The Stanley Cup Final
Two teams that no one thought would have a chance getting past the first round, let alone make it to the cup final. A battle of the underdogs. Not to mention two SP rookies, destined to play together, but separated during the draft. A certain Pickle reaching the cup final after a 10 season drought. Even Disney could not have scripted it better. So many story lines. To start let’s recap the journey to the cup final.
Pittsburgh made some huge moves before the trade deadline that solidified their defense. Adding Ajax and Westside has reaped dividends. Westside’s play in net, to this point, is deserving of the Conn Smyth. Pittsburgh started off with a battle against Toronto. Going all the way to a decisive game 7. In the next round they faced a top regular season team in Boston. Odds stacked against them, Pittsburgh was able to shut down a potent Boston attack 4 games to 2. Reaching the conference final, they faced the top team in the league during the regular season, cross town rival Philadelphia. While the experts had Pittsburgh losing in 6, the stats told a different tale. Pittsburgh and Philly both came into the series averaging 1.80 goals against. While Pittsburgh only averaged 2 goals per game, Philly averaged 3.40. Both defenses where solid and something had to give; what gave out, was Philadelphia’s offense. Struggling to find the net game after game. Pittsburgh stayed consistent and found a way to win.
Vegas squeaked into the playoffs. They couldn’t find any chemistry week in and week out. A huge pickup before the deadline was adding Stonerboy and Ciulla to the roster. This allowed eXecuti0n80 to move back to defense while adding chemistry to the top line. Ciulla in net has brought a level of consistency to the goaltending position in Vegas. Similar to Pittsburgh, Vegas was written off against Los Angeles in the opening round. Yet after dropping game 1 to the Kings, Vegas won 4 straight to take the series 4-1. Entering the second round, going up against one of the top teams this season in Colorado, they were written off again before the games could be played. When the dust settled a familiar score revealed itself, Vegas winning 4-1. Finally, meeting a HOT Anaheim team, boasting a five points per game average on the top line, sweeping two straight series. Again Vegas had the odds stacked against them. The tables were then turned on Anaheim, as Vegas swept the series to advance.
The Preseason:
Finally, it’s always important to reflect on what was expected of you this year, interestingly enough both teams first round picks in the draft, were key in getting the assets that put them over the top.
Pittsburgh:
“This team will fight with Boston for the 2nd spot in the Patrick division, and they’ll make the playoffs and probably play Boston in the first round. Whoever wins is up in the air, but this team is not good enough to beat Carolina. Burst will have to carry the offense and snake will have to carry the defense. DrWally had some mediocre stats in VG, and jay better hope those numbers don’t carry over into this league. Tibod can also win some games in net, but don’t expect him to carry the team throughout the playoffs.”
Vegas:
“These guys finish third, get out in the first round of the playoffs. Their forwards look good, and they are solid in net. The defense on the other hand, looks atrocious. Plisk is a goalie, not a dman. Execution has bad numbers in vg, and bad is a nice way of putting it. They’ll make the playoffs in the 3rd spot easily because Vancouver will be so close to the bottom. Don’t expect them to contend for a top spot, because that’s a stupid expectation”
Brutal evaluation. Huge moves by Jayscott and redconcept put both teams over the edge. It also helps that DrWally and eXecut0n are actually better than last season’s VG numbers show.
The Matchup:
When you look at Pittsburgh they are led by their defense. DrWally and Ajax headline the top Defensive pair. Combined they are plus 20, while statistically they are not putting up huge offensive numbers, they play a tight defensive game. DrWally has been quoted as saying, “I would argue that we are putting up a ton of points, but third assists are not counted.” Westside is boasting a save percentage of 88% during this playoff run. By far the top goalie in the playoffs, he will need to continue his stellar play if Pittsburgh is going to take home the Cup.
Offensively, the wild card in this playoff run has been Pittsburgh’s ability to put up timely goals. The top line of Jayscott, Capone and Puckzone/Castles averages 1.4 points per game. Can Jayscott bring back the 150 pt. season Jayscott of old? This could be a difference maker going into the cup final.
Vegas also has a solid defense core, with redConcept88 and eXecuti0n80 as the top pair. Ciulla in net brings reliable goaltending every night. With Pliskin providing reliable goaltending and defense whenever called upon, he truly is the best 7th man in the SP playoffs. Ciulla has been the top goaltender for Vegas during the playoffs for Vegas with an 81% save percentage.
Offensively Vegas has five forwards who collectively average 2.74 points per game. This is the matchup no one thought they wanted to see. Vegas’s forwards against Pittsburgh’s defense. The top line of Prodigy, Stonerboy and Rocket found their chemistry in the playoffs. A huge factor in the success of Vegas is being able to seamlessly replace any forward in the lineup with Zredbeard or Randymarsh at will. All five forwards have found a way to click.
My Analysis:
It’s interesting to point out that Westside has faced double the shots 235 vs 116 compared to his counterpart in Vegas. While many of these shots are from the outside, typically out of desperation, as Pittsburgh suffocated the offense of their opponents.
Vegas has the better forwards overall. They run five guys who put up the similar points. The advantage goes to Vegas in this category since the Pittsburgh forwards can be unpredictable. This can make them dangerous because you never know which lineup will show up.
Defensively Pittsburgh and Vegas have a strong top line. The constant play from the back end is what drove Pittsburgh to this final. It’s also what helped Vegas during their playoff run. In this category, it’s even, while both pairs have strengths and weakness, they all play a similar style.
Goaltending has to go to Pittsburgh, because Westside has been unbelievable all playoffs. Take nothing away from Ciulla who has been equally amazing. This is one of many intriguing match ups this series brings.
It will be close. Pittsburgh has found ways to win each night, squeaking by in 1 goal games. Vegas typically wins by a 2 goal margin, but had their fair share of 1 goal games.
My Prediction:
This was a difficult decision. I feel it will be Pittsburgh in 7 games. Westside’s play in net can’t be overlooked. DrWally and Ajax have shut down top offenses all playoffs. This will be a great series. A battle of two similar backlines. Three players from the same VG team last year, who had a terrible season. One of the reasons why both teams were written off. Tune in on Monday night, grab a drink and enjoy some quality hockey.

