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First Round: The Florida Panthers


Steven M.

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Alright, I am going to try to get my thoughts down on this series.

First, we may of gotten the best possible team. The outcome of this series I feel is in the hands of the Devils. We are clearly deeper rolling three lines where our third line has a 30 goal scorer. We also have a elite game changer (Kovalchuk) who could single handily go into beast mode and win a game by himself. The Panthers roll a dangerous first line with Versteeg, Flash, and Weiss but beyond that they have solid players but no elite guys. But with this said, we shouldn't take the Panthers #2 and #3 lines lightly. It comes down to our guys getting it done, Henrique/Zajac playing solid hockey, and Kovalchuk and Parise showing why they are considered are top two forwards.

Next, the Panthers have two high scoring defensemen. Garrison is a threat as is Campbell. We may not have that kind of offense on our backend but with our forward depth we just need our corps to play some solid team defense and occasionally chip in.

Goaltending: Clemmer/Theo may be playing good but Marty is hot and he always steps up in the playoffs. I'm not worrying about Marty.

Overall, if the Devils play like they can I see them winning in 5 maybe 6. I predict the first game to be tight but after that I expect this series to be blown open and end fairly quickly.

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Yeah, I'm good to go for Game 1... Got the tickets, and cleared with work... I want to go to Game 2 but I have no idea how I'm going to get off of work. I guess I have a week to figure it out. If there is a Game 5 I'll definitely be there though.

If it gets to games 5 or 7, I don't care what I have to do to get off duty and get to Sunrise but I will lol

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Makes total sense, ya know, we only won 6 in a row to end the season and beat Detroit in Detroit. The hate hard-on ESPN has for us is amazing.

I can understand Florida in seven...I may not agree with it, but I can understand it.

But dropping the Devils four spots in the power rankings after they won six in a row (three of the wins coming against playoff-bound teams, one of those wins coming in a building where the home team (Detroit) rarely lost)...seems a bit silly.

But kind of like Opie and Anthony used to say:

"You don't go to CNN to hear dick jokes,

don't go to ESPN for hard-hitting sports news!"

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Hilarious. And their other 'writer' Lebrun dropped us four spots in the final power rankings lol

http://espn.go.com/nhl/powerrankings/_/season/2012/week/28

Should we be offended? Sure.

But you know who should be more offended? Oilers fans. Somehow the Oilers on this list moved up three spots to 29. :blink: After being not ranked last week. :blink: :blink:

I guess the Oilers are now a college basketball team?

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Seems highly likely unless Washington plays well and can upset Boston in the first round. I think both the Devils and Rangers take Round 1 in 6 games.

Washington is rolling into Boston with Holtby and Sabourin in net. Vokoun's groin still has him out and Neuvirth hurt his leg this week. Boston should be able to capitalize on that. But, stranger things have happened.

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http://espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/2012/story/_/id/7772345/experts-picks

Burnside picked the panthers....so we are good to go

This was my favorite part of the write-up:

• Logic dictates that this will be a cakewalk for the New Jersey Devils. But the playoffs and logic are mutually exclusive. Having been a believer in the Panthers in September, we see no reason to deviate now, so we'll take the upset special here. Panthers in 7

Glad to see Burnside isn't about to let logic get in the way of any predictions here...

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Seems highly likely unless Washington plays well and can upset Boston in the first round. I think both the Devils and Rangers take Round 1 in 6 games.

If the Rangers, Boston and Devils win we would play the Rangers. #1 Rangers vs #6 Devils and then #2 Boston vs #4 Pittsburgh or #5 Philly.

We still have to beat Florida first though.

Edited by Satans Hockey
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Washington is rolling into Boston with Holtby and Sabourin in net. Vokoun's groin still has him out and Neuvirth hurt his leg this week. Boston should be able to capitalize on that. But, stranger things have happened.

Boston has had their own share of injury problems. While I expect Boston to win that series, I don't think it will be easy and I wouldn't be shocked if they lost. Frankly, none of these first round series are so one sided that I couldn't fathom a lower seed pulling an upset here. Should make for a good few weeks of hockey.

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If it gets to games 5 or 7, I don't care what I have to do to get off duty and get to Sunrise but I will lol

Well, I got off duty for Sunday and will now be at Games 1 & 2! Gonna secure tickets to Game 2 later. I'll be able to go to Game 5 too... And I am hoping it doesn't take seven because by then I will be floating around somewhere, lol

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Well, I got off duty for Sunday and will now be at Games 1 & 2! Gonna secure tickets to Game 2 later. I'll be able to go to Game 5 too... And I am hoping it doesn't take seven because by then I will be floating around somewhere, lol

Lot of fans down there don't like Jersey Fans huh?

http://www.litterboxcats.com/2012/4/9/2936141/monday-caterwaul-florida-panthers-open-forum-blog-chat-devils#comments

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as much as i hate to say it, this comment i just got from your source is unfortunately true for a lot of members on this board:

"Can’t say for sure, but I’ve not gotten a good impression from a majority. Seems like everything is a conspiracy; the NHL is out to get them, hockey writers are out to get them, the Rangers are out to get them… and the culture of “rangers suck”. I understand the rivalry but what’s the point in 14,000 fans at the rock yelling “Rangers suck” at a game that the rangers aren’t involved in?"

