OOTS 11/12 playoff edition

[Farhan Lalji]

LA is looking like the team to beat this year. Sutter has them playing some very sound hockey.

I love how the Nazi's over at Calgarypuck.com are acting like "they" beat the Canucks since Darryl Sutter was the coach for Calgary when they defeated the Canucks back in 2004.

I guess by that logic, "we" defeated the Calgary Flames in a best of 7 series back in 2006 since Brian Burke was the General Manager of the Anaheim Ducks.

[Puck]

I watched the end of the LA game and their forecheck was doing a very good job of shutting down the Blues' attack. Since they scored even less goals than Vancouver over the season, I wonder if they're going to be able to score much on the Kings.

[Farhan Lalji]

St. Louis are receiving a vicious porridge-like facial tonight from the Kings.

5-1.

Unfortunately for someone like Royaldude, the Canucks never came anywhere near close to losing that badly to the Kings. All of are games with the Kings were air-tight close and could have gone either way.

If the Kings go on to beat the Blues in this series and then beat everyone else, then how far away from the "promised land" are the Canucks in the grand scheme of things?

The reason why I say this is because a lot of people that have been talking about how we should "rebuild" and all that.......when in actuality, the Kings may be the current best team in the league......and simply pissed around during the regular season.

[Hockey Widow]

LA is playing some great hockey, did I mention that. Watching them play without the emotion attached I see the team very differently than when they were playing the Canucks. More objective I suppose.

Quick is the real deal. He will lead them far if he stays healthy. But then again all teams with a true number 1 have to say that.

Willie is playing great hockey and looks like the defender I loved to watch as a Canucks. Great bounce back for him from what could have been a career ending injury. Drew is playing a simplified game, within his limits. Green is just great for this team. Very impressed with their D.

Up front they roll 4 lines that have it all. Penner is playing like he did as a Duck. Carter and Richards together again.

Special teams well we saw what they did to us.

Sutter has always been a good coach, better than as a GM.

I feel a little better watching the Blues go down 2-0, misery loves company I guess. Vindication too somewhat as Farhan suggests. I would not have a problem with the Kings going all the way. Nor would I have a problem with Phoenix going all the way. In fact I would really be pleased if both St. Louis and Nashville got bumped, there is that misery loves company bit again

[Fred]

LA also plays on the edge, big blow for St L to loose Pietrangelo he runs their PP. Just for once I'd like to see healthy teams play.

[darren]

If the Kings go on to beat the Blues in this series and then beat everyone else, then how far away from the "promised land" are the Canucks in the grand scheme of things?

Good question. It's not as troubling to be beaten by a team that goes on to win the cup as it is to be beaten by a team that promptly gets whipped the next round.

IIRC, every year that Luongo has been here, we've lost in the playoffs to the eventual Cup winners. There are only 2 exceptions; the year we missed the playoffs completely and 2009, when Chicago beat us. That 2009 loss is the only series that I can honestly hang on Luongo.

[herb]

I'm not going to lie. Seeing St Louis getting slaughtered by LA feels like vindication (somewhat).

I still think it is a series we should have been able to win, but LA is hot right and every couple of years a low seed team seems to get hot and go on a long run in the playoffs.

[Orcasfan]

You've gotta give Sutter the credit for this huge turn-around. It seems like the team is playing up and beyond their collective ceilings! I am stunned that Sutter has gotten Penner to play at this level again! Wow! Of course, it might be a different story if Sutter was around for another couple of seasons...

[Jovocop]

I'm not going to lie. Seeing St Louis getting slaughtered by LA feels like vindication (somewhat).

I still think it is a series we should have been able to win, but LA is hot right and every couple of years a low seed team seems to get hot and go on a long run in the playoffs.

