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2018-2019 NHL Hockey Thread

Crap! Just Crap!

Coaching (I'll elaborate later), special teams, defense, and poorly timed performance by Anderson did them in. I agree that the Leafs 5 on 5 outplayed Boston all series long, but Rask was hot when he needed to be, and that was the difference, IMO.

As to coaching - I have been saying ALL DAMNED year that Babcok was over-thinking the power play. Sure at the beginning of the year the Leafs PP weas so good that teams literally were shaking in their boots if they got a penalty, but it became clear after a few weeks that the same format wasn't going to last all season; teams were catching on, and Babs needed to change things up. I said, (no real epiphany here) that they should mix it up with Matthews and Marner switching sides. Nope, Babs was too smart for all of us. To his credit, he did last night, but too late.. Should have done that all year. Leafs best defenseman by far is Reilly. No one else is close. Let Gardiner walk, restructure Zeitzev, keep Muzzin, and McDermot (who shows promise but needs time), but other than that, the rest are useless, IMO.

I think Nylander sitting for so long really didn't help, and of course Kadri really ****ed his teammates in game 2..

All in all, the best most consistent team won, and I hope the BlueJackets kick their ****ing ass in 4.. ;)


Tim-
 
Dragonfly said:
What??? You're not cheering for the Islanders???? :lol: :2razz: :mrgreen:
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HAHAHAH! Not any more than I'd cheer for the Flyers or the Devils.

Aw Hell, I'll admit it. I'd cheer for the Flyers and Islanders over the Penguins, but that isn't say much.:lol:
 
Hicup said:
Crap! Just Crap!

Coaching (I'll elaborate later), special teams, defense, and poorly timed performance by Anderson did them in. I agree that the Leafs 5 on 5 outplayed Boston all series long, but Rask was hot when he needed to be, and that was the difference, IMO.

As to coaching - I have been saying ALL DAMNED year that Babcok was over-thinking the power play. Sure at the beginning of the year the Leafs PP weas so good that teams literally were shaking in their boots if they got a penalty, but it became clear after a few weeks that the same format wasn't going to last all season; teams were catching on, and Babs needed to change things up. I said, (no real epiphany here) that they should mix it up with Matthews and Marner switching sides. Nope, Babs was too smart for all of us. To his credit, he did last night, but too late.. Should have done that all year. Leafs best defenseman by far is Reilly. No one else is close. Let Gardiner walk, restructure Zeitzev, keep Muzzin, and McDermot (who shows promise but needs time), but other than that, the rest are useless, IMO.

I think Nylander sitting for so long really didn't help, and of course Kadri really ****ed his teammates in game 2..

All in all, the best most consistent team won, and I hope the BlueJackets kick their ****ing ass in 4.. ;)


Tim-
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It was still one of the best game 7 I ever saw.

And me too, I hope the Blue Jackets destroy them. (No I'm no Bruins fan even though I live here. Go Rangers!)
 
tres borrachos said:
HAHAHAH! Not any more than I'd cheer for the Flyers or the Devils.

Aw Hell, I'll admit it. I'd cheer for the Flyers and Islanders over the Penguins, but that isn't say much.:lol:
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The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or at least for that night. lol
 
Blue Jackets vs Bruins tomorrow at 7:00 PM. A plus for the Blue Jackets could be that they have had days off and were able to watch/study the Bruins in their games with the Leafs. In my neck of the woods we thought our Blue Jackets would be matched with the Leafs as we seen them as the better team. But the Bruins didn't just win they smoked them. Don't know how all this will turn out but man this is a big deal in my neck of the woods.
 
CanadaJohn said:
Congrats to the Bruins and their fans. Wishing the Blue Jackets' fans lots of fun and excitement, and great success going forward - love that your team took the all in leap and hope you get rewarded for it.

See you all back here next fall.

Let's go Raptors!!
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Sorry your Leafs lost. I know that feeling very well being an early fan of the Blue Jackets. Over the years it has happened often. But you when I was bummed out over their loss kept reminding me they were a young team. You have more class in your little finger than most do in their entire body.
 
vesper said:
Sorry your Leafs lost. I know that feeling very well being an early fan of the Blue Jackets. Over the years it has happened often. But you when I was bummed out over their loss kept reminding me they were a young team. You have more class in your little finger than most do in their entire body.
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If you're a sports fan, any sport, you are a familiar companion of defeat on a regular basis. I remember the last time the Leafs won the Stanley Cup in '67 - I was 11 yrs old, and it was their fourth Stanley Cup win in my lifetime and a fairly regular occurrence. Then expansion came and destructive ownership, and the good times fled Toronto. I'm 63 now and it's not inconceivable that they won't win another Cup in my lifetime. So as a fan who bleeds blue and white, you simply try to enjoy the good times and good play and ply the time honoured practice of picking villains, on and off the team, to bitch about with like minded souls and then refresh in the summer and start anew in the fall.

I'm hoping your Blue Jackets go a long way and make it to the finals and I hope they play either St. Louis or San Jose - The Blues joined the league in that first expansion and while they went to many Cup finals in the early years, they could never beat the established team they faced. They've had a great fan base and, as I've said in the past here, I love to see new teams and new fan bases find success. Same with San Jose - a team with a great fan base and a lot of playoff disappointment.

