San Jose Sharks in 6!

[SlammedZero]

Yeah, anything can happen, but I am pretty much mailing this one in already. I just can't see the Sharks reeling off 3 in a row with the way the series has been going. Not all is gloom for me though, it was great to see them make the big dance finally!

 

[Jason 82 Witten]

I like the Sharks but I think they're done. They made it a step further, but they failed once again

 

[Biggems]

PENGUINS WIN!!!!

Our Cup runnith over.....GO PENS

 

[YosemiteSam]

Sorry @muck4doo. Sucks, I know. I watched my Rangers do it twice and they even actually should have won the St. Louis series, but Washington pulled an idiot move by playing Cruz with a gimpy leg on defense.

 

[Stryker44]

Makes no sense - aside from Crosby the Sharks are the vastly superior team.

 

[Vtwin]

Two shots on goal in the third period of a one goal, championship, elimination game at home.

Come on man.

 

[Biggems]

Makes no sense - aside from Crosby the Sharks are the vastly superior team.

I disagree. The Pens had a better regular season record, even after starting out so bad. They beat the best team in hockey, the Caps. They beat the team that represented the East in the Stanley Cup Finals last year, the Lightning. Then, they beat and shut down an offensive juggernaut, while absolutely throwing everything, including the kitchen sink at their goalie and breaking through more than the Sharks did against our rookie.

If the Sharks were really vastly superior, I could see your argument in a 1 game winner take all. But, in a best of 7, the vastly superior team should always win.

IMO, the Pens were vastly superior because of Finals experience (even if only 4-5 players), speed of play (the fastest team in hockey), superb defense (even without Daley). Our defense was absolutely studly. We frustrated and basically shut down your two studs, Thornton and Burns.

You were a huge favorite to win the series. The Pens got little to no respect from the mediots and fans alike. Still, they dominated the series, totally outplaying and outhustling the Sharks. If not for Jones playing out of this world, the series would have been even uglier.

But, it isn't all negative for the Sharks. You now have Finals experience. That is quite valuable. If you can stay pretty much in tact, add a few pieces, you have a good enough team to be a major contender to get back to the Finals in 2017, especially with Jones in goal.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I disagree. The Pens had a better regular season record, even after starting out so bad. They beat the best team in hockey, the Caps. They beat the team that represented the East in the Stanley Cup Finals last year, the Lightning. Then, they beat and shut down an offensive juggernaut, while absolutely throwing everything, including the kitchen sink at their goalie and breaking through more than the Sharks did against our rookie.

If the Sharks were really vastly superior, I could see your argument in a 1 game winner take all. But, in a best of 7, the vastly superior team should always win.

IMO, the Pens were vastly superior because of Finals experience (even if only 4-5 players), speed of play (the fastest team in hockey), superb defense (even without Daley). Our defense was absolutely studly. We frustrated and basically shut down your two studs, Thornton and Burns.

You were a huge favorite to win the series. The Pens got little to no respect from the mediots and fans alike. Still, they dominated the series, totally outplaying and outhustling the Sharks. If not for Jones playing out of this world, the series would have been even uglier.

But, it isn't all negative for the Sharks. You now have Finals experience. That is quite valuable. If you can stay pretty much in tact, add a few pieces, you have a good enough team to be a major contender to get back to the Finals in 2017, especially with Jones in goal.

If the Pens had faced the Stars it likely would hVe been a sweep. With the combination of the goal keeping and Seguin's injury . The barely didn't get last the Blue's. The Sharks and Pens bought would have gotten beaten down as neither could deal with the Star's speed .

 

[Biggems]

If the Pens had faced the Stars it likely would hVe been a sweep. With the combination of the goal keeping and Seguin's injury . The barely didn't get last the Blue's. The Sharks and Pens bought would have gotten beaten down as neither could deal with the Star's speed .

I guess the world will never know, since the Stars were in the same position as me on Sunday night......sitting on their backsides, watching the Pens win the Cup.

 

[Biggems]

If the Pens had faced the Stars it likely would hVe been a sweep. With the combination of the goal keeping and Seguin's injury . The barely didn't get last the Blue's. The Sharks and Pens bought would have gotten beaten down as neither could deal with the Star's speed .

Btw, those two wins against the pens came very early in the season, when the pens were stinking up the joint...i firmly believe the pens would have won those two games had they been in march or april.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Btw, those two wins against the pens came very early in the season, when the pens were stinking up the joint...i firmly believe the pens would have won those two games had they been in march or april.