Welcome to Pensylvania, population 12.7 Million. The long storied rivalry between the Flyers and Penguins has been going on for decades. The level of importance this time around is significant, but so is the prize, a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. The Pens have had an uphill battle to get where they are now,  defying the critics and all odds for a prominent position in the conference finals. On the other side awaits a sleeping giant, the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers were good enough to clinch a bye in the regular season, some wondered if they could carry that prominence to the postseason, 5 games later and the Flyers sit in the conference finals, hungry and waiting. let’s take a look at these two teams destined to make the Stanley Cup Final.

Pittsburgh Penguins

 
The Pens are definitely the underdogs in this series, Jayscott, Capone, and Castles will have to continue what they have been doing all playoffs long, communicating with their D and shutting the neutral zone down…completely. They can do it though as they have shown nothing but resiliency in the postseason, shunning their critics the whole way. On Defense Ajax and Wally have been holding the fort, not to take away from their other D but these are definitely the Pens main D core and if the Pens want any shot at stopping the high powered Flyers, their going to have to go back to blocking shots, closing lanes and clearing rebounds to stay in this thing. Westside has been the beacon of light in the Burgh, he never give up attitude has spread in the Pens locker room and look for him to keep up his stellar play to get his team a ticket to the big show.

Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers look to continue their onslaught on opposing teams, Bwall, hart, and Cheif have been the big players up front for the Flyers and look to go into the Finals as the EAst favorite. 31 pts combine these 3 and one thing they know how to do is play team defense and backcheck, providing teams with nightmares trying to go visit Visual. The good part (bad for the pens) is they also have Veteran Defense lurking behind them with Iachoku and Cuban holding down the fort. These 2 have been playing the shutdown role and working closely with their forwards to ensure no “outside” interference lurks near their netminder. Visualskillz holds the key the front door in Philly, you could call him the Mayor, posting a 1.00gaa and a SO in the playoffs last round he is the calm before the storm if your thinking of coming in hard on him, stellar goaltending and a dangerous d core and f line have the Flyers singing to the dance, question is, will the Pens show up and shut the concert down? we can’t wait to find out.

