All Playoff Talk... All the Time... 2012 Edition

Yeah...it'll be wear n' tear vs. rust. You would hope that the Rags would be wore down if they make it to the SCF after another 7 game series...especially with all the shot blocking they do. It's a shame Chris Neil's hit/Matt Carkner's pounding didn't end Brian Boyle's playoffs, and that the Rags' shotblockers haven't suffered more crushed sternums/broken legs.

Michallica wrote:Kings might be the more talented team, but the rust will get to them between WCF and SCF. I'm thinking NJ and NY go down to the wire again, and usually the team off the longest loses their mojo for the SCF. Also if Rangers-Devils go to 7 again, its a shoe-in that the eastern conference representative will win it

Hasn't hurt them in rounds 2 and 3 now. Rust doesn't hurt anyone in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Fact of the matter is the Kings are the best team in the NHL and the took out the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd seed to do it. If they take out NYR they will be the first team in history ever to beat the 4 top seeds they could possibly play and the odds of that ever happening again are minimal.

I'll bet anyone that the Kings win the cup and win it pretty easily all things considered.

Michallica wrote:Kings might be the more talented team, but the rust will get to them between WCF and SCF. I'm thinking NJ and NY go down to the wire again, and usually the team off the longest loses their mojo for the SCF. Also if Rangers-Devils go to 7 again, its a shoe-in that the eastern conference representative will win it

I think the wear and tear will catch up to them if they go to 7 games again, they'd be better off if they beat NJ quick and rest their guys.[/quote]

Theoretically I'd agree, but it just never seems to work out that way going into the finals. Most likely due to the elongated break they give to build up the hype of the finals.

NEELY wrote:

Michallica wrote:Kings might be the more talented team, but the rust will get to them between WCF and SCF. I'm thinking NJ and NY go down to the wire again, and usually the team off the longest loses their mojo for the SCF. Also if Rangers-Devils go to 7 again, its a shoe-in that the eastern conference representative will win it

Hasn't hurt them in rounds 2 and 3 now. Rust doesn't hurt anyone in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Fact of the matter is the Kings are the best team in the NHL and the took out the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd seed to do it. If they take out NYR they will be the first team in history ever to beat the 4 top seeds they could possibly play and the odds of that ever happening again are minimal.

I'll bet anyone that the Kings win the cup and win it pretty easily all things considered.

Whaaaaaat? You gotta be kidding me with that statement. It hurt the sens, the oilers, penguins (1st appearance), and philly in most recent years. Sure its not their downfall, but its enough to put them in a hole.

Stats don't lie...especially the stat of the conference finalists playing game 7 before the cup finals.

Rust didn't hurt the Sens, the beat down they got from the Ducks hurt the Sens.

Michallica wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Michallica wrote:Kings might be the more talented team, but the rust will get to them between WCF and SCF. I'm thinking NJ and NY go down to the wire again, and usually the team off the longest loses their mojo for the SCF. Also if Rangers-Devils go to 7 again, its a shoe-in that the eastern conference representative will win it

Hasn't hurt them in rounds 2 and 3 now. Rust doesn't hurt anyone in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Fact of the matter is the Kings are the best team in the NHL and the took out the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd seed to do it. If they take out NYR they will be the first team in history ever to beat the 4 top seeds they could possibly play and the odds of that ever happening again are minimal.

I'll bet anyone that the Kings win the cup and win it pretty easily all things considered.

Whaaaaaat? You gotta be kidding me with that statement. It hurt the sens, the oilers, penguins (1st appearance), and philly in most recent years. Sure its not their downfall, but its enough to put them in a hole.

Stats don't lie...especially the stat of the conference finalists playing game 7 before the cup finals.

Both those teams went to game 7... how did rust hurt them at all? Hell, if Roloson wasn't injured the Oilers more than likely would have won.

Ottawa... they got destroyed by a team with more character that was just better.

If you wanna bet on this lets bet. I'll take the Kings over who ever they play. A 24 is my usual bet.

Also, no team in NHL history has ever run through the top 3 seeds in their conference. Correct me if I am wrong here.

Stats are useless when talking about this kind of things. Stats lie all the time.

Dustin Brown is probably my second favourite player, after Nash. Love the way that guy plays, and would take him in a heartbeat on the Sens. He's got two more years on his current contract which is a sweetheart deal for the Kings ($3.175M).

They will have Kopitar (6.8), Richards (5.75), Carter (5.2), William (3.65), Doughty (7), and no goalies under contract.

NEELY wrote:[
Hasn't hurt them in rounds 2 and 3 now. Rust doesn't hurt anyone in the Stanley Cup Finals.

2007 Ottawa Senators, on line 1 -- should I tell them you're in a meeting?

shabbs wrote:Rust didn't hurt the Sens, the beat down they got from the Ducks hurt the Sens.

