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Is 300 Plays A Serioulsy Small Sample Size?

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MrMonkey
VDave, how bout those Flyers? Unreal they have made it this far! Pronger has become the beast everyone was hoping for. Guy they having coaching now must be doing a hell of a job?
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What's funny about the Flyers to me is how perfectly their path to the Cup was paved for them.

No disrespect to them, they've been outstanding, and their only real weakness coming into the season was goaltending, which has been superb for them in these playoffs. With above average goaltending this team was going to be a threat, with great goaltending they are a serious contender. Pronger is indeed a beast; I thought they gave up too much (four 1st round picks, current or former) for an aging UFA to be, but they got him extended and he is clearly worth it.

But honestly... it takes a shootout win in the last game of the season to get them in, conveniently pitting them against the Devils, a team they owned during the regular season taking 5 of the 6 games in the series. I think they matched up poorly against all three of Pittsburgh, Washington, and Buffalo, but they draw the one team they can for sure beat. And they do.

Next, conveniently, Buf and Wash are eliminated, and Pit takes on the Habs while Philly gets weak Boston. Pretty evenly matched series. As Boston kept losing guys to injury in that series, the power shifted to where Philly was clearly the better team (on paper as well as the ice) in Game 4 on. Still, to win 4 straight including 5 and 7 in Boston? Remarkable.

Then thanks to Halak's antics, they get another team they are as good as/better than in Montreal! Montreal's crew of midgets was never built for the playoffs, but to their defense they were an extremely opportunistic bunch on offense and got world class goaltending for the first two rounds. Unlike finesse teams Wash/Pit, Philly has the physicality to beat this team up, and they've done so handily.

I think Chicago takes the series easily in 4 or 5 games. I'll be more than happy to eat crow if I'm wrong, but fantastic story or not, I'm still not convinced.
 
That's a pretty good breakdown Dave.
Montreal is a strong creative team, have a strong counter attack, but they do match up better against offensive minded teams.

Philly has been playing very smart in forcing Montreal to create a full team attack which is much more difficult. Plus they are taking better, more randomizing deflecting shots against Halak. I noticed that even back during the Olympics the only goals that beat him were redirected, tipped.

Still, I will bet Montreal at +165. If they get the first goal or at least keep it tied, Philly wont be able to go into that defensive shell.
 
Excellent writeup VDave! The Flyers do appear to have been handed an easy path in getting to the finals (if they make it) kinda like Duke was in the NCAAs. Everything has worked out perfectly for them like you said.

If they make it the Blackhawks will be the 1st team they face that has probably too much firepower to stop? We shall see. Could lose 4-0 and it wouldn't surprise me.
 
Cougar Bait
Daft was right.
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I'm on the other side in that game but I'm a Dodger fan and if I lose, you win your all and I made a 1.5% play on that one so it won't hurt.


Go Blue!
 
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