2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs - Round 3 - Kings vs Hawks

[lasportzphan]

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.

Kings are a different animal, my friend....

 

[anotheridiot]

after missing all those silver platter chances in the first it was just a matter of time. In the famous words of garth, "game on". Leddy, Ben Smith, 2 superstars 0.

 

[JBM73]

 

[averagejoe]

Guys, I'm not sure what happened in game 2.

Things were going fine. They seemed to dominate the zones. They seemed to control the puck. Passes were crisp. They were back-checking and keeping the quality shots of the Kings to a minimum. Then period 3 started.

What a train wreck. Questionable back-to-back penalties on Bollig and the Too-Many-Men, both lead to PP goals for LA. Then it seemed that everything that could go wrong did.

Trying to look at this realistically. Usually, the Hawks are good for one bad clunker of a game in a series. I hope game 2 was it. But now they have a tough task in taking control of the series in LA. Especially since the Hawks have not done well in game threes.

Unless the Hawks play a full 60 minutes, the Kings may be up in the series 2-1. And then we can hope to steal a game 4 to even up the series.

Getting Shaw back will be huge. So much so that maybe we will steal game 3.

 

[anotheridiot]

I think the stick to the groinal region had alot to do with crow and his bad performance. I hope Antii is ready if he has to get in the game. I would almost prefer shaw going on the fourth line if they move Ben up to play with kane again. Manchild is having a huge series, really strong with the puck, I think he needs to get back with Toews and Hossa. Sharpie, man, I dont know, he is being bounced around so much he needs to score. Hossa is playing well, but he needs to score. Then we will know all is ok.

 

[averagejoe]

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...surprises me. No props hardly at all for the defending champs.

g, I hadn't really paid attention until game 3. But you are spot on. Some of the worst dialogue.

Start of game 4, Hawks on the PK, Ben Smith (28) goes hard into the boards and clears the puck from the defensive zone. Kenny Albert gave credit to Patrick Kane (88) who rarely, if ever plays on the PK.

Maybe NBC was trying to avoid some alleged announcer bias by swapping Albert (who does Rangers games) with Edzo (who does the Hawks). Too bad for us.

I almost miss Pierre McGuire. Almost.

 

[averagejoe]

...I could swear Albert has referred to Mitchell as Bickell a couple of times too! These guys have no imagination at all. Jeff Carter will be talked about for the rest of the game, regardless of the outcome. And into game 4.

 

[lasportzphan]

Getting Shaw back will be huge. So much so that maybe we will steal game 3.

Nope.

 

[lasportzphan]

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.

The Kings are a different animal, my friend....

Have a good night, my friend. I'll talk to you Monday, my friend.

 

[anotheridiot]

...I could swear Albert has referred to Mitchell as Bickell a couple of times too! These guys have no imagination at all. Jeff Carter will be talked about for the rest of the game, regardless of the outcome. And into game 4.

well, we wouldnt know about the 70's line without Albert. There were two main announcers for NBC hockey games, Albert was not one of them, I miss pat foley. I would get the sync with the radio but cant listen to troy murrays 4 minute run on sentences during play. The slach anthem sounded awesome on 87.7 FM though.

Well, they got 35 minutes out of the hawks yesterday. Dont know when the d men are gonna stop sacrificing their bodies with all of crawfords bitching about oduya blocking his views. The puck is to his left, he is thoroughly impressed with his own glove, hug the fucking post. Thats two that beat him that way, adjust already.

LA is a super team, but crawford has given up cheap goals both losses. Time for him to put his big boy pants on and take responsibility.

Need more changes. Wouldnt be surprised to see brookbank in monday, especially after the cross check to the throat by rosie with 1o minutes left down by 2. Would prefer seeing nordstrom in for Versteeg of course, at least some defense against their third line which is dominating and the hawks without anyone to stop them. At least Q got Versteeg off the powerplay in favor of shaw, but shaw needs to be on that first unit, not the second. But Nordstrom and Smith show no fear behind the net, which somehow usually have two or three hawks back there and nobody but d men at the blue line even a threat to score.

Suter deserves alot of credit. he switched his matchup after kopitars line gave up two goals against Toews and the line disappeared the rest of the game. LA is right there with the hawks in continuing to produce in this cap era. Zeus just needs to be there for PK and fourth line minutes. They continue to waste half the game with him trying to keep up with Kane. Bickell has forgotten how to hit anybody, Bollig has not hit anybody, the one or two hits I noticed ended up with separating the puck. Dont want to cry refs, but the replay showed alot of interference boths ways yesterday, if they are not gonna call it, then hit the guy thats behind the guy that dumps the puck in every time until you get called for it I guess. You would think they wouldnt call it either way.

 

[averagejoe]

You bring up some good points AI, but in the end, this is like watching the Wild-Hawks series all over again. One difference is that the Kings are much deeper and can score. The other difference is that no matter how you slice it, and as equally deep as the Hawks are, only Toews is scoring.

