Down the middle I think the Hawks are going to suffer badly - Richards wouldn't even make the top 12 in Ana - and Kesler is going to smoke him or Vermette no problem - top lines a wash - 2nd line Ana - 3rd lines - if Rikard Rikel doesn't get it together- ducks are going to have Thompson there with Fleishmann on the 4th ctr - the advantage I see the Hawks having is on the wings - Hoss -, Kane, Sharp to a degree Saad - slight edge over Cogs / Silverberg / Belesky / Maroon - the key for Ana is don't let Keith dictate the pace and flow or they are in trouble.... much easier said than done - the other D are manageable - also the turnovers that the flames didn't capitalize on are going to be goals in this series - must play better in their own end - Lindholm / Vatanan/Fowler if rushing on the counterattach will cause the Hawks problems - I like Anderson over Crawford but just by a hair - no real difference - Ducks in 7
- dozerD10

wow...yeah I think hoss, kane, sharp blow your wings off the ice...saad a slight edge??

richards not top 12 for ya...huh??

mees think you have slight bit of over reach on your roster...

anderson over crawford??? No real difference?? 3 strt WC appearances and cup, 7-3 in playoff rounds since 2011 vs a guy who has been in the league 2 years and won nothing...

i guess I will take that slight edge by a hair

I predict lots of people will owe Mr. Runblad an apology in about 3-4 weeks. The unwarranted hate of this guy is absurd.

It's not like he's Kimonen bad.
- Ogilthorpe2

Ogi - curious to hear your opinion on Rundblad?

That is nice - smoke may have been the wrong wording - hammer,crush, demo, Kes is going to dominate either of those guys - and Hawks 3rd and 4th ctrs are weak - ducks in 7 -
- dozerD10

you have had to much sun on the beach my friend....

ducks will have huge matchup probs with the hawks...

Q will run circles around the balded one behind the bench...should be fun to watch

The closest Brad Richards gets to Kesler this series will be mailing him a postcard, unless Boudreau decides Richards is very dangerous and needs Kesler to shadow him.

At home with last change, I expect Kesler on Toews. Which means Silfverburg and Belesky against Hossa and Saad. You like that one? If not, Toews goes up against Getzlaf with those gazelles Perry and Maroon trying to keep up with Hoss and Saad.

Cogliano is a good player, will have something to say in this series depending on who he plays against. Likewise, Marcus Kruger has a big job to do vs the Ducks, likely Getzlaf.

One thing you can be sure of - Q will juggle his lines so much looking for a matchup advantage that Boudreau will have some hilarious confused looks on his face as he chews Tylenol like candy.
- RickJ

oh yeah....

and the ducks answer to #88 is ???

oh yeah....

and the ducks answer to #88 is ???
- bogiedoc

Boudreau sees a bright future for Tim Jackman.

That is nice - smoke may have been the wrong wording - hammer,crush, demo, Kes is going to dominate either of those guys - and Hawks 3rd and 4th ctrs are weak - ducks in 7 -
- dozerD10

Go look at the faceoff stats posted earlier in this thread then tell me how the Ducks centers dominate? Beauchemin is your top d man and hed be like fourth on the Hawks. Your mallards havent been tested this playoff and the whole world knows theyve had a cakewalk to the WCF

Go look at the faceoff stats posted earlier in this thread then tell me how the Ducks centers dominate? Beauchemin is your top d man and hed be like fourth on the Hawks. Your mallards havent been tested this playoff and the whole world knows theyve had a cakewalk to the WCF
- golfbard

I love the fact Anaheim is the underdog..Winnepeg had bone crushing hits and Calgary was a fast team...I think were ready... I think Anaheim would have fared well against Nashville without Shea Weber on the team like the Blackhawks did

Boudreau sees a bright future for Tim Jackman.
- RickJ

oh yeah....

and the ducks answer to #88 is ???
- bogiedoc

31

gotta luv it when some lala land mallard fans come here to mix it up as they live in fantasy land about their team...

can hawks lose this series...yes of course....could their guy in net be something we thought dubnyk was but turned out he wasn't...yes of course...

can perry and getzlaf light up crawford and punch their tickets to the finals...yes of course..

but lets get some reality about the hawks play here the last 5 games...

