Red Fisher Conference Semi Finals - Baltimore Skipjacks (1) vs Bolshoy Ballet (4)

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Baltimore Skipjacks (1)

"Hockey is figure skating in a war zone."

Coach: John Tortorella
Captains: Stevens, Clarke, Day

Brendan Shanahan - Bobby Clarke (A) - Reggie Leach
Vic Hadfield - Connor McDavid - Yvan Cournoyer
Nick Metz - Steve Kasper - Tomas Sandstrom
Kirk Maltby - Tod Sloan - Mike Foligno
+ Reggie Fleming, Ron Sutter

Scott Stevens (C) - Rob Blake
Hap Day (A) - Gary Suter
Alex Gusev - Gennady Tsygankov
+ Billy Coutu

Billy Smith
CuJo

PP1: Shanahan - McDavid - Cournoyer - Blake - Suter
PP2: Hadfield - Clarke - Leach - Stevens - Gusev
PK1: Clarke - Metz - Stevens - Day - Smith
PK2: Kasper - Maltby - Blake - Tsygankov - Smith


Estimated minutes chart:

Player	ES	PP	PK	Total
Clarke	15	3	4	22
Shanahan	15	4		19
Cournoyer	14	4		18
McDavid	14	4		18
Leach	14	3		17
Hadfield	13	3		16
Metz	10		4	14
Kasper	10		3	13
Sandstrom	10			10
Maltby	7		3	10
Sloan	8			8
Foligno	8			8
	138	21	14

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Player	ES	PP	PK	Total
Stevens	16	3	4	23
Blake	16	4	3	23
Day	16		4	20
Suter	16	4		20
Tsygankov	14		3	17
Gusev	14	3		17
	92	14	14

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

VS



Bolshoy Ballet (4)


Tommy Ivan

George Hay - Ted Kennedy (C) - Patrick Kane
Woody Dumart - Bill Cowley - Milan Hejduk
Taylor Hall - Marty Walsh - Johnny Peirson
Chris Drury - Fleming Mackell - Andy Hebenton

Lionel Hitchman (A) - Eddie Shore
Glen Harmon - Red Dutton (A)
Ľubomír Višňovský - Charlie Huddy

Spares: Jimmy Roberts, Andrew Ladd, Jaccob Slavin

Bernie Parent
Riley Hern

PP1:
Walsh
Hay - Cowley - Kane
Shore

PP2:
Hejduk - Kennedy - Hall
Višňovský - Huddy

PK1: Dumart - Mackell - Hitchman - Shore
PK2: Kennedy - Drury - Harmon - Dutton

Player	ES	PP	PK	Total
Hay	15	5		20
Kennedy	15	2	3	20
Kane	15	5		20
Dumart	14		3	17
Cowley	14	5		19
Hejduk	14	2		16
Hall	10	2		12
Walsh	10	5		15
Peirson	10			10
Drury	8		3	11
Mackell	8		4	12
Hebenton	8			8

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Player	ES	PP	PK	Total
Shore	18	5	4	27
Hitchman	18		4	22
Harmon	16		3	19
Dutton	16		3	19
Visnovsky	12	2		14
Huddy	12	2		14

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Click to read more...

 

[Habsfan18]

Congratulations to @Sprague Cleghorn on making it to the final 8. This should be a great series.

Posting quick here as I don’t have a lot of free time tonight, but still dropping in my initial thoughts.

I won’t get into offense yet with this post, other than to say Baltimore’s plan for Patrick Kane on RW1 will be for Shanny to really lean on him and play rough and tough hockey lining up on the same side of the ice. Bobby Clarke will also do Bobby Clarke things and will check him as much as it’s possible. I think the two of them can limit Kane’s overall offensive impact.

I’ll start with defense, since I think Bolshoy has one of the 1st pairings in this whole thing that can compete with Baltimore’s. Hitchman - Shore is a very nice 1st pairing.

We can probably safely rank them as:

Shore
Stevens
Blake
Hitchman

Shore is obviously the best of the bunch. And Hitchman is a solid choice as his partner, but I still think Stevens and Blake bring more to the table as a pairing, especially in the playoffs. Stevens, the ultimate playoff warrior and Blake, the multi-talented force whom Larry Robinson once said “can get from the front of the net into the corners as quickly as anyone I’ve ever seen.”

Stevens:

Conn Smythe Trophy winner
2x 1st-team all-star
3x 2nd-team all-star
Norris record: 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 5th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 10th, 11th
Hart record: 7th, 11th, 15th

Blake:

Norris record - 1, 3, 3, 4, 5, 8
1st-team all-star
3x 2nd-team all-star
Scoring finishes: 3, 3, 3, 8, 9, 9, 11, 11

They obviously cannot compare to the accolades of Eddie Shore, but considering Lionel Hitchman’s 2nd in Hart voting and all-star voting record of 5, 10, I think he’d rank 4th here. Shore is the best defenseman in the series, clearly, but I think Stevens-Blake is the superior overall duo when taking both players and their overall effectiveness into account.

Hap Day - Gary Suter

vs

Glen Harmon - Red Dutton

Two strong 2nd pairings that on the surface look pretty even. I’ll have to study this more but my initial thoughts are that I feel like Day-Suter have the potential to play a larger role in the success of their club than Harmon-Dutton would. Hap Day will play a leadership role and was described as somewhat of a defensive general on the ice and Gary Suter who is nasty, brings a high level of offense and has the perfect babysitter in Day.