The Breakdown:
The Bruins had the bye in week one, the question is will that be a positive or negative for the big bad Bears. On the other hand, you have the Pittsburgh Penguins, coming off a fresh win against a talented Leafs crew who brought them to a finger biting game 7 which saw twitches ratings go through the roof. Jayscott, Castles, and Caponeuptop have been the driving force behind the Pens offensive line notching 16pts collectively, the Pens can do better though as round 1 may have been a little bit of a slow start for them. Out of Boston, the Bruins got the bye for a reason, they came to play and the Pens should definitely have their heads up this series, Pistolpete, You_mecca_me_sik and ihyper97 will provide nightmares to the opposition if they don’t keep their lumber on the ice and bodies in front of shots.
Boston Wins If:
They stick to the plan… if the Bruins stick to what got them here in the first place this should be a walk in the park, not to take anything away from the Pens but if they play the Bruins like they did the Leafs, their going to be in for a long (or short) series. Boston has the scoring, defense, and goaltending….let’s see if they can bring it to the postseason.
Pittsburgh Wins If:
They step their game up, Pens Defensive Core is dangerous when they’re on, Ajax, Snake, Rage, wally, and Robbey can all play the shutdown role with Westside holding the fort. The Pens D and Goaltending is going to have to be consistent and communicating against this Bruins club to be successful. The forward core will have to put up some more points this series to be successful
The Prediction:
Boston wins series 4-2.

Hello everyone, lets breakdown Round 2 Anaheim vs San Jose.
The Breakdown:
Not really a congrats to Anaheim on beating the Arizona FreeAgents. Lol just kidding but it was kind of a walk in the park really. A Pad Statting series if you will. Either way Anaheim is a very very solid team both defensively and offensively. This series will be so much better because San Jose has some great players on their team. San Jose won the regular season series against this team 2-1. Anaheim offensively is led by Kidmoney, reaper, and seguin. These guys are very good together and can tear defense apart. Their goaltending is up in the air as im not really to sure about their goaltending. But i dont think that matters because they have DougCBJ and M1keal. 2 of the best d men in the league. Great pairing. San Jose is going to have some trouble offensively unless they have Mclub play forward because mclub is very very good. It all depends what kozmo does for his lines against this strong Anaheim team. The goaltending in San Jose is amazing with Breezy the #1 guy there.
If Anaheim Wins:
If the Anaheim Ducks want to be able to win this series, they are going to have to get some good scoring oppurtunities and get around the defense. The San Jose Defense is up in the air and sometimes have there games. Anaheim with their top 3 guys are going to put a ton of pressure on San Jose. Anaheim will score at will. But can Anaheim’ goaltending be good? If so, they win this one.
If San Jose Wins:
If San Jose wins this one, they will look to Breezy being phenomal in net. Defense will need to step up its game as well. If they shut down this top forward line of Anaheim, they win this one. San Jose has very good forwards with FUQT, benner, mclub (if playing forward). I believe Mclub should play forward this series to put some pressure on Anaheim’s Defense. But its up to kozmo what he wants to do. I believe they will win this series if they score enough to keep the lead. Defense will be a factor for San Jose here. If San Jose’s defense is phenomal each game, they take this one.
The Prediction:
SJS wins series 4-3.

