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Great Theater! Does it get any better than this? Three 7s in 24 Hours. |
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A pair of sevens following and outstanding game 7 last night. It's Christmas in May my friends.
On Detroit/Anaheim...
Is there any doubt the Red Wings are the best coached team in the NHL? They have lost huge players on defense in Lidstrom and Rafalski over the past few years. Such a loss should devastate a team and yet the Red Wings knock out team that was right up there with Chicago this year, and may have been the best overall team in hockey...
And yet they lost to the Red Wings because of three main reasons:
They were out-coached, Jimmy Howard was amazing, and the star combo of Zetts/Datsyuk was better than the star combo of Perry/Getzlaf.
Haven't we been here before...
Now the Wings will face the "other" top team in the NHL and the Hawks are going to have to be way better than they were against the Wild. If they aren't better these Wings will knock off the best two teams in a similar way that the Habs three years back knocked of #1 Washington and #2 Pittsburgh.
On Toronto/Boston
When I texted my die-hard Leafs friend last night, "told you so" I got back a response akin to "you are a genius but I still expect Boston to win game 7."
"Since you are a Leafs fan I'd expect nothing less." I replied.
Fact is, the Leafs are really a fun team to get behind right now...even life-long Leaf haters have to admit this. They are scrappy. They play way too loose in their own zone, but James Reimer has done exactly what I said he had to do, but wasn't doing, early in the series...steal a game/put Toronto in a position to win. And they have fought back to tie this series.
The Leafs have been put down for so long this is just a great feel good series right now. No matter what happens tonight, the Leafs are the Leafs again...in a very similar way to what the Islanders proved the other night. A good young team with energy is ALWAYS dangerous.
On the Caps vs Lundqvist...I mean the Rangers
This series is due for a triple overtime game. If the Rangers go down it will mark another playoff where King Henry has done ABSOLUTELY everything he can to give them an opportunity to win. He has been unbelievable and right now the Rangers offense needs to only show up for one game to get to the next round. Nothing against the Caps, but it feels like the Rangers' series to win or lose tonight.
That said, if the Caps can get though this series, and shake this monkey off of their backs, I could see them making a possible run for the Final. I like how they match up against either Boston or Toronto and I see Ottawa really giving the Penguins fits.
What are your thoughts on tonight's games?
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