Series Talk: Stanley Cup Playoffs 2024
- Thread starter dahrougem2
- Start date
expatriatedtexan
Habitual Line Stepper
- Aug 17, 2005
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That was a heck of a tip.
henchman21
Mr. Meeseeks
- Feb 24, 2012
- 64,408
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Can we now say Edmonton has had a better season than the Avs?
Avs_19
Registered User
- Jun 28, 2007
- 85,082
- 33,439
The genius of DeBoer isn’t looking so hot against a team that isn’t injured, depleted, tired, and broken.
henchman21
Mr. Meeseeks
- Feb 24, 2012
- 64,408
- 49,518
It’s more the Avs have zero idea how to create below the goal line.
This series shows the Avs are further away than thought.
Angry Pete always comes out right around this time. Whether he’s getting pissy with the refs, his own goalie, or the media, it’s his last card to play. Guess we’ll see if it works.
- Jul 25, 2006
- 32,168
- 22,835
Well yeah…
They’re still playing and how many rounds of golf have the Avs played already?
Pretty impressive to see how far away this team is from even remotely contending for a WCF berth, let alone a cup.
I mean we were potentially just 1 or 2 ...hits... away from potentially winning that series and making a mockery of Skinner and Pickard
expatriatedtexan
Habitual Line Stepper
- Aug 17, 2005
- 17,363
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What I like about that is Pete agrees with the dude at first and then is like, Hey...what a second...
On the plus side, Edmonton is essentially the same team but with Ekholm + a better coach than when the Avs beat them 2 years ago.
Changes are needed and it won't be easy, but if the Avs get 1-2 key moves right the Avs will be right back up there.
Grigowski
Registered User
- Jul 6, 2016
- 3,299
- 4,168
Edmonton with this D and Goaltending beating Dallas......
What on earth is going on....?
And how much did we really suck this year? For the love of god let Florida win the cup and be done this year......
What on earth is going on....?
And how much did we really suck this year? For the love of god let Florida win the cup and be done this year......
dahrougem2
Registered User
With half a second left lmao
I don't believe the Avs are that far off in the West at all.
LOFIN
Registered User
- Sep 16, 2011
- 15,011
- 20,858
If Edmonton was to go all the way, I might take a year off from NHL and HFBoardss
UncleRisto
Not Great, Bob!
Be more quiet, please.
Dallas has a lot of old guys playing important minutes. I think they finally hit a wall of fatigue.
been wondering that myself. Were the avs just that bad and stars that good? Or maybe we are disillusioned and we just not as good as we think we are.
Vaslof
Registered User
- Feb 1, 2017
- 5,220
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We deserved the loss, but it's not like we were far off from winning the series. That's how it goes. There's high parity in hockey.
avsfan09
Registered User
I honestly think if we didn’t have that game where we lost Toews and Val and came out horrifically flat we might have had a whole different series but that left us in a hole too deep to climb from and mentally our players were defeated.
Edmonton’s team defence is killing it the last couple of games and they deserve full credit for getting here.
Matchups matter as well. The Canucks were the worst stylistic matchup for the Oilers (at least through 5 games on the WCF). Dallas was a dreadful stylistic matchup for Bednar and the Avs. Would definitely give the Oilers the clear advantage but would not have been at all surprised if the Avs (with Nuke) matched up better against the Oilers than Dallas has been recently.
It’s fairly similar to how the Wolves were built to beat the Nuggets and they embarrassed in 4 of the games (even though it took 7) and full credit to them for it but matchup wise the Nuggets playing like they care would’ve given the Mavs a much better run for their money than the Wolves did (not to say they definitely win but it likely goes 6-7). Sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw and the Avs made the best of their luck in 2001 and 2022 when they avoided Dallas/Detroit (01) and Vegas (22) (I actually think despite the Oilers embarrassing them, that the Flames in 22 played a style the Avs would’ve had trouble with).
Matchups matter as well. The Canucks were the worst stylistic matchup for the Oilers (at least through 5 games on the WCF). Dallas was a dreadful stylistic matchup for Bednar and the Avs. Would definitely give the Oilers the clear advantage but would not have been at all surprised if the Avs (with Nuke) matched up better against the Oilers than Dallas has been recently.