Hello everyone, lets breakdown Round 2 Vegas vs Colorado.
The Breakdown:
Congrats to the Vegas Golden Knights on defeating the LA Kings in Round 1! From here on out, this is where the real playoffs happen. Vegas and Colorado are 2-2 this regular season. Colorado has one of the best teams entering into these playoffs. They will put alot of pressure on this Vegas Golden Knights team. Most of the puck possesion is most likely to be favored by the #1 seeded Avalanche. Vegas has ciulla who is arguably the #1 Goaltender on this team and he proved it in round 1. They will look to him on this matchup. Vegas has some good defense too. But will they put some numbers up on the board and pass Bigmummy and eggman to get in to score? Bigmummy and eggman are like peanut butter and jelly. They work together very well. One of the best d pair in this league hands down. Colorado is also dangerous on Offense, but rumor has it their backbone on offense, AAli, wont be available at all the entire week of the playoffs. This is Vegas’s chance.. But it wont be easy..
If Vegas Wins:
If the underdog Vegas team wants to win this series, they must take advantage of AAli not being in the line up and make sure to get behind the defense of bigmummy and eggman. Ive played this colorado team plenty of times this regular season to know that they do trap. They trap hard and this vegas team will need to dump it in so often and just work on the puck possesion and get some shots on Jhonny_phonny. Another factor will be the Vegas goaltending. Ciulla can win some games for his team and we will see what he does. The backbone on offense of this Vegas team is ACKstonerboy and he will have to lead the offense here. If this happens, we will see a very big upset.
If Colorado Wins:
If Colorado wants to win this series and not make it extremely painful having AAli out of the lineup, they will need to step up the offensive game. And I believe they can do that. They have amazing puck possesion and thats a huge factor. If they have most of the puck this series, this series is over. These guys can turn nothing into something in a blink of an eye. Great forwards and Great Defense. Gui and sedin will lead the offense here. and Gui and Sedin dont work that well together according to some inside sources but they’re going to have to this series to win some games. Defense will be fantastic on the other hand. These guys make Jhonny_phonny’s job so easy, that he can go take a shower for the time of Game 1 and Game 2 and still have shutouts.
The Prediction:
COL wins series 4-2.

Hello everyone, lets breakdown Round 2 Washington vs Philadelphia.
The Breakdown:
Congratulations to the Washington Capitals on eliminating the Carolina Hurricanes in 6 games. You are now moving on to vs the Broadsheet bullies, the Philadelphia Flyers.. Luckily for the Washington Capitals, they seemed like the only team on the East that can figure these guys out. Thats what will make this series a great one. Possibly go to game 7. Anything can happen in the playoffs.. Anyways the series with Washington v Philadelphia in the regular season was 2-2. A even .500. This series will have amazing goaltending performances. With Kamakaz in net for Washington, he can definitely steal some games like he has done against the Carolina Hurricanes. But lets also not forget about Visualskillz. Both the goaltenders are just amazing at their craft and this series is basically the Kamakaz v Visualskillz. This will be a series you guys will want to watch!
If Washington Wins:
If the underdog Capitals want a chance on winning this series, they will look to the goaltender, kamakaz. He is the backbone of this capitals team and he must give them the chance to win. Washington must score as well and get passed Cuban and Iachoku. Its not going to be easy, but its not impossible either. If Washington scores 3+ in every game, Washington can possibly win this.
If Philadelphia Wins:
If the Big Bad Philly want a chance to close this out early, they must get the puck in deep and work with grit. They need to make sure to screen kamakaz and make sure he doesnt see anything. Shoot turds, shoot from the point. Tip ins are gonna be a factor. Philadelphia has great forwards that can do this. And if they do it successfuly, they will win this series. They need to make sure kamakaz does not get hot..
The Prediction:
Let me just say that this wont be a walk in the park for the Flyers. I soley believe this Washington team will make the Flyers put the money where their mouth is.
PHI wins series 4-3.

