BB88
Registered User
- Jan 19, 2015
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Pens are flying
- Thread starter illpucks
- Start date
tenken00
Oh it's going down in Chinatown
- Jan 29, 2010
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If Toronto loses in the first round again (could very well happen), Caps/Pens meet in 2nd round again (could very well happen) with the winner taking out Tampa in the next round again (could very well happen), doesn't that mean the East is pretty much the same?
It would be nice if you actually understood my post.
You are basing your opinion of TB on their regular season, something you say you don't give a damn about.
You aren't making any sense.
JasonRoseEh
Registered User
- Oct 23, 2018
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Without question the East is better, they're the better conference in the league and have been for a few years now. Saying that, anyone that thought the Penguins were not going to be a serious contender AGAIN is clearly clueless.
I maintained this since the Caps won the Cup and that is that the Stanley Cup winner will AGAIN be decided between these 2 teams. It's also an absolute shame that they will have to play again in the second round. Criminal.
I maintained this since the Caps won the Cup and that is that the Stanley Cup winner will AGAIN be decided between these 2 teams. It's also an absolute shame that they will have to play again in the second round. Criminal.
BB88
Registered User
- Jan 19, 2015
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No, because those teams are different today than 3 years ago. You can say all those teams are elite teams with elite depth, and you couldn't 2-3 years ago.
Washington has finally won and are rolling, they are a bigger threat today, unless you haven't noticed Matthews& Marner have been developing in Toronto, +they've added Tavares, Tampa has added McDonagh and watched Point& Kuchero develop/explode.
Again all these teams can be considered elite with improvements from 2-3 years ago.
I'm sorry Tampa is a new threat?
BallardEra
Leafs&Caps Since 1982™
Pens are proven. Leafs have to prove that they can actually beat Boston in the playoffs before anyone takes them seriously.
That's the reality.
That's the reality.
Helistin
Dustin's equilibrium
tom_servo
Registered User
The '16/'17 Caps on paper and through the reg. season were superior to the Caps of last season and today (IMO). So those wins were major feathers in the Penguins cap.
Mr Jiggyfly
Registered User
- Jan 29, 2004
- 34,260
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Kind of ironic this poster fails to realize the Pens and Caps have had the hardest road to the cup the last few years because they have to keep going through each other.
Who has the Lightning had to dispose of to get to the ECF the last 2 out of three years? Not exactly a murderers row they keep facing.
Meanwhile Pens and Caps have had to fight through each other, then dispose of the Lightning who had a much easier path.
But this year is suddenly tougher because uh... ya.
Who has the Lightning had to dispose of to get to the ECF the last 2 out of three years? Not exactly a murderers row they keep facing.
Meanwhile Pens and Caps have had to fight through each other, then dispose of the Lightning who had a much easier path.
But this year is suddenly tougher because uh... ya.
Pittsburgh & Washington are still the teams to beat. The winner of that series has won the cup 3 years in a row; will be tough for Tampa or any other team to knock them out.
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If Pittsburgh doesn't stand a chance against TB then Washington doesn't either. Neither does Boston or Toronto or Columbus.
So just end the season now and give TB the Cup I guess, since no one in the West is better than Pittsburgh or Washington. And TB would obviously beat the crap out of either of them in a Bo7.
This BB88 dude is trying too hard.
So just end the season now and give TB the Cup I guess, since no one in the West is better than Pittsburgh or Washington. And TB would obviously beat the crap out of either of them in a Bo7.
This BB88 dude is trying too hard.
fragmag
Registered User
orby
Registered User
I think the Pens would be wise to retool the bottom 6 a bit before the trade deadline (particularly, if they can get any kind of good swap for Brassard I'd take it) and the defense still strikes me as problematic at times. Jack Johnson, Olli Maatta, and Jamie Oleksiak are all borderline effective at best, and ideally a maximum of 1 out of those 3 players would be in the lineup on any given night. But it's a night-and-day difference to watch their recent games compared to how they were playing early in the season. Pettersson has really solidified the defense in an unexpected way, and the resurgence of both Murray and Bryan Rust have really turned the team into a potent threat.
Scrantonicity 2
Not a Generational Poster
- Mar 7, 2016
- 2,639
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Funny to think people were counting them out earlier this season. You simply cannot count out a team with Crosby, Malkin, and Letang.
You are so all over the map it's incredible. You are basically in we say UP, you say DOWN mode at this point.
A vacationing penguin is driving his car through Arizona when he notices that the oil pressure light is on. He gets out to look and sees oil dripping out of the motor. He drives to the nearest town and stops at the first gas station.
