Is that him or is this the guy?

http://youtu.be/D7EMqcskbzM
- paulr

I ain't clicking that.

Wait? There are Duck fans? And they are annoying?
- Elbows15

Bandwagon fans mostly.

I ain't clicking that.
- Elbows15

You're better off for it...trust me.

I'm still confused on how Mr. Sequin holds the key to unlock the Kevin Hayes conundrum.

You're better off for it...trust me.

I'm still confused on how Mr. Sequin holds the key to unlock the Kevin Hayes conundrum.
- HawkintheD

I Have no idea of which you speak.

You're better off for it...trust me.

I'm still confused on how Mr. Sequin holds the key to unlock the Kevin Hayes conundrum.
- HawkintheD

It's all very clear now. What swayed Kevin Hayes to sign with the Rangers was a spiffy new shirt with sequins. Swines!

It's all very clear now. What swayed Kevin Hayes to sign with the Rangers was a spiffy new shirt with sequins. Swines!
- paulr

That must be what Stanbo used to lure Panarin, Gustaffson, Baun, Kero and others here...

That must be what Stanbo used to lure Panarin, Gustaffson, Baun, Kero and others here...
- HawkintheD

A source told me Stanbo is handing out Deluth shirts ....

My big concern is Hawks special teams.

PK needs to regain it's shutdown form, and the PP needs to contribute.

If the PK struggles, the Hawks may be in trouble.

Tough to overcome a bad PK at this point in the playoffs.

Staying out of the box would help too...but much of that is up to the refs.
- ArlingtonRob

And my big concern which nobody has seemed to comment upon is the goaltenders, the most important position. This Andresson kid has been good, and is very good covering the lower net with quick legs. Yes, I know his history against the Hawks, but these are the playoffs. You get a goaltender on a roll and it negates everything. Remember Dryden against the Bruins and Hawks back in the day?


And no, before you get ur panties In a bunch, I'm not comparing him to a HOF goaltender. Just the trend and play.

And the enigma Crawford. Solid year and the reason the Hawks even made the playoffs. Without a doubt. Perhaps the MVP of this team. Round one Crawford? Which one will show up? Round two, and the Hawks win the Cup. Round one and the behemoth is back between the pipes, and we'll all lament about his diminished trade value this Summer.

I agree with Wiz, been around the block and anything can happen this time of year despite perceived advantages and disadvantages. But a hot goaltender this time of year, always makes the difference.

That must be what Stanbo used to lure Panarin, Gustaffson, Baun, Kero and others here...
- HawkintheD

You guys notice the Panarin NHL Tonight "highlight" last night? They let the clip run too long showing him lose the puck. All those "fancy moves" just to make a giveaway. Looking forward to seeing him and the rest of Russia play tomorrow.

You guys notice the Panarin NHL Tonight "highlight" last night? They let the clip run too long showing him lose the puck. All those "fancy moves" just to make a giveaway. Looking forward to seeing him and the rest of Russia play tomorrow.
- stljam

Well said. I believe the quote on the NHL channel was along the lines of " look at him dance with the puck." The snippet behind the goal line was impressive.

Also, kind of surprised to see your boy Tarasenko take some pretty chippy penalties.

You guys notice the Panarin NHL Tonight "highlight" last night? They let the clip run too long showing him lose the puck. All those "fancy moves" just to make a giveaway. Looking forward to seeing him and the rest of Russia play tomorrow.
- stljam

A giveaway? AND he didnt record a single point despite Russia scoring 5 goals!?!?!

Overrated....


Hey wat time is that game tomorrow btw?

I will be at the game in Disneyland on Sunday. I have been to 4 Hawk playoff games over the past 6 seasons and they have not lost. I have been to 18 Hawks regular season games over the past 6 seasons and they have only lost once. They will win. I will be there.

A giveaway? AND he didnt record a single point despite Russia scoring 5 goals!?!?!

Overrated....


Hey wat time is that game tomorrow btw?
- SimpleJack

Noon on CSN.

You guys notice the Panarin NHL Tonight "highlight" last night? They let the clip run too long showing him lose the puck. All those "fancy moves" just to make a giveaway. Looking forward to seeing him and the rest of Russia play tomorrow.
- stljam

Know what i notice? He has outscored Tarasenko.

