Round Two : Chicago v Minnesota

[sseagle]

GAME 1: at CHI Fri May 2, 8:30 PM
GAME 2: at CHI Sun May 4, 2:00 PM
GAME 3: at MIN Tue May 6, 8:00 PM
GAME 4: at MIN Fri May 9, TBD
GAME 5: at CHI Sun May 11, TBD *
GAME 6: at MIN Tue May 13, TBD *
GAME 7: at CHI Thu May 15, TBD *
* If necessary.
All times Central

[gaijin]

Uh... go Minny?

[Kerfuffle]

I'll be at game 1 tomorrow night. Another late start though - ugh!

[cardsfan04]

Uh... go Minny?

Lesser of two evils. I'm still a little sour over the Oshie hit. And, then Cooke did his thing against the Avs. But, there'll be pigs flying in a frozen hell before I cheer for the Blackhawks.

[Kerfuffle]

I'm still surprised Minnesota won that series - I thought it would be Colorado hands down. But glad to have the home ice for round 2.

[cardsfan04]

I'm surprised too. I really didn't think Minnesota stood a chance.

[gaijin]

That probably destroyed a lot of people's brackets. Mine included.

[STLADOGG]

The thing that stands out for me is that neither Backstrom, Harding, and Bryz are playing in net still.
Hopefully Minny wins, or pushes it to 6 or 7.

[Misc. Blues]

I want the Rats to win but I hate to say it the Hawks will take this in 4-5...

[Kerfuffle]

The thing that stands out for me is that neither Backstrom, Harding, and Bryz are playing in net still.
Hopefully Minny wins, or pushes it to 6 or 7.

Bryz is their goalie I read on NHL.com. Keumper is hurt.

[WaukeeBlues]

I want the Rats to win but I hate to say it the Hawks will take this in 4-5...

Agreed. I think the Avs are a far better matchup against the Hawks than the Wild will be. I could see the Hawks making quick work of these guys...

[STLADOGG]

The thing that stands out for me is that neither Backstrom, Harding, and Bryz are playing in net still.
Hopefully Minny wins, or pushes it to 6 or 7.

Bryz is their goalie I read on NHL.com. Keumper is hurt.

Man if Bryz can do what he did in Phoenix, it could be a good series.

[WaukeeBlues]

The thing that stands out for me is that neither Backstrom, Harding, and Bryz are playing in net still.
Hopefully Minny wins, or pushes it to 6 or 7.

Bryz is their goalie I read on NHL.com. Keumper is hurt.

Man if Bryz can do what he did in Phoenix, it could be a good series.

ANY team that gets that goalie who catches fire... anything can happen. Which is what we needed from Miller

J.S. Giguere in 03-04 still the ultimate display of that argument.

[dmiles2186]

Hawks are gonna romp. I'm so bitter about the fact that we could have had Minny in the 2nd round.

[Kerfuffle]

Hawks are gonna romp. I'm so bitter about the fact that we could have had Minny in the 2nd round.

You guys should have had Minny in the 1st round

[JesusNEVERexisted]

I'll be at game 1 tomorrow night. Another late start though - ugh!

Are these late starts only because they want the 1st game over with first?

Damn, the Hawks are good! 2 more goals by Kane in a 5-2 win. The Blues probably lost to the best team in all of hockey! The Blues winning the 1st 2 games itself was remarkable considering how poorly they played down the stretch.

[JesusNEVERexisted]

Hawks are gonna romp. I'm so bitter about the fact that we could have had Minny in the 2nd round.

You guys should have had Minny in the 1st round

That is hardly a guarantee of victory. Minny beat Colorado and Colorado beat us handily down the stretch. I think the Blues only had a 50/50 chance to beat Minny and it likely would have gone 7.

[dmiles2186]

So on my Tune In app, I listen to the Dan Patrick Show on a Fox Sports based station from Bismark, ND. They cover ND hockey as well as the Minneosta Wild. They just ran some clips of the Wild coach and players talking about their game 2 loss.

Several of them said something of the following:

"Hawks getting lucky breaks."

"They're getting the bounces, we're not."

"We feel we're playing okay but then the break goes the other way."

Sounds vaguely familiar doesn't it? That's what a lot of us were saying after we were bounced. Is it a break or is it that the Hawks are creating their own 'luck?' As in, they're good and so it looks lucky but they know where to be and when to be there to cash in?

[ComradeT]

So on my Tune In app, I listen to the Dan Patrick Show on a Fox Sports based station from Bismark, ND. They cover ND hockey as well as the Minneosta Wild. They just ran some clips of the Wild coach and players talking about their game 2 loss.

Several of them said something of the following:

"Hawks getting lucky breaks."

"They're getting the bounces, we're not."

"We feel we're playing okay but then the break goes the other way."

Sounds vaguely familiar doesn't it? That's what a lot of us were saying after we were bounced. Is it a break or is it that the Hawks are creating their own 'luck?' As in, they're good and so it looks lucky but they know where to be and when to be there to cash in?

Hawks are good, no question about it. Their outlet passes are sickening. The class gap between their "core" and the Blues "core" is evident. The surprise is the gap in chemistry between their "core" guys and the Blues "core" guys. Seems like both groups have been together for a similar period of time but even juggled Chicago lines look better at times than the "usual" Blues lines. Go figure.

[Kerfuffle]

There are definitely some differences between the Minnesota offense and St. Louis offense. When we played you guys it was a much more physical series. I thought St. Louis had more depth but Minnesota is better at getting the puck to the net. It always seems Minny has some guy crashing the net area and we are seeing lots of pucks centered looking for a chip-in or redirect which is dangerous. So overall different approach, different team. Hawks have to adjust. Minny is tough in their own building but I hope to grab 1 game there in the next 2.