1. the hawks are playing their best fully co-ordinated team D of the year

2. their back checking, gap protection and puck support is the best I have seen since they won the cup....

3. they are rolling 4 strong lines that know their roles...the Q line roulette has been on hold; but he has multiple options with in a game

4. #88 with richards or vermette is on a mission and ducks will have no answer

5. the hawks 3rd line has their top scorer of the previous 2 years

6. they have a "4th" line that can shut down a #1 line

7. they have best top 4 dmen remaining in these playoffs and they have been outstanding in managing puck and getting the transition going

the hawks played two of their best and most complete games of the year in quak land and have given up 3 goals in 3 games while scoring 9...

good luck my ducky wucky fans and may the force be with you

31
- rubberduckies

Didn't Kane score 4 goals on your #31 in 2 games this season?

31
- rubberduckies

3 GA vs kane and 1 e-netter in 2 games in quakland....

next???

Wait...there are Duck fans? I have heard rumors. Didn't believe em.

Didn't Kane score 4 goals on your #31 in 2 games this season?
- DarthKane

Cant wait...Anaheim is going to check that collar bone closely

Down the middle I think the Hawks are going to suffer badly - Richards wouldn't even make the top 12 in Ana - and Kesler is going to smoke him or Vermette no problem - top lines a wash - 2nd line Ana - 3rd lines - if Rikard Rikel doesn't get it together- ducks are going to have Thompson there with Fleishmann on the 4th ctr - the advantage I see the Hawks having is on the wings - Hoss -, Kane, Sharp to a degree Saad - slight edge over Cogs / Silverberg / Belesky / Maroon - the key for Ana is don't let Keith dictate the pace and flow or they are in trouble.... much easier said than done - the other D are manageable - also the turnovers that the flames didn't capitalize on are going to be goals in this series - must play better in their own end - Lindholm / Vatanan/Fowler if rushing on the counterattach will cause the Hawks problems - I like Anderson over Crawford but just by a hair - no real difference - Ducks in 7
- dozerD10

I think Dean the Wild blogger (and the Preds guy) said the same thing and he's not posted any mea culpa since... I'm sure he's away and sulking somewhere.

Huge advantage Chicago if you consider quality of offenses faced so far.

I see it as Perry's line against Toews, and Kesler's line against Kane's...

Selke trophy winner Kesler will try to shut down Con Smythe winner Kane. Same with the top line wingers going head to head.

It's about matchup, so whoever wins these two matchups wins the series.

How much can Keith and Seabrook cover for their weaker
partners? I think the hawks will have a much harder time with the ducks than the other teams they've faced. The other guys are relatively healthy and losing Roszival might just be the difference to tip things the other way...

This is going to be very intresting series indeed. I wish Hawks can solve this one too but Ducks offense is something that they haven´t yet met in this years playoffs.

If Hawks can keep Ducks big forwards away from front of Corey that´ll help a lot. Hawks will be in trouble if they have to battle with Perry and co. in front of the net. Hawks will need scoring help from the 3rd line and that might seperate these two teams.

Of course goaltending, possible injuries and so on will be big factor too. I won´t predict anything but say that this 50/50. Both of them will face tougher opponent so far and we´ll see how things sort out.

***

From what I´ve seen in IHWC that Anders Nilsson from Leddy trade has played very poorly in this tournament. He has real nice stats from KHL this season but he played behind strong defense and that explain some of the stats of his.

Hawks fans should be excited about Artemi Panarin. So far the best player in this tournament. That doesn´t mean he will translate that to NHL but huge potential. No risk, high reward..

Tell me one time Timonen has wilted like a flower, and turned a puck over below the circles to one guy's pressure, leading to an easy goal? Because I can name at least a few times Rundblad has done that.

Give it up. He sucks. He's playing because if they play Cumiskey, it forces Oduya out of his better side and makes him a liability too. That's it. And the Great Rundblad might force that by Game 2 anyway.
- John Jaeckel

To be fair, I did say "almost", I didn't actually do it. Honestly don't feel comfortable with any of them.