It’s fairly similar to how the Wolves were built to beat the Nuggets and they embarrassed in 4 of the games (even though it took 7) and full credit to them for it but matchup wise the Nuggets playing like they care would’ve given the Mavs a much better run for their money than the Wolves did (not to say they definitely win but it likely goes 6-7). Sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw and the Avs made the best of their luck in 2001 and 2022 when they avoided Dallas/Detroit (01) and Vegas (22) (I actually think despite the Oilers embarrassing them, that the Flames in 22 played a style the Avs would’ve had trouble with).
AvBuff
Registered User
- May 1, 2019
- 647
- 1,734
Man, I was just about to post this. Nikola Jokic said something very interesting in an interview after losing the Minnesota series (and he doesn't talk much). He said "matchups matter". Meaning very, very good teams can get beat if they get a bad matchup in the playoffs and don't play their best. If the Nuggets play differently down the stretch, they play Dallas in the playoffs instead of Minny. The Nuggets would beat Dallas. The Nuggets are also better than Boston - who is going to the Finals. But Minnesota is just built in a way that gives the Nuggets fits. They pack the middle with bigs, frustrate Jokic and make the Nuggets eat clock and make outside shots. And if the Nugs shooters have off nights . . . adios Denver. Matchups. They matter.
The Avs/Dallas series was a mirror image of Nuggets/Minnesota. Dallas doesn't - and didn't - play any differently than they have a gazillion times before against the Avs. Dallas just plays in a way that's designed to give teams like the Avs fits. Like Minnesota, they clog the middle and force everything outside. Bednar isn't dumb - he knows how to beat a system like that. He has: Winnipeg runs (tried to run) the same defensive system as Dallas and the Avs took it apart. The Avs are better, but the difference was . . .
. . . Dallas played about a perfect and disciplined 3-4 game stretch of defensive system hockey as anybody has ever seen. I watched a couple of the early Dallas/Avs games with my neighbor who's a former college hockey coach, and he just shook his head in awe. Dallas/DeBoer runs a structure/system/cyborg style and if they are healthy, locked in and perfect . . . it's very, very tough to beat them. Not impossible. Just really hard. The Avs were distracted by the Nuke thing, Mac/Mikko were frustrated, Toews gets hurt . . . rough.
But this is why Dallas won't beat Edmonton and DeBoer will never win a Cup: it's impossible to play perfect, defensive, counterpunch, rope-a-dope system hockey every night for 16 games. The Dallas team playing Edmonton now is not the same team that beat the Avs. They are tired and banged up. Their age is showing. Tanev is on 1 leg. And systems tend to fall apart under those conditions. When you're tired, hurt, old . . . and playing a team like Edmonton, you're not going to be perfect and you're going to get beat.
As Jokic said, match-ups matter. If the Avs play the LA Kings/Nashville/Vancouver in any combination over 2 series . . . they are playing in the Western Finals. Maybe against a banged up Dallas team. Maybe against the Oilers. And they have a shot against either. But Edmonton drew that combination and they get to play a gassed, disjointed, injured imperfect Dallas team.
The Avs will continue to make the playoffs and will be Cup contenders for the next several years. The core is too good. But this year it's the Panthers - that team is loaded. LOADED. They are taking the Rangers apart 5X5. But the Panthers will pay the piper in a month - they're gonna lose a bunch of players to FA and since Florida trades/traded all of their draft picks . . well, their window is very short. The Panthers should just sit the next few drafts out altogether. But this year . . . well, they look a lot like the 2022 Avalanche - if the Avalanche also played dirty. Yikes.
Just tired of the "boy do the Avs suck/boy is Bednar a shitty coach/boy is MacFarland a moron" stuff - I realize self flagellation is part of the theme for this board but jeezus. Enough. Talent, matchups, health and luck all factor in the SC runs. The Avs had all of those things in 2022. Those combinations just haven't fallen together the last 2 years. There are about 20-25 teams that would trade for the Avalanche position right now, as is - even with all the Nuke/Landy/cap issues.
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