GDT: WCSF - (WC1) Nashville Predators vs (P3) San Jose Sharks - Series Talk (SJ Wins 4-3)

[codeman00]

What a great run. In my 30+ years of being a hockey fan, that was one of the best and most fun seasons I've ever had.

Agreed...I had a great time this playoff season and during the year. Our guys played well for sure. I'm really glad to have all the great Bridgestone memories and if this bad game 7 loss was inevitable, I'm glad I didn't have to see it in person on our own home ice.
I really hate the fact that the media can't drop their agenda and give us a bit of credit. I was fine until the end of the broadcast where two things were said.

1) "San Jose really played disiplined." - Not exactly, I distinctly remember Gaustad getting punched in the face after a faceoff and the ref not doing anything about it. That is what you call disciplined?

2) "San Jose finally outlasted the Pesky Predators" - Really? Pesky again, just like we were in the first round? "Pesky" is a term you use to describe a bothersome insect like a mosquito. We went toe to toe with the best in the Pacific and beat them in 7 games, am came one game away from beating San Jose too. Give us a bit of freakin' credit and drop the "pesky" BS. We were worthy.

 

[TootooTrain]

There was simply too much offensive depth to deal with. It was amazing what Wilson, Fisher, Neal, etc were doing, but it just wasn't enough. I didn't have the greatest expectations going into this series. So taking taking it to a game 7 was more than I could ask for. Hopefully they'll learn from this. Can't take games off in the playoffs.

 

[jwhouk]

I think this game clearly shows why A) We need to play better in the regular season to get home ice and B) We need to show up for each and every playoff game so that we don't have to travel as much as we did.

Until either the playoff format is changed back to the division champs/wild card days, or until this team wins their damn division, second round is our best hope.

Games 5 and 7 were two of the three worst games the Preds played in the post-season. (Game 5 against the Ducks was probably in the mix.)

 

[Cashville]

I was finally able to drag myself back into the hockey world for the first time since Thursday night. Terrible game, but still proud of the team; at least we got a couple Game 7s under our belts and took a step closer to the cup than we've ever been before (Game 6 2011 2nd round). Love this team; go Perds!

 

[Montross]

Finally got around to reading the boards again. But really not much to say. Another crushing early playoff exit. Rinse and Repeat.

The only thing I can really take away from the season is that management and coaches are going to HAVE to find a way to improve Rinne's consistency in net. New goalie coach, more reliable backup to provide more rest, a little kitty cat, whatever it takes.

They can go out and add a FA forward, shore up the D corps a bit, but next season will ultimately come down to how consistent Rinne plays.

 

[Dave is a killer]

Finally got around to reading the boards again. But really not much to say. Another crushing early playoff exit. Rinse and Repeat.

The only thing I can really take away from the season is that management and coaches are going to HAVE to find a way to improve Rinne's consistency in net. New goalie coach, more reliable backup to provide more rest, a little kitty cat, whatever it takes.

They can go out and add a FA forward, shore up the D corps a bit, but next season will ultimately come down to how consistent Rinne plays.

So you mean someone other than Hutton? If so, I approve.

 

[drwpreds]

Finally got around to reading the boards again. But really not much to say. Another crushing early playoff exit. Rinse and Repeat.

The only thing I can really take away from the season is that management and coaches are going to HAVE to find a way to improve Rinne's consistency in net. New goalie coach, more reliable backup to provide more rest, a little kitty cat, whatever it takes.

They can go out and add a FA forward, shore up the D corps a bit, but next season will ultimately come down to how consistent Rinne plays.

Do you really consider this an "early exit"? We made the final 8 and actually outlasted 25 other teams...... Early exit to me is first round.

 

[Drake744]

Do you really consider this an "early exit"? We made the final 8 and actually outlasted 25 other teams...... Early exit to me is first round.

