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Well … let’s preview the Stanley Cup Finals, I guess. Carolina/Vegas, Series starts June 2

jeffbear said:
I think this is going to tight, tense hockey, and that the winner will be the team that makes the most of the chances that come … even if they’re few and far between. I’m thinking 6, maybe 7 games and I like Carolina to wear them down over time.
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This boils it down in a nutshell. I am the same that the Canes will wear them down and take it in 6 or 7. Its going to be interesting to see how the Canes 200 foot ice pressure will change Torts approach? I haven't been watching Vegas really at all this year, but from a distance looks to me like they play a trap style and clog the center of the ice.

Not trying to get ahead of myself, but can you imagine the price of a game seven ticket?!?
 
KTown11 said:
I haven't been watching Vegas really at all this year, but from a distance looks to me like they play a trap style and clog the center of the ice.
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And Colorado decided that they were going to live or die going up the middle. And so they died. They just refused to go up the boards or play along the end wall. They never forced VGK into puck battles on the boards. Made life really easy for VGK.
 
Go up the boards and get behind them. For me this might be the type of opposition to get Svech going. Expect Stank to be popping in and out streaking through the middle as usual. Park Staal and Janky in front of the goalie etc. Nows the time for toughness, especially for the first games. Just don't be stupid about it.
 
You have a good point. I'm hopeful another year behind him will make him more playoff mean with the extra slash, or whatever, kept in the barn. Isn't he still just 26 years old?
 
KTown11 said:
You have a good point. I'm hopeful another year behind him will make him more playoff mean with the extra slash, or whatever, kept in the barn. Isn't he still just 26 years old?
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Yes but 24 PIM in 13 games isn’t good, with penalties in 7 of the 13 games. He had at least 4 PIM in 4 games including the 6 he picked up in Philly game 2, 2 high sticks and a hook (in OT). He had 66 PIM in 79 regular season games, a small increase room last year but he played 7 more games this year. The interference call on Friday was brutal, but even if you take that off the board, he still would have led the team.

We had 11 players with at least 10 PIM. Vegas had 4, but if you exclude McNabb’s major/game misconduct, it would have been 3.
 
KTown11 said:
This boils it down in a nutshell. I am the same that the Canes will wear them down and take it in 6 or 7. Its going to be interesting to see how the Canes 200 foot ice pressure will change Torts approach? I haven't been watching Vegas really at all this year, but from a distance looks to me like they play a trap style and clog the center of the ice.
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Yeah, Torts only had to tweak Cassidy’s systems a little bit to basically end up with Vegas playing exactly the way his last decent Philly team played … defensively. Offensively it’s a different world because Torts hasn’t had this kind of offensive skill on his team since maybe Tampa. His Rangers teams were always defense-first, and he managed to run off anybody with any skill when he was in Columbus. But late career Torts turned into coach who really just wants to muck up the middle lanes and make you work to break them down to get quality looks. They do a pretty old school left wing lock kind of thing against breakout plays, looking to make you dump it in after they’ve scrubbed off your speed. It’s basic stuff, and not all that uncommon. Ottawa and Philly do versions of the same thing, but don’t have the defensive forwards that Vegas has. They also don’t have the passing out of the back end that Vegas has. They look to bypass pressure with the long pass and are really good at it. So was Montreal, though.

The thing is, Carolina is all but begging you to play that way and absolutely do not mind cycling it down low for long stretches. The bones of this team cut their teeth playing against that kind of system in the East, often against Torts himself. There’s less of that stuff from the better teams in the West, and Colorado really never seemed to have a plan in that series. I think they thought they could power play their way through some low scoring games and never really had anything else to fall back on as they got increasingly banged up and frustrated. Carolina is perfectly willing to muck it up with you and play a low scoring, low event game. They’ll roll lines and grind with anybody, and it’s not more fun to deal with their pressure in a lower paced game than it is in an end to end game. Prep-wise for the Canes this ain’t a lot different than prepping for Florida the last couple of years except this Vegas team isn’t anywhere near that nasty. Vegas is a challenge, to be sure. So is Carolina, who kind of have a B’rer Rabbit vibe in this one … oh, no. Not the briar patch.
 
