Good Morning Addicts!
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| Tomas Vokoun has backstopped the Penguins to the second round after replacing Mar-Andre Fleury in goal. |
And now to hockey. When the playoffs began, the one series I had no real intention of following was that of the Pittsburgh Penguins taking on the New York Islanders. I know that having two teams with high flying offense has a lot of potential of being quite entertaining, but at the same time when it seems one team will just roll through another in four games a lot is taken away from the excitement of it.
The one thing that made me believe in the back of my mind that John Tavares and company could possibly upset the Penguins was the fact that Marc-Andre Fleury was in goal. Sure enough, after four games the series was tied thanks in large part to Mr. Fleury. Not to take away from the Islanders, it's just that I have no faith whatsoever in Pittsburgh's goalie.
The difference between last years early exit at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers and their win over the pesky Islanders was Tomas Vokoun. Vokoun started game five and earned a shutout in the Penguins 4-0 victory over the Islanders. The Penguins back up was again called upon in last night's game and his 35 save performance earned his team a spot in the second round with a 4-3 overtime win.
With the win the Penguins will face the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. As long as Dan Bylsma sticks with Vokoun against the Sens the Penguins will more than likely find themselves playing in the Eastern Conference finals soon enough.
My prediction?
Crosby, Malkin, Neal, Iginla, Kunitz, Letang and Vokoun over Anderson and a non 100% Karlsson in five.
Habs And Hockey News
- With their post season cut short, the Canadiens revealed to the media just how injured their roster was in their series against the Sens. With a list including a concussion, seperated ribs and shoulders and sprained MCL's it's hard to imagine the Habs would've went too far had they defeated the Senators.
- As disappointing as the Habs first round exit was, fans in Montreal have plenty of reason to be optimistic heading into next season.
- Andrew Berkshire @AndrewBerkshire argues that the Habs are not too small, an argument that is not often heard.
(Photo by Jason Cohn/Reuters)
1 comments:
Not buying the Berkshire argument, sorry.
I see this as a simple analysis.
Skilled and Big always beats out Skilled and small, Mean and Big always beats out Mean and Small. There is just an advantage to it.
Look at Prust who is a Wolverine out there and backs down to nobody. Problem is that he may not back down but he cannot hang in there with guys like Lucic, Or Scott.
In the defensive zone we have young skilled players who can move the puck, but they cannot contain players down low because of thir lack of strength.
If the playoffs were called like the regular season then I would say, you know what size s overrated, but the fact of the matter is that you can clutch, grab, hold, punch, elbow, high stick, trip, knee cross check and you don;t get called.
Our smaller players have no chance when the whistle is put away.
If we want to have playoff success then we need to get bigger, meaner, and tougher, that's just a fact
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