Cannot wait for game 1. Should be an even harder battle than the Wings. Those who think we can win in 4 should really watch what Phoenix has done. This is a strong defensive team with enough scoring to make it through (sound like somebody?). Tippett has this team exactly where he wants it and are a true Cup contender. In addition, Trotz always seems to have some problems with Tippett coached teams, so its going to be a ride. Seems like it will boil down to our PP vs their 8th ranked PK. However, its the playoffs and our PP didn't seem to matter much against the Wings....I'm going with Preds in 7, but not an easy road for sure.
Phoenix is not a true cup contender. If they beat us I will more than happy to cheer them on the rest of the way and will gladly eat crow but I do not see it.
I'm trying to think of a team in recent history that I could compare to Phoenix and made it all the way to the SC but I can't. Maybe the 06 Oilers but even they had a playoff God at the time in Pronger. Phoenix has no Pronger. Phoenix has a plethora of solid players. But Nashville more than anybody should know a plethora of solid players isn't going to get you through the playoffs. Smith has to be lights out consistently for them IMO.
Phoenix is not a true cup contender. If they beat us I will more than happy to cheer them on the rest of the way and will gladly eat crow but I do not see it.
I'm trying to think of a team in recent history that I could compare to Phoenix and made it all the way to the SC but I can't. Maybe the 06 Oilers but even they had a playoff God at the time in Pronger. Phoenix has no Pronger. Phoenix has a plethora of solid players. But Nashville more than anybody should know a plethora of solid players isn't going to get you through the playoffs. Smith has to be lights out consistently for them IMO.
Nice post, I agree with all of this.
On the first part, i've been thinking about this all day. As long as they Yotes don't dive all over and cheap shot the Preds all day, they are definitely one team I could root for if they eliminated the Preds. But I think i'd be much better off if the Preds just take care of business.
I see this as a true disappointment if we lose. No offense to Phoenix, because I do enjoy them as an organization and hope the best for them, but this isn't last year playing Vancouver in the second round. We aren't playing the Blues. It's a very winnable series. I remember last year I was upset when we lost to Vancouver but I was sort of like "ehhh this sucks but let's face it, we got outclassed and out-manned by a better team." That won't be the case this year. Losing this series would be (theoretically) like another first-round defeat. Especially the letdown that would ensue after the Wings series. Again, no offense to the Yotes, but the WCF is ours for the taking the way I see it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Legionnaire11
IDK about this one yet. Seems so easy to be over confident. I have a feeling this one will be very, very tough.
Seems to be a common theme every time we play Phoenix. No matter when the game is haha
Phoenix is not a true cup contender. If they beat us I will more than happy to cheer them on the rest of the way and will gladly eat crow but I do not see it.
I'm trying to think of a team in recent history that I could compare to Phoenix and made it all the way to the SC but I can't. Maybe the 06 Oilers but even they had a playoff God at the time in Pronger. Phoenix has no Pronger. Phoenix has a plethora of solid players. But Nashville more than anybody should know a plethora of solid players isn't going to get you through the playoffs. Smith has to be lights out consistently for them IMO.
I mean that's cool everyone has their own opinion. I recognize we are probably the better, deeper team and what some others were saying, this isn't Vancouver or anything from last year, but the teams you always underestimate are the ones who play the hardest. If the Preds come out and think they are going to handle business if they play "okay" hockey and JUST limit mistakes, they are going to lose. I was VERY wrong about our series with Detroit, but I don't think I'm wrong with this. Should we win? Probably....Win easily? Hell No....Not saying you think we will easily lol just stating a point
Last edited by PredsHockey: 04-24-2012 at 06:02 PM.
Reason: I'm a moron
I mean that's cool everyone has their own opinion. I'm recognize we are probably the better, deeper team and what some others were saying, this isn't Vancouver or anything from last year, but the teams you always underestimate are the ones who play the hardest. If the Preds come out and think they are going to handle business if they play "okay" hockey and JUST limit mistakes, they are going to lose. I was VERY wrong about our series with Detroit, but I don't think I'm wrong with this. Should we win? Probably....Win easily? Hell No....Not saying you think we will easily lol just stating a point
I watched almost everygame the Yotes played against the Hawks. They hustle like no other and are very fast. The Preds are going to have to jump on them early and then turn back the dail and play more D. Smith is a good goalie but he was not impressive at tracking point shots from the outside or when the game was on the line. Take Doan out of the game and get in Smiths head and we have a good shot at moving on.
Game 1-Yotes
Game 2-Preds
Game 3-Preds
Game 4-Preds
Game 5 Yotes
Game 6 Preds
I didn't say the pacific "better" ... but there is an argument for "tougher" in the regular season. We have a weak link in our division, they don't have that luxury.
A subjective ranking can be neither "absolutely, positively, utterly false" nor "absolutely, postitively" true. Objectively, 50% of the central's playoff teams advanced, 66.67% of the pacific's did ... including advancing against the President's Trophy winner and a Central Div team.
You could also argue two of our teams were pitted against each other. That could be looked in a positive and negative connotation inthe one team was guaranteed to move on or one team is guaranteed to go home.
Also we may have played 6 games against Columbus but we also played 18 games against STL, CHI, And DET. One can argue is much more difficult than playing 18 games against LAK, DAL and SJS...
