:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Ok Sidney!
You got it all wrong. The NHL playoffs is what North American hockey is all about. That intensity is what gives our brand of hockey its identity. Euro hockey is the product you're looking for.
I'm somewhere in between here.
I agree on both sides.
The way I see it, yeah, playoff hockey the refs let a lot more go... Which I hate.
I hate the sticks in the hands BS and little hooks and small interference or picks. While it's playoff hockey, there still needs to be a 'clean' game, as there is in the first couple weeks of the regular season.
BUT, the refs DO have to call it both ways, and also make a statement in Game 1 to set the tone of how they're going to be calling the series.
The more they let go, the more players will push the edge... To the point where a ref decides to make a call, but 2 periods ago, or even one game ago, it wasn't a penalty. As a former player, we hate not knowing how far to push it until it's a penalty, when the other team is doing stuff too. You don't want to take a penalty that will cost your team a goal, but you also don't want to "not cheat" and give up a scoring chance. (Literally, as I'm typing this, PJ Stock is saying basically the same thing on CBC Hockey Night in Canada, haha).
As far as playoff hockey, hell yeah it's more intense, no question.
Seems that the bigger, grittier teams seem to do well. Yeah you've got to have your skill players, but those skill players need to be gritty enough or have a cool head to play. You can't have some cry-baby Russians that shy away from going into the corners or dirty areas try to carry your team. Either that, or when they get a PP, those skill guys have to bury on the PP at a good clip so the other teams don't push them around and take liberties.
Look at the PIT/BOS series...Not saying Sid, Malkin, Neal, Letang etc are shying away, but they aren't making the B's pay on their PP chances, so the B's can play on that edge, knowing they can kill off penalties. It's also how the B's beat the Canucks 2 years ago to win the Cup. The Canucks (Sedins, Kesler, Burrows, Edler, Ehrhoff at the time) couldn't score on the PP, so the B's could run around and take control of the game, even if they had to kill 4-6,7 penalties. They could kill them off, so they could play more aggressive 5 on 5.
Maybe if the Canucks 2 years ago, or Pens this year scored some PP goals, they B's would have to back off a bit and the skill guys might have a tiny bit more room to work. But as we all know, give the Sedin's, or Crosby or Malkin a tiny bit of room, and they either make a great pass to set up an easy goal or score it themself!
But again, I do think overall the grittier teams prevail. Look at the LA Kings. Poor team in the regular season but they're "built" for the playoffs. Their skill players have grit (Kopitar, Richards, Carter), and they have big bodies that can take anything thrown at them (Penner, King, and basically all their D minus Voynov). CHI has big bodies and skill guys that make you pay. Kane, Hossa, Sharp may not get their noses dirty too much, but they put the puck in the back of the net. Toews is just a beast in playoffs, even if he's not scoring. PIT has more skill but also decent grittiness, but playing against the B's is tough! Boston speaks for themselves. Grit, skill, more grit, and great goaltending.
I'm not saying build a team of big gritty guys, you need skill, but I'm just not overly sold on having a ton of top-6 skilled guys that don't like contact! Easier said than done, yeah, but I love the little guys that don't back down from a damn thing - Marty St.Louis, Brenden Gallagher come to mind. Piss you off with their speed and skill, and can rub it in by scoring or setting up goals. Love em!
Halloween