Playoff scheduling/results/discussion/rants

[Gary83]

Originally Posted by AR_Six

Edmonton with Price and Stamkos is a bit of a nightmare. As I told Tampa before the playoffs Tagg3r is the team to watch in the west I think.

Depends what you mean by safe... if the Computer wants to win it's going to win. There are times when it just doesn't matter how good your defense is, the puck is going in your net. One spectacular example stands out to me where I played perfect defense for a solid two minutes but the puck consistently bounced to their guys, and there was no way to knock them off the puck without them getting it back. But I was blocking shots and in good position so they couldn't get any high percentage chances. Eventually it just went to the point for a lobbed wrist shot that surprise surprise went five hole. It was just obvious that the Computer wanted to give itself a goal. I wasn't even mad; it was so blatant it was actually funny.

It's worse, I imagine, with playoff games. The catch-up logic is such that it will effectively automatically thrash you to ensure you don't get too far ahead. I just finished playing a series in my other league that basically gave the player who was down in the series a 65-35 advantage in puck luck which if you're remotely even in terms of playing ability means it's next to impossible to win. Suffice it to say it went 7.

Safe as in you take the puck down the wing, literally untouched, backhand-forehand deke and you're good for a couple goals a game.

I've lost to the computer too, sure some crappy goals go in. A human player will take away the high % shots in the game (the backhand forehand deke, curved wristers from the slot) the computer doesn't do that, I'd rather play a human for the sake of enjoyment, but if I'm looking for a win then the best bet is playing the computer.

[Gary83]

Washington/Toronto getting underway tonight. Hopefully we can knock off the series tonight.

[trapper]

Chicago would like to extend their congratulations to Edmonton. Good hard fought series. Lots of back and forth action.

Look out to the rest of ya!!!

Cheers!

[lox888]

Gm 6:
Buf 2 @ Nyi 0

Fleury's on his game and the team locks it down as the Sabres shutout the Islanders to win the series 4-2.

Thanks to the Islanders for a great series.

As Buffalo awaits their next opponent, they are looking forward to the returns of power forward Chris Kunitz, missing since the latter part of the season, and shutdown defenceman Adam Mcquaid.

Also, Captain Mikko Koivu is back on the ice working out intensely as he has been recovering from a concussion sustained midway through the season. His highly anticipated return is tentatively set at 7 games.

[Tagg3r1]

Will advance tmr

[AR_Six]

Series Update: Predators and Blues Wrap Up Series

Game 3 - The Preds return to Nashville where the Gaylord Entertainment Centre has been good to them all season. The Preds opened the scoring, but St. Louis was able to tie it up near the end of the first on a rush by newly returning winger Brad Boyes, who did all the work and left a tap-in for Tyler Kennedy. Unfortunately, that was all the Blues could muster on the night, as Derek Dorsett gave the Predators a 2-1 lead in the 2nd on an Alex Burrows tripping minor. The Preds never looked back and added a couple of insurance markers in the third. Final score: 4-1.

Game 4 - Tim Thomas looked to rebound from a poor performance in game 3 of the series and made a few huge saves early on in this one. The Blues would open the scoring on a scramble on an offensive zone draw win when Marion Hossa managed to get control of the puck and fired a laser off the crossbar and behind Antti Niemi. Alex Burrows would make it 2-0 shortly thereafter. The Preds were able to close the gap to tie the game at 2 in the second. Alex Burrows, the goat in game 3 after taking a terrible penalty in the offensive zone that led to the game winning goal, would score another goal off a feed from Jason Spezza and add an assist to play the hero in game 4. Spezza also had 3 points.

Game 5 - The Predators faced elimination on the road. Series leading scorer Alex Burrows opened the scoring in the first on a slick backhand feed from Marion Hossa that he was able to put through the 5 hole on Niemi. However, Nashville would tie the game late in the first on a goal by Blake Comeau, who muscled a loose puck just inside the post and behind Thomas. The second period saw the Blues top line dominate much of the time they were on the ice. The go-ahead goal came off a remarkable individual effort by Jason Spezza, who weaved through the Nashville defense and made a quick backhand-forehand move before firing the puck past Niemi. Shortly thereafter, Hossa was able to break in alone and go leg kick, backhand, forehand for the 3-1 marker and his third point of the game. From there, Thomas held the fort, stopping every shot Nashville sent his way. The final score was 3-1, and the Blues are off to the second round to meet either the Edmonton Oilers or the Calgary Flames. The Blues will have home ice advantage in either series.

---------------------------------

Good series and some close games with Dill. Both goalies had a couple of absolutely nonsensical stops off one-timers but it was mostly a tight checking, tightly played series. Seems like it was always a tie after each period ended. Also the Burrows goal in game 5 was maybe my favourite this year, Hossa in the high slot, area backhand sauce into the low slot onto Burrows's stick, slides it 5 hole. Yessir.

Anyway, Tagg3r or Hellfire, welcome to St. Louis.

[Gary83]

Game 7 underway in Washington!