I watched the last game of the season between the Sharks and the Kings. When Boyle scored the OT winner, I was . Without Daniel, the Canucks could still find ways to beat the Sharks because their defense and goaltender were weak. As for the series against the Kings, Edler and Daniel (Keith) were the keys to our loss. Missing Daniel for the first three games plus the Edler's brainfarts really cost the team the series. I still believe that a healthy Canucks team could beat the Kings.

[dhabums]

If the Kings go on to beat the Blues in this series and then beat everyone else, then how far away from the "promised land" are the Canucks in the grand scheme of things?

Good question. It's not as troubling to be beaten by a team that goes on to win the cup as it is to be beaten by a team that promptly gets whipped the next round.

IIRC, every year that Luongo has been here, we've lost in the playoffs to the eventual Cup winners. There are only 2 exceptions; the year we missed the playoffs completely and 2009, when Chicago beat us. That 2009 loss is the only series that I can honestly hang on Luongo.

You do realize that every Cup winner beats 3/7 teams in their conference and that nobody else does? It really isn't an accomplishment of any sort.

[dhabums]

You've gotta give Sutter the credit for this huge turn-around. It seems like the team is playing up and beyond their collective ceilings! I am stunned that Sutter has gotten Penner to play at this level again! Wow! Of course, it might be a different story if Sutter was around for another couple of seasons...

Sutter wins series' when his goalie wins series'. It's funny how Vezina quality goaltending can do that for you.

[herb]

Yeah, I Sutter does deserve a lot of credit, but there's no doubt in my mind a guy like Penner will be back to being a big floating piece of shit in no time.

Although Quick does look like the real deal, and Dustin Brown looks to be a pretty clutch player. Keep in mind that Timmy Thomas looked pretty human against the Caps this year after his out of this world season last year. Players get hot, that's simply the way it is.

I think they're simply hot, including Quick. Any of the 8 teams that made it in the west are capable of going on a run (well maybe not the Sharks...). Right now it looks like LA and Phoenix are unbeatable, but we all know they both have warts. Oh well.

In other news, Radulov and A. Kostitsyn have been suspended by the Preds for Game 3. Something about violating team rules...? I can't wait to hear what this is about!

Edit: Apparently it was a curfew violation (Friedman). So the Ruskies were out ripping it up in Nashville before game 3, eh? And people think the Canucks have problems!

[Puck]

...how far away from the "promised land" are the Canucks in the grand scheme of things?

The reason why I say this is because a lot of people that have been talking about how we should "rebuild" and all that.......when in actuality, the Kings may be the current best team in the league......

Great point Farhan and one I was pondering myself. It's an important question to ask: what can the Canucks learn from the LA loss and what needs to be done to correct it? Was the biggest issue that Vancouver were simply out-worked by a hungrier, less-experienced (and in this case, this is a positive) team? Or, do we really think it was a roster issue? Sure, we can point to some individual areas and players that weren't up to the standard we hoped, but was it the reason they lost?

If they lost primarily for the way they countered the Kings' tactics, or because they were simply outworked, then it's a coaching issue. Scoring and defense needs to be reviewed as it would in any off-season, but if Vancouver's biggest problem is that they have trouble against tight-checking teams with superb goaltending, then they'd better find a way to solve it because that's the way the league is trending. No doubt.

[Potatoe1]

The reason why I say this is because a lot of people that have been talking about how we should "rebuild" and all that.......when in actuality, the Kings may be the current best team in the league......and simply pissed around during the regular season.

On Paper the Kings always looked good, and since their main weaknesses (Team speed and puck movement) have been largely mitigated by the refs reverting back to their pre-lockout comfort zone, LA really does look like the team to beat.

If you look at the quality of their top 6, the grit of their bottom6, their goalie, and the fact their defense now seems almost ideally suited for the way the game is currently being reffed, I can't really see anyone who matches up with them.

Their speed and puck movement issues would have killed them (as it did to start the season) but since the reffing change they are a different team, and an excellent one.

[mathonwy]

Everytime I see Kopitar score, I die a little bit inside.