Ok fellas, it's pretty friggin obvious this is what it's going to be once playoffs begin unless by some unexpected divine intervention which none of us are expecting, Penguins start to tank and we can squeak out the #1 seed. Ok despite having read multiple posts by fellow brothers in here that "I'd rather face Philthy rather than the Caps" yada yada yada, I'm going the other way on this and not to be contrarian about it either. The stinken Flyers, the way they have been playing past month even with their injuries are not the same team we are 5-0 against. We all know they have solid offensive guns but its their space cadet goalie who has seemingly found his way lately and I'd be lying if I said I was very confident that we'd beat them in what would defintly be an absolute war of attrition!!.
That said, and I'm far far from being a negative person and typically think optimistically most of the time but not going to put my head in the sand here either. The Flyers get me very nervous...just being honest. I'm not saying at all that we can't beat them-I absolutaly think we can but for anyone to think Flyers make our best first round matchup, I would contend that they haven't seen them play past 4-5 weeks. In fact it is this domination of them where we have been their Daddy's this whole season and which is the reason alot of my fellow brothers in here think the Flyers make our best opponent, might ironically could end up biting us in the arse. Everyone I've seen post says they are scared of the Crapitals...huh? I would have taken the 1-8 matchup no matter who it was and been thrilled. I'm still hoping for the best obviously and even if the inevitable occurs and we do face Philthy a series I think we'd pull out in 7 hard fought games, let's not fool ourselves here and think Flyers are our best matchup....they are not in this observers opinion...not by a long shot.
If we can pull out a 4 game win streak against Toronto, Minnesota, Winnipeg, and Montreal (Very possible), we'll be fine. Like SSM said, we also play the Pens again.
People need to stop with this ****.
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Jaime Lannister has better hands than Brian Boyle.
must beat them head to head.......i hate the Pens............Rangers can still take the East.........they do still have the lead. Lets see what happens 2nite
IF they play the Flyers I think the Rangers win but they kill each other in the series and we are screwed 2nd round because of it
must beat them head to head.......i hate the Pens............Rangers can still take the East.........they do still have the lead. Lets see what happens 2nite
IF they play the Flyers I think the Rangers win but they kill each other in the series and we are screwed 2nd round because of it
Yup exactly. This is Flyers/Rangers we are talking about. Not saying Rangers/Craps for instance wouldn't be a war it surely would but totally different animal when its a series vs Flyers. It would take alot out of us for sure even if we emerged victorious.
It's very unlikely the Penguins continue this unbeaten run for the rest of the year. We are still in 1st, and have the tiebreaker. Even if the Penguins beat the Sens tonight, we have a very winnable schedule coming up and could easily take back the lead.
I wouldn't say its obvious that we are playing the Flyers.
__________________ "Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!"~H. Rose
If we can pull out a 4 game win streak against Toronto, Minnesota, Winnipeg, and Montreal (Very possible), we'll be fine. Like SSM said, we also play the Pens again.
People need to stop with this ****.
Stop what? Point of thread is not to be a Debbie Downer and that the world is ending though with Tebow now in same town as Lin some may argue differently... Point is, let's cut the I'd rather face Flyers talk than the Craps seeing Flyers would absolutaly be a much more difficult opponent....that's all.
Get over it, the Rangers continue to get beat by teams they should be dominating and Pittsburgh is beating teams they should beat, and also the teams that are playing great hockey.
Do the Penguins lose to the Sabres last night? The answer is no. Do the Rangers put up 8 goals on anyone through scoring by committee? No.
Look at the standings? I see a hotter than hot Pens team with a game in hand now, one point back. I see a Rangers team who played their best hockey for 60 games and look lost on the ice most nights now.
I'm going to remain positive and hope for the best, but realistically the OP is probably right and coming to terms with a 4th place seed is probably a reasonable decision.
Hope I am wrong, guess we'll see.
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"I used to pray for good things . I used to ask the Hockey Gods for puck luck for the NYR .
Now all I want is Torts the smug stupid goatee clown to be fired , . I hate Torts . Please hockey gods make him get fired. Please Sean punch him in face" -- Dorado
If you looked at them you'd shut the **** up and stop embarrassing yourself
Dude what's your problem and why is your thong all tied up in knots. I looked at the standings and see a scorching hot Pens team with game in hand and that is about to pass us tonight and I'd give them a 95% chance of not relinquishing the conference lead meaning we play the Flyers. Other than your ignorant choice of words, how's that embarassing?
If you're so sure you can rub it in our faces in two weeks. You're getting pretty upset for a guy who is so positive that the Rangers keep the division lead.
Small chance that we keep the division, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Either way, I am not really panicking. The Rangers have to work out kinks quickly either way.
Its not like winning first was a surefire hit either. The Rangers still have to get the monkey off their backs with the Caps. Granted, Philly is a much harder matchup(but thats the breaks, you can't expect to go through the playoffs playing the florida's, Buffalo's, Winnipeg's).
I am much more concerned that they start looking like the team earlier in the season than winning the division.
Going into the playoffs with your last 18 games being 8-6-4, and then losing your first two games in Round 1, all while having an abysmal PP that didn't score at all in the first round usually doesn't scream "Stanley Cup." it just shows that it's possible.
Going into the playoffs with your last 18 games being 8-6-4, and then losing your first two games in Round 1, all while having an abysmal PP that didn't score at all in the first round usually doesn't scream "Stanley Cup." it just shows that it's possible.
Fair Enough.
But you can't use Boston as the Prototype to win cups.
They had some fortuitous match ups, which we most likely won't see. They got to play a mediocre Habs team, a struggling philly team, and a marginal TB team with a hot PP. The only real quality team they faced was Vancouver who was hurt on their backend and had terrible goaltending.
Boston got all the breaks in that run. I doubt we would be as fortunate. Especially with Pitt healthy this year.
Philly and Pens are both much better teams than any of the teams in EC playoffs last season.
But you can't use Boston as the Prototype to win cups.
They had some fortuitous match ups, which we most likely won't see. They got to play a mediocre Habs team, a struggling philly team, and a marginal TB team with a hot PP. The only real quality team they faced was Vancouver who was hurt on their backend and had terrible goaltending.
Boston got all the breaks in that run. I doubt we would be as fortunate. Especially with Pitt healthy this year.
Philly and Pens are both much better teams than any of the teams in EC playoffs last season.
That's why I'm cautious of it. But the Habs gave them a run for their money. They went to OT in game 7.
Philly might have even been favored, as everyone remembered Boston's choke job against them last year. Beating them in 4 I'm sure gave them a boost.
Tampa gave them a hard time as well. Another Game 7. Horton scored the 1-0 goal with 7 minutes to go in the third.
Vancouver-I was skeptical of them since the first round. The horrible games they played in Chicago transferred over to the Finals.
Point is, let's cut the I'd rather face Flyers talk than the Craps seeing Flyers would absolutaly be a much more difficult opponent....that's all.