Hawks were 2nd in the entire NHL in goals-per-game. In the playoffs, they are a dismal 6th.

Don't get me wrong, Hossa is playing great. Saad is skating hard. Sharpie has seen steady improvement. But they need to start scoring. Plus Kane, and Bickell, and Shaw (although Shaw gets a pass for now).

 

[lasportzphan]

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.

The Kings are a different animal, my friend.... Funny that you only visited the Kings chat room after game 1 and posted a smug, condescending post. Interesting.

 

[anotheridiot]

another game of dump the puck, first hawk in the zone gets checked into the boards before he can track it down. Hey guys, maybe try to take the route to the center since the refs dont seem to mind that interference, or how about doing it yourselves? Just let LA play ass in face of crawford to account for 4 goals. Shaw gets close to the front of the net and its three punches to the back of the head. Seabrook and Keith clearly look like our third defensive pair. What the hell happened to them? I guess Hammer and Oduya playing against their top line as often as possible is the best case for why Keith does not deserve the norris. Krueger gets a stick to the face in the dot, what do they say? In Kopitars defense, he was falling down. Really? Well, in Hossas defense, he was checked into quick. Finally referring to the hawks as the defending cup champions. Its last years detroit series all over again, but this LA team is not detroit. I guess we see if Q puts names in a brainbucket and pulls out new line combinations again. Hawks will get last change, hopefully they dont ice the puck 20 times and give that away tomorrow night.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Suter deserves alot of credit. he switched his matchup after kopitars line gave up two goals against Toews and the line disappeared the rest of the game.

Sutter didn't switch anything, Toews didn't score when Kopitar was on the ice. The Kings were making a change on both goals (Williams/Brown/Gaborik/Martinez/Muzzin on ice for the first goal, Williams/Kings/Gabori/Doughty/Muzzin on ice for the second). That first group isn't the Kings PP1 unit, not sure what Sutter was thinking there or if something else prevented Kopitar from being out there.

It was Toews just making two great plays on his own.

Dont want to cry refs, but the replay showed alot of interference boths ways yesterday, if they are not gonna call it, then hit the guy thats behind the guy that dumps the puck in every time until you get called for it I guess. You would think they wouldnt call it either way.

Then don't cry refs - all teams take a beating from the refs and get gifted by them throughout the playoffs. The refs are not causing the Hawks to look completely subpar to LA, that's their own doing.

 

[anotheridiot]

Sutter didn't switch anything, Toews didn't score when Kopitar was on the ice. The Kings were making a change on both goals (Williams/Brown/Gaborik/Martinez/Muzzin on ice for the first goal, Williams/Kings/Gabori/Doughty/Muzzin on ice for the second). That first group isn't the Kings PP1 unit, not sure what Sutter was thinking there or if something else prevented Kopitar from being out there.

It was Toews just making two great plays on his own.



Then don't cry refs - all teams take a beating from the refs and get gifted by them throughout the playoffs. The refs are not causing the Hawks to look completely subpar to LA, that's their own doing.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Not denying it - I'm saying get over it.

I can find a bunch of video too where Hawks players mauled Kings players and didn't get calls. Just the way it works.

Good teams assume the officiating will not be on their side and find ways to win in spite of the zebras.

 

[anotheridiot]

s.

Good teams assume the officiating will not be on their side and find ways to win in spite of the zebras.

I thought the Kings were a good team. Its ok, theres still a streak here, 11-0 in games 5,6 and 7 since 2011.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

The Hawks still have a chance, and that's what makes us fans -believing. I'd be lying if I said I thought the Kings were going to pull out of a 0-3 hole against SJ in the WCQFs but they did it.

But being down 3-1 against a team who not only has dismantled the Hawks repeatedly throughout this series as well as being the number one defensive team in the league, good luck. Crawford needs to have a huge game, he has not been good. He also has not had a lot of help, especially from Seabrook - that guy has been horrid.

I would like to think the Kings win tomorrow night, but I also feel the Hawks are due so I'm thinking it comes back to LA for Game 6 and Chicago's season ends.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

This series is to the point where we just need to take this 5 minutes at a time.

Really have to bare down now, can't afford bad penalties, turnovers and just dumb mistakes. Sharp and Hossa have to wake up.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

The Hawks still have a chance, and that's what makes us fans -believing. I'd be lying if I said I thought the Kings were going to pull out of a 0-3 hole against SJ in the WCQFs but they did it.

But being down 3-1 against a team who not only has dismantled the Hawks repeatedly throughout this series as well as being the number one defensive team in the league, good luck. Crawford needs to have a huge game, he has not been good. He also has not had a lot of help, especially from Seabrook - that guy has been horrid.

I would like to think the Kings win tomorrow night, but I also feel the Hawks are due so I'm thinking it comes back to LA for Game 6 and Chicago's season ends.

If the Hawks win this next game, the entire series turns around. In my opinion. If Toews, Kane, Hossa and Sharp get into that zone, with their backs against the wall, they're the toughest team to finish off.