Everyone notices Asham's move to score the 2nd goal last night, no one notices the brilliant feed from Carle.
Yeah, he is prone to just plain silly turnovers at times when he's trying to get needlessly creative in his own end. But if you can get him to stop doing that, you have a helluva defenseman on your hands.
Would love to see Leighton get it but I think Richards will lay out all of his cards and put out an amazing performance, thus sealing the conn smythe for him.. amirite?
Would love to see Leighton get it but I think Richards will lay out all of his cards and put out an amazing performance, thus sealing the conn smythe for him.. amirite?
I actually could see Toews winning the Conn Smythe over Richards/Roo/Pronger (who are my top 3 Flyers these playoffs, Briere would be there, but his defense hurt us at times) even if we win the cup because of the league hate for the Flyers, which will make me want to break multiple inanimate objects.
Would love to see Leighton get it but I think Richards will lay out all of his cards and put out an amazing performance, thus sealing the conn smythe for him.. amirite?
Hard to argue against Richards, he plays both end so well. He isn't the fashionable choice among NHL brass tho.
Lidstrom, Rafalski, Wideman, Gonchar: their teams were bounced a long time ago, they've played far fewer games... so their point totals are quite impressive considering ..
I actually could see Toews winning the Conn Smythe over Richards/Roo/Pronger (who are my top 3 Flyers these playoffs, Briere would be there, but his defense hurt us at times) even if we win the cup because of the league hate for the Flyers, which will make me want to break multiple inanimate objects.
I would take that deal right now. Flyers get the stanley cup, toews gets the conn smyth.
Carle has earned some respect in my eyes, I dont see him as pure trad bait anymore.
I am fine with keeping our top 4 together. Sign Coburn to a reasonable deal.
In general, we see to be extremely hard on young defensemen as a fanbase. We tend to dwell on their weaknesses rather focus on than their strengths. Coburn & Carle are playing 25-30 minutes a night in the SCF at age 25 and doing it well. I'm in no hurry to ship off either guy. Likewise, I'd like to be more patient with Parent and see if he can put it together next season.
Carle has earned some respect in my eyes, I dont see him as pure trad bait anymore.
I am fine with keeping our top 4 together. Sign Coburn to a reasonable deal.
Had this exact conversation with my roommates during game 3. If we get a great offer for Matty I won't rag Homer for taking it. That said, I'd be excited to keep him around and see if he can continue to improve.
Carle has been this good all along, people are just so blinded and bound to stupid opinions they couldn't see it. He's got great offensive instincts, plays good D, can take a hit to make a play and is very, very smart.
Right now, we have two D pairs that are among the best in the league. Chicago has one good pair and the rest are so-so. That's the difference.
And it is NAILING THEM RIGHT IN THEIR MINDS that we're putting out whoever we want vs. their top D and top line and keeping the puck in their end all night.....
There was a mob of reporters around defenceman Chris Pronger in the Philadelphia Flyers' dressing room moments after his team had tied up the Stanley Cup final at 2-2 on Friday.
They listened to him orate on how the Flyers have been able to claw back into the series and watched him bask in the spotlight. Everybody wanted to hear from the Conn Smythe Trophy candidate with Game 5 set for Chicago on Sunday night (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 8 p.m.).
About 10 minutes later, Pronger's defence partner, Matt Carle, climbed up onto the same riser to conduct a session with reporters. But the crowd that remained had dwindled to only a handful, even though Carle had just scored his first career playoff goal in the 5-3 win to take a stride closer to his Stanley Cup dream.
"He's obviously playing with a lot of confidence right now," Pronger said. "He's making a lot of smart decisions on the ice. He's been playing very well one-on-one against their top players.
"He makes that good first pass and his vision sets him apart."
Championships also have set the 25-year-old Carle apart from the average NHLer. When the native of Anchorage, Alaska was 15 he remembers watching another fellow Alaskan, Scott Gomez, win his first to two Stanley Cup titles with the New Jersey Devils.
The triumphant scene inspired Carle. He went on to win world under-17, under-18 and junior championships with the United States. He then celebrated back-to-back U.S. college titles at the University of Denver and won the Hobey Baker Award as the top collegiate hockey player.
