Or as the guidance counselor in th Breakfast Club said: "You mess with the bull, son, and you get the horns."
- John Jaeckel

Plus JJ is a swell guy, they love him around here...you..buddy ...your a punk.

I think teams win all their home games, which would not bode well for the Kings.
But a game 7 would be pretty awesome.

Though I am guessing that i would feel like I chugged a bottle ipecac while watching it.

I guess the 1 advantage for the Kings is their best player (in the playoffs) stays on the ice for all 60 minutes. And that cannot be understated. But dude cannot score goals for the Kings and Carter Richards, Brown, and Kopitar (who I think will have knee surgery whenever the season ends) need to step up and pot a couple..

As a sidebar, the U.S Olympic hockey team could be in pretty good shape next year in Russia with Quick between the pipes.

:

QUICK is the reason to take Los Angeles.

You ride that pony.

I see this as the biggest series between diverse styles and thinking about the new game.

I think lots of things have to line up for the hawks including more PP goals.

I just know that everyone I know hwo watch the Sharks Kings series have emailed me and said, as viewers they never felt that the Sharks were out-matched in series.

Calls and non-calls with factor in, but until the teams take to the ice and we see how they all respond to each other, it is tough to get a better read than seaosn games give us.
Besides the Stoll head ringing, the rumor of two Kings upper end forwards being injured is one that no one will ever substantiate.

I think we pretty much will know which two Kings ARE those guys after watching the first game, if that isn't some horse plop....
- wiz1901

Yeah I don't think San jose was out-matched at all. It was pretty even to me. One factor that I think was huge was losing Torres. I hate the guy but as we saw last year, he can be really good out there. San jose was a different team with him.

1973 - 1989: did not know what hockey was or that it was a sport or even existed... only knew that the beach, skateboarding, music and promiscuous females existed.

1989 - 2013: die hard kings fan, quit varsity basketball to play hockey, have been a long suffering kings fan for all those years...

P.S. it was 2011 when I discovered hockeybuzz so that my friend is the only area you can call me a johnny come lately and that too bothers me not one bit

enjoy the series everyone !!!
- MikeOxbyg

I am happy to know there is another great fan out there...it is a great game, isn't it?

Nice post. Good luck to you as well.

Hawks puck retrieval in game 1 and those first 10 - 15 games - particularly on the PP - was unreal. Maybe a conditioning advantage? Who knows. It isn't there now like it was then.

I think the games will play more like the last 2 with LA. Quick seems to be past the back issues. No question the best goalie in hockey.

If the officials allow the clutch and grab like they did with Detwat it will be tough.... Will definitely see several Hawks planted in this series.

Not sure where the johnny come lately garbage comes from.... Most Kings fans I know have been die hards for decades. Hard to not like the style they play now.

Unfortunately, officiating may be a factor again. This should be a great series. Hope they call it fairly.
- tredbrta

its just the easiest card to play against us as fans, I get it, we all gotta talk junk at some point, I just wish it was based in levity and wit

my knock on quick is him leaving the net to play the puck... he is absolutely lousy at it and when he does do it I drop a doogan in my trousers because it is soo damn scary... and I actually could see the hawks getting a couple goals that way LOL

Yeah I don't think San jose was out-matched at all. It was pretty even to me. One factor that I think was huge was losing Torres. I hate the guy but as we saw last year, he can be really good out there. San jose was a different team with him.
- tomcat24

If the Sharks don't get HOSED at the end of game 2 by the zebras, I think we are talking about Niemi right now.

Wouldn't TIME of POSSESSION be the best data set how you measure time of possession?

And besides, unless the teams play the very same opponents the same number of games it is skewed stat too.

As a 35 year mathematics teacher, I feel you coming along to argue this aspect is a silly as me telling you it is hilarious.

But we all didn't come here to give opinions that don't hold water, right?
- wiz1901

The NHL has privatized time of possession, or simply does not track it any longer. Thankfully, it was once publicly-available. And, nothing correlated stronger w/ time of possession than even-strength shot attempts, which makes obvious intuitive sense.

Pearson correlation was .90 in this run. Very strong relationship, and an excellent proxy for zone time.

Feel free to dig through the available data and run it against the shot differentials for each of the thirty teams. You'll find the same thing.

What's interesting to me is that Chicago was second-best in the entire league, and it wasn't really particularly close. Everything about the numbers suggest Chicago is an elite possession unit.

It just suggests LA is as good, maybe better.

Probably the last team Chicago would want to face, I think.

LA in Six...Quick will be the main Factor...will beat out Crawford...

I like it JJ, well stated.

I do believe that LA played 6 games vs Blues then 7. Not two 7 games...maybe i missed it or its already been noted.

I think this series comes down to the obvious, which team makes the other team play their style more. I hope the Hawks at the very least begin the series with this in mind, that is with the determination to play their game, vs re shuffling everything to play a kings game.

Wraparound glitch version iirc.
- Travis Yost

You are correct. Man, I loved those old hockey video games, I would sit around with my buddies and play for hours. They always made Belfour the best goalie back then, it was great.

I am happy to know there is another great fan out there...it is a great game, isn't it?
- wiz1901

to me it is the best sport, the only sport, the most physically and mentally demanding sport, the most graceful and brutal at the same time with the toughest players hands down in any of the majors... they only sport I regard that highly is golf because its ridiculously hard to hit the damn ball let alone be accurate with it.. and the golfers themselves don't sign bloated contracts.. sure there is endorsement deals and whatnot but if a golfer doesn't play well he does not get paid, I wish more sports could have that pay model

first john:

kings went to six games with st louis.
second: don't base anything on the regular season. greene was hurt in the opening game, mitchell hasnt played since last playoffs, so our D has been patched up with muzzin and ellerby and regehr.
third: quick was ineffective during the season, but so far in these playoffs, he hasn't allowed more than 3 goals . and as for the faceoffs, you can thank torres for busting up stoll. regardless, the kings can win this series as long as brown, kopitar, carter, richards, williams and the other guys who can score, score.

