I think it is all over. Most likely for Ottawa. Remember Andersson could still crap the bed in one of these next games or at least be average which Ottawa cant afford with Hank in the other end. You have to be a lot more confident with Lunqvist there repeating his performances. Andersson has let in at least 2 SOFT goals in this series already (Callahan G1, and Stratleman G2). Lunqvist, NONE.
Alfredsson is that teams best forward IMO even at 39. Spezza is no leader or a tight defensive playoff type player. If it is end to end shootout with not much D, count him in. He was absolutely TERRIBLE last night and at times an embarrassment.
That careless turnover with like 30 seconds to go with the SEns pressuring like crazy was an embarrassment.
Alfredsson hits and battles and is a much much better puck carrier and distributer in heavy traffic. Spezza likes to handle the puck near the center, were does his puck skills in the corners while battling.
And for those that say Spezza and karlsson are equal all I gotta say is a big old LOL
karlsson is 2wice the player Spezza is @ 21 and playing a WAY HARDER position to play considering Spezza is not good defensively at C.
That said, I don't like NYR style of play. The B's who play a bit similar are more aggressive in their attack and rely a lot lesser on their goaltending. Philly also I think could beat them unlike a hark working Ottawa team who has a ton of speed and puck movemnet but no finish or much in the way of snipers or true top 6 players besides Alfredsson (when healthy and Spezza). Michalek I think is a borderline top 6 winger if you take him away from Spezza. He is more like that 40-50 pt winger in SJ's 3rd line.
This team needs to develop some top 6 wingers/forward karlsson can pass the puck 2 cuz this kid is unreal. It seems like he is ALWAYS on the ice which is nuts in a game played with such a high pace and intensity. Never tires playing over 30 minutes like the other night in NY. Imagine if he has gifted streaking wingers to pass the puck to, he'd have 100 pts.
I think for those that criticize his D claiming it will prevent him from the Norris....I think they are eating crow now. No other dman on Ottawa or in thsi series for that matter is even close to his impact , yes, even defensively. He is not scoring as much but is breaking up plays and getting the puck out of trouble left and right and center as evidenced by his insane ice time.
I think it is all over. Most likely for Ottawa. Remember Andersson could still crap the bed in one of these next games or at least be average which Ottawa cant afford with Hank in the other end. You have to be a lot more confident with Lunqvist there repeating his performances. Andersson has let in at least 2 SOFT goals in this series already (Callahan G1, and Stratleman G2). Lunqvist, NONE.
Alfredsson is that teams best forward IMO even at 39. Spezza is no leader or a tight defensive playoff type player. If it is end to end shootout with not much D, count him in. He was absolutely TERRIBLE last night and at times an embarrassment.
That careless turnover with like 30 seconds to go with the SEns pressuring like crazy was an embarrassment.
Alfredsson hits and battles and is a much much better puck carrier and distributer in heavy traffic. Spezza likes to handle the puck near the center, were does his puck skills in the corners while battling.
And for those that say Spezza and karlsson are equal all I gotta say is a big old LOL
karlsson is 2wice the player Spezza is @ 21 and playing a WAY HARDER position to play considering Spezza is not good defensively at C.
That said, I don't like NYR style of play. The B's who play a bit similar are more aggressive in their attack and rely a lot lesser on their goaltending. Philly also I think could beat them unlike a hark working Ottawa team who has a ton of speed and puck movemnet but no finish or much in the way of snipers or true top 6 players besides Alfredsson (when healthy and Spezza). Michalek I think is a borderline top 6 winger if you take him away from Spezza. He is more like that 40-50 pt winger in SJ's 3rd line.
This team needs to develop some top 6 wingers/forward karlsson can pass the puck 2 cuz this kid is unreal. It seems like he is ALWAYS on the ice which is nuts in a game played with such a high pace and intensity. Never tires playing over 30 minutes like the other night in NY. Imagine if he has gifted streaking wingers to pass the puck to, he'd have 100 pts.
I think for those that criticize his D claiming it will prevent him from the Norris....I think they are eating crow now. No other dman on Ottawa or in thsi series for that matter is even close to his impact , yes, even defensively. He is not scoring as much but is breaking up plays and getting the puck out of trouble left and right and center as evidenced by his insane ice time.
Where have you been? Did you not see the Hagelin hit on Alfie that gave him a concussion and kept him out of game 3 and most likely game 4?
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I feel like this is such an appropriate quote for these boards...
"Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level, and then beat you with experience"-Mark Twain
The Rangers have played to the level of their opponent all year long, for better or worse. Virtually every regular season game was close. We didn't blow out anyone, even the bad teams.
Not sure why that is, but this series continues the trend.
The players seem perfectly comfortable playing this way. The fans, myself included, not so much.
This post was put up in the middle of the idiot storm that was going on a few pages back. I think it's absolutely true. Kinda a strange way to do things, but it worked for most of the year.
