It gets harder now

[nodnarb]

the way I see it. Look how badly we were outshot in the sens series and it's clear that goaltending was the difference. We won't have Emery to beat up on anymore, and the Hurricanes are every bit as fast and skilled as the Sens. They're more like us than any eastern conference team, imo.

 

But I think we're deeper, and we'll have better goaltending. Sabres in 6.

[apuszczalowski]

They are a very good hockey team, but I don't think they are any better then the Sens are. Currently the 'Canes are getting lucky riding a hot rookie goaltender (who's good) with less experience then Miller. Carolina might look good now, but we still have just under a week to heal up and look forward to another tough series. Buffalo beat Ottawa (one of the best in the East) So beating Carloina is a very real possibility

[ThePolishSabre]

We just beat the best team in the NHL. How are the Canes going to be harder? I too think this might go to 6 games, but that doesn't mean they will be a harder team to beat. We took Ottawa to 3 OT's, and all game were won by 1 goal. I don't think this will be the case vs the Canes. This is the way i see it.

win 1st game

loss the 2nd

win 3rd and 4th in Buffalo

loss the 5th*

and then win the 6th at home

(* unless we win game 5 in a very close game)

[zow2]

The Senators are definitely more talented and more dangerous than Carolina. However.....the 'Canes have confidence and they are probably more opportunistic than Ottawa. The Sens needed like 30 shots to get one or two goals (and 5 on 3's). If Carolina gets 30 shots they will probably bury at least 4 goals. Also, Carolina will match the Sabres work ethic so in that regard it might be tougher.

[bills_fan_in_raleigh]

some canes players quoted today saying they felt sabres are the team to beat in east and figured they would be playing them versus ottawa

[fushetti]

The only thing that I'm worried about is that I don't know enough about Carolina. They don't look like your father's Whalers ;)

 

I'm really hoping we can get back to playing more of our game against them as well. Ottawa really threw everything but the kitchen sink at us and we stood tall...well as tall as 5'9" can stand.

[LabattBlue]

There is no way that Carolina is at the same skill level as Ottawa. I'd like to know which Carolina players match up to...

 

Alfredsson

Heatley

Spezza

Havlat

Chara

Redden

Mezaros

Phillips

 

I'm not dismissing Carolina, but I don't believe they are a better team than the Senators. That being said, at this point in the playoffs, it's all about the W's.

[Kristian]

The Senators are definitely more talented and more dangerous than Carolina. However.....the 'Canes have confidence and they are probably more opportunistic than Ottawa. The Sens needed like 30 shots to get one or two goals (and 5 on 3's). If Carolina gets 30 shots they will probably bury at least 4 goals. Also, Carolina will match the Sabres work ethic so in that regard it might be tougher.

 

My sentiments exactly, I remember we outplayed them completely on one occasion this year and lost something like 6-4.

[matter2003]

I disagree that Carolina is a better team than Ottawa...and thats no insult to Carolina, its just that Ottawa's skilled players could comprise an all-star team themselves. However Carolina is a very dangerous tema and must be respected, but once again I believe our superior depth will prevail over the course of a 7 game series....look at how many of their players have yet to record a point in the playoffs, versus us having all players recording at least a point(other than Novotny who played in only 2 games). We will be able to shut down their top 2 lines like we did against Ottawa and will have a clear advantage with lines 3 and 4 over them...

 

Also Carolina is not as good defensively as the Senators are and we should be able to exploit that...

[Kristian]

 

 

I'm not dismissing Carolina, but I don't believe they are a better team than the Senators. That being said, at this point in the playoffs, it's all about the W's.

 

On the contrary, I'd say they're a much better team than Ottawa. Maybe Ottawa's problem is that they have too many high profile players?

[deluca67]

I wonder how the Canes are going to adjust playing a team with four lines unlike the Devils who have only one line. The Canes were one of the lower ranked defensive teams (tied for 18th) in the NHL this season.

 

I think the Canes have adjusting to do while the Sabres can just play their game.

[Kristian]

 

 

I think the Canes have adjusting to do while the Sabres can just play their game.

