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Megustaelhockey
"I like hockey" in Spanish
- Apr 29, 2011
- 23,457
- 17,596
gary laser eyes
Registered User
- Apr 6, 2007
- 4,174
- 0
Ail
Based and Rangerspilled.
Megustaelhockey
"I like hockey" in Spanish
- Apr 29, 2011
- 23,457
- 17,596
2Leetch_94
Kreid Me A River
Seriously? Where is this stuff coming from? Do all of you just not pay any attention to any other team? You do realize that Nashville has more points in just as many games as the Rangers in easily the toughest division in hockey this season? And that with all the complaints and speculation about how "injured" the Rangers were, that the Predators are doing all of this without elite goalie Pekka Rinne (imagine Lundqvist going down) and had a 27 year-old sieve in net for 10 games who had played 1 NHL game in his career before this season? And, I say again, have a better record in a far tougher division?
This game will not be a "gimme." This game will not be easy. Nashville has DOMINATED the Blackhawks, Red Wings, and Maple Leafs in their last three games, outscoring those teams 13-4. Nashville does not "suck." Again, I'm a Rangers fan first, and a Predators fan second, and I'd like the Rangers to win, but I'm getting very sick of this idea that the Predators are somehow a far inferior opponent that should be crushed easily.
JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK
Twenty f*ckin years
- Oct 8, 2010
- 80,056
- 17,670
Nashville is weird. One minute they're getting blown out by some relatively weak eastern teams, the next they're dominating games against very good western opponents.
The Rangers could easily win this game like 5-1, but they could also just as easily lose by that much.
The Rangers could easily win this game like 5-1, but they could also just as easily lose by that much.
Don't be fooled, Nashville is a top 10 team in the West, they play a very exciting brand of hockey. Good hits, good pace, and tough guys on the team. LGR!
The Jets and Devils games were horrible, and spelled the end of Hutton as the "starter" until Rinne is back. The man was trying, but was just terrible. 8 goals on 30 shots in those two games alone. Marek Mazanec (22 year-old rookie, and a monster at that; literally Rinne-sized) has come up from the Admirals and stolen the job with pretty solid, but unspectacular play. Since then, the Predators have rolled over some great teams. They lack a true high-end forward, but it's very difficult to shut them down when their goalie isn't giving up goals on 25% of the shots he faces. They boast 3 second lines, have tons of size, and play excellent hockey in all three zones. It certainly won't be an easy game unless Hutton is named the starter and plays like he has been in his last few games. Otherwise, with the way the two have played in their last few games (and I've watched the last three for both teams), if the final is 5-1, I'd be betting it's the Predators on the winning side.
The Rangers can win this game (a far cry from "should," and "they suck") but if they do, it will be a game until the end. Same for the Predators. I'd expect a close game of the 3-2 OT/SO variety.
Killem Dafoe
Hold my baby, man.
Amazing Kreiderman
Registered User
- Apr 11, 2011
- 45,070
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You just described the beauty that is NHL hockey, my friend. Any team can win on any given day.
Dfence, I won't pretend anything about the Preds although I know they beat some top teams this season. However, I feel like you're only giving one side of the story. They had 15 shots on net against the Devils. We had about that many in the second period alone in the last game. Did Hutton block shots for the Devils too? I'm not saying this will matter in this game, but it seems like you conveniently only mention the facts that make the Preds look good and omit those that make them look bad.
The Devils game was over before it really began. The Predators were coming off a 5-0 blasting at the Jets where Hutton played terribly. Against the Devils, he gave up a horrible goal 1:30 into the game on a un-screened wrist shot from on top of the dot. The Predators played well to try to get back into the game in the first, staying with the Devils for the rest of the period. 2 minutes into the second, Hutton gave up another very weak goal on a back-handed push to Cam Janssen, and the team quit. It was blatantly obvious that the Predators just didn't trust their goalie, and it's not a coincidence that he hasn't seen a start since that game. 5 straight games where an unproven, 22-year old rookie who was their 4th-string goalie to start the season started in his place and badly outplayed him. The results are in the last three games they've played now that they can trust the guy behind the D to not give up goals on 25% of the shots he faces, regardless of quality.
