GDT: Official Conference Finals thread

[Carolinas Identity*]

I'm resisting the urge to post that Kanye video from the VMAs here.

Hey Pittsburgh, I'ma let you finish, but just wanted y'all to know, Boston is the best team in the East this year.

 

[HisIceness]

Just in case some of you all don't follow Forslund on Twitter, I found this retweet from him pretty interesting... "Boston, San Diego, Buffalo, Providence and Raleigh were the highest-rated markets for last night's game outside of LA and Chicago."

San Diego? That's interesting. Although I guess the Kings do have a bit of a fanbase there.

 

[gocanes88]

First game in Raleigh vs. them next year we should play Shippin' up to Boston or some other terribad song by whatever that group is

Dropkick Murphys.

Also... that would require us changing our 10-song playlist. Not going to happen.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

Dropkick Murphys.

Also... that would require us changing our 10-song playlist. Not going to happen.

Ya I know who the band was, their songs infest every NHL game and there's no way to shut it off

The only thing this team needs to change as far as games tho, is photo shop a 'Canes jersey on this guy and play the song every time we do anything.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

And the invincible Penguins are eliminated.

BRB heading to the Pens board.

 

[Novacane]

I was positive Malkin was going to score at the end. Delightfully surprised.

 

[Joe McGrath]

So did Juice play enough for the Canes to get their 7th?

 

[Joe McGrath]

I was positive Malkin was going to score at the end. Delightfully surprised.

Chara's largeness helped that out quite a bit.

 

[gocanes88]

NBC will still get Chicago-Boston, though... that's like the next best thing for them since the Penguins are out.

 

[tomdundo]

So did Juice play enough for the Canes to get their 7th?

Pens didn't make the Final, so it doesn't matter how many games Jussi played.

 

[HisIceness]

So, go Hawks?

Can't root for Boston. Did so two years ago but those were different circumstances.

 

[NorthStar4Canes]

Pens swept. Never had a lead. Crosby, Malkin, Letang pointless. .5 goals per game. Iggy loses, Jagr wins. Won't have to listen to any of his fanboys saying "Oh, I'm so happy for Jussi".

What's not to love about that series?

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

Pens swept. Never had a lead. Crosby, Malkin, Letang pointless. .5 goals per game. Iggy loses, Jagr wins. Won't have to listen to any of his fanboys saying "Oh, I'm so happy for Jussi".

What's not to love about that series?

Sutter lost he did supply 50% of his teams offense though.

 

[NorthStar4Canes]

Sutter lost he did supply 50% of his teams offense though.

True. But my like for Sutter doesn't outweigh my severe dislike for the Pens (which is only exceeded by my hatred for Buffalo). I love the fact they were humiliated on their home ice, and that their season ended in Boston.

I love when paper, star-power rosters lose to tough teams, but watching those whiny *****es get swept and held to 2 goals in 13-plus periods was icing on the cake.

 

[bleedgreen]

I liked that iginla took the final shot as the buzzer went. Nice choice Jerome. Perfect end to that mess.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Chara's largeness helped that out quite a bit.

Shades of Michael Ryder in 2011.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the scope of that shutdown job. Without doing any research at all, it has to be one of the all time great clamp-downs in history.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

So it's Boston's Cup to lose, right?

Chicago will probably put up more of a fight than Pittsburgh did, but the end result will be the same.

Boston in 5 or 6

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

So glad Iginla went down faster than a dress on prom nite. I hate the bruins and Iginla is a nice guy, but in this particular set of circumstances, I'll always cheer for vengeance.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Fun read over on the Pens board. Apparently many of them are calling into question Crosby's leadership abilities and some are suggesting Malkin should have the C. With a team full of guys like Letang, Crosby, Martin, Orpik, Malkin, Iginla, Morrow, etc....I find it hard to believe that leadership is one of their biggest problems.

They ran up against a team that they didn't match up well against when it comes to playoff hockey. Boston played physical, shut them down defensively, and had a hot goalie.

 

[Joe McGrath]

Fun read over on the Pens board. Apparently many of them are calling into question Crosby's leadership abilities and some are suggesting Malkin should have the C. With a team full of guys like Letang, Crosby, Martin, Orpik, Malkin, Iginla, Morrow, etc....I find it hard to believe that leadership is one of their biggest problems.

They ran up against a team that they didn't match up well against when it comes to playoff hockey. Boston played physical, shut them down defensively, and had a hot goalie.

You mean leadership might be overrated? Better not say that too loudly around here.

 

[tomdundo]

You mean leadership might be overrated? Better not say that too loudly around here.

Leadership is overrated, unless you have a lazy captain named Eric Staal.

 

[Kenadyan]

That's what I assumed. They were playing that song in Boston Garden and every other arena in the world long before the Hurricanes existed.

If Boston were to win the Cup this year, I wonder if anyone would complain that Boston stole "We Are the Champions" from them.

 

[Buenos Necas]

Fun read over on the Pens board. Apparently many of them are calling into question Crosby's leadership abilities and some are suggesting Malkin should have the C. With a team full of guys like Letang, Crosby, Martin, Orpik, Malkin, Iginla, Morrow, etc....I find it hard to believe that leadership is one of their biggest problems.

That could be the problem though; having too many captain types. When Crosby starts mouthing off at Chara and getting distracted, who's the guy that reels him back in?

 

[Blueline Bomber]

You mean leadership might be overrated? Better not say that too loudly around here.

Exact opposite, actually.

The Pens fans were right. Crosby wasn't playing like a leader the entire series. He didn't produce on the scoresheet, which in and of itself isn't bad, but then you add to it that he spent more time worrying about Chara or Rask or Lucic or Marchand instead of concentrating on his play and the play of his team.

He was very Eric-like in that series. Spend less time *****ing about a non-call that you think should have been made and more time keeping your team focused.

And much like Eric and the Canes, the Penguins saw their captain, leader, best player, whathaveyou completely thrown off his game and had a hard time playing theirs because of it.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Bruins put on a clinic. Did Chara take any unneccasry penalties? Did he seem anything but steady throughout the series? Did Jagr, despite not scoring a goal in these playoffs so far, seem frustrated by that fact? Did Bergeron or Krecji seem off their game at all?

The Bruins had just as many leaders as the Penguins. The difference was that theirs were actually playing like leaders while the Penguins' group wasn't.

 

[Anton Babchuk]

So what you are saying is that even if this team were to have a bunch of good gritty veteran leaders, that they might all of a sudden randomly decide to stop leading at a crucial juncture such as the Eastern Conference Finals?

I haven't ever heard a better argument for totally ignoring "leadership" while building a team. If you can't trust Iginla and Morrow and Crosby, who can you trust?