You can pray all you want...

[katts]

But once again, nobody will stop the Devils this year.

Sorry but they're just too strong.

Stop making me laugh with your Sabres, Flyers, Leafs and even Avalanche and Wings; it's getting annoying. The Devils own all those teams. They have absolutely NO weakness. They have the system, the coach, the scorers, the defense, the goaltender (and even the goaltenderS), the playoffs experience, and, most importantly, the team chemistry and the locker room's athmosphere. And statistically, they have the best gf/ga differential this season.

I have a bet on Carolina to win the serie but this is just a "safety" bet. Really, nobody can beat the Devils.

I'd like to wish you good luck if you like the Avs or the Sabres or whatever, but here (and nothing to do with the team's name), you have no chance in hell.

 

[katts]

And this is no provocation, it's a fact.

[This message has been edited by katts (edited 04-12-2001).]

 

[mw]

The Devils are clearly the best team in hockey -- agreed. Talent is awesome. Chemistry is great.

Question -- what was it that produced the first-round collapses as a number-one seed in earlier years? Lack of chemistry? Coaching?

 

[TexasBC6]

It's ridiculous to make the assertion that any team other than NJ has no chance in hell at this stage in the playoffs. I myself agree that they have a very strong chance to win it all and I'm therefore pleased with my +420 bet on them to keep the cup. The game of hockey is one in which you get a couple of good bounces, stay focused, and have decent talent (which all of these playoff teams do), and you never know what can happen. I agree that they are very strong, but have to disagree that they will waltz through the playoffs with no one else even giving them a test.

 

[EXTRAPOLATER]

After the Devils got healthy, about two months back, my posts were stating that these guys looked unstoppable.
That still holds, though a whitewash of the Hurricane will prove absolutely nothing.
I was thinking that a Devils/Avalanche final would be really exciting, but Joe Sakic (and Rob Blake, to a certain degree -- maybe Chris Drury also) was really the only one to show up in last night's contest. Avs have no chance (in later rounds) if they, and particularly Roy, fall asleep for the third period.
Jersey still looks the sharpest. They are loaded, from top to bottom. Dallas looked way too slow in game #1. 'Caps look like they might be able to get through a round or two.
Time will tell.
As for tonight...
Go Leafs!

 

[katts]

TexasBC6 - You missed the boat like many people - you had New Jersey +700 all season long.. that's what I kept saying all year long and now - funny funny - a lot of people agree to say that New Jersey is still the best team in the NHL. They're even better than last year.

I think I'm gonna bet with my balls here.. betting with my head didn't work well enough during the regular season.

No more safety bets. I have over 10% of my bankroll on New Jersey, and I'll stick with it. If they win the cup, this means that I'll almost double the bankroll since I had them at 6, 7, 8 and 10 to 1 + futures I bought at 20$ at WSEX (it's now 40$). No more go-against New Jersey. If they don't win it all, then what the heck.. I can live with that. They say: "never bet more than 5% of your bankroll on anything, no matter how confident you are". This time I'm gonna break the rules. I know, it's dumb, but I can afford it.

It's ridiculous to make the assertion that any team other than NJ has no chance in hell at this stage in the playoffs.

You know Tex, that's the kind of comment I was waiting for. No joke here. Probably the first time I say something like that - ask anybody here. I myself would be the first one to post a reply on such an unlogical statement. I just wanted to shake this forum up a bit. But let me rephrase the whole thing in a more "scientific" way:

I deeply believe that New Jersey have what it takes to beat any other team if they had to play them over and over again. This means, if they had to play, let's say, 1000 series against Colorado (taking the #1 challenger here), - forget about the "time" factor here - let's assume that they could play those 1000 series in the next 2 months using a space/time distortion machine - they'd win more than 500, and actually more than 600 series.

That's how confident I am about this team.

Talking about confidence:

Question -- what was it that produced the first-round collapses as a number-one seed in earlier years? Lack of chemistry? Coaching?

In my opinion, the self-confidence (directly related to the lack of experience) was not as strong as what it is today. IMHO the main reason.

Players like Patrik Elias, Scott Niedermayer, Petr Sykora who were at that time pretty young now know what kind of hockey they're able to play.

I'd also say the coach; Larry Robinson brings the "emotional" part of the game that the others before him were unable to transmit to the players during the playoffs.

And BTW that's probably the main reason why Ottawa isn't doing anything good in the playoffs years in and years out: Jacques Martin is a good technical coach, but when it comes to emotions, he just doesn't have it.

 

[jmizeus]

new jersey is a great club, but if buffalo ends up playing them they could go down sabres own this team and are playing as good as anyone out there

 

[TexasBC6]

Obviously I wish I had them at +700 but apparently my foresight was not as good as yours. Still, you give me the Avs against NJ in a best of 7 series with Colorado being the underdog and I'll take Colorado any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

 

[katts]

Really?

