Re: NHL Playoff 08-09
CB, once again you are correct ... both Carolina and Chicago have had great seasons. Carolina's ended last night, and there is a possibility that Chicago's will end tonight. Both teams, the fans of both teams, the cities of both teams can certainly hold their heads high ... it has been a heck of a season. Carolina, congrats on a great year and a great series. Chicago, best of luck tonight (Go Wings!).
Going into the season I really felt that the off-season trades made the Pens and the Wings the best two teams going into the year. Unfortunately, the Pens had too much talent for their coach. He is a great coach, but likes to micro-manage, and that was hard to do with all the talent he had. The talent was there for a wide open offense, but he wanted to control the tempo and work on defense and planned plays. It wasn't working and he was gone (Lemieux and Eddy Johnston knew what they were doing with the talent they had).
Enter Bylsma with his wide open, "let's have fun, you guys know what to do so do it" approach, and at the end of the season, the Wings and the Pens are the best two teams in the league. The good news for the Pens is that the Wings are not the team they were last year, the competition has closed the gap some.
So, tonight will mean a lot for the finals. Will the Pens get more rest than the Wings? Or will Chicago take them to the brink, and maybe even beat them? We will have to wait on the ending, but it is fun to speculate and root!