[Travis Munroe]

A bitter sweet ending to washingtons season, game 7 end of first right now

[Travis Munroe]

Well it was a good season for the Washington Capitals but they fell 10-2 in game 7.
Toronto takes game 1
Washington takes the next 2
Toronto takes the next 2
Washington wins a double OT game to force game 7
Toronto lights up Crawford who started his 2nd game of the series

Game 7 had each team with 31 shots, the same pass % and near identical faceoff % and attack time.

The Washington capitals announced at the end of the first period of game 7 that Crawford would be going on waivers as soon as possible.
Great series and Toronto deserves to move on. With that said, has anyone run into the problem of not being able to edit lines before the game and then in game not being able to swap goalies? After Crawford allowed the 2nd goal in from behind the net it was clear he needed to be pulled.

Scouting report for whoever plays Toronto.... the majority of their goals are created from behind the net. There is no need to get too worried when the cycle is taking place until it gets behind the net. Tighten up on the open guy in front and keep the guy behind the net from coming out.

[3 Justin 3]

So hopefully when we sim tomorrow I don't lose guys.

Calgary went offline 2 minutes before I got on and he has no Text+.

[Tagg3r1]

He posted it in the text plus thread trap
Just hasnt updated it yet

[AR_Six]

I don't think we're simming. You guys should be able to finish it off tonight.

[Gary83]

Originally Posted by Realtor 1

Well it was a good season for the Washington Capitals but they fell 10-2 in game 7.
Toronto takes game 1
Washington takes the next 2
Toronto takes the next 2
Washington wins a double OT game to force game 7
Toronto lights up Crawford who started his 2nd game of the series

Game 7 had each team with 31 shots, the same pass % and near identical faceoff % and attack time.

The Washington capitals announced at the end of the first period of game 7 that Crawford would be going on waivers as soon as possible.
Great series and Toronto deserves to move on. With that said, has anyone run into the problem of not being able to edit lines before the game and then in game not being able to swap goalies? After Crawford allowed the 2nd goal in from behind the net it was clear he needed to be pulled.

Scouting report for whoever plays Toronto.... the majority of their goals are created from behind the net. There is no need to get too worried when the cycle is taking place until it gets behind the net. Tighten up on the open guy in front and keep the guy behind the net from coming out.

Great series. Tight checking, not alot of space, the last game was kind of a weird one, goals 3 and 4 were actually passing attempts that bounced off your goalie and went in.

You make it sound so easy to shut me down, damn you!

Very happy with some of my trade deadline moves, Stafford leads the team with 5 goals through 7 games. Savard with 2 goals (both shorthanded) and 4 assists and Ryan McDonagh with 2 goals, 3 assists.

Other then Mason's terrible 5 goal game he was an absolute rock back there, 1.90 GAA, .930 save %.

Looking forward to the next round.

[Travis Munroe]

^^^ if it was so easy to shut down I would have done so lol.... Just pointing out where most of your goals come from.

Mason is at his best on cross crease passes...never seen a goalie cover so much of the net so quickly!!!

McDonagh had both his goals as if he was Ovechkin.... undress at least 1 guy and a absolute laser.

Good luck!

[AR_Six]

Edmonton stole my home ice advantage, series tied 1 - 1

Oil crushed me 6-1 before connection dropped so I let him have the win since he was going to win anyway. Won game 2 3 zip, goals by Ovy, Ovy and I forget. Goalies were nuts, over 60 shots combined and a lot of the high quality variety.

[Tagg3r1]

Please try and finish your series by tuesday

[3 Justin 3]

Phoenix-Dallas won't be starting until Monday since Phoenix is out of town.

[BigDogg]

Can someone post the bracket? Like in a new thread. I'm just interested in seeing the match-ups.

[AR_Six]

I would but we never heard anything out of TBL, PHI, NYR or WPG so I have no idea how those series went.

[lox888]

Buffalo vs Toronto series was attempted but Toronto quit the game and messaged me that I could have the series...

Quick recap Game 1:
Buffalo up 1-0 after 1st period. Buf goes up 2-0 in the 2nd and Toronto texts "Do you ever get tired of just mashing poke check all game?"

I reply that it's not random mashing but positional strategy.

Game resumes and Buf goes up 3-0. Tor takes the puck, shoots it over the glass and quits suddenly.

I receive a text from him:
"Enjoy. You can have the series."

I ask why the quit and receive a response of:
"Can be playing more enjoyable games or leagues where I don't need to mash one button."

I reply that it's stupid to quit because of that...it's an actual strategy I play that makes the poke check effective, not just random constant button mashing. If it was that easy everybody could be doing and winning with it.

No more communication between us.

I have informed Tag of the situation and he wanted me to post on here to see other people's thoughts on this.

I found it unbelievable that he gave up the series after just one game based on his frustrations with my D. Seriously though, I realize the poke check is very effective in the game, but its not random button pushing and actually requires discipline and skill to use properly. I have lost my share of games too and have beaten guys who use it online so I know it can be overcome. Not like I was using some glitch shot from nhl12 where I lit him up for 5 unstoppable goals or anything.

In any case, that's the scoop on the series so far...no response from Gary yet to Tag if he's sticking around or quitting all together.