I'm not liking the Carolina Powerplay compared to the Vegas PP. Carolina's man advantage was improving in the Montreal series as time went on, but Vegas ain't Montreal and Carter Hart may even be better supported down low and more dialed in than Dobes was. Vegas is a heavier and dirtier team, puls they have more of an assholish attitude. I believe Carolina has a lot of team chemistry, contintinuity, and a coach who the players truly respect and love enough to go to war for. They've been there, gotten their noses bloodied enough along the way, and earned their home ice advantage. Plus, the newer pieces (Ehlers, Stankoven, & Miller) help make this a more complete team top to bottom. I like Carolina's chances in this run. It should be epic.

Jim
 
Look … this Canes team probably isn’t going to win the series with a ton of power play goals so we may as well just deal with it up front. If the kill stays strong then they won’t have to. Winning the special teams means both the PP and the PK. Score a couple, stop a lot, prosper.
 
jeffbear said:
The thing is, Carolina is all but begging you to play that way and absolutely do not mind cycling it down low for long stretches. The bones of this team cut their teeth playing against that kind of system in the East, often against Torts himself. There’s less of that stuff from the better teams in the West, and Colorado really never seemed to have a plan in that series. I think they thought they could power play their way through some low scoring games and never really had anything else to fall back on as they got increasingly banged up and frustrated. Carolina is perfectly willing to muck it up with you and play a low scoring, low event game. They’ll roll lines and grind with anybody, and it’s not more fun to deal with their pressure in a lower paced game than it is in an end to end game. Prep-wise for the Canes this ain’t a lot different than prepping for Florida the last couple of years except this Vegas team isn’t anywhere near that nasty. Vegas is a challenge, to be sure. So is Carolina, who kind of have a B’rer Rabbit vibe in this one … oh, no. Not the briar patch.
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As has been made evident is the way the team plays below the goal line and utilizing that 2-1-2 style play, and rolling all four lines wears the other teams out! The play of a true 200 foot grinding game defending from the other teams goal line out makes teams used to having time to break out to making poor decisions. Montreal also went with stretch passes which eventually turned into to chip of the boards and give the puck away. I doubt it will be as easy to force your will on Vegas as it was with that young Montreal team, but the mold is set.

The feel is different this year with the awesome additions to the lineup. The team has wisdom from the past and has swagger to do whatever it takes. Just calmly go out and do your business boys...

Let's Go Canes!
 
KTown11 said:
As has been made evident is the way the team plays below the goal line and utilizing that 2-1-2 style play, and rolling all four lines wears the other teams out! The play of a true 200 foot grinding game defending from the other teams goal line out makes teams used to having time to break out to making poor decisions. Montreal also went with stretch passes which eventually turned into to chip of the boards and give the puck away. I doubt it will be as easy to force your will on Vegas as it was with that young Montreal team, but the mold is set.

The feel is different this year with the awesome additions to the lineup. The team has wisdom from the past and has swagger to do whatever it takes. Just calmly go out and do your business boys...

Let's Go Canes!
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I really don't think Carolina is going to be able to choke out Vegas the way they did Philly and Montreal. And Vegas will value possession WAY more than Ottawa did, plus their D is much better under pressure. This is a whole different ball of wax for the Canes and they’ll have to be much more patient to get to their game.
 
Forgot to mention … today is “media day”. for the Finals. Both teams will have extended media availability in addition to practice sessions today, as the entirety of the hockey media descends on Raleigh. The last time we had this level of media activity was the outdoor game in 2023, but that was kind of a circus sideshow. This one is the main event. Cue a lot of confused NHL reporters wandering around downtown for no particular reason.
 
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