Or as the guidance counselor in th Breakfast Club said: "You mess with the bull, son, and you get the horns."
- John Jaeckel

Grab the bull by the horns?

If the Sharks don't get HOSED at the end of game 2 by the zebras, I think we are talking about Niemi right now.
- CBHawks88

And if the refs don't blow a quick whistle (and I mean really quick) on a puck that trickled through Niemi's pads Kings have a good chance of taking a game in San Jose.

Calls tend to even out in a 7 game series.

Niemi was very very good however.

Speed is the Hawks' advantage—especially re: puck possession, they're also better on draws.

What are your puck possession metrics?
- John Jaeckel

http://www.hockeyprospect...rticle.php?articleid=1535

All kinds of statistics, probs going off Fenwick numbers that have tanked since post season maybe in efforts to build a moat around Quick.

And agreed on Crawford. Neither spectacular or terrible but could be good enough.

If the Sharks don't get HOSED at the end of game 2 by the zebras, I think we are talking about Niemi right now.
- CBHawks88

Yeah winning game 2 would have been huge. And the refs were crap. Niemi was amazing in the series, as well. In game 7 he held them in it all game. It was a very close series.

http://www.hockeyprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=1535

All kinds of statistics, probs going off Fenwick numbers that have tanked since post season maybe in efforts to build a moat around Quick.

And agreed on Crawford. Neither spectacular or terrible but could be good enough.
- fattybeef

Yeah, and it's really no surprise that of the last five teams remaining(DET CHI BOS LA PIT), four were top-five in Fenwick Close -- or, even-strength possession. Expand it further, and of the eight semi-final teams, all but Pittsburgh were in the top-ten.

Have the puck a lot, win a lot, repeat. Also don't have horrible goaltending and league-low shooting percentages, or you turn into an absurd outlier like New Jersey.

its just the easiest card to play against us as fans, I get it, we all gotta talk junk at some point, I just wish it was based in levity and wit

my knock on quick is him leaving the net to play the puck... he is absolutely lousy at it and when he does do it I drop a doogan in my trousers because it is soo damn scary... and I actually could see the hawks getting a couple goals that way LOL
- MikeOxbyg

Well, I for one think that having a team for 45 years (right?) kind of means there just might be an established fan base. And I also have fond memories of going to a handful of games at the Forum back in the 80s. Yes, it was kind of weird then to go a hockey game in California (to me at least), but it was clear that there was a fan base that followed the game.

In any case, here's to a good series. Don't hate the Kings, even if there might be a few moments along the way that might change that slightly. Finally, I always loved Darryl Sutter as a Blackhawk player and coach (his work ethic, he's all business). Thus, worse things could happen than losing to the Kings (like losing to the underdog Wings, the Canucks, or eventually the Penguins).

Honestly, two favourite teams in the West... I'm happy with whoever wins. I gotta say, I think you're more likely to see Hawks in 5, but with each game being close, than Hawks in 7. I think the longer this series drags out, the worse it'll be for Chicago.

I see this matchup as similar to Ottawa vs. Montreal (but with far better teams playing). Ottawa couldn't match Montreal's speed, but they closed on them quickly entering the zone, kept players low and to the outside and beat them physically through the first two periods until they could play against a bruised team in the third. When Montreal got around the defense, Anderson bailed them out. I have no doubt that Quick can do the same and that the defense will make Chicago's forwards a little sore.

I think ultimately LA will win, but if Chicago wants to pull it off, they'll need Toews to keep his head (unlike the Detroit series) and try to put them away early.

And if the refs don't blow a quick whistle (and I mean really quick) on a puck that trickled through Niemi's pads Kings have a good chance of taking a game in San Jose.

Calls tend to even out in a 7 game series.
- fsanford

Still waiting on the 2 Detroit No-Goals....

I think teams win all their home games, which would not bode well for the Kings.
But a game 7 would be pretty awesome.

Though I am guessing that i would feel like I chugged a bottle ipecac while watching it.

I guess the 1 advantage for the Kings is their best player (in the playoffs) stays on the ice for all 60 minutes. And that cannot be understated. But dude cannot score goals for the Kings and Carter Richards, Brown, and Kopitar (who I think will have knee surgery whenever the season ends) need to step up and pot a couple..

As a sidebar, the U.S Olympic hockey team could be in pretty good shape next year in Russia with Quick between the pipes.

:
- fsanford

I'm hoping none of our guys (fans) are getting excited thinking back to early in the regular season. Wasn't Quick still feeling the affects of offseason back surgery then, IIRC? And, you needn't fear our PP, as I'm sure you well know.

I think these are going to be 1-0, 2-1, etc. affairs across the board. Puck luck, goal tending and whatever the hell the idiots in stripes decide to do will be the difference. And as an extra for our side, of course, NET PRESENCE AND PUCK ELEVATION!!! I think if we do that, we win in 6, maybe 7. If we do the perimeter dance, we lose in 4 or 5.

P.S. I could take your face, roll it in some dough, and make me some gorilla cookies!

great stuff JJ. For the reasons you mentioned I say hawks in 6. Barring key injury

Grab the bull by the horns?
- fattybeef

The Kings have gotten premium play out of their premium players. What happens when that starts to happen for the Blackhawks? They are in the conference final without it. The Hawks have more ways to win. Hawks in 6.

Still waiting on the 2 Detroit No-Goals....



- CBHawks88

unless it happens the last 2 minutes of game 7, then it it hard for it to even out no doubt. That was the shaft.