People taking a 3 game sample of Spezza and using it as an example as to why Alfredsson and Karlsson are better are moronic.
There's a reason Spezza was the 4th leading scorer in the league. With Alfredsson out he's been trying to do way too much on his own -- Alfredsson was guilty of this in the past too. Watch the games and you'll see that Spezza has been almost completely blanketed, more than any other player on the ice for either team...mostly because they don't have anyone else to worry about when he's on the ice. Michalek has been a black hole offensively at times, and then there's...Greening? Condra? Neil?
If Silfverberg comes over and plays with Spez' I suspect it will change things a bit. As of right now if they are shutting Spezza down it's very hard for us to generate offense...and this has been the case all year.
This post was put up in the middle of the idiot storm that was going on a few pages back. I think it's absolutely true. Kinda a strange way to do things, but it worked for most of the year.
I agree. They definitely get up for some games more than others. Turn it on and off. Probably will be the positive that comes out of the game 2 nonsense. Prior to game 2 I don't think the team or the fans really had any burning passion towards beating the Sens. Yes they want to advance but no real passion toward beating that franchise. I think that changed now and the Rangers will be in that strangle hold lock down mode here on out... Their game is particularly suited for playoff style hockey and when they play their game, they are very hard to beat.
I'm a huge sens fan. But i have to say that the rangers style of play is just so conducive to the playoffs. At times last game, it could be said that we were dominating the play, keeping the puck in their end and cycling effectively.. but we weren't able to transition that to high quality chances. Conversely, I felt that every time the rangers had some pressure on us, their scoring chances were of a much higher quality.
I hope the sens can put a few in and take the game tonight. I fear they won't be able to beat the rangers in this series, but i'm damn proud of their effort so far.
I see the rangers making it at the very least to the ECF. I almost feel like they might have an easier time with the winner of FLA/NJD then they will have with us.
The funny thing is that, after the hit, Rangers fans were absolutely determined to tell anyone who would listen that Hagelin is not that kind of player. People agreed, but they still kept saying it countless times.
Yet, no matter how many times Sens fans would say "Alfie's not that kind of player" in regards to "faking it" ... people didn't believe it until he was confirmed to not be playing last night.
Agreed that it should be a non-issue from here on out though. I just have to laugh.
Anyone saying Alfie was faking it is a moron that knows nothing about hockey, and the character of #11.
You don't get to wear #11 without being a class act.
I'm a huge sens fan. But i have to say that the rangers style of play is just so conducive to the playoffs. At times last game, it could be said that we were dominating the play, keeping the puck in their end and cycling effectively.. but we weren't able to transition that to high quality chances. Conversely, I felt that every time the rangers had some pressure on us, their scoring chances were of a much higher quality.
I hope the sens can put a few in and take the game tonight. I fear they won't be able to beat the rangers in this series, but i'm damn proud of their effort so far.
I see the rangers making it at the very least to the ECF. I almost feel like they might have an easier time with the winner of FLA/NJD then they will have with us.
Well FLA/NJ are the two teams I wanted to play the most in the playoffs and therefore despite how much it pains me I'll root for the Devils to win in 7 in that series. Other teams are either better than those 2 teams (Phi, Bos) or give the Rangers trouble (Ott, Was), or both (Pitt).
I'm a huge sens fan. But i have to say that the rangers style of play is just so conducive to the playoffs. At times last game, it could be said that we were dominating the play, keeping the puck in their end and cycling effectively.. but we weren't able to transition that to high quality chances. Conversely, I felt that every time the rangers had some pressure on us, their scoring chances were of a much higher quality.
On the other hand, I felt the Sens did a real good job keeping those Rangers scoring chances from really materializing. Blocking shots or getting a stick on a Rangers player before he could shoot really prevented a lot of good Ranger chances. Rangers will have to battle through that, because Ottawa still continued to turn the puck over a lot in their own zone.
But, the Rangers also have to enter the Sens zone better...Sens also did a good job standing up at their blueline and not letting the Rangers get chances on the rush, which is an area the Rangers have capitalized on during the season. If the Rangers manage that, I think you'll see some of the time of possession change too
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I see the rangers making it at the very least to the ECF. I almost feel like they might have an easier time with the winner of FLA/NJD then they will have with us.
I could see that being the case, though NJ has played the Rangers close this year.
NJ is actually kind of funny, really. They're such an on or off team. When they're on, they're really damn good, when they're off they just get destroyed like what Florida did last night after going down early.
I feel like the Sens have been more consistently good this series outside of game 1, but I also wonder if they have much more to give after coming out on the losing end in game 3. By that, I mean I feel like they have to not only repeat a great performance, but get a different result out of it, while the Rangers still might be able to play better.
The power play might end up being a factor at some point as well
Cant wait for tonights game...This series has been FAR more entertaining than i had imagined. For all the hype, and rightfully so, that Hank gets, Anderson has been great on the other end.