If we don't win it, Hope you guys do. Glad both teams have gotten this far and hope one of us goes all the way. The elitests north of the border would explode.
Haha thanks.....actually my bosses idea. He thought the idea as funny, so he had his wife photoshop the whole thing, so I stole it.....with permission of course
If we don't win it, Hope you guys do. Glad both teams have gotten this far and hope one of us goes all the way. The elitests north of the border would explode.
Here is to a good series.
Long live the non traditional small market teams!
Oh and Suck it Balsille...
Stop this making it hard working up a fierce hatred towards the Preds next opponent!! I really, really like your post and feel the very same. There is no doubt the Preds better be ready to play 60 every game, and sure hope they learned ALOT from last season's second round.
I am. They have given us fits over the past few years with their team game and speed. They are very much like us, play tight, wait for an opportunity and pounce. They have great team speed and use it. We must be very careful with these guys. Well coached team in a system that works for them with a hot goalie. While it looks like a win for us on paper, we still have to go out and beat them on the ice 4 times.
This isn't a worry as much as a respect thing for Phoenix.
Agree with this completely. Yotes system is designed to stifle the opposing quality offensive chances and pounce on any mistake. Preds style achieves the same results when played properly, but Nashville has the edge in quality depth everywhere. Have to respect what Burke has done in coaching Smith to compete at this level. While I am not going to say Smith (and for that matter Bryz) are products of that system, clearly it greatly benefits goalie and D. Despite the hockey idiots calling it a snoozefest, I think it should have lots of chances, obviously great goaltending, and lots of line matching. I am nervous, but perhaps as the team's first semi-final in PHX they are more emotionally spent and less determined...
Is this confirmed? I thought they didn't finalize the schedule until after round 1 ended? Could easily be wrong, just not seeing this announcement anywhere.
Is this confirmed? I thought they didn't finalize the schedule until after round 1 ended? Could easily be wrong, just not seeing this announcement anywhere.
I mean that's cool everyone has their own opinion. I recognize we are probably the better, deeper team and what some others were saying, this isn't Vancouver or anything from last year, but the teams you always underestimate are the ones who play the hardest. If the Preds come out and think they are going to handle business if they play "okay" hockey and JUST limit mistakes, they are going to lose. I was VERY wrong about our series with Detroit, but I don't think I'm wrong with this. Should we win? Probably....Win easily? Hell No....Not saying you think we will easily lol just stating a point
I agree with what your saying in your post and everybody at this point is a tough out I guess I was just looking for some reasons why you think Phoenix is a cup contender like I said personally I don't see it. The Preds have been a tough out plenty of times in their history but they were never real cup contenders. I view Phoenix in the same ilk as those teams(08,10,11 Preds teams)
This year is interesting in the final 4. All four teams left in the West all play similar type of games. The thing that separates LA(to a lesser extent),STL,NSH from PHX IMO is talent. The former 3 have more of it. All 4 teams work hard and yes when talent gets outworked they lose but when talent works hard it wins. Detroit is a good example of this over the last 20 years. Vancouver and Boston were great examples last year. They both were very talented but also worked very hard. Perhaps I'm overrating our talent advantage or the Blues or the Kings. I guess we will just have to see. Also yes a 7 game sample size is small. As long as teams are relatively close, and the Preds and Yotes are, the games can largely be influenced by luck and any team could win over a small sample size. But that's just hockey you can't sit there and be too worried about that.
I agree with what your saying in your post and everybody at this point is a tough out I guess I was just looking for some reasons why you think Phoenix is a cup contender like I said personally I don't see it. The Preds have been a tough out plenty of times in their history but they were never real cup contenders. I view Phoenix in the same ilk as those teams(08,10,11 Preds teams)
This year is interesting in the final 4. All four teams left in the West all play similar type of games. The thing that separates LA(to a lesser extent),STL,NSH from PHX IMO is talent. The former 3 have more of it. All 4 teams work hard and yes when talent gets outworked they lose but when talent works hard it wins. Detroit is a good example of this over the last 20 years. Vancouver and Boston were great examples last year. They both were very talented but also worked very hard. Perhaps I'm overrating our talent advantage or the Blues or the Kings. I guess we will just have to see. Also yes a 7 game sample size is small. As long as teams are relatively close, and the Preds and Yotes are, the games can largely be influenced by luck and any team could win over a small sample size. But that's just hockey you can't sit there and be too worried about that.
Oh I get ya....well I honestly maybe spoke TOO highly of Phoenix lol. And yes, they too remind me of our teams the past couple of years. Really scrappy, work hard, good goaltending, but the faults show up in the end. So to retract, I don't think they are Cup contenders, but they are defiantly not a team to take lightly. I think they are a very level team from line 1-4 kinda like us, but I think their lines three and four are not as deep as us....I fear that with a beating of the Wings in 5, we might lose sight of the fact this is a VERY good hockey team. It's weird to me because as you said, the last 4 teams remaining are interesting. I like our chances for sure, and all cup teams go through hard battles so its not like one just coast to Lord Stanley. The playoffs are a crazy mix of talent, hard work, and a bit of luck so its all a crapshoot. I still think we will win, but this is no gimme series as some of stated.
It would be hard to argue at this point that Nashville isn't one of the more vibrant franchises in the NHL: well-run as a hockey club, an arena experience that gets positive reviews, and a celebrity factor few other cities can match.
