2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs - Round 3 - Kings vs Hawks

[averagejoe]

Unless the Ducks rally from a 3-goal deficit with 11 minutes to play, the Hawks will play the Kings for the second year in a row for the Western Conference Title.

 

[anotheridiot]

yeah, everyone I talked to wanted the kings and home ice. I guess its important enough, just saw a shorter series going against the revolving door of goaltenders in anaheim than beating Quick. But, at least we get to watch Quick make alot of saves. Minnesota learned alot from playing the hawks last year, I guess we see what LA and Sutter learned. Tomorrow 2:00 in the UC.

 

[averagejoe]

LA could have learned something, that's true. But I'd prefer to think that since we've beaten the Kings and Quick, that now we are in their head and have a psychological advantage. (Like the Canucks and Luongo.)

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Should be a great series, winner should probably win the Cup.

 

[averagejoe]

Experts picks:

ESPN - 8 of 12 picked the Hawks.

Tried looking on TSN Canada, Fox, CBS, NBC (Hello?- You're the home of the NHL?), Sporting News, and Sports Illustrated. No picks! At least none that were updated for the Conference round. Kudos to ESPN for a decent showing.

Go Hawks!

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Should be a great series, winner should probably win the Cup.

I feel the same way.

I felt coming into the playoffs the 4 best teams were the Hawks, Kings, Bruins and Pens (not in any order). Bruins and Pens obviously knocked out, now I feel like this match up is the Cup.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

I feel the same way.

I felt coming into the playoffs the 4 best teams were the Hawks, Kings, Bruins and Pens (not in any order). Bruins and Pens obviously knocked out, now I feel like this match up is the Cup.

Hawks are one of the few teams that could matchup with the Kings, mainly because they got the dmen to withstand the Kings ferocious forecheck.At least that's my take. Other teams buckle against the Kings' forecheck where the Hawks own it.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Hawks are one of the few teams that could matchup with the Kings, mainly because they got the dmen to withstand the Kings ferocious forecheck.At least that's my take. Other teams buckle against the Kings' forecheck where the Hawks own it.

Good point.

But one thing that scares me about the Kings is their depth. Most teams can't match the depth that the Hawks bring to the table, but LA can. That worries me coming into this series.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Good point.

But one thing that scares me about the Kings is their depth. Most teams can't match the depth that the Hawks bring to the table, but LA can. That worries me coming into this series.

True, both teams have unbelievable depth, probably the 2 deepest teams in the league, maybe the Bruins are up there as well, but I think the Hawks & Kings are deeper than the Bruins.

 

[anotheridiot]

fast start is again gonna be huge. After seeing what the rangers did in montreal, it can happen to anyone.

Sure hope Sharpie shows up this series.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

This game should be 2-0 right now.

Instead it's 1-1, refs fucked us

 

[anotheridiot]

I think the Toews no goal call was clearly a response to Montreal when Price was run into three times, one goal. Price may have a leg injury and be out of that series. Same player that put another goalie out 6 weeks with an ankle injury who falls skates first a little too often.

It wasnt a hawk stick scoring that goal it was off the d man. lot of quick whistles around quick today when he had no rebound control at all.

 

[averagejoe]

Crawford made some great saves. The lone Kings' goal was pretty.
Really impressed with Saad's play. Glad for him that he got a goal.
As for the reffing, there have been bad calls in each round.

But the most irritating thing to me is the pushing, shoving and punching AFTER the whistle. EVERY whistle. And of course, I'm talking about the Blues/Wild/Kings.' players. The Hawks are at the bottom of the "hits" stat, and it is plain to everyone in the NHL that the Hawks are not a hitting team. Yet the NHL/refs let other teams do the extra-curricular nonsense after every whistle.

I applaud the Hawks for not getting caught up in that garbage most of the time. But I'm disappointed that the league as whole (Mr. Bettman) doesn't do more to curb that.

 

[gmalis1]

Thoughts and ramblings after Game 1:

1 Although the Kings had the majority of play at times, I thought the Hawks were really pretty solid defensively throughout. Dmen made some really good plays bailing out Crawford with very active sticks.

2 Kings only had four shots on goal in the third period. I mean, come on, you're down by a goal and there didn't seem to be any sustained push by the Kings in the third. Then, the one time they tried to pinch they got caught on a 3 on 1 and Toews buried the dagger.

3 Crawford very solid in net again, although I only counted about four really good saves. And yet Crawford still gets no respect from the media.

4 Roszival had an up and down day. Another bad pinch led to the Kings only goal. Took a bad penalty. He's slower than heck out there. But he did save a goal with a really good play around the net.

