OPPF2020 1st Round - Portland vs. Owen Sound

BenchBrawl

Registered User
Jul 26, 2010
30,844
13,628
VanIslander's

Portland Winterhawks
coach Anatoli Tarasov
Soviet-style star wingers & grinding pivots

Bobby Hull - Elmer Lach (A) - Sergei Makarov
Michel Goulet - Ron Francis (A) - Brett Hull
Patrik Elias - Pavel Datsyuk - Bryan Hextall, Sr.
John Tonelli - Ryan Kesler - Shane Doan

King Clancy - Raymond Bourque (C)
Lionel Conacher - Hod Stuart
Kevin Lowe - Eric Desjardins

Turk Broda
Jiri Holecek​

PK1: Broda, Datsyuk, Kesler, Bourque, Lowe
PK2: Broda, Francis, Makarov, Conacher, Desjardins
PP1: Hull, Lach, Makarov, Clancy, Bourque
PP2: Goulet, Francis, Hull, Stuart, Desjardins



vs.


Coach; Toe Blake

Keith Tkachuk-Frank Nighbor-Maurice Richard
Luc Robitaille- Joe Thornton-Rick Nash
Rod Brindamour(a)-Darryl Sittler-Jamie Langenbrunner
Clark Gillies-Bill Cowley-Rod Gilbert

Nicklas Lidstrom(c)-Mark Howe(a)
Duncan Keith-Sergei Zubov
Adam Foote-Calle Johansson

Dominik Hasek
Curtis Joseph

Special Teams:

PP 1: Tkachuk-Thornton-Richard-Lidstrom-Zubov
PP 2: Robitaille-Cowley-Nash-Howe-Keith
PK 1: Nighbor-Langenbrunner-Foote-Lidstrom
PK 2: Gillies-Brindamour-Keith-Johansson

@Dirt 101 , @tony d
 
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VanIslander

A 19-year ATDer on HfBoards
Sep 4, 2004
35,133
6,428
Soviet style: stars on wing, grinder at center.

Geesh.

And Cowley will be pickpocketed by one of three Selke pivots or a rich man's Fedorov (Lach).

The second and fourth lines of Owen Sound are useless without the puck (about 50% of ice time) and the left wingers are not able to keep up with the speed and prowess of the opposition three star right wingers.
 
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VanIslander

A 19-year ATDer on HfBoards
Sep 4, 2004
35,133
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upload_2020-10-30_22-29-53.png

As Maurice "Rocket" Richard has said about the goalie who won 5 Stanley Cups during Richard's career : "I couldn't beat him. None of us could."

The Portland pivots are to win faceoffs, recover pucks and feed wingers.

Tarasov defined the roadmap strategy that Tikhonov copied (Viktor did innovate rolling four lines but - since he himself is criminally undrafted - let's hang with Tarasov's idea that the center should be more of a third dman, fourth forward (trailing a rushing dman, joining a stay-back dman on transition plays).
 
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vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
28,585
15,948
on the portland team, if it were me i'd switch francis and datsyuk. with francis and brett hull, that's just too much slow for my liking. goulet skated well and did hit, but i think it's a lot to ask for him to be the alex burrows of that unit (i mean in terms of burrows' puck retrieval role for the sedins, not necessarily as the defensive safety valve).

the owen sound team... between thornton, tkachuk, nash, and gilbert, that's a lot of guys that we'd consider... not good playoff performers. i also have questions about darryl sittler on that third line. is sittler good enough offensively to carry two guys who at this level are really not scorers? conversely, is he good enough in all the non-scoring aspects of the game to not waste their intangibles as a defensive line?

also, not a lot of meat on that d. nice to have hasek back there. he may really be needed actually.
 

VanIslander

A 19-year ATDer on HfBoards
Sep 4, 2004
35,133
6,428
on the portland team, if it were me i'd switch francis and datsyuk. with francis and brett hull, that's just too much slow for my liking. goulet skated well and did hit, but i think it's a lot to ask for him....
1. Francis won the Selke a season in which he led the NHL in assists. No one outworks him and at pivot, on faceoffs, in traffic and corners, he is great. Brett Hull will await a pass.
2. Thornton and Sittler were not fast skaters, and their go-to wingers on Owen Sound are Robitaille & Brind'amour, both having to overcome a lack of footspeed.
3. Nighbor will see a lot of lightning fast Lach and skating genius Datsyuk, both renowned for their speed and defensive play.
4. Remember, Datsyuk's line is a 2B line, basically a second second line built with intangibles to go against opposition great lines and both defend and score. It is a competitive advantage for Portland.
 

Theokritos

Global Moderator
Apr 6, 2010
12,538
4,911
Voting result:

Portland Winterhawks vs Owen Sound Platers 4-3
1st star Dominik Hašek, 2nd star Ray Bourque, 3rd star Bobby Hull
 

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