Quote:
Originally Posted by sachmo71
We have Turco. You win.
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lol
So do people really think we're playing at our best? I know it's easy to look at 18-5-1 (or whatever) in the last 24 games and figure that team's playing pretty well, but as a night-to-night observer of the team, I have to tell you, this team is not really clicking on all cylinders. They're actually grinding right now. That could be affected by watching San Jose just blow away competition, but I think that's pretty on the mark.
We lost Perry a month and change more ago, and we desperately need him back (he's probably going to miss the first round). We haven't had that instant score ability we had last year (although we did gain some of it back with the return of the Flash). Bobby Ryan is still trying to get the hang of things, and Bertuzzi and Weight are showing some age. Scotty, as amazing as he is, has seen his points per game and plus/minus drop. Maybe he'll turn it on now, maybe not. The power play has been much worse this year overall than last year. And everyone knows the wildcard that is Pronger. He's scary good when he's out there. But he's always a risk to draw a suspension.
We have been gutting out wins, we do have uber-tested playoff vets and our penalty kill and goaltending (especially in the playoffs) is lights out.
But I'll tell you now, this is just not the same team as last year. If we're going to win it again, we're going to have to step it up at least a couple notches. I don't think the team we ended the season with beats the Wings or Sharks in a seven game series with four on the road. I am of the opinion that only the Wings and Sharks will ultimately beat us, but that could just be silly fan enthusiasm (no, probably).