Blackhawks/Bruins

[Pappy13]

Who wins?

Course I'm picking the Blackhawks.

[Sunstroke]

The way the Bruins made such quick work of what looked like a juggernaut Pittsburgh squad...I'm not sure I can pick against Boston here. Both squads are tough...I expect a monster of a series for the Cup.

[Brian Fein]

Great series, as rivals, I hate the Bruins.  I strongly dislike the Blackhawks.

I'll be rooting for the Hawks, but I foresee the Bruins taking a hard-fought series in 7 games.  I think the Hawks have more weaknesses.

[TonyB0D]

i hate hate hate the B's but I thought they were gonna roll over the hawks.  I think the Hawks got lucky last night and that they can't hang with Boston in a 7 game series.  Bruins in 6.

[Brian Fein]

If Game 1 was any indication of this series, its going to be a barn burner.  Those two goalies basically played almost 3 periods of shutout hockey against the best teams in the league.  It took a double-deflection to finally beat Rask.  Amazing.

You could tell everyone was gassed by the end.  The players, the refs, even the announcers.  The only penalties they called in the final 4 periods was "too many men".  Hell even the fans weren't chanting as loudly as they were. 

[masterfins]

I'm rooting for the Bruins, tough loss last night.  Exciting game last night, I fell asleep between the 2nd and 3rd overtime periods.  Probably the two best defensive teams in the league.

[Pappy13]

i hate hate hate the B's but I thought they were gonna roll over the hawks.  I think the Hawks got lucky last night and that they can't hang with Boston in a 7 game series.  Bruins in 6.

I don't know, Boston had a 2 goal lead twice in the game and ended up losing. This game might come back to haunt Boston.

[MaineDolFan]

^^Getting a split in the Madhouse was huge, no matter how you get it.

I would like to say this - I LOVE the environment in Chicago, right down to the song they play when Chicago takes the ice ("Stranglehold").  The place is amazing.  Never been for a hockey game.  I've been to plenty of B's games, which are insane...this seems to rival those.

Crawford and Rask are both monsters.  Boston's PK seems too tough for Chicago to handle, but that could end with one bad bounce.  Flip a coin on this one.  This one easily goes 7.

[Brian Fein]

I am surprised at the lack of success Chicago has had on the power play.  I saw last night they are something like 0 for 19 or something sad.  I don't understand why, but sure that some of it has to do with Boston's PK unit.

I am pretty upset that I'm likely going to be on a plane during game 7.  I'm flying to Toronto Wednesday night so, if there's a game 7, I probably won't be the only one annoyed at missing it.  Hope it ends in 6.

[Pappy13]

The power play has not been a strength of Chicago all year. Most of their goals they get 5 on 5. Against a good D like Boston and LA, just  makes it even worse.

Last night I thought Chicago looked particularly tired. They had played 3 straight overtime games and it showed last night. They didn't look in the game from the opening drop.

[Brian Fein]

Admittedly I haven't watched hardly any Western Conference hockey prior to the playoffs.  With the shortened season, I was mostly interested in eastern conference.  So I don't really claim to be an expert on Chicago's strengths.  It just surprises me that a team with so many wins and such strength can be so awful with a man advantage.  They play their power plays like the Panthers - lots of passing on the perimeter, almost no shooting.

[MaineDolFan]

Both teams kind of sucked on the PP this year.  PP success is a little misleading anyway.  If you look at teams who have the best success each year (% wise) on PP, it's usually the worst teams (record wise) in the league.

Chicago and Boston are both built the same way:  Strangle you with defense and come at you with four waves of very good lines.  Once the other team gets on the PP, both teams have amazing PKs.  Last night's game was freaking epic.  It doesn't seem like it from the score, both goalies stood on their heads.  The defenses for both teams let the squads down, they both faced shooting galleries last night.  That game could have been 13-12.

[Spider-Dan]

Last night's game was freaking epic.  It doesn't seem like it from the score, both goalies stood on their heads.

What does this mean?

[Phishfan]

What does this mean?

Referring to a hockey goalie as standing on his head basically means he played lights out. He made incredible saves. If you can picture a goalie getting barraged and making several saves that is a good example.

[Sunstroke]

Goalie play is my favorite part of hockey, and while I agree that both netminders are outstanding talents, I have a really hard time lauding the goaltenders in a 6-5 hockey game.