ECF | Penguins Defeat Senators 4 Games to 3 and Advance to the SCF

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Must have been the same refs who let Archibald literally get tackled by the Sens when he had a breakaway, and called zilch.

Or the reffing in the Boston series and Game 6 vs Pittsburgh. That must be it!

 

[SEALBound]

Or the reffing in the Boston series and Game 6 vs Pittsburgh. That must be it!

Indeed.

Remember when the Sens had 6 men on the ice in the OT and nothing was called?

Pepperidge Farms remembers.

 

[tacogeoff]

And at the exact same time I bet they thought the Hainsey penalty the game before was a good call.

Remember...the one that lead to the 5 on 3 that got the Sens in the game? Yeah bet they had no issue when it went the Sens way.

That call right there was the Sens becoming a victim of the foul play that got them to where they were.

you mean the guy that holds onto any player for dear life when they are entering the zone on a dump in he could be called for interference four times a period.

 

[Ogrezilla]

you mean the guy that holds onto any player for dear life when they are entering the zone on a dump in he could be called for interference four times a period.

and no other team plays D like that. Nope. Methot was as clean as can be every shift. Phaneuf only bear hugged Sid about half of the time he was on the ice. Seriously, everyone is cheating at this point. The NHL just lets it happen, so there's no reason not to.

 

[SEALBound]

you mean the guy that holds onto any player for dear life when they are entering the zone on a dump in he could be called for interference four times a period.

With posts like these you have to wonder why anyone bothers having a discussion at all.

Hopefully you are well though Taco. Hope you are enjoying your long offseason.

 

[tacogeoff]

and no other team plays D like that. Nope. Methot was as clean as can be every shift. Phaneuf only bear hugged Sid about half of the time he was on the ice. Seriously, everyone is cheating at this point. The NHL just lets it happen, so there's no reason not to.

methot mugged sid all day in the defensive zone, I don't see how anyone can deny that at all. Hainsey was just entertaining to watch on the dump-ins. and no other penguin was as flagrant at running interference as Hainsey was....he is getting pretty old in hockey years though so I understand why he is doing what he does.

 

[tacogeoff]

With posts like these you have to wonder why anyone bothers having a discussion at all.

Hopefully you are well though Taco. Hope you are enjoying your long offseason.

totally am!! this has been one of the most entertaining playoffs I have watched in a very long time.

 

[3074326]

There was just an awesome 7 game series between two evenly matched opponents and we are still talking about refs. What a shame.

 

[Pick87your71Poison]

There was just an awesome 7 game series between two evenly matched opponents and we are still talking about refs. What a shame.

It's the one guarantee we know will happen before, after, and during every game/series. It was a big part of the discussion after the 7-0 game... there is no way to avoid it.

 

[derriko]

There was just an awesome 7 game series between two evenly matched opponents and we are still talking about refs. What a shame.

It truly was. Crosby was Crosby, but I was super impressed by Malkin.

I've seen him coast a lot in the regular season, but man...his end to end rushes made me nervous every time he picked the puck up.

I've known of his beast mode, but that was impressive. Yeah, most of the time he skated into nowhere and turned the puck over, but every other time it was a scoring chance against. You live with that type of stuff when he has the skill that he does.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

FAKE! What was really said was

Sid: Come to Pittsburgh in a few years when you hit UFA
Karlsson: I was planning on it, now go win the cup so i can be even more persuaded
Sid: Done buddy!

I'll probably stop following the NHL if this happens.

 

[karnige]

so you say those stats come from yahoo.....maybe you should use other stat sites because those numbers or possibly how you interpreted them is not accurate

5 on 5 through the entire playoffs
Ottawa shots directed at net 889
Directed at Ottawa net 915
Corsi 49.28%

which is a lot better than Pittsburgh's 5 on 5 of 46.47%

As for goal differential, Ottawa scored 49.3% of the goals during their run at 5 on 5, which is tied with Pittsburgh.

its on a yahoo article not my stat checking. corsi it up all you want. having a negative goal differential and outshot 5v5 by over 200 shots is not a cup winning team. sorry

 

[NyQuil]

Injuries revealed:

— Karlsson: In addition to dealing with the fractures, Dorion said his star defenseman had muscle issues with his foot.

— Mark Borowiecki: High-ankle sprain. “He would’ve been ready for Game 1 if we got to the Stanley Cup Final.”

— Alex Burrows: High-ankle sprain.

— Cody Ceci: Broken finger. “I think Cody had his finger broken 17 times. I’m not sure exactly how many times. It got broken during the year, it got broken in the playoffs (versus the Rangers). It was put back into place and it broke again. He needed to freeze it before every game.”

— Zack Smith: Pulled rib and abdominal muscles.

— Viktor Stalberg: Rib injury.

— Chris Neil: “Significant” sprained hand.

— Dion Phaneuf: Wrist injury.

— Craig Anderson: Back injury. His back “was in terrible shape during the Rangers series, which we managed to win, so that says a lot about his character playing through the pain.”

— Tom Pyatt: Ankle injury.

— Derick Brassard: Should injury.

— Fredrik Claesson: Back injury.

— Marc Methot: Finger injury. Methot suffered the injury on a Sidney Crosby slash in the regular season. “It never healed to 100 per cent through the playoffs.”

— Mark Stone: Knee injury.

— Ryan Dzingel: Wrist injury.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/senators-very-very-very-long-201800417.html

 

[Micklebot]

its on a yahoo article not my stat checking. corsi it up all you want. having a negative goal differential and outshot 5v5 by over 200 shots is not a cup winning team. sorry

The interesting thing here is that you've decided that because of those stats, Ottawa is unlikely to make it to the third round again.

Here's the thing though, Ottawa's biggest weakness in the regular season was it's 4th line, or more specifically, it's 4th line Center, Chris Kelly.

Kelly had a team worst 41.5 CF% and 20.5 GF% in ~800 mins. When Kelly wasn't on the ice, the team's CF% was 50.1% (would rank 16th, tied with Pens) and their GF% was 53.6% (would rank 8th). Now, if Kelly had been getting buried in his deployment, you could rationalize it, at least a bit, but he really wasn't, with OZ starts above 51%, and some of the team's lowest QOC metrics.

The good news for Ottawa is Kelly won't likely be back, and better yet, is likely to be replaced with a highly regarded prospect in White. The other major anchor in terms of CF% and GF% on the team, Chris Neil, is also not expected to return, having been replaced by Burrows.

Looking at how Ottawa performed in the playoffs, it's no surprise they fared well, as both Neil and Kelly barely played at all because Ottawa made moves to address the issue at the deadline, adding Wingels, Burrows, and Stalberg to prop up the bottom 6, relegating Neil and Kelly to the pressbox. On top of that, they added MacArthur back into the mix.

Now, ECF isn't something that even the elite teams can bank on, so who knows what the future holds, but I do know that the Ottawa team that you saw in the regular season was greatly improved on at the deadline, despite no big deadline acquisitions, and the team that starts next season will likely be far better than the one that started this past season.