NHL 2015-16 thread!

[Razor]

Congrats to the Sharks for making the big dance! Now to see what my Pens do tonight.

[xenophobe]

Good luck!

Joe Thornton was asked which team he'd rather play. He said he didn't care if you dressed all 40 he'd play against them. lol

[ulijdavid]

Going to be good tonight. It seems the score doesn't matter until the third period. Both teams are pretty tenacious. You can't count either team out until the last second is played. No quit in either team. Go Bolts!!!

[clifffclaven]

Sharks/pens. Gonna have to jump on the San Jose bandwagon, I guess. Would like to see Thornton and marleau win one.

[Razor]

Sharks/pens. Gonna have to jump on the San Jose bandwagon, I guess. Would like to see Thornton and marleau win one.

Go PENS Go!!! I agree Jumbo Joe is due, but I'm now hoping that this year isn't his year. I still can't believe that the Bruins traded him all those years ago.

[xenophobe]

Sharks vs Pens! It's a fairly good match, but SJ is a much better team than when we played the Pens to 1-1-0 earlier in the season.

[Hellbat]

Go Pens! Can't have the Sharts win a cup before the Canucks!

[xenophobe]

I think our D and top 6 will effectively nullify Sidney Crosby. A few games ago, he was -5 and on the ice for every goal and was pointless.

[Razor]

I posted this on another forum, and I think it will be true for this series. The Pens secondary scoring has been great since the middle of December (when the turnaround started). If Malkin and Crosby go silent (which they've been prone and known to do since 2009) then our third line which is really IMHO our first line will have to carry the load (which they consistently have). Cullen's fourth line has been chipping in some timely goals too. I liked the addition of Rust to Malkins line with Kunitz, and that line carried us the past two games. If we roll four solid lines it makes it very hard to defend against the Pens especially if they use their speed and forecheck hard.

The Sharks are a great team too, and I give a slight edge to them on defense especially after we lost Daley. I think the Pens have the better overall four offensive lines, but the Crosby and Malkin lines absolutely have to show up in this series to keep the pressure on the Sharks. I feel the Haglin, Bonino, and Kessel line will continue to carry us, and it's up to the other lines at least evenly produce with the Sharks. I know one thing for sure, it should be a great series, and I wouldn't be surprised if it goes to seven games.

I really wish the Pens didn't have home ice as they have played poorly on home ice ever since Consol Energy Center opened. I really miss the Igloo. The Pens damn sure better get some power play goals in the net too. The power play let them down, and damn near cost them that series too. The Pens have to prove that it's going to cost the opposing team on the power play, if they don't then they're going to have to get used to teams taking liberty with the cheap shots on them if they can't convert.

[xenophobe]

The Pen's 3rd line is probably going to be our weakness... I think our top 6 and bottom 3 are pretty much a wash, except for the fact that our goal differential is really solid this 2nd season. Our 3rd pairing is something that's been hurting us and the Pen's bottom pairing are likely to perform better than our 3rd pairing which hasn't been a disaster, but hasn't really assured much of anyone.

I really think it will be up to the goalies to steal a few wins, something Jones really hasn't done this post season. He's a great goaltender, but tends to let a soft one or two every several games. While it's great he has 3 playoff shutouts, those were mostly team shutouts, not games that Jones was standing on his head for. He's great at the initial shot but can give up some juicy rebounds... it's just up to our 3rd pairing and 3rd line to play solid D. Our 4th line has been pretty spectacular, not necessarily scoring, which they've managed to chip in at really clutch moments, but their possession and Ozone tenacity has been a bit surprising.

And yeah, I don't underestimate the Pen's speed and scoring ability... SJ hasn't had to face an opponent as quick as the Pens, but that goes both ways, you guys haven't faced a team like the Sharks this post season either, a team that will stop your north-south game, keep you pegged to the outside and force the turnovers and score on the rush.

It's funny, I was reading the last 53-54 games, at the time when both teams started their turnarounds... stats are nearly identical... your PK is slightly better and our PP is a bit better.

Right now we're playing especially strong, not getting unwound when we lose and bouncing back hard after every loss. And our top guys are really performing, which is fairly obvious if you look at the post season player stats. I think SJ will win if Burns isn't silenced and Jones can manage to steal a game or two.

Luckily SJ is mostly healthy. The only regular that isn't in the lineup is Matt Nieto, our fastest skater, and that might hurt us, but luckily he skated last practice and was taking hits, hopefully he'll be in the lineup by game 2 or 3 because our 3rd line is much better when he's in his spot.

Pens are scary, that's for sure. It should be an exciting series, because for once in a long while SJ has been playing really exciting hockey.

And honestly, starting on Pens ice will be a benefit. SJ is the best road team in the league this year. So if we can split that coming back home, we'll be well off to where we just recently regained home ice confidence.

[xenophobe]

BTW, I sure hope Pavelski gets the NHL17 cover... it's between him and Tarasenko, and we kept Tarasenk off the score sheet until game 6... where he ended up scoring 2 goals, but it was already too late.

[Razor]

Pavelski definitely deserves it over anyone IMHO. He's been smoking hot the whole playoffs. You had to break out Pawvelski didn't you?

[xenophobe]

Gotta win it for Jo Pawvelski! lol

Seems like most analysts are split... might be one of the most competitive finals in recent history!

[Hellbat]

The ones that seem super competitive on paper are usually the ones that are over in four with one team going "WTF happened?!?".

[Razor]

The ones that seem super competitive on paper are usually the ones that are over in four with one team going "WTF happened?!?".

You know, part of me is still a bit surprised the Pens made it past the Capitals. That team was stacked this year. I think the Orpik suspension really hurt them though.