I was wrong on Rozy, thought he played well against the wild, and that he was an asset to the team. I'm hoping I get to type I was wrong about Kimmo, or even Runblad.

Wait...there are Duck fans? I have heard rumors. Didn't believe em.
- Elbows15

Only when the scoreboard tells them so.

I think Dean the Wild blogger (and the Preds guy) said the same thing and he's not posted any mea culpa since... I'm sure he's away and sulking somewhere.

Huge advantage Chicago if you consider quality of offenses faced so far.
- busmaster

Tony Dean is a pretty good guy overall for the Wild blog. Read his columns often. The other guy? Well lets just say he has a serious inferiority complex.

Tony Dean is a pretty good guy overall for the Wild blog. Read his columns often. The other guy? Well lets just say he has a serious inferiority complex.
- blackhawk24

The Pred's blogger? He has the makings of a serious comedy writer. His stuff was gold...or should I say mustard.

wow...yeah I think hoss, kane, sharp blow your wings off the ice...saad a slight edge??

richards not top 12 for ya...huh??

mees think you have slight bit of over reach on your roster...

anderson over crawford??? No real difference?? 3 strt WC appearances and cup, 7-3 in playoff rounds since 2011 vs a guy who has been in the league 2 years and won nothing...

i guess I will take that slight edge by a hair
- bogiedoc

Greetings from wedge once again - watching Hawks 1st 2 series was like 7x7 summer passing league - nobody got hit - well this series their going to get hit and hit a lot - we'll see how they respond - their playoff PK is about as good as my pickup league 72 % against playoff # 1 PP - Kane is stud... a problem not only for ducks .... But everyone else - and I'll say it again - Richards is done he wouldn't be a Ctr on any ana line - yes Crawford has history @ wcf/ cup - so what .. Min didn't test him & Nashville lit him up - this is going to be a new issue for him - can't wait - ducks in 7

gotta luv it when some lala land mallard fans come here to mix it up as they live in fantasy land about their team...

can hawks lose this series...yes of course....could their guy in net be something we thought dubnyk was but turned out he wasn't...yes of course...

can perry and getzlaf light up crawford and punch their tickets to the finals...yes of course..

but lets get some reality about the hawks play here the last 5 games...

1. the hawks are playing their best fully co-ordinated team D of the year

2. their back checking, gap protection and puck support is the best I have seen since they won the cup....

3. they are rolling 4 strong lines that know their roles...the Q line roulette has been on hold; but he has multiple options with in a game

4. #88 with richards or vermette is on a mission and ducks will have no answer

5. the hawks 3rd line has their top scorer of the previous 2 years

6. they have a "4th" line that can shut down a #1 line

7. they have best top 4 dmen remaining in these playoffs and they have been outstanding in managing puck and getting the transition going

the hawks played two of their best and most complete games of the year in quak land and have given up 3 goals in 3 games while scoring 9...

good luck my ducky wucky fans and may the force be with you
- bogiedoc

The Hawks are damn good team very formidable opponent this is going to be a phenomenal series a couple of quick points-
How much do the ducks d men jump into the play- and if they do how effective is the hawks counterattack off the rush-
Can the Hawks get the puck out of their own zone and survive huge cycles short of Keith and Seabrook-I don't see their other pairs handling that get well. -

The Hawks are damn good team very formidable opponent this is going to be a phenomenal series a couple of quick points-
How much do the ducks d men jump into the play- and if they do how effective is the hawks counterattack off the rush-
Can the Hawks get the puck out of their own zone and survive huge cycles short of Keith and Seabrook-I don't see their other pairs handling that get well. -
- dozerD10

Hammer and Oduya are our top shutdown pair and if he was on the Ducks, #4 would be your top dman. The bottom 2 of Rundblad and Timmonen are the ones Hawk fans are worried about.

If they can chew some mins in this series, should be fine.

Anna-Frid? Agnetha? Benny? Bjorn
- StLBravesFan

Def one of the chicks, LOL