Noon on CSN.
- Elbows15

Cool thx

Predicting a series is always fun, and we can analyze and analyze. So far, the only bracket where I failed to predict the winner was Calgary vs. Vancouver. I only guessed the correct number of games for a series twice. One was Hawks in 6 over Nashville, and the other was Minnesota in 6 over St. Louis. Better lucky than good, I guess.

Statistics are nice, and they are helpful to an extent, but they are not gospel. Mark Twain had a few things to say about them, as many of you already know. Very reasonably, one could analyze the data and the other more intangible factors and say that the most likely outcome is Hawks in 6 games over Anaheim, as JJ did here. It's one potential outcome out of 8. Maybe it's the most likely outcome, maybe not.

As I see it, Anaheim's biggest concern right now is Corey Perry's health. If he is not anywhere close to 100%, six games is probably not the most likely outcome. He's obviously very important to them. Chicago's biggest concern is what the D is going to be like after losing Rozsival. That's 18 minutes a game that they are going to have to make up. If the top four take on a lot of those minutes, it will likely take a toll, if not in this series, the next series if they win this one. I hope Keith's lung capacity is up for the challenge. And we have yet to see the new and hopefully improved Rundblad play. How much does this figure into anything? If not him, what about Cumiskey? Or a Rockford call-up if/when they are done?

What's different now for the Hawks, compared to the regular season, is Antoine Vermette being the third center, and most importantly he has now bought in, and that didn't happen immediately. Also, Teuvo is getting better by the day. We can knock the Timonen deal all night and day, but I do believe he has been a huge positive influence on Teuvo. It's not all bad, anyway. Speaking of buy-in, I'd say that Richards has bought in finally. I think he spent a long time getting to that point.

I picked the Hawks for this bracket, also. I picked Tampa to beat the Rangers, also. And of course, I picked the Hawks to win it all.

I will be at the game in Disneyland on Sunday. I have been to 4 Hawk playoff games over the past 6 seasons and they have not lost. I have been to 18 Hawks regular season games over the past 6 seasons and they have only lost once. They will win. I will be there.
- HawkfaninBC

now here is a sure fire predictor as I have ever seen....the house has been bet...book it!!

Noon on CSN.
- Elbows15

It's CSN plus on my cable - comcast

The argument that Chicago was better in the regular season holds no water. Look at the standings (82 games sample). The Ducks are at the top. This is being completely ignored. You argued a weaker division made it happen, so I posted the divisional records. (21 game sample) Ducks came out on top again with a better record against the central than Chicago has against the Pacific. "It was the bottom teams," you said. The Ducks had a better record against the top central teams than Chicago had against the bottom pacific teams (9 game sample). So now you are resorting to the 3 head to head games to make your case. The only game the two played when Anaheim wasn't icing an AHL team was the game the Ducks won. I'd also like to point out that in the playoffs, the Ducks have been better in literally every single statistical category.

Anaheim has three amazing lines going now also. While you are going on about Kesler only playing against one line, you fail to mention the Ducks other line has Getzlaf and Perry. The Ducks actually have a deeper defense than Chicago and Keith, unless hes paired with Seabrook, will have to stay back. The Ducks easily forced Calgary's big 3 to stay back and dump the puck in. Keith is all world, but he isn't as good as 3 players just by himself. And I'm looking forward to 25 minutes per game against Oduya. Have fun watching the same 4 guys all series against Anaheim's forecheck and cycle. You really think they wont be worn down by the end of the series?

I like the Hawks fans talk about playing along the boards but unfortunately I doubt the Hawks are planning for this. This series won't be about hitting, except in the Anaheim offensive zone. Anaheim gives the boards and clogs the middle really well. Their gap control has been unreal. Even Stoner can keep up with Kane and Saad playing a tight gap. The Hawks will be dumping the puck far more than you expect.

Home ice advantage means matchup advantage. This has all the makings of a repeat of last year's conference finals.

now here is a sure fire predictor as I have ever seen....the house has been bet...book it!!

- bogiedoc

I've been to 5 Ducks playoff games and theyve won them all. I'm going on Sunday too!

1) Agreed. I would not call it an overhaul. A slight to moderate improvement.

2) Nice player. Seems like a good fit.

