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Post by MC Habber on Jun 20, 2006 22:49:48 GMT -5
The Oilers not shooting came first... they did the same thing early on in the Sharks series. Remember the 5 on 3 where 2 of the 3 had broken sticks (I think that was against the Sharks)? I don't think the Oilers got one shot. What I don't understand is why they never lined Pronger up on his off side on powerplays. He has a great one-timer, and rarely got a chance to use it. I don't understand that either, but Pronger seemed very reluctant to shootand the team doesn't seem to understand the concept of a one-timer. |
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Post by roke on Jun 21, 2006 0:33:54 GMT -5
What I don't understand is why they never lined Pronger up on his off side on powerplays. He has a great one-timer, and rarely got a chance to use it. I don't understand that either, but Pronger seemed very reluctant to shootand the team doesn't seem to understand the concept of a one-timer. Horrible coaching move there. Pronger and Stoll should've switched sides on the point so they would have their sticks "inverted" and could better get off one-timers. |
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Post by CentreHice on Jun 21, 2006 7:58:24 GMT -5
From Jack Todd in today's (Wednesday's) Gazette:
"At every critical juncture in this playoff season, the Carolina Hurricanes got the breaks, going back to that Justin Williams high stick on Saku Koivu that wasn't called.
Williams, as it happens, seemed to be the beneficiary of most of the largesse from the beginning right down to Monday's clinching empty-net goal. We bought Williams's act after Koivu was hurt, but if you watched this guy throughout the playoffs you saw that stick up around the visor (or the face) on other players, you saw him repeatedly running goalies, you saw him doing all those dirty little things for which Claude Lemieux became infamous.
Once again in Game 7, the Hurricanes got a huge break. One of the Oilers (we didn't get the number of that truck) was dragged down trying to split the Carolina defence, a penalty that seemed so obvious that a penalty shot would not have come as a surprise. There was no call, however, and when Erik Cole was grabbed at the other end of the ice, the call was made and Frantisek Kaberle scored the winner."
I agree with Todd on many points. But the fact remains that the Oilers PP was horrible. A botched 5-on-3 in the second period, and a blown 5-on-4 late...they had their chances. The last few points on this board about the Oilers not switching d-sides to get the sticks in the middle for the one-timers are well-founded.
I still say, had the Sabres escaped the injury bug, we'd be seeing a Buffalo Cup right now.
I don't think the Canes would have won with Wesley, Ward, Hedican, and Kaberle on the sidelines. Pushing the Canes to 7 games without 4 top d-men was the story of the playoffs, IMO, and in the end it took one of those bogus "over the glass" calls on Campbell to make the difference. Miller was every bit as good as Cam Ward.
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