Comments on: Canada's Teams So Far!

By: BruMagnus

BruMagnus — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:38:39 +0000

I did… don't remember that at all. I wasn't a Pens fan yet, and to be honest I don't even remember the Canucks Finals of that year. I wasn't old enough to remember much or seriously care about hockey then.

By: BruMagnus

BruMagnus — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:36:24 +0000

I dunno about either of those claims. They are arguable, but I'm not quite sure. Washington was never really so great, and yet Gonchar flourished on there. I've noticed him stepping up more as a verbal leader on the Pens now that Sid is out. It's nice to see, and he's become much better defensively the past 2 years.

By: BruMagnus

BruMagnus — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:23:12 +0000

Oh I agree. The Habs are a fantastic team. Remember when I told you earlier not to cut them short? I think they could make a Finals appearance as there is no real clearcut elite team in the East (really only Detroit in the West, I'm not sold on SJ).

I just wanted to prove that the Pens are AMAZING (one of the League's best, if not 2nd or 3rd best) outside their division, and people try to use the argument that they steal wins from their division. Just plain ignorance. Fact is, the Pens dominate tremendously outside their division. If they had been playing as good intra divisionally, they'd be 1st in the Conference...

I still believe a Habs Pens 1st round matchup would be one for the ages!

By: Nans

Nans — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:07:04 +0000

How can u not? I hate them, but they r the 2nd best team in the East.

By: Oil-Life

Oil-Life — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:03:45 +0000

Hardly call Montreal a favorite…

By: habsrock99

habsrock99 — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:50:15 +0000

The only difference between Gonchar and Souray is the fact that Gonchar's happend to play for better teams then Souray has. Other then that they're about the same defensively, Gonchar's more gifted offensively and Souray's a better leader.

By: habsrock99

habsrock99 — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:37:43 +0000

Sorry for getting some of my original numbers wrong in my previous comment. But, the fact still remains that the Habs have played much better against non-Divisional teams. Sure they aren't as good as the Pens in that aspect but I wasn't disputing that. But, the Habs have been playing every team tough and beating teams they don't normally beat.

You may think it's a luxory to play in the Northeast but for Montreal, it isn't for several reasons. One being that no matter how good or how bad Ottawa and Buffalo are, they beat Montreal. Another being Toronto never takes an off game against the Habs. The only team the Habs have been able to beat consistently over the last couple years has been Boston. They have been average at best against anyone else.

Then you look at how the Habs have faired against the Atlantic, they've had the Atlantic's number except for the Rangers and Devils. So far they're 5-1-0 against Philly since last year, something like 5-2-0 or 4-3-0 against Pittsburgh since last year and something like 6-1-0 against the Islanders but are 1-5-0 against Jersey and like 2-4-1 against the Rangers.

Against the Southeast, the Habs have been brutal except for when it came to Atlanta(something like a 20-5-5 record since 2000). Now look at this year and the Habs have 2 losses against Atlanta in 3 games and are 2-0-1 vs the Caps, 2-2-0 against Carolina, 2-0-1 against the Bolts and 1-1-1 against the Panthers. BTW, the Panthers are the only team in NHL history to hold a winning record against the Habs, something like 28-12-4 since 1994.

So the biggest reason Montreal's where they are right now in terms of points is because of the way they've played against every team except for Ottawa and the Rangers.

By: Nans

Nans — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:10:05 +0000

Hate to tell u this, but stats lie. Divisional games are more intense, and the fact is, most of them are rivalries.

Ottawa plays the rivalry games tough, and plays better under pressure now. They go to the SE and drop 4 to the caps. Does anyone honestly believe the Caps are better than the Sens. No, they dont.

Id hardly say the west is pathetic, Pitts beat the media cirus that was route 87. And the fact that teams now can win in a shootout, and is put in the win column, is misleading.

Stats dont tell the whole story.

By: BruMagnus

BruMagnus — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:40:52 +0000

You can say tainted, but the results are the results. 3-1-1 vs the Leafs is a solid record as well, and I'm confident the Habs go at worst 2-1 in the final 3. Anyways, as it is, the Habs have taken 7 points from the Leafs...

now I understand and accept your valid Philly Pitty argument, but not the bringing the "A" game stuff. the results are the results. The Pens bring their A game vs Philly, but Philly has honestly just been better every game (with a few favorable calls from the refs in a couple as well).

Let's quickly compare results to see what I'm talking about.

The Pens vs:
NE: 8-4-1 (17 points out of 26, 0.65%)
SE: 7-3-2 (16 of 24, 0.67%)
ATLANTIC: 6-11-1 (that's 13 out of a possible 36 points! that's a 0.36%. we've lost as many games to them as you have played them!)

East: 21-18-4 (46 of 86 points, 0.53% only, thank God for the West and next year's schedule.)

West: 7-1-0 (14 of 16, best team against the pathetic West, 0.88%)

Total: 28-19-4 (60 of 102, 0.59%)

The Habs vs:
NE: 11-7-1 (that's 23 out of a possible 38 points! that's a 0.61%.)
SE: 8-3-5 (that's 21 out of 32. 0.66%.)
Atlantic: 7-3-1 (a great record, 15 of 22 points, 0.68%)

East: 26-13-7 (59 of 92, 0.64%, thank God for Boston and the Leafs!)

West: 1-2-1 (3 of 8 points only, 0.38%, though few games played.)

Total: 27-15-8 (62 of 100, 0.62% until Crosby's injury we were ahead of you guys, but it's been and still is damned close)

So, you can clearly see where the huge discrepancy lies. It lies with the Pens and the Atlantic!

Just to prove this point, one more telling stat:

Pens vs all non-divisional teams:
22-8-3 (47 of a possible 66 points, good for an amazing 0.71%)

Habs vs all non-divisional teams
16-8-7 (39 of a possible 62 points, good for an average, again, 0.63%)

The Atlantic is DESTROYING the Pens. If we played more games against non-divisional teams, we'd likely be 1st in the Conference, and surely first in the division. I'm not complaining, that's the way it's been set up, and we profitted huge last year by it, but I am DAMNED happy they changed the schedule for next year. I expect big things for the Pens next year for sure!

By: leafy

leafy — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:31:01 +0000

Bru, check out the Forsberg article…my response to your comment. Some memorable Pens history from 1982. A must read.