Let's look at the goals for and goals against, IMO the most important statistic to rate a team:

gf/ga ratio:
NJ: 1.51 (295 gf / 195 ga)
Col: 1.41 (270 gf / 192 ga)

Now let's take a look at the last 50 games for both teams. I remind you that the Devils had to deal without Arnott and Niedermayer at the beginning of the season:

NJ: 1.64 (189 gf / 115 ga)
Col: 1.43 (170 gf / 119 ga)

And as you know, winning on the road is a key to succeed in the playoffs:

NJ: 1.46 (150 gf / 103 ga)
Col: 1.33 (129 gf / 97 ga)


Now forget the stats and let's take a look at the facts:

This season:

2000-05-12
Coloardo @ New Jersey
Final Score: New Jersey 6 Colorado 1


2001-03-13
New Jersey @ Colorado
Final Score: New Jersey 6 Colorado 3

New Jersey scoring 6 goals in Colorado ended a 68 <6 ga games streak (77 if I include the playoffs).


Get real. Patrick Roy and the Avs fear the Devils.

 

[TexasBC6]

Preaching to the choir here buddy. I understand that the Devils are a strong and deep team. Not disputing that.

I simply say that Colorado is just as deep (if not more), has a goalie that has won the cup and knows what it takes (as does NJ), however the difference I see is the offensive playmakers for the Avs. Forsberg is one of the best offensive players in the league, if not the best. Sakic has unbelievable speed and goal scoring ability. Their young players such as Tanguay, Drury, and Hejduk are dynamite. Their power play is one of the best I have ever seen, and with the addition of Blake could be even better down the stretch. Bourque I'm sure has an insatiable desire to win the cup.

Would the Devils have a legitimate chance to beat the Avs in the finals? Of course they would. For the sake of my bet I hope they would. But fear the Devils??? I think not.

 

[TORONTO-VIGILANTE]

Yes, it's nice that everyone is goin for NJ to win it all this year, and that's fine, but let's see how all this shizznit unfolds.
Yes, we can make predictions, and that's all that it is now, predictions until it comes true.
I agree, NJ is a strong team, but I believe that we can throw out all that regular season crap and the playoffs are a whole new ball game.
GOOD LUCK TO ALL.

 

[katts]

Well anyway, I was talking with a friend this week, a huge Colorado fan (couldn't forget the Nordiques) and we both agreed that it would be extremely good for hockey to have a NJ/Col SC Final. But believe me, if this happens, New Jersey will be the dog (slightly but still), and I just won't agree. Like I said in a previous post, this team has everything. Yeah, Colorado too. That's for sure. But Larry over Hartley any time in the playoffs. Team chemistry is better in New Jersey too IMHO. And the deepness. The better players are in Colorado, but the deepness and chemistry is slightly better in New Jersey. Just my opinion, but they proved me right in their 2 games vs the Avs this year. The goaltending is better in NJ too. Oops!! Maybe I shouldn't have said that...

 

[jmizeus]

lets not jump the gun here, although from buffalo do believe the sabres will be the team to beat in the eastern conference.

i said before to natives here if they get past flyers this could very well be there year. flyers have owned them and like i said noone else in eastern conferece will handle sabres after they get past flyers which is looking good right now

they have the best in hasek and playing better d than they did 2 yrs ago vs. dallas in stanley cup finals, along with gave up fewest goals agains all year.

like i said don't take this team to lightly, i do respect devils but they struggled vs. sabres all year

gl

 

[ZigZag]

The best team doesn't alwayz win. Look at the Devils last year. They were down 3-1 to Philly.

I was shaking my head thinking how the hell can they be down 3-1 when they were clearly the better team. Now in the end they pulled it out, but anything can happen.

Also, I don't think you can say any team is clearly better than Colorado. Well maybe after that crap performance they gave vs Van.

All in all the Devils are very tough. You blink your eyes and boom boom boom goals everywhere.

 

[Frogy]

Glad to see you are back Katts.
I can see you are rocking this place whit your post....rock.on.
FROG

 

[katts]

jimizeus - this is just between you and me:

I fear the Sabres like hell!! You're absolutely correct, the Sabres own the Devils. NJ lost all their last 6 games vs Buffalo, managing only 6 goals during the sequence.. 1 goal / game... scary. Hopefully they won't have to face them in round 2 if the Leafs defense continue this way..

 

[TORONTO-VIGILANTE]

I'm just happy to ee all these great games...
I mean, the ones that don't involve COL/VAN...that game was downright ugly...