After dropping the car off, the penguin goes for a walk around town. He sees an ice-cream shop and, being a penguin in Arizona, decides that something cold would really hit the spot. He gets a big dish of ice cream and sits down to eat. Having no hands he makes a real mess trying to eat with his flippers. After finishing his ice cream, he goes back to the gas station and asks the mechanic if he's found the problem. The mechanic looks up and says "It looks like you blew a seal."
"No no," the penguin replies, "it's just ice cream."
After dropping the car off, the penguin goes for a walk around town. He sees an ice-cream shop and, being a penguin in Arizona, decides that something cold would really hit the spot. He gets a big dish of ice cream and sits down to eat. Having no hands he makes a real mess trying to eat with his flippers. After finishing his ice cream, he goes back to the gas station and asks the mechanic if he's found the problem. The mechanic looks up and says "It looks like you blew a seal."
"No no," the penguin replies, "it's just ice cream."
Tbh there is no such thing as "weak competition" in the cap era since the league overall has became so balanced with incredible depth and parity. As for the pens, this was the path to their three cup winning runs in the Crosby/Malkin era:
2009:
Round 1: Beat their lifelong arch rivals in Philly; very even match-up could've went either way
Round 2: Beat a loaded Caps team led by peak Ovechkin which went the distance
Round 3: Beat Carolina, who won the cup a couple yrs prior and defeated two great teams in Boston and New Jersey in the two rounds prior
Finals: Beat the defending champs who took them out the previous year in the Red Wings. The Wings overall were a juggernaut for the entirety of the 90's and 2000's decades, and even into the early 2010s
2016:
Round 1: Beat a Rangers team who had beaten them two yrs in a row and had the 3rd best record in the East
Round 2: Beat the President's trophy winning Caps who had 120 pts in the RS and were viewed as the most loaded team in the cap era
Round 3: Beat the defending Eastern conference champs in Tampa
Finals: Beat a great Sharks team who convincingly went through West and featured 4 of the top 5 playoff scorers that year. Also, with the Caps finally winning one in 2018, the Sharks are now the greatest cap era team to never win a cup
2017 (without Letang the whole way):
Round 1: Beat a Blue Jackets team who went on a historic 16-game win streak and finished with the 4th best record in the whole league
Round 2: For the second year in a row, they eliminated the same stacked Caps team who again won the Prez trophy with relative ease; some even considered the 2017 Caps to be even better than the 2016 Caps
Round 3: Ottawa was their weakest opponent on paper, but their style of play, which had shades of the early 2000's Devils, turned out to be a match-up nightmare for the pens
Finals: Beat a Preds team who lost just 4 games coming into the finals, had the best defense in the league and more than anything, had the hottest goalie in the world who seemed unbeatable at the time.
Additionally, these are all the goalies that the Pens had to score goals against to win their B2B cups:
Henrik Lundqvist - arguably the greatest goalie in the cap era
Braden Holtby (2x) - won Vezina trophy in 2016
Red-hot Andre Vaseilevsky
Peak Martin Jones
Sergei Bobrovsky - won Vezina trophy in 2017
Peak Craig Anderson
Peak Pekka Rinne
All in all, I really don't know where this "weak competition" theory came from
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BB88
Registered User
- Jan 19, 2015
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I think you are.
Takes something special to think East is worse now than it was few years ago.
fragmag
Registered User
You're delusional if you think the Pens didn't beat good teams to earn their cups. They beat the best teams in the NHL. But I thought you didn't care about regular season records.
Luigi Lemieux
Registered User
- Sep 26, 2003
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Literally no one is saying that.
However the only real difference for the pens or caps is tampa is a bit stronger than years past. And them being stronger is based on their regular season so far. Pens/caps have both beaten previous iterations of tampa. Toronto being better than before has no impact, they likely won't make it past the 1st or 2nd round.
If anything the pens/caps have had the toughest roads in recent memory, they keep having to play each other. The real cup finals has been the metro second round 3 years running.
Didn't an Eastern Conference team beat both Pittsburgh and Tampa in the playoffs last year?
Who's on top of the Metro standings right now?
The Defending Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals.
Who's on top of the Metro standings right now?
The Defending Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals.
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Billy Kvcmu
Registered User
Machinehead
GoAwayTrouba
Letang faces the 6th hardest competition in the league and sports a corsi rel of +7.71.
Yeah, I know his quality of teammates is like the best ever, but still, those metrics are bullshit. Just insanely good.
Yeah, I know his quality of teammates is like the best ever, but still, those metrics are bullshit. Just insanely good.