3) Despres is a nice upgrade and it's made a difference.

4) Yes, regular season stats matter. In spite of your build up, the Ducks are still 90% (at least) the same team. Seems to me that those who keep saying forget the regular season are just in denial about how bad the regular season and especially head to head stats make this series look. Maybe?

The other side of this is Chicago got better at the deadline too. Two "weaknesses" were center and lower line toughness, enter Vermette and Desjardins. A team that was good on face-offs just got marginally better. desjardins' made a good fourth line even better.

Bottom line, Chicago plays possession styler hockey as well as anyone, the Ducks are not there yet even if Murray has tried to improve that aspect of their game, and Chicago will (probably) not make the same mistakes defensively that the Ducks capitalized on in the first two rounds. regular season, playoffs, doesn't matter, the Blackhawks prevent pucks in their own net better than Winnipeg or Calgary. Some would argue a fair amount better.

Thanks for a fact-based argument nonetheless.
- John Jaeckel

Would you mind looking up who the top possession teams have been since the trade deadline for me please? Thanks! I heard somebody say that one of these teams was 3rd and the other team was 8th, but I can't remember which team was where.

There aren't many, if any, Leaf players who would make Team Canada. And their better ones - Kessell and JVR are Americans who either weren't picked to the team or just couldn't be bothered. I suspect the latter. And the last I saw, Mike Reilly the college kid was getting more TOI per game than Jake Gardner.

Agree on Ovi, he plays for his country and he will go anywhere to play.
- RickJ

You have to admire that.

Predicting a series is always fun, and we can analyze and analyze. So far, the only bracket where I failed to predict the winner was Calgary vs. Vancouver. I only guessed the correct number of games for a series twice. One was Hawks in 6 over Nashville, and the other was Minnesota in 6 over St. Louis. Better lucky than good, I guess.

Statistics are nice, and they are helpful to an extent, but they are not gospel. Mark Twain had a few things to say about them, as many of you already know. Very reasonably, one could analyze the data and the other more intangible factors and say that the most likely outcome is Hawks in 6 games over Anaheim, as JJ did here. It's one potential outcome out of 8. Maybe it's the most likely outcome, maybe not.

As I see it, Anaheim's biggest concern right now is Corey Perry's health. If he is not anywhere close to 100%, six games is probably not the most likely outcome. He's obviously very important to them. Chicago's biggest concern is what the D is going to be like after losing Rozsival. That's 18 minutes a game that they are going to have to make up. If the top four take on a lot of those minutes, it will likely take a toll, if not in this series, the next series if they win this one. I hope Keith's lung capacity is up for the challenge. And we have yet to see the new and hopefully improved Rundblad play. How much does this figure into anything? If not him, what about Cumiskey? Or a Rockford call-up if/when they are done?

What's different now for the Hawks, compared to the regular season, is Antoine Vermette being the third center, and most importantly he has now bought in, and that didn't happen immediately. Also, Teuvo is getting better by the day. We can knock the Timonen deal all night and day, but I do believe he has been a huge positive influence on Teuvo. It's not all bad, anyway. Speaking of buy-in, I'd say that Richards has bought in finally. I think he spent a long time getting to that point.

I picked the Hawks for this bracket, also. I picked Tampa to beat the Rangers, also. And of course, I picked the Hawks to win it all.
- 333inthe3rd

As a die hard Hawks fan, before any series, I always think they are going to lose, after they win, I think they are invincible..............until the next series is about to begin

In the years they win the SC, I feel a bit guilty for doubting them

Know what i notice? He has outscored Tarasenko.
- Elbows15

Not in the elimination game 1g 2a vs 0 points.... Matchups also likely have a ton to do with that as you would expect he is not drawing the toughest defensive matchup.

You guys can keep him and I'm happy for the Blues to keep Tarasenko

Interested to see how today goes.

It was just so funny since there wasn't any need for the NHL not to stop the clip a couple of seconds earlier. Also seemed odd he was talking smack after a game he had no points and was minus 1 but I actually like guys who have some personality and don't spew the same trained answers (ala Brett Hull back in the day).

Are you kidding me? Directv isn't carrying the semifinal games on any St Louis channels? Well accept the US/Russia replay at 10pn

How can that be right?

Any thoughts for online streaming on the game?