Game 1 the rust *did* get them. Second game was awfully close. Could have gone either way. If they win either of those two games it's a 1-1 series going back to the home crowd. Anaheim go the swagger from winning the first two games and kept rolling, but it would have been a very different series if they split the first two.

Kings play a such a physical game...they're gonna destroy whoever they play now the Finals. Could easily be a sweep imo. I've seen this team before - it's basically the 2007 Ducks all over again. Too big, too talented, top goaltender, gritty, physical style = quick series.

And most importantly, they're on a ridiculous role where they feel they can beat anyone.

Rags/Devils series continues this afternoon...

Rags @ Devils - 1:00pm ET - series tied 1-1

Need a mid-afternoon nap? Fire up the game... zzzzz....

wprager wrote:

NEELY wrote:[
Hasn't hurt them in rounds 2 and 3 now. Rust doesn't hurt anyone in the Stanley Cup Finals.

2007 Ottawa Senators, on line 1 -- should I tell them you're in a meeting?

No, the Ducks were just better. Had nothing to do with rust.

I'm not sure this makes sense - so a team that sweeps every round can be hurt in the finals from being rusty? But wouldn't a team that goes to 7 game every round be fatigued? That only seems like the logical equivalent to that argument.

I honestly don't think it is true. The Kings still practice, have lots of time to rest up, and prepare mentally and study.

NEELY wrote:

Michallica wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Michallica wrote:Kings might be the more talented team, but the rust will get to them between WCF and SCF. I'm thinking NJ and NY go down to the wire again, and usually the team off the longest loses their mojo for the SCF. Also if Rangers-Devils go to 7 again, its a shoe-in that the eastern conference representative will win it

Hasn't hurt them in rounds 2 and 3 now. Rust doesn't hurt anyone in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Fact of the matter is the Kings are the best team in the NHL and the took out the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd seed to do it. If they take out NYR they will be the first team in history ever to beat the 4 top seeds they could possibly play and the odds of that ever happening again are minimal.

I'll bet anyone that the Kings win the cup and win it pretty easily all things considered.

Whaaaaaat? You gotta be kidding me with that statement. It hurt the sens, the oilers, penguins (1st appearance), and philly in most recent years. Sure its not their downfall, but its enough to put them in a hole.

Stats don't lie...especially the stat of the conference finalists playing game 7 before the cup finals.

Both those teams went to game 7... how did rust hurt them at all? Hell, if Roloson wasn't injured the Oilers more than likely would have won.

Ottawa... they got destroyed by a team with more character that was just better.

If you wanna bet on this lets bet. I'll take the Kings over who ever they play. A 24 is my usual bet.

Also, no team in NHL history has ever run through the top 3 seeds in their conference. Correct me if I am wrong here.

Stats are useless when talking about this kind of things. Stats lie all the time.

Heh, we'll see about the bets, I want to see how long the devils/rangers series goes. You can argue it all you want, but there's a reason lots of teams try to play scrimmages so they don't suffer from rust when coming off a long break. They wouldn't be doing that if it hadn't affected teams before. Again, it puts the team in a hole. Look at every final since the lockout....every single one ended up 2-0. And except for last season, every team down 2-0 was a team that had a longer layoff than its opponent. Rust can be attributed to just not being intense enough.

And no, the first time pittsburgh went to the finals in 2008, they took the wings to 6 games. Not a big deal, but had they not been in the hole 2-0 which very well could have been due to rust, then the series might have been different. I firmly believe that, and yes as absurd as it sounds (quite frankly, I hate that about the nhl....the team with more rest should have an advantage you'd think...but no)

Riprock wrote:I'm not sure this makes sense - so a team that sweeps every round can be hurt in the finals from being rusty? But wouldn't a team that goes to 7 game every round be fatigued? That only seems like the logical equivalent to that argument.

I honestly don't think it is true. The Kings still practice, have lots of time to rest up, and prepare mentally and study.

The difference most people are ignoring is that the level of 'rest' between the conference finals and stanley cup finals is much longer than between the other rounds. Right now the kings have been sweeping, and waiting till eastern conference series end after going 7. At least they start the very next series the day after game 7.....they won't be doing that come stanley cup finals because they want to build up the hype.

Teams have complained about this before too. This takes away the advantage the team that ends its series early would have on a tired group. But the tired group gets a good 4-5 days to recover, and the off-days for a team that swept its way to the finals goes well beyond a week.

Rangers win 3-0, looking more and more like NY vs. LA final

Hank stopped all 36 shots that didn't get blocked. Brodeur let in 2 of 21 (22nd was an empty netter). Not good enough. Maybe the Kings won't have to wait that long, after all.

What? There was a game? Sorry... was busy getting my drink on on the deck...