In the grand scheme of things, I think it still qualifies as an early exit but I think these playoffs were different. We had clutch moments, we never gave up, we shut up the doubters and we won 3 games in the house of the "Western Conference Favorites". We won a Game 7, we won two home games in OT for the first times ever. I also have supreme confidence in Lavy when it gets down to postseason crunch time. It felt different this year. Yeah we lost in the second round but we lost to a team that was a little better rested, not hampered by a couple key injuries and they just had a tiny but more magic than we did. Again, yeah it was an "early exit", but IMO it wasn't the same old-same old. I feel like usually we just don't have what it takes to hang with the contenders and we lose. This year I thought we hung with a couple of the top teams in the way a contender would, we just ended up on the wrong side of the result, which is nothing to be ashamed of.

 

[MrJoshua]

They played 14 post-season games out of a maximum of 28. I don't consider that an early exit. Only four teams were still playing after Nashville.

 

[drwpreds]

In the grand scheme of things, I think it still qualifies as an early exit but I think these playoffs were different. We had clutch moments, we never gave up, we shut up the doubters and we won 3 games in the house of the "Western Conference Favorites". We won a Game 7, we won two home games in OT for the first times ever. I also have supreme confidence in Lavy when it gets down to postseason crunch time. It felt different this year. Yeah we lost in the second round but we lost to a team that was a little better rested, not hampered by a couple key injuries and they just had a tiny but more magic than we did. Again, yeah it was an "early exit", but IMO it wasn't the same old-same old. I feel like usually we just don't have what it takes to hang with the contenders and we lose. This year I thought we hung with a couple of the top teams in the way a contender would, we just ended up on the wrong side of the result, which is nothing to be ashamed of.

I don't disagree with a lot of what you said there, but I just don't understand how anyone can call this an early exit. No way, shape or form- as I said earlier there are 30 teams- we made the final 8 and we were one of the last 5 standing. I don't see how anyone can call that an early exit. What do you call a first round loss if that is an early exit?

 

[Drake744]

I don't disagree with a lot of what you said there, but I just don't understand how anyone can call this an early exit. No way, shape or form- as I said earlier there are 30 teams- we made the final 8 and we were one of the last 5 standing. I don't see how anyone can call that an early exit. What do you call a first round loss if that is an early exit?

Well in this context only 16 teams really count. I would call it an early exit simply because we didn't make it past the second round, therefore we lost in the first half of the playoffs. I'll admit losing in Game 7 of the second round is a better result than the train wreck of the Coyotes series in 2012 and I can understand why people may not want to coin it as one of those said early exits, I'm just going by the point that it was the first 2 rounds. I feel like there's two halves of the playoffs: Early (rounds 1 and 2) and late (rounds 3 and 4).

 

[Cashville]

Candidly, my favorite takeaway from this postseason was our 3-1 record in elimination games. That's tenacity and fortitude boiled down to a single stat.

 

[Adz]

The overtime wins really impressed me. After sitting through every other playoff overtime at home I wasn't expecting success in Game 4. The thrill of winning a multiple overtime and being there to witness the barrier being broken--what a feeling! Then to win the elimination game in OT...and the realization that we might be able to pull this one out was a fine one. Too bad it didn't materialize but we felt the potential on Thursday night at home.

 

[klt2001]

The thing about this team that I liked is after facing so many elimination games except for the last one they didn't give up and fought hard and found a way to win. That shows character and so for that I'm proud of them. Now if we can just get over that second round hump and get past the second round I would be even more happy. Baby steps. Baby steps.

 

[Drake744]

The thing about this team that I liked is after facing so many elimination games except for the last one they didn't give up and fought hard and found a way to win. That shows character and so for that I'm proud of them. Now if we can just get over that second round hump and get past the second round I would be even more happy. Baby steps. Baby steps.

We were 3-1 in elimination games and it ended with a game 7 loss to a team that looks to me like the favorite to win the Cup. That's not a small accomplishment.

 

[drwpreds]

We were 3-1 in elimination games and it ended with a game 7 loss to a team that looks to me like the favorite to win the Cup. That's not a small accomplishment.

Yeah, its funny how it works out- last year we get the SC champ in round 1. This year most felt we caught a huge break getting out of the Central division, but looking back on it now it looks like we may have actually faced a tougher road than we would have faced in the Central.

We definitely have had some bad playoff scheduling luck.