 

I think this has been the case all throughout the season, EXCEPT in the series against Ottawa.

 

Which would pretty much explain why we got clobbered in the regular season, but shut them down pretty in the playoffs.

[mrjsbu96]

I disagree that Carolina is a better team than Ottawa...and thats no insult to Carolina, its just that Ottawa's skilled players could comprise an all-star team themselves. However Carolina is a very dangerous tema and must be respected, but once again I believe our superior depth will prevail over the course of a 7 game series....look at how many of their players have yet to record a point in the playoffs, versus us having all players recording at least a point(other than Novotny who played in only 2 games). We will be able to shut down their top 2 lines like we did against Ottawa and will have a clear advantage with lines 3 and 4 over them...

 

Also Carolina is not as good defensively as the Senators are and we should be able to exploit that...

 

 

I don't believe the CAR/OTT comparisons are fair. I think the majority agree that OTT probably had the most highly skilled team left in the playoffs, but they did not have much in the way of the heart, sweat and balls needed to win this time of the year. I haven't seen that much from CAR so far in the playoffs, but perhaps they are more a mirror image of us, in that most fans probably can not name many players past the first line, yet they also roll 3/4 lines and they got the kind of players that block shots while up 3 goals with 45 seconds left....

[Carmel Corn]

Let's not forget about the goaltending. Ward has been pretty Stellar (vs. Emery). If Carolina was playing Ottawa, I would give the edge to the Canes simply because of the netminders.

[SHAAAUGHT!!!]

I don't believe the CAR/OTT comparisons are fair. I think the majority agree that OTT probably had the most highly skilled team left in the playoffs, but they did not have much in the way of the heart, sweat and balls needed to win this time of the year. I haven't seen that much from CAR so far in the playoffs, but perhaps they are more a mirror image of us, in that most fans probably can not name many players past the first line, yet they also roll 3/4 lines and they got the kind of players that block shots while up 3 goals with 45 seconds left....

 

I actually think that Carolina and Ottawa are very comparable, but Carolina is not as deep. They both are skating teams that have a good transition game.

 

Carolina benefits from not having the pressure and expectations that the Senators had, which really affected their game (see Heatly, Chara, and Alfie stats).

 

The sabres will have to earn their wins, but I can't see Carolina taking the series.

[Orange Seats]

Ottawa may have a list of superstars, but they didn't show up. The Cane's are much more like the Sabres. No one makes a list of Sabres superstars and says thats why they've won 2 series.

 

Carolina is going to show up, they see us as the team to beat, not like Ottawa who thought they were going to roll through the series. Carolina is a close match to Buffalo, even down to the young goalie on a hot streak. I'm excited for game one, but I'm not going to say that we're a deadlock win because the Cane's roster isn't as good on paper as the Sens was.

[GGM]

Ottawa may have a list of superstars, but they didn't show up. The Cane's are much more like the Sabres. No one makes a list of Sabres superstars and says thats why they've won 2 series.

 

Carolina is going to show up, they see us as the team to beat, not like Ottawa who thought they were going to roll through the series. Carolina is a close match to Buffalo, even down to the young goalie on a hot streak. I'm excited for game one, but I'm not going to say that we're a deadlock win because the Cane's roster isn't as good on paper as the Sens was.

I think the Canes will definately show up. I just don't Carolina being able to both keep Buffalo from scoring 3-4 goals a game AND put more than 2-3 by Miller a game...Not 4 games out of 7, anyway.

 

It scares me, being this confident. But the boys have earned it (hell, they've DEMANDED it) from me. There's no reason to sell them short now.

[zow2]

The main worry I have with Carolina is simply that they've had our number 3 out of 4 games this season and they don't try to win games based on their skill level. They just work hard. We also haven't faced their goalie Ward. In the 4 games during the season it was Martin Gerber in net. When you look back at the regular season meetings though,,,, there are some hidden explanations in each loss.

 

(Home) L 5-3 - Gerber career high 41 saves, he stole it. Biron had bad game, faced only 17 shots. Erik Cole NHL record two penalty shots in one game.