Edited by Onddeck
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Well, I got off duty for Sunday and will now be at Games 1 & 2! Gonna secure tickets to Game 2 later. I'll be able to go to Game 5 too... And I am hoping it doesn't take seven because by then I will be floating around somewhere, lol

I'll stop saying duty to refer to my sh!t work now lol....

Ever since I came to live here I've been waiting for the stupid Panthers to get in the playoffs against the Devils. Finally the time has come.

What section did you get tickets for?

as much as i hate to say it, this comment i just got from your source is unfortunately true for a lot of members on this board:

"Can’t say for sure, but I’ve not gotten a good impression from a majority. Seems like everything is a conspiracy; the NHL is out to get them, hockey writers are out to get them, the Rangers are out to get them… and the culture of “rangers suck”. I understand the rivalry but what’s the point in 14,000 fans at the rock yelling “Rangers suck” at a game that the rangers aren’t involved in?"

"They’re jealous they live in Jersey and not Manhattan?"

ARE YOU...HUH??? HEHE

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as much as i hate to say it, this comment i just got from your source is unfortunately true for a lot of members on this board:

"Can’t say for sure, but I’ve not gotten a good impression from a majority. Seems like everything is a conspiracy; the NHL is out to get them, hockey writers are out to get them, the Rangers are out to get them… and the culture of “rangers suck”. I understand the rivalry but what’s the point in 14,000 fans at the rock yelling “Rangers suck” at a game that the rangers aren’t involved in?"

I could honestly give a flying fvck about what Florida Panther fans- or any other opposing fans- think of us. fvck them.

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Lot of fans down there don't like Jersey Fans huh?

http://www.litterbox...devils#comments

I've worn my Elias jersey to every game I've gone to in the past two seasons (one Caps game, one Devils game, one Flyers game, and most recently an Islanders game) and I've never received any flak except the game where we played them. Had a kind woman scream at me to go back to Jersey. Probably going to expect more of the same. It's interesting, for a team that's been mediocre for so long, they talk a lotta sh!t now that they have, "won their division." (which I take about as much stock in that as I did when my 7-9 Seattle Seahawks won their division, Lol)

I think, overall, there is not much animosity between the fanbases and in general it's respectful... but it is April, and it is the 1st round... we're going to talk sh!t about them and they will talk sh!t about us. Just the nature of the beast.

Having said all of that, I echo Maddog's statements. Fvck em'! And I hope they really hate us after this coming weekend!

Edited by DevilsFanSteve30
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I'll stop saying duty to refer to my sh!t work now lol....

Ever since I came to live here I've been waiting for the stupid Panthers to get in the playoffs against the Devils. Finally the time has come.

What section did you get tickets for?

Lol duty, work, military, civilian - what's the difference, we're all just Devils fans making paychecks to pay for tickets right? smilydev.gif

Game 1, I will be in Section 415, row 8 with two other people.

Game 2, still haven't purchased tickets. About to look on StubHub... still debating if I should up the ante and pay closer to or a little above $100 each so we can sit in the lower bowl. I'm only going with one other person to that game.

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a panthers fan on their boards:

Though we matched up well against jersey in the regular season, they have some guys who are big-time players on offense. Guys like Clarkson will play a key role especially. Elias has been there, Sykora as well, Kovalchuk is a terrific player, Parise is also a big time guy. Marty's the biggest factor for them though IMO.

With the way their team is put together, it wouldn't be a shock to me if they were able to go to the east final. They'd be my "underdog" pick out of the east if I had a gun to my head and had to choose.

That said, I think we have some guys who will be very amped up and motivated to do what they can under the lights of playoff hockey. We need our goalie to be hot and we have to make sure we take advantage when we can.

The trio of Goc, Kopecky, and Bergenheim IMO can have a big impact on how we perform. All 3 are experienced and especially Goc and Bergie have a tendency to show up when we need them. Hopefully the first line goes out and scores some goals, but if Goc or Bergie are on the ice and we need an OT or late goal in a 0-0 or 1-1 type of game, they would be the guys I'd pick to get them.

I am a little worried that when it's a tight checking game, Versteeg is going to be smothered. I'd love for him to prove me wrong and fight through it, as he can be fiery and gritty, but I also think that if you hit him hard and consistently, you can take him out of the play easily. If they're physical against us and really take the body on Weiss, Flash, and Steeg, I don't see that line scoring much. The physicality is the biggest difference between the regular season and the playoffs, so how we respond to that will really dictate how far we go. Even guys like Matthias will have a big role, since he's the type of guy who is strong enough to go out there and play well off the cycle and grind it out. We're going to have to do a lot of that to win.

I think we have a shot, no doubt, but I'm perfectly content being the underdogs going into this series and having the talking heads pick Jersey. It's decided on the ice, not in the TV studios.

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