Gusev-Tsygankov and Visnovsky-Huddy are both solid 3rd pairings that will play their role fine for both clubs. Gusev-Tsygankov have played together historically which should count for something in terms of chemistry.

Two teams with a solid D, but I feel like overall Baltimore’s will make a bigger impact even if Bolshoy has the best overall individual defenseman.

 

[Habsfan18]

We’ll match power on power with the 1st lines.

Shanahan - Clarke - Leach vs Hay - Kennedy - Kane

As I mentioned previously, since they will play on the same side of the ice, Shanahan will be tasked with leaning on Kane heavily and playing the body on him as much as possible. Clarke will obviously check him as well when possible. Their main task defensively will be limiting his effectiveness.

Both Bobby Clarke and Ted Kennedy are great, complete center icemen, but I think everyone would agree that when comparing them side by side, Clarke is clearly superior.

I don’t see the Kennedy line having an answer for the Skipjacks rough and tumble style of play of that Clarke line brings, as well as Stevens and Blake on the backend whom they will likely be matched up against most of the time.

Torts has two ways he could go about handling the Cowley line. He could match offence against each other and pit the McDavid/Cournoyer duo against them. Neither line will be playing much defence, so it would basically be all-out offensive hockey I woukd imagine. Baltimore would clearly have the speed advantage in that case. Cournoyer is clearly superior overall to Hejduk. Cowley clearly has the longevity over McDavid, both players have strong peaks...but it’s clear that while lacking the overall resume, McDavid’s peak is on another level. At their best, McDavid is the superior player.

Vic Hadfield and Porky Dumart are players who can take care of themselves and their line mates. Hadfield’s role on the line is clear, but Dumart will likely be asked to play a two-way role I would imagine. I can’t see him being able to match up and keep up with Cournoyer. And he doesn’t bring nearly enough offense to be considered much of a threat there, so he’s kind of just “there” on the line IMO, not really being all that impactful at either end of the ice in that matchup.

The second option for Torts to is match the Kasper line up against the Cowley line and along with Metz and Sandstrom the trio could basically eliminate their offense altogether, or at least significantly lower their impact. Kasper and Metz are all-world shadows and checkers and add Sandstrom in there and that’s a line that could annoy you to death.

So in that case, that would leave the McDavid line to match up against the Hall - Walsh - Peirson line.

Overall, in a 7 game playoff series, looking at both rosters and the matchups..I just can’t see Bolshoy having an answer for Baltimore’s style of play.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Dumart wasn't a particularly great offensive player, but didn't he put up better numbers than Leach or Hadfield?

 

[VanIslander]

Both the PP units & PK units favor Baltimore.

Shanny by the crease, Blake, Stevens and Suter all great from the point, Clarke a magician behind the net in the so-called "Gretzky's office". Cournoyer leading the NHL in powerplay goals one of his eight double-digit pp goal total seasons.

And what big or gritty net presence does Bolshoy have to tolerate Battlin' Billy Smith around the crease? They have no Cicarelli or Shanahan or Esposito. It's hard to screen, deflect and rebound on the pp without a great net presence.

Moreover, the Skipjack pkers heralded elite.

How not so good is that Bolshoy defense on the pk when Eddie Shore is sitting in the box for his predictable penalties. Shore is a noted hothead who gets riled up quickly and the Skipjacks are built to poke the bear and handle the consequences.

 

[VanIslander]

Dumart wasn't a particularly great offensive player, but didn't he put up better numbers than Leach or Hadfield?

"Porky" Dumart (his other famous nickname in many history books of the 1950s, reviewing his career) had 1 goal in each of his two cup postseasons, when 5 and 7 players had more on his team those years.

Leach was 3rd in team goals in his cup year then, the next year, DOMINATED all NHLers given his goals in the regular season (NHL 1st with 61) and in the playoffs (NHL 1st with 19) in a close cup loss that still earned him the Conn Smythe! A few years later, as still Clarke's wingman, Leach was again 3rd in the Flyers playoff goals in their 1980 Stanley Cup finals run. It is said Leach would have had several more great years if it wasn't for his alcoholism.

Hadfield had a 50-goal regular season but in the best two Ranger playoffs he was great! The first time leading all Rags by far in playoff goals (8, nearest NYR had 5) and thus all in points! The second time, he again led the team in playoff goals (this time in a tie with 7) and one point short of the team lead in a Game 6 Stanley Cup Finals run. Hadfield's #11 jersey was retired because the captain played great for them. He had a boatload of intangibles he displayed on the top line for years.

 

[Habsfan18]

Dumart wasn't a particularly great offensive player, but didn't he put up better numbers than Leach or Hadfield?

As I was saying though, Hadfield has a clear role on that line. He won’t be asked to provide a lot of offense nor will he be asked to play a defensive role. His role is to protect McDavid and Cournoyer physically, and to help create time and space for them to do their work offensively. He’s the glue guy and can chip in offensively from time to time. Dumart on the other hand, doesn’t really have as specific or clear a role. That’s what I meant. What exactly will his role be on the line? He isn’t particularly a strong goal scorer here, nor will his defensive play be strong enough to limit the offensive abilities of a McDavid/Cournoyer duo. He’ll also struggle to keep up with them speed-wise. So unless we just consider Dumart the “glue guy” or a physical presence of that Cowley line, I don’t think he’ll nearly be as effective in that role as Hadfield will be for his line. Hadfield is much more important to his line than Dumart is to his. That’s what I meant by Dumart sort of just being..”there”.

 

[BenchBrawl]

This is a tough one.