They didn't do to well last year either. Speed kills. Good thing you faced the Sharks. The Blackhawks would have beaten you too. Sometimes, it's just the luck of the draw.

 

[Bill Wooten]

If the Minnesota Wild were not down 2 starters, the Stars wouldn't have made it out of the first round. "If's" go both ways.

 

[Vtwin]

I disagree. The Pens had a better regular season record, even after starting out so bad. They beat the best team in hockey, the Caps. They beat the team that represented the East in the Stanley Cup Finals last year, the Lightning. Then, they beat and shut down an offensive juggernaut, while absolutely throwing everything, including the kitchen sink at their goalie and breaking through more than the Sharks did against our rookie.

If the Sharks were really vastly superior, I could see your argument in a 1 game winner take all. But, in a best of 7, the vastly superior team should always win.

IMO, the Pens were vastly superior because of Finals experience (even if only 4-5 players), speed of play (the fastest team in hockey), superb defense (even without Daley). Our defense was absolutely studly. We frustrated and basically shut down your two studs, Thornton and Burns.

You were a huge favorite to win the series. The Pens got little to no respect from the mediots and fans alike. Still, they dominated the series, totally outplaying and outhustling the Sharks. If not for Jones playing out of this world, the series would have been even uglier.

But, it isn't all negative for the Sharks. You now have Finals experience. That is quite valuable. If you can stay pretty much in tact, add a few pieces, you have a good enough team to be a major contender to get back to the Finals in 2017, especially with Jones in goal.

Good post. I agree completely. As much as I hate too...

The Sharks were happy to be there and the Pens were on a mission.

 

[Vtwin]

If the Minnesota Wild were not down 2 starters, the Stars wouldn't have made it out of the first round. "If's" go both ways.

The Stars are the new Washington Capitals. Their offense will put them at the top of the league in the regular season but that style doesn't get it done in the playoffs.

 

[YosemiteSam]

The Stars are the new Washington Capitals. Their offense will put them at the top of the league in the regular season but that style doesn't get it done in the playoffs.

The Stars destroy the Capitals every time they play them. The Stars are superior to the Caps. Besides, the Stars defense is improving quickly and will improve even more next season.

The Stars are closer to the Blackhawks than the Capitals. Next season, their defense will be much improved. The only worry is goaltending. Though even that improved this season and I expect it will be better next season too.

You should watch more Stars games. I'm pretty sure your view of them is via the talking heads who still can't even get the Stars players names right. (it's not Dominic Roussel and John Klingman as they like to say) The fact that they don't know the players names, says they too have not been watching the Stars games. How can you say anything about a team if you haven't been watching them? You can't.

 

[Vtwin]

The Stars destroy the Capitals every time they play them. The Stars are superior to the Caps. Besides, the Stars defense is improving quickly and will improve even more next season.

The Stars are closer to the Blackhawks than the Capitals. Next season, their defense will be much improved. The only worry is goaltending. Though even that improved this season and I expect it will be better next season too.

You should watch more Stars games. I'm pretty sure your view of them is via the talking heads who still can't even get the Stars players names right. (it's not Dominic Roussel and John Klingman as they like to say) The fact that they don't know the players names, says they too have not been watching the Stars games. How can you say anything about a team if you haven't been watching them? You can't.

I do watch the games and read or listen to virtually nothing related to the Stars. I was not referring to this last season but to the last few years. The Caps have typically been at the top of the league in the regular season based on allocating their resources to a high powered offense only to be run out of the playoffs early by more balanced, defense oriented teams. As of now the Stars fit that mold. The farther a team advances in the playoffs the larger the impact of the third and fourth lines and bottom pairing d-men becomes. It's harder to have a quality bottom end if you're resources are too tied up in the top end.

 

[Biggems]

The stars are not on the same level as the blackhawks.....the stars are the suns......great for the regular season and maybe 1 rd of playoffs, but that's it. The blackhawks are the spurs....built to compete during both regular season and playoffs, as well as bring home championships ......and do so over several seasons.

I applaud you homerism for your team......but you can't throw around all these hypotheticals, without any success to back it up.....at least not without looking foolish.

Before this year, my pens were an elite regular season team......but since winning the cup in 09, they just couldn't breathe in the playoffs and would choke away one great seeding after another. This year they looked like pure trash, and many were longing for bielsma to come back.....but the right moves were made, the team responded and won the Cup. So no matter what anyone else wants to assume, i only care about facts......the fact is pittsburgh won the cup.....case closed.

Go pens