks +240
Ducks +240
Lightning +475

Another Sports book has:
Rangers 2/1
Hawks 9/4
Ducks 23/10
Lightning 9/2

Seems to indicate Rangers are fairly prohibitive favorites. Not dsaying I agree with Rangers being twice as likely to advance, but anyone on main boards saying Lightning are more likely to advance is not in agreement with the experts (though I am sure they feel they are one themselves).

 

[Khelvan]

Not judging him, but I don't know how he can even think about hockey after yesterday.

For some players, the NHL is just their job and playing & winning for their country is the highest honor they can achieve.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Their F depth is tremendous, however I still don't believe in their D. Outside of Hedman, who was all world, I don't see anyone that scares me. Washington's D was far and away better than Tampa's.

Washington's team defense is/was much better than Tampa's.

I don't think the Rangers should try and get into a track meet with this team. Remember how Chicago played the Rangers? That should be their blueprint for this series.

Also the D men better be ready to shoot, because those shots will be there.

 

[Metrangerfan711]

Conference Finals! Enjoy!

 

[eco's bones]

Ben Bishop is a very big goalie. The Rangers have had problems scoring goals against going all the way back to his Ottawa days.

As far as this season--the Rangers got hot around their 25th game of the season and never looked back. Before that they were pretty much playing .500 hockey.....and they had some key players out of the lineup. All of the games between TB and us were played towards the beginning of the year and before the Rangers got hot. Not sure I'd read too much off of our games with them this year. OTOH we're going to have to get to Bishop somehow or someway if we're going to have any chance.

How the Rangers top lines two perform against Tampa's top two lines is a key. If the Rangers top two lines can match Tampa's top two production wise I like the rest of our depth at forward better than theirs. Hedman and Stralman are an ace top pairing. Tampa has size on the back line after that in Coburn, Garrison and Sustr. Overall I think our D is better than theirs and Henrik is better than Bishop though again Bishop has not been very giving in the past regarding the Rangers.

We have the home ice advantage and we need to take advantage of it. Hopefully not ****ing around with it like we did against the Caps losing the first game. The Rangers have proven they're a resilient bunch.

The Rangers penalty kill throughout the playoffs has been strong. You're not going to go very far with a crap penalty kill. Rangers power play has been okay. 6 goals in 12 games. Better than what our opponents have gotten from theirs.

I think this series is going to be a little more wide open. If the Rangers continue to defend well--that bodes for the good.

 

[Nixo]

Excited to see how rangers matchup with tampa in the postseason. Cally, boyle, and stralsy will definitely bring it.

on an unrelated note, have you guys seen the last postgame locker room vid? Who is the very short guy next to step? i'm assuming he is a staff member? seen him a couple of times, and i've always been curious who he is.

 

[Nixo]

yessir

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

Their F depth is tremendous, however I still don't believe in their D. Outside of Hedman, who was all world, I don't see anyone that scares me. Washington's D was far and away better than Tampa's.

Their third and fourth lines haven't done much in terms of scoring. Their top end is insane right now.

Their blueline is solid, and Bishop's a good goalie, but Washington is definitely the better defensive team.

 

[Infinitum Vitae*]

From my experience the bigger the goalie the bigger the five hole. Hags should have about 15 goals this series if this is the case.

 

[Inferno]

From my experience the bigger the goalie the bigger the five hole. Hags should have about 15 goals this series if this is the case.

maybe. Bishops a very good goalie. Hes not as good as Henrik...but hes being a bit underrated here.

 

[The Gloaming]

The triplets line is the best line in hockey IMO. Please let McD and G handle them. Give Stamkos to Staal.

 

[Synergy27]

I will admit that seeing what the likes of Jay Beagle and Chimera were able to do against Yandle/Boyle when matched up leaves me very nervous to think about what Stamkos can do. That said, they might be better suited to defend less rugged, but more skilled players. Either way though, I feel pretty good about this series. Perhaps I haven't had enough time to build up nerves yet but this feels different (in a good way) to me.

 

[Infinitum Vitae*]

The triplets line is the best line in hockey IMO. Please let McD and G handle them. Give Stamkos to Staal.

Hmmm.. i think there's a line on that Ducks team that's doing pretty decent with those one guys who wear 15 and 10. But maybe that's just me

 

[pld459666]

Their F depth is tremendous, however I still don't believe in their D. Outside of Hedman, who was all world, I don't see anyone that scares me. Washington's D was far and away better than Tampa's.

