Sleepy Dave Nonis Canucks Playoff Thread

[Grapes]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zz...

Dave's had a bit too much warm milk and chunks ahoy, he won't be joining us in this thread to discuss the Canucks and the NHL playoffs in general.

[Grapes]

While Mr Nonis has been snoozing, I've been working hard to pinpoint the exact optimum time for Kevin Beiksa to punch Keith Tchachuk in the back of the head:

[oddmud]

Lol..

[cubed]

Apparently the Prince of Darkness is a Blues fan...



The upside is that all prayers by St. Louis fans will be ignored.

[rawb]

watch the bandwagoners sneak in! WE KNOW WHOS BEEN SHARING THE JOY AND PAIN OF THE SEASON SO FAR.

how do we match up against the blues, GREAT QUESTION



The Blues have put on an impossible streak to go from the basement to playoffs. They have been pretty unbeatable, but 2 of their only losses during this time have been at the hands of the *also* lately red-hot Canucks. The January game was sans-Luongo. I am going to say we match up well against them.

BLUES KEYS TO WIN

1) Special teams. If the Blues can force the Canucks to take penalties their PP is pretty killer (pause).

2) Paul Kariya. He will be back from double hip surgery as early as game 1. He is a proven playoff performer, but he hasn't played all year. Will he have lost a step? Will he dominate? Will he be a Selanne-esque PP specialist (pause).

3) Mason in net. Dude was the NHL Second Star this week for his play. Mason stopped 72 of 74 shots in posting a 3-0-0 record with a 0.67 goals-against average, .973 save percentage and one shutout as the Blues (41-31-10) claimed their first playoff berth since 2003-04. Can he steal any games?

CANUCKS KEYS TO WIN

1) LOUUUUU. Hey remember how Mason was NHL Second Star this week? Well Roberto Luongo was First NHL Star. Luongo stopped 88 of 89 shots in posting a 3-0-0 record with a 0.33 goals-against average, .989 save percentage and two shutouts as he basically single-handedly stole the Northwest title for the Canucks (45-27-10).

2) Exploit the defense. Anybody remember Mike Weaver, the guy who was barely our 7th d-man? He's in the Blues second pairing. The Blues defense is made up of AHL caliber guys doing exceptional. That being said they don't get many points and they are playing a system and not good individually. If we can play off the rush we should be able to pop a few in.

3) Don't take penalties. Stay healthy.



Two of the hottest teams in the NHL meet head-on in the first round, should be a killer series.

[NinjaBoy]

Originally Posted by rawb

watch the bandwagoners sneak in! WE KNOW WHOS BEEN SHARING THE JOY AND PAIN OF THE SEASON SO FAR.

I'm just waiting for the bars that I've been watching the games at to fill up.

[NinjaBoy]

Originally Posted by rawb

2) Paul Kariya. He will be back from double hip surgery as early as game 1. He is a proven playoff performer, but he hasn't played all year. Will he have lost a step? Will he dominate? Will he be a Selanne-esque PP specialist (pause).

Kariya's always been one of my favorite players, but I don't think he'll produce nearly enough to make a big impact (I could be wrong though). He's been out since October/November, no player can come back and perform at the top of their game after that much of a break.

3) Mason in net. Dude was the NHL Second Star this week for his play. Mason stopped 72 of 74 shots in posting a 3-0-0 record with a 0.67 goals-against average, .973 save percentage and one shutout as the Blues (41-31-10) claimed their first playoff berth since 2003-04. Can he steal any games?

He's been looking great, but in the goaltender category the tick goes to Lou.

[Grapes]

Originally Posted by rawb

2) Paul Kariya. He will be back from double hip surgery as early as game 1. He is a proven playoff performer, but he hasn't played all year. Will he have lost a step? Will he dominate? Will he be a Selanne-esque PP specialist (pause).

I'd be shocked if he was a factor. The guy's career was tailing off to begin with, coming back from so much time off and a major injury there's no way he's going to be up to game speed, let alone playoff tempo.

[Grapes]

Special teams are going to be huge.. I don't know if you can expect the Canucks to stay out of the penalty box per se, but if our PK can step up to the level it SHOULD be at (given our goalie and generally strong defense) then STL's advantage will be negated enough for us to take the series.

[Grapes]

Oh Snap! I just realized we should be posting our predictions so we can feel smart/dumb later.