 

(Away) L 4-3 - Sabres playing 2nd game in less than 24 hrs. Hurricanes well rested. Buffalo was outshot 33-20. Miller played well but lost in a shootout.

 

(Home) L 4-3 - Sabres down 4-0 after 2 made a furious 3rd period comeback but fell short. This was the middle game of an awful 6 game losing streak. Sabres outshoot Canes 27-25.

 

(Away) W 4-0 - Sabres win fairly easily. Biron shutout. Gerber begins his fall from grace. Sabres outshoot Canes 34-33.

[Cardiac Canes]

What's up Sabre fans? Canes fan here, hoping to stop by during our series and talk some hockey maybe a little freindly smack and be on my way once the series is over. I hear you guys are much better fans than the Devils fans are. Those guys and girls really are a piece of work.

 

I have been looking forward to this series when the playoff schedule was announced. This is truly going to be one for the ages. I think this is going to be a high shooting series with lots of breakaways and more than enough goals to go around. My early pick is Canes in 7. You guys have a very fun team to watch. They remind me alot of our own Hurricanes.

 

Thanks for having me over, I look forward to a great series.

[fushetti]

What's up Sabre fans? Canes fan here, hoping to stop by during our series and talk some hockey maybe a little freindly smack and be on my way once the series is over. I hear you guys are much better fans than the Devils fans are. Those guys and girls really are a piece of work.

 

I have been looking forward to this series when the playoff schedule was announced. This is truly going to be one for the ages. I think this is going to be a high shooting series with lots of breakaways and more than enough goals to go around. My early pick is Canes in 7. You guys have a very fun team to watch. They remind me alot of our own Hurricanes.

 

Thanks for having me over, I look forward to a great series.

 

Hey Cardiac, welcome. We're not so bad. Cheer for us in the Cup Finals!! ;)

[frisky]

IMHO, the Canes are the better team than Ottawa (as someone said above me but I didn't use the Quote thing) even if they don't have the skill players like they did. I think that it will be a good, tight contest that will go deep in the series. The part of the Canes that worries me is that they play the 1-2-2 trap and really limited the Devils to very few chances. Our forwards will have to beat that and beat their guys to the puck in their zone and create scoring opporunties that in the playoff the Canes have minimized by their opponents. When we were trying to do that against Ottawa, we routinely didn't seem to be able to get those pucks from what I saw and I think the Canes will be a tougher nut to crack. I hope they take the time to work hard on the things that they need to do to beat the trap system and work on the powerplay that look like it just plain poo. It's going to be an exciting series for sure.

[apuszczalowski]

I hear you guys are much better fans than the Devils fans are. Those guys and girls really are a piece of work.

 

We had to deal with Philly Fans, I think we have you beat

[wjag]

I watched the Canes play the Devils last night. They look sooo much like the Sabres. NJ had a big power play advantage yesterday and was putting on pressure. But it was the CANES who early withstood that and made quality shots.

 

Then the CANES took it to them in the second and played great defense in the third.

 

My feeling is the CANES will out shoot us nightly.

 

There is some question whether Stillman hurt his knee last night (ACL, MCL??) All I know is he was smashed face first into the boards, drew an obvious penalty, split his nose and scored the subsequent power play goal. The knee happened in the third and he went to dressing room.

 

I was trolling the Carolina boards this morning. It is clear, they are concerned. Coach is saying no problem. But Lindy said Timmy would be back the next game too.

 

Carolina will be tough. Should be an awesome series. Wish we didn't have to start on the road.

[apuszczalowski]

I would rather start on the road. Get an early lead or split a series on the raod at the start and carry some momentum back home.

[nodnarb]

why, well, I believe we beat the senators for three main reasons:

 

1. much better goaltending

2. more talented depth

3. we planted the seed of "here we go again" in their heads with that first win. That first win sealed it psychologically. They didn't play the same way since. They played tight, they played scared. We got them out of their game, which is how you beat the senators.

 

The canes have nothing to lose. they weren't picked to be good, just like us. They're young and fast and talented, just like us. And they have a similar psychological state.

 

They're going to be tougher, trust me. We won't take them in 5.