I think we know first hand how good Stralman can be. He was very good during our run to the finals last season and is going to be a factor in this series for sure.

I think the guys that can get exposed a bit here are Coburn and Carle

The other guys are going to be a handful

Hedman and Stralman need no introduction, Sustr is a big dude that could be an x factor. Garrison has a monster shot.

All in all, I think the Lightning D is more mobile than the Caps D and that plays to their forwards strengths

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Sustr has been brutal for Tampa.

Hmmm.. i think there's a line on that Ducks team that's doing pretty decent with those one guys who wear 15 and 10. But maybe that's just me

Even so, the Johnson line is excellent.

I think the Bolts are overrated as hell on this site but that line is legit.

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

Hmmm.. i think there's a line on that Ducks team that's doing pretty decent with those one guys who wear 15 and 10. But maybe that's just me

What about that line is objectively better than Tampa's line? Arguable, but it's far from being objective fact.

 

[217 Forever]

For what it's worth, Bovada has

Rangers + 220
Hawks +240
Ducks +240
Lightning +475

Another Sports book has:
Rangers 2/1
Hawks 9/4
Ducks 23/10
Lightning 9/2

Seems to indicate Rangers are fairly prohibitive favorites. Not dsaying I agree with Rangers being twice as likely to advance, but anyone on main boards saying Lightning are more likely to advance is not in agreement with the experts (though I am sure they feel they are one themselves).

You are looking at odds to win the cup. The Rangers are surprisingly big favorites to win the conference, but would be underdogs in the finals. They only look like the favorite now because Vegas can't decide who is winning the other series.

 

[217 Forever]

Sustr has been brutal for Tampa.



Even so, the Johnson line is excellent.

I think the Bolts are overrated as hell on this site but that line is legit.

Tampa is so young they are hard to figure out. They are as talented or more so than any team left, but are they "ready" to win yet?

 

[Khelvan]

Re-watching the OT...the "OMIGOD THE CAPS DOMINATED THE 1st 5 MINUTES" line of thinking is vastly overblown. The Caps had two chances of extended pressure of about a minute each. The Caps missed the net a lot, or had shots blocked.

It has been overblown because fans were in danger of cardiac arrest. The game was in general a pretty close one.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

McDonagh and Girardi glued to Johnson's line.

Staal glued to Stamkos.



BTW, we should probably tone down the hyperbole when complaining about our own players a little bit. Some Tampa fans on the mainboard legitimately think Girardi is a terrible defenseman and not on Jason Garrison's level.

I just find that criticism funny because Danny G has been fantastic for mostly the whole playoffs.

 

[Glennsoe]

Time to send another superstar (Stamkos) on a golf vacation...

 

[machphantom]

One thing we do have to worry about, and an aspect where Bishop is undoubtedly better than Hank is his stick handling. If we try and dump the puck in, Bishop will coral it and push it off to one of his D men. Can't afford to make some of our egregious TOs we had against the Caps either.

 

[Levitate]

Rangers actually did alright against Bishop the last couple of games against him but couldn't keep the puck out of their own net, which is why they lost. If he can sit there and just be square to the shots he sees then he's tough to beat. Need to get some screens and puck movement to get him to open up some holes

I recall hearing that Garrison really hasn't been playing that well but his shot is obviously a weapon. Coburn might be doing better now that he's not matched up against every teams top line, but we've seen enough of him in Philly that I can't say I'm really "scared" of him. Carle and Sustr, eh.

The guys to worry about are Hedman and Stralman and beyond that the Lightning are solid but the Rangers secondary scoring lines are going to need to get something going against the bottom 4 of the Lightning.

Preventing speed through the neutral zone and rushes by Tampa will be a huge part of potentially winning this series

 

[Riche16]

Tickets down here evaporated so quick.

Fortunately, my friend who is a Rangers/Lightning fan, and who has season tickets for TB, has an extra pair for each Lightning home game that I'm buying from him!

So stoked about it. This is going to be a really fun and very fast series. It's going to be as painful to endure as the Caps series was. Hopefully we'll come out on top.

They really did. I'll be there Wednesday night tho!

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

maybe. Bishops a very good goalie. Hes not as good as Henrik...but hes being a bit underrated here.

Bishop had a .916 save percentage this season, which is about league average.


Hes not very good by any means. Subban's comments about him sitting on a horseshoe were laughable considering that his goalie sat on an even bigger one during the Bruins series last year, but he wasn't wrong.