Quote:
Originally Posted by NJGOAT
The Flyers are completely man-handling the Capitals in this series. The Capitals are a decent team and can put up a fight but in all tangible and intangible categories the Flyers are beating them this series. Caps fans and casual hockey fans need to remember that the Capitals play in the worst division in the entire league. If each division leader didn't get a top three slot, the Caps would have finished in the 7th or 8th seed. Also, with the way the scheduling is done there are a stretch of 8 inter-division games to end the regular season. The Caps were simply the best of the worst and got the chance to beat up on a group of teams with no real chance of making the playoffs. While their mid-season turn around was amazing, their "hot streak" really wasn't.
I'm just honestly enjoying watching Ovechkin, despite the fact he has been shut down this series, he really is the best player in the NHL. He just needs a better supporting cast as he can't do it all on his own.
As for the guy who thinks the Flyer's are a pack of old school goons, have you watched any games this year? The Flyer's have incredible offensive skill and depth. Their main weakness is their defense. They are seriously one or two D-men away from being the best of the best again. Hitting and fighting has a place in hockey and always will. You need to be physical to disrupt your opponent and keep/gain puck control. Checking is the easiest and best way to wear down your opponent and take control of a game. I don't think there has ever been a Stanley Cup champion in the past decade that wasn't a tough physical team. Even the Lightning had a solid group of physical guys. The closest an "all skill" team has ever gotten was Buffalo a couple years ago and they got beaten solidly by a more physical team. The key is matching physical strength with skill and speed, the Flyer's really have done that this year. To quote Fred Shero:
"20 figure skaters have never won the Stanley Cup and 20 figure skaters never will."
|
Yeah, that.
I would trade Gags for Green. That guy can play some hockey. Anyone think this is Hatchers last season?