NHL Playoffs (2013-14) CONFERENCE FINALS

[JackB1]

Is Andrew Shaw gone for the playoffs?

They are shooting for game 3 Saturday.

What a display by LA last night! 6 straight goals! Looks like it's gonna be a series now.
I was worried Chicago was gonna sweep and be well rested for the Rangers. Hope that one
goes 7 long and grueling games

Hey Inuy....you still playing baseball?

[JackB1]

In other news, looks like the Ranger's Brassard could be back tonite, but will be a gametime decision.

Here are 5 things Montreal must do to get back in the series....interesting article
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=720190

bottom line though is, if Lundqvist stays hot and the Ranger's D keeps the crease clean, they have no chance.

1. Traffic nightmare

The Canadiens threw everything they had at Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist in Game 2. They had 80 shot attempts, with 41 reaching the net. The problem was that Lundqvist stopped 40 of them.

Lundqvist deserves the lion's share of the credit for limiting the Canadiens to one goal, but Montreal could have made his life a little more difficult.
Aside from forward Brendan Gallagher, few members of the Canadiens created much traffic in front of Lundqvist, and it was rare that he had to move laterally before making a save.

Creating some traffic and finding a way to pierce the Rangers defense in order to make some east-west plays will make it more likely that Lundqvist allows the Canadiens to give Tokarski some goal support.

Like any other goalie, we need to be in his face, Canadiens center David Desharnais said. "If he can't see the puck he won't stop it. He made a lot of saves on the first shot, but we weren't able to go get rebounds and get to pucks that are tougher to stop."

2. Balanced attack

The Canadiens' strong possession numbers from Game 2 were a bit misleading because the bulk of the advantage came from the line of Gallagher, Desharnais and Max Pacioretty.

Montreal's first line was dominant throughout the game, generating close to 90 percent of the total shot attempts while they were on the ice at even strength, according to Extraskater.com. The third line of Rene Bourque, Lars Eller and Brian Gionta also was above 50 percent, but the two other lines were possession disasters.

The second line, with Alex Galchenyuk, Tomas Plekanec and Thomas Vanek, ranged from 30.8 percent (Galchenyuk) to 41.2 percent (Vanek), and all three players on the fourth line, Brandon Prust, Daniel Briere and Dale Weise, were well below 20 percent.

Coach Michel Therrien juggled his lines at practice Wednesday in an attempt to rectify the disparity between the Desharnais and Eller lines, and the two other centers on the team. How well it works likely will determine whether the Canadiens can get back in the series.

3. Win the special-teams battle

In the Canadiens' seven-game second-round victory against the Boston Bruins, they failed to score a power-play goal in two games and allowed a goal on the penalty kill in two games.

Through two games of their series against the Rangers, the Canadiens have managed to match those numbers.

Montreal's power play scored eight times in 25 attempts against Boston, but has gone 0-for-7 against New York. The penalty kill went 15-for-18 against Boston but is 6-for-10 against New York.

Each of those numbers will need to improve drastically, especially considering how difficult it will be to score at even strength on Lundqvist.

The Canadiens spent a significant portion of practice Wednesday working on special teams, so look for an adjustment in Game 3.

4. Scale back the forecheck

The Canadiens were able to drive the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round, and to a lesser extent the Bruins, crazy with their forechecking scheme, which created turnovers in the offensive and neutral zones. That allowed Montreal to create offense off the counterattack.

Except another thing that does is expose you to the possibility of giving up odd-man rushes, which is not the end of the world when you have an elite goalie like Price in net.

With Tokarski there, giving up odd-man rushes like the one that led to Rick Nash's winning goal in Game 2 becomes unacceptable. If the Canadiens want Tokarski to give them a chance to win, they will have to give him a chance to do that.

5. Overcome the matchup game

Therrien had the advantage of getting his top line away from New York's top defense pairing of Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh due to having the last change in Montreal. That advantage shifts to Rangers coach Alain Vigneault in Games 3 and 4.

The engine of the Canadiens offense is the Desharnais line, but if it gets shut down by Girardi and McDonagh, the other Montreal forwards will need to compensate and Therrien will need to make a decision.

Does he use the hard change to try to get Desharnais away from the Rangers' top defenders? Or does he let them play through it and hope the other forwards give the Canadiens enough offensively against lesser competition?

[JackB1]

Can't wait to hear the hometown Garden crowd tonite. It should be a madhouse

[Inuyasha]

Is Andrew Shaw gone for the playoffs?

They are shooting for game 3 Saturday.

