2011-2012 NHL playoff thread.

[MaTH716]

Originally Posted by GBBob

The seperation between 8 seeds and 1 seeds in the West, or even the East is very little. As a Hawks fan who was shut down by Quick all year I can attest to them not being a team that just got hot at the right time. LA sports fans are an oxymoron to me, but this team is the real deal. No offense Matty, but I wish they had done this to the Rangers as that would really have proved a point. Although, who knows if that is what would have happened

I really believe that they are a very good team. The biggest difference for them is that pucks have found the back of the net in the post season. They really struggled to score in the regular season (Hence the 8 seed).

They didn't need to beat the Rangers to validate their success in the Playoffs. They beat 2 very good teams (handily) in Vancouver and St. Louis (I was on the fence about the Yotes). In my opinion they are a better version of the Rangers. A very solid defensive team with a stud goaltender that struggles to score goals most of the time. I do think that they have more team speed and also better skill guys then the Rangers. Also for some of these guys, it isn't their first rodeo into the finals, so they know what to expect. Obviously they have the fresher legs too.

As painful as it for me to say, I don't think that the Rangers would have fared much better than the Devils have so far.