Van over STL in 7
Ducks over SJ in 7
Wings over Jackets in 6
Chi over Calgary in 5

Boston over MTL in 5
Washington over NYR in 5
Carolina over NJ in 6
Pitt over Philly in 5

[miss.myra]

Originally Posted by rawb

3) Don't take penalties. Stay healthy.

tell that to this guy.

[rawb]

Originally Posted by Grapes

I'd be shocked if he was a factor. The guy's career was tailing off to begin with, coming back from so much time off and a major injury there's no way he's going to be up to game speed, let alone playoff tempo.

His injury was for one hip, and while he was rehabbing the decided to do the other. They say this will give him the mobility of old- Kariya back. Also! His playoff experience rating is "Hella" and he's playing games in his backyard in Vancouver so WHO KNOWS.

he still has a super accurate shot for the power play (pegged me in the face cage at a training camp from the blueline when i wasn't listening on the end boards)

[ebbomega]

Nucks in 6, maybe 5 if we can get some serious momentum from this two-shutout streak Lu's on.

[rawb]

GUYS I AM CONCERNED
WE NEED TO COME OUT FLYING, FIRST TWO GAMES WILL SET THE TONE l

[ebbomega]

I'd console you, but George Michael can do it so much better.

Apparently youtube embedding has gone derp-a-derp derp

[rawb]

fyi: Kariya did not fly to Vancouver with the team. Coach says he will not play him until he at least starts regular practices.

[rawb]

not playoff related for another couple of seasons: NYI won draft lottery, will pick #1

[omega_image]

Originally Posted by Grapes

I'd be shocked if he was a factor. The guy's career was tailing off to begin with, coming back from so much time off and a major injury there's no way he's going to be up to game speed, let alone playoff tempo.

Actually it was on a rise. He was killing it (along with MacDonald + Boyes) until he got injured. I don't see him getting back to game shape right off the bat, but if the Blues can push us to 6/7 games, he may very well be a factor, esp on the PP.

My predictions

SJ vs ANA - SJ in 6
DET vs CBJ - DET in 5
VAN vs STL - VAN in 5
CHI vs CGY - CHI in 7

BOS vs MON - BOS in 5
WSH vs NYR - WAS in 6
NJ vs CAR - CAR in 6
PIT vs PHI - PIT in 7

[cubed]

My predictions...

SJ vs ANA - SJ in 5
DET vs CBJ - DET in 6
VAN vs STL - VAN in 5
CHI vs CGY - CHI in 6

BOS vs MON - BOS in 4
WSH vs NYR - WAS in 5
NJ vs CAR - CAR in 7
PIT vs PHI - PIT in 6

[Senior]

looking forward to this! going to be a tough series but I think St Louis will fade as they have spent to much energy just getting in the playoffs. keys to the series for the blues are their goalie continuing to stand on his head, and their young guns performing under pressure. anyone been watching that TJ Oshie kid? holly crap is he good. keys for the Canucks are the Sedins finally producing like we know they can, LOU, and continued solid team play. I'm a concerned that St Louis could exploit our defense not making a very good first pass. turnovers created by this could end up behind Lou real quick.



Van over STL in 6
SJ over Ducks in 5
Wings over Jackets in 5
Chi over Calgary in 7

Boston over MTL in 6
Washington over NYR in 4
Carolina over NJ in 5
Philly over Pitt in 6

[omega_image]

Might end up eating these in a few weeks but..... Sundin is going to lead us to the promised land.

[Speechless]

I actually think that the 2 hardest teams to beat in the West this year is St. Louis and Anaheim.

For at least the Van/ St.L series, I think goal tending will be a huge part of it.

That being said, Vancouver definitely has more offensive talent, but the Blues play a much tighter D-Game than Vancouver.

Anyways, my predictions

Van def STL in 7
Ana def SJ in 6
Wings def Jackets in 6
Chi def Calgary in 6

Bruins def Habs in 6
Ovechkin wipes rangers in 5
NJ over Carolina in 7 < Canes may be super red-hot, but i have faith in Broduer.
Pens over Philly in 6

The west has some ridiculous goaltending this year.

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by omega_image

Might end up eating these in a few weeks but..... Sundin is going to lead us to the promised land.

I don't know if he'll be anything of a leadership force, but I def think he can help us.

I think Henrick will be a deciding force for us. If he can keep delivering quality passes to Burrows, then this will be a golden run for the nucks.

[rawb]

God I love playoffs

go give your balls a tug you fucking pussy....

i hope that makes it to youtube. that was beautiful.