What a display by LA last night! 6 straight goals! Looks like it's gonna be a series now.
I was worried Chicago was gonna sweep and be well rested for the Rangers. Hope that one
goes 7 long and grueling games

Hey Inuy....you still playing baseball?

No baseball days are done. No time and getting older. It was nice though when I was doing it.

[Inuyasha]

just got home to catch the 3rd period. should be a good ending. predicting subban a game winning goal.

[Inuyasha]

IT'S A SERIES NOW!

[JackB1]

Is Andrew Shaw gone for the playoffs?

They are shooting for game 3 Saturday.

What a display by LA last night! 6 straight goals! Looks like it's gonna be a series now.
I was worried Chicago was gonna sweep and be well rested for the Rangers. Hope that one
goes 7 long and grueling games

Hey Inuy....you still playing baseball?

No baseball days are done. No time and getting older. It was nice though when I was doing it.

I stopped playing baseball once I started playing tennis. Much more action and a better workout. I was getting bored standing in the outfield for 3 hours. I love hitting, but those games are looooong.

[JackB1]

IT'S A SERIES NOW!

Yes it is. What a great game to watch last night. Reminded me of why I love hockey.
Every minute is so tense and exciting. I thought the Rangers outplayed them last night
and the Canadians were quite lucky to get that goal off the skate of a Ranger.

[Inuyasha]

Pacers hoping refs give Lebron another 5 phantom fouls in the 2nd half.

[Jimmydeicide]

WTF? Seriously? Your such a Moron this was a shitty hockey thread and you had your Hawks dead and buried and as soon as you said that i knew what was coming.
Just f*** OFF!!

[RobVarak]

At this rate Q is going to be rotating 5 forwards by the end of the 3rd period. I don't know how they can keep up this effort with the bench getting shorter and shorter. Inspiring and inspired effort, but man that's a lot of mileage on too few guys' legs.

[Inuyasha]

WTF? Seriously? Your such a Moron this was a shitty hockey thread and you had your Hawks dead and buried and as soon as you said that i knew what was coming.
Just f*** OFF!!

At work, they have NBA on. They're not hockey fans. following it on my iphone. It would be great if the Hawks prove me wrong though.

[RobVarak]

I swear I'm not trolling a certain Roman numeral-named DSP'er here, but how did NBCSN do so well putting together it's studio crew for the EPL and so badly with this NHL group. Just awful...

[XXXIV]

I swear I'm not trolling a certain Roman numeral-named DSP'er here, but how did NBCSN do so well putting together it's studio crew for the EPL and so badly with this NHL group. Just awful...

True. So very true but these misguided clowns are looking for a different demographic. They are hunting the lowest possible tier of sports fan. The d*****bag.

Can you think of a bigger d*****bag than milbury to attract the scum of the sports fan?

[Sudz]

Kane won that game for the Blackhawks.

He's such a little weiner, but he can f***in' play.

Game 7 is gonna be fun!

oh..and f*** the NHL for putting those games on so late.

[Diablo25]

Kane won that game for the Blackhawks.

He's such a little weiner, but he can f***in' play.

Game 7 is gonna be fun!

oh..and f*** the NHL for putting those games on so late.

Kane was a stud. Can't wait to watch game7. NHL Playoffs are sick.

[Inuyasha]

Sunday night : Game 7 or Game of Thrones. hmmmm.....................

[Jimmydeicide]

Kane won that game for the Blackhawks.

He's such a little weiner, but he can f***in' play.

Game 7 is gonna be fun!

oh..and f*** the NHL for putting those games on so late.

So you want LA to play at home at 4pm when all the fans are still at work just so the f***in east coast can go to bed at their normal time?
f***in typical. East coast Losers.

[10spro]

Kane won that game for the Blackhawks.

He's such a little weiner, but he can f***in' play.

Game 7 is gonna be fun!

oh..and f*** the NHL for putting those games on so late.

So you want LA to play at home at 4pm when all the fans are still at work just so the f***in east coast can go to bed at their normal time?
f***in typical. East coast Losers.

I sense a little frustration jimmy.

[Jimmydeicide]

yes i am and now worried, Chicago are really good and playing at the top of their game for sure, Kings top 2 lines have been outplayed by the Hawks top 2 these last couple of games.
This game 7 is for the cup, winner doesnt even need to play NY just give them the cup after it.

[Inuyasha]

yes i am and now worried,

I have dibs on the reverse psychology superstition here. Don't even try it!

[Inuyasha]

Jackb. You're a heat fan right? U think they can beat the spurs this year?

[Inuyasha]

San Antonio is an embarrassment of a organization tonight. NO AC working. ya right. Only reason they won is lebron got hurt due to the 90 degree temp all game. spurs are cheating bandits!