If you'd like to cherry pick certain games and assume that's the game you will see the opponent play, I suppose the Predators should expect to blow out the Rangers. I mean, a rookie scored 4 goals on them and made them his personal (expletive censored)s in a stomping in a game where the "best goalie in the world" started. The Predators don't expect to see that team, because it's very different than the way the Rangers have played lately. If the Rangers, like many of the posters here seem to be, are expecting to see that Predators team that lost 5-0 back-to-back against the Jets and Devils, and not the team that's coming in on a 3-game win streak against three of the best NHL teams, blasting them 13-4, then I'd CERTAINLY be putting money on the 5-1 final in favor of the Predators.
It's just that what rubbed me the wrong way that you're like "you say that the Rangers had injuries", like it's not an excuse for us but is an excuse for the Preds. The Rangers were missing a few players, had their goalie injured (forgot that?), and were learning a brand new system and they lost to 2 of the best teams in the league back to back, not the Jets and Devils. Either discount the games for both teams or take them into account for both teams. I also still don't know what 15 shots on goal have to do with your goalie. In blowouts quite often teams at least pad their shot totals when the other team takes their foot off the pedal a bit.
This is one of the major reasons I wish the Rangers would trade Girardi. This shot-blocking fetish is getting quite costly. The D blocking some shots are fine, but the way Girardi recklessly throws himself in front of seemingly every shot is just screaming to get himself injured. Add on that he isn't that mobile and fumbles the puck a lot offensively, and I just can't see any reason to pay him the $5+ million a year he will get on the open market. There has to be a team looking for D help with young RHD options (Detroit: Sproul, etc) that could use a Girardi for a playoff run. I know he is a fan favorite for being a warrior, but warriors don't last long in this league. It's a physical enough game as it is...
The injuries quip is in response to all the excuses that are and were made for the Rangers around here on a daily basis (and Lundqvist missing all of two games does not equate to Rinne missing 4+ months. Is Henrik better? Yes, but the difference isn't very large), while I saw for the third or fourth time in a matter of hours today that the Predators "suck" and the Rangers should handle them easily. The comment was made in the exact manner you took it: Rangers injured? Good excuse. Predators injured? They suck! And you proved it by pointing out the injuries, new system, etc.
The Predators had a pretty large roster overhaul this year, as well. Matt Cullen, Seth Jones, Eric Nystrom, Filip Forsberg, Viktor Stalberg, Mattias Ekholm, Matt Hendricks, Carter Hutton/Marek Mazenec, and Victor Bartley have all been with the team for less than 40 total games. The majority of them are very young. But the "learning new systems" excuse is only good enough for the Rangers, a team of players who have played the large part of their hockey together for several seasons? That's exactly my point. You guys and gals here act as if only the Rangers ever face adversity, and every other team just "sucks." Multiple times today I've seen a Rangers fan post on here about how the Predators "suck." Do you realize that if they were in the same division as the Rangers, they would be in front of them in the standings? All while doing this in by far the toughest division in the NHL?
The 15 shots on goal and shot-padding in blow-outs doesn't happen as often as you'd apparently think, and it can only happen when the team getting blown out has an interest in competing in the game. The Predators completely gave up in that game, knowing that their goalie would just blow whatever goals they managed. Again, Hutton has seen 10 minutes of action in net since that game. I'm not discounting one and not the other any more than the posters here have done in reverse.
You hypocritically complain about the very things that several on this board are guilty of, including yourself, when flipped around. That was exactly my intent and my point. Long story short: The Predators don't suck, and if the Rangers write them off as easily as several of you have, they are going to roll the Rangers just like they did to the Blackhawks (7-2 final, by the way). It's disrespectful to claim a team "sucks," and it's especially stupid to claim a team "sucks" when they are doing better than the team that you all assume should roll over them tomorrow.
Edit: And for the record, no game in the NHL should ever be viewed as easy. Buffalo has beaten 5 teams, including the Leafs. Edmonton has beaten a team 7 times in a game this season already. Both are in full-on tank mode. Any of the 82 games a team plays in winnable and able to be lost.
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