***Official 2015 NHL Playoff Thread***

[burn587]

Hawks were done. Came back and pretty much dominated games 6 and 7. Tampa has no idea what's coming for them.

Quennville made some great adjustments in the later part of the series after the boneheaded benching of Vermette in favor of Nordstrom (wtf?) in game 3. Putting Kane on the Toews line made Kessler have to respect two playmakers and made it so he couldn't mug Toews constantly and then benching Timmonen for Cumiskey/Rundblad was huge too. It isn't like either of those two are anything more than serviceable but Timmonen was killing the Hawks with turnovers, and generally being so old that he can barely skate anymore.

 

[ZJohnson]

Quennville made some great adjustments in the later part of the series after the boneheaded benching of Vermette in favor of Nordstrom (wtf?) in game 3. Putting Kane on the Toews line made Kessler have to respect two playmakers and made it so he couldn't mug Toews constantly and then benching Timmonen for Cumiskey/Rundblad was huge too. It isn't like either of those two are anything more than serviceable but Timmonen was killing the Hawks with turnovers, and generally being so old that he can barely skate anymore.

Don't forget he put Versteeg in for Teuvo too. It was a mind boggling move.

 

[ZJohnson]

Two years has been too long. Time for Number 6!!!!

 

[theantiAIRBHG]

That's a brutal call.

 

[Bret44]

Fred Hoiberg ‏@ISUMayor32 2h2 hours ago
Go Blackhawks! #StanleyCup

• RETWEETS266
• FAVORITES675
• 

 

[LindenCy]

Great finish - great win!

 

[theantiAIRBHG]

Duh duh duh!

Crawford was brilliant tonight. If he plays like that all series its over.

 

[LindenCy]

Also great to see Vermette get another important goal. It's nice to see those trades have some positive influence.

 

[Cyched]

Tremendous game by Crawford. Glad the offense finally did their part in the 3rd

 

[BigJCy]

Not best performance by most other than Crawford but at this point Just Win Baby!

 

[ZJohnson]

Crow was amazing tonite and he definitely gets the 1*, but I thought Versteeg played one of the best "quiet" games I've seen in a long, long time.

 

[tm3308]

Crow was amazing tonite and he definitely gets the 1*, but I thought Versteeg played one of the best "quiet" games I've seen in a long, long time.

This. He was very active all night long on both ends. Tough break taking the goaltender interference penalty; that was some great forechecking when he was the only guy on the ice with fresh legs.

 

[jdoggivjc]

(SIAP) Interesting fact about the Lightning if they win the Stanley Cup this year: they will be the only team in NHL history to beat four Original Six teams (Detroit, Montreal, New York Rangers, Chicago) en route to winning the Stanley Cup.

 

[BigJCy]

Freaking Sharp who hasn't done squat for some time now...and that soft goal allowed by Crawford...ARGH

Oh well, hopefully they can get both games in Chicago.

 

[theantiAIRBHG]

My parents moved and don't have DirecTV anymore so I can't use their login for the NBC sports app!

 

[BigJCy]

Jesus Hawks how many time you going to give up quick goals right after you score???

 

[BigJCy]

Don't have a good feeling at all about this series right now. Not liking what I'm seeing from the Hawks.

 

[tm3308]

Don't have a good feeling at all about this series right now. Not liking what I'm seeing from the Hawks.

Neither am I. Tampa has done an excellent job of bottling up Kaner and Toews, and the lack of depth on the blue line is starting to show. The two missed opportunities on wide open nets in the first period felt like an omen for at least this game.

One thing the Hawks need to do, IMO, is stop trying to skate with the puck into the zone. How many times did they try that tonight, only to skate into a wall of defenders and lose the puck? Play a little more dump and chase and at least give yourself a chance to set up a forecheck if you don't keep possession.

One of the biggest bright spots, overall, was Shaw. He lost his concentration on the GTG, but he was very active and made a lot of nice plays (even though it didn't score, the chop deflection he had was great).

 

[mapnerd]

The Blackhawks absolutely have to win the next one or it's over. So many frustrating things watching last night's game. I want more of Game 1, what happened to those guys?

 

[jdoggivjc]

The Blackhawks absolutely have to win the next one or it's over. So many frustrating things watching last night's game. I want more of Game 1, what happened to those guys?

Not only do I think it's the Lightning's Cup to lose if the Blackhawks don't find a way to win tonight, I think the Lightning win 4 games to 1 if they win tonight. I was really hoping for a 7-game series between my two favorite teams, but if that's going to happen, I just have this feeling the Hawks had better win tonight.