This article will wrap up what happened in the most recent week of spnhl. This week has been riddled with controversy, but the DC has decided to keep their mouth shut when it comes to revealing anything, so I’m not going to talk about all that, it seems like they really should.
Top Team this week:
Anaheim Ducks (8-1-0)
The Ducks started off the week with an abysmal 9-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils, but then they finished off with an 8 game win streak, including victories against Philadelphia(5-1), Colorado(4-3 OT), and Boston (9-3).
Worst Team this week:
Vancouver Canucks(0-9-0)
Looks like Vancouver will be in this spot a lot. They lost all 9 games this week and are on a 14 game losing streak. They forfeited 2 games to Boston and Arizona, and that’s probably better than actually playing them and getting blown out. Vandoos should start thinking about next season now because this one is over.
Top players this week:
Forward: Hyper (9-17-26)
Defenseman: Gunzthe4th (1-9-10)
Goalie: Bipolorbear 6-3 115/130 saves (.884 SV%) 1 Shutout
Hyper paced all forwards and helped Boston remain the highest scoring team in the league. Gunzthe4th was a bit of a surprise, seeing how he’s 11th in defenseman scoring in the league, but he had more points than any defender this week. Polor had an amazing week, and he’s the reason Toronto moved up in the standings. An .884 SV% is crazy, and although chadkillz had a higher one (.891), polor faced way more shots, and also played every game.
Current Stat leaders:
Minimum 12 games played
GP: Kidmoney/Reaper – 35
G: rich2k – 60
A: Hyper – 70
PTS: Hyper – 114
PTS/GP: Hartysauce – 4.7
+/-: Aali – +50 (Worst: deadant -44)
PIM: rich2k – 54
H: Drwally – 121
FOW: Kidmoney – 435
FO%: Vish_B – 61.94% (MIN 150 FOW)
GV: Hyper – 414
TK: Tyler91Seguin91 – 109
Goalie:
Minimum 12 games played
GP: Bipolorbear – 30
A: Breezy5457 – 3
W: Jhonny_Phonny/Visualskillz – 17
L: Mikester/Studword – 2 (Most: SgtVandoos – 19)
SA: Bipolorbear – 377
SV: Bipolorbear – 304
SV%: Visualskillz – .809%
GA: Studword – 25 (Most: SgtVandoos – 118)
GAA: Studword – 2.08 (Worst: SgtVandoos – 5.13)
SO: Breezy5457/Watchurstep_UGA – 3
Team Stats:
W: PHI – 25 / VAN – 6
L: PHI/COL – 7 / VAN – 27
OT: CAR – 0 / TOR – 8
PTS: PHI – 54 / VAN – 15
GF: BOS – 144 / VAN – 79
GA: BOS – 83 / VAN – 172
DIFF: BOS – +61 / VAN – -93
PP%: ANA – 32.9% / TB – 13%
PK%: ARI – 86.8% / VAN – 65.4%
STRK: ANA – W8 / VAN – L14
Thanks for reading everyone, this is the first time I’ve done an article like this, so if you have any suggestions to make it better let me know
Seedoftavares

Week 4 Power Rankings
So since there will be no show tonight. And I know how much everyone loves to discuss my Power rankings I’m giving everyone their rankings fix still on Sunday
So as you will see there has been some big movers and droppers.
Week 4
1 Anaheim +4
2 Philadelphia +1
3 Boston +1
4 Colorado -3
5 New Jersey +1
6 Tampa Bay +3
7 Toronto +3
8 Washington -1
9 Pittsburgh +3
10 Carolina +1
11 St. Louis +5
12 Los Angles +2
13 San Jose -5
14 Vegas -1
15 Arizona -13
16 Vancouver -1
Anaheim with big wins all week vs the top 4 teams and then avenging losses to NJ and Boston
San Jose falling off pace with only 3 wins last week
Vancouver just trying to make it to the finish line. GM Vandoos preparing for season 28 and his revenge
St. Louis getting out of the last spot with some great play last week. Only 3 wins but they were no easy win last week
Then we have Toronto and Tampa making moves Saturday and looking like they built themselves playoff contenders. Look out SP
Finally Arizona. Decimated by the current suspensions of their best 3 players. Stud. Fish. Tree. After GM FivePoint walks away from the helm allowing AT_Ezz to take over for the final week. EZZ adds dophares2000 and CiNcHxUp from FA to finish the season. They’ll make the playoffs. But they aren’t looking like the defending champs.