5 Once again the Hawks pretty much took the other team's stars out of the game. Kopitar, Gaborik, Richards, Doughty, Carter all non-factors. Kopitar is a stud on faceoffs, but like Koivu from the Wild he had a very quiet night.

6 Kings are not even close to being as fast as the Wild. They seem to plod along. And I didn't think the Kings are as physical as the Wild either. Darryl Sutter is content sending 3-4 guys to defend their blue line. But they're still offensively challenged.

7 Hawks played with poise and composure. Even after the first Toews "goal" was overturned and the Kings came back and tied about a minute and a half later, I felt the Hawks still had things under control. There was maybe one or two offensive pushes by the Kings with sustained pressure...and a couple of those came with the Kings on the power play.

8 Hawks penalty killing outstanding today. What more can I say about that?

9 Feel the Hawks still haven't played a complete top of their game yet. The third period today was close to that. Limited the Kings chances and attempts, even after icing the puck about a zillion times in the third.

10 Fun seeing Q blow a gasket after they disallowed the Toews goal. Thought he was gonna get a penalty there, but the refs know they blew the call.

11 NBC is the biggest bunch of douchebags out there. I know they have to talk up the series to keep everyone's interest going. But the fawning over Jonathan Quick and the Kings, even after they lost, surprises me. No props hardly at all for the defending champs.

12 If I have to hear how the Hawks are lucky to have won, I wanna puke. You make your own luck in hockey. Saad's goal good work by having net front presence and the deflection. Keith makes a nice play. Sure, it hits under the guys stick and then shoots up like a superball, but that's also hockey. Taffoli hits the post in a 2-1 game, but hey...shoot better then.

13 Hawks need to do the same next game as today with maybe ramping up the intensity and speed just a bit. I didn't see the Kings press in the neutral zone as much as the Wild. When the Hawks forechecked more in the third period, they had better success with the Kings turning the puck over and creating more scoring chances. They need more of that.

14 Darryl Sutter is one ugly bastard. And he speaks like he's had too many pucks to the head.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

12 If I have to hear how the Hawks are lucky to have won, I wanna puke. You make your own luck in hockey. Saad's goal good work by having net front presence and the deflection. Keith makes a nice play. Sure, it hits under the guys stick and then shoots up like a superball, but that's also hockey. Taffoli hits the post in a 2-1 game, but hey...shoot better then.

It seems that we hear this after every series we win, and not just this year, but last year a lot of Boston people were acting like we were lucky.

That shit cracks me up. We're always "lucky" but yet we keep winning.

 

[anotheridiot]

Crawford made some great saves. The lone Kings' goal was pretty.
Really impressed with Saad's play. Glad for him that he got a goal.
As for the reffing, there have been bad calls in each round.

But the most irritating thing to me is the pushing, shoving and punching AFTER the whistle. EVERY whistle. And of course, I'm talking about the Blues/Wild/Kings.' players. The Hawks are at the bottom of the "hits" stat, and it is plain to everyone in the NHL that the Hawks are not a hitting team. Yet the NHL/refs let other teams do the extra-curricular nonsense after every whistle.

I applaud the Hawks for not getting caught up in that garbage most of the time. But I'm disappointed that the league as whole (Mr. Bettman) doesn't do more to curb that.

I think the hawks are guilty of jawing that starts the scrums. Versteeg is always sticking some body part out as an opposing player skates by. Didnt appreciate the Bollig flop yesterday, that just eggs it on.

The hawks were definitely going after quick after the initial save, but I dont think he made one clean save all game, there was always a rebound sitting in front of him and plenty of quick whistles when the puck was on the ice around quick. Play to the whistle, sure, but when you see the puck laying on the ice you gotta think its still alive.

Just one of my favorite players not a hawk out there and hard to see him get beat like a rug against the hawks. Taser and the hawks know all they need is elevation because Quick is always sprawled on the ice.

 

[JBM73]

 

[anotheridiot]

I sure wish this series was every other day like they originally said it was gonna be. Too much down time now, especially with Price out and Montreal probably going to be swept.

 

[gmalis1]

I'm guessing Shaw doesn't play in Game 2...but returns for Game 3 in LA. White jerseys mean just that...inactive/healthy scratch.

 

[anotheridiot]

didnt have time to see morning skate live again, I'm sure some tweets will be coming out soon. I would prefer to see a hampered shaw over versteeg or bollig, but feel Regin will be on the ice again. Faceoffs were terrible last game, well, it looked worse than the stats showed.