Have fun and fully enjoy the ride while you can!!
 
WOW!!! The Hurricanes WON!!!

I couldn't watch the whole game, but followed it through into the early third period.
Sure looked like the Capitals were gonna win that game when I went to bed.

What a great year for Wild Card teams.

Is it possible the next round could be as exciting as the first round was?
 
Dragonfly said:
WOW!!! The Hurricanes WON!!!

I couldn't watch the whole game, but followed it through into the early third period.
Sure looked like the Capitals were gonna win that game when I went to bed.

What a great year for Wild Card teams.

Is it possible the next round could be as exciting as the first round was?
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That truly is awesome!

Out:
Last year’s finalists: Caps & knights
Perennial champs: Penguins
Points leader: Lightning
Hottest team over 3 years: Preds
First place Flames

Wow!
 
calamity said:
That truly is awesome!

Out:
Last year’s finalists: Caps & knights
Perennial champs: Penguins
Points leader: Lightning
Hottest team over 3 years: Preds
First place Flames

Wow!
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Just crossing fingers the Bruins get eliminated within the next round.
 
Hard fought game between Canes and Caps. During the 1st overtime period I thought Ovechkin had finally begin to run out of gas. He looked like a player ready to announce his retirement.

Am just glad he was finally able to hold the Cup in the air last year.
 
For what it's worth:

Columbus over Boston in 6 - goaltending mismatch that strongly favours the Blue Jackets
Carolina over NY in 6 - impossible to cheer for a team that treated the very classy John Tavares so poorly
St. Louis over Dallas in 5 - Cinderella teams in the west fade away
San Jose over Colorado in 5 - see above
 
CanadaJohn said:
For what it's worth:

Columbus over Boston in 6 - goaltending mismatch that strongly favours the Blue Jackets
Carolina over NY in 6 - impossible to cheer for a team that treated the very classy John Tavares so poorly
St. Louis over Dallas in 5 - Cinderella teams in the west fade away
San Jose over Colorado in 5 - see above
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Boston over Columbus: I think this is about a 51-49 % likely. Should be a fun series.
Carolina over Islanders: my 2 favorite teams left, and they play each other in the second round...
Blues over Dallas: No team has been better since the first of the year than StL.
San Jose over Avs: Really could go either way. Avs can console themselves with the number 4 pick in the draft iif they lose.
 
Bruins vs. My Blue Jackets....Oh my goodness what a game. I squeezed my butt cheeks so tight throughout this game that no doubt I will feel it in the morning. A big kudos to Matt Duchene, Artemi Panarin, Cam Atkinson for getting the job done in a 2nd OT.
 
calamity said:
Sharks caught a fortuitous break on the major penalty called against Vegas, it seems. NHL apologizes.

NHL apologizes to Vegas for major penalty call

Hmmm....I’m surprised by that.
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The general manager of the Golden Knights George McPhee made a very respectful comment about the foul which cost them the game.


McPhee appreciated the NHL's apology, and said the Golden Knights won't obsess over the controversy.
"But with respect to this organization, there will be no pity parties. We're not feeling sorry for ourselves. Stuff happens in games. We're going to take the rearview mirror out and move forward and put a real good team on the ice next year. We're not going to carry around a big suitcase full of yesterdays. That's not going to happen," he said.
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God I ****ing love hockey. Really exciting game right now.
 
Boomshakalaka what a game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Blue Jackets did it again to the Bruins. Glad there were no OTs so I can get to bed at a decent hour. Wooohoooo!
 
vesper said:
Boomshakalaka what a game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Blue Jackets did it again to the Bruins. Glad there were no OTs so I can get to bed at a decent hour. Wooohoooo!
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Saw that, liked it.
 
Might there be another s_________ in the playoffs this round????

:lol:
 
My beloved Carolina Hurricanes are the ultimate Cinderella story. We were last great in 2006 when we won the Stanley Cup (I attended in person every single gorgeous home game of all four rounds). Then we declined and declined, and lately we went 10 years without making the playoffs.

Enter our idol from 2006, team captain Rod Brind'Amour who raised the Stanley Cup in Raleigh, and he gets hired as the head coach.

The 'Canes then make it back into the playoffs, kind of silently, not making too much noise, although we did make it with one game to spare.

We get the defending Stanley Cup champions as the first round opponents, bummer... A team we couldn't beat four times in the regular season. Then we lose the first two games, in Washington DC. By then, people were saying, "the Carolina Hurricanes don't belong in the playoffs."

Well, as soon as this phrase got issued, I got hopeful. Because, see, that's what people said in 2006... when we went all the way to win the Cup.

So, what happens? From 0-2, and 6 games in a row losing to the Capitals, we go and win the series, 4-3.

Now, we got the NYI, and oh boy, they just can't compete with our young and hungry guys.

We are leading the series 3-0, and as I type this, game 4 in Raleigh, with 16 minutes left in the third period, shows the score of 4-1 for the 'Canes. Get the brooms ready, guys!

So, we're about to make it into the final four... banged up, lots of injuries, our fabulous goalie is not playing, but still, next man up, and we're still winning.

Maybe this is as far as we can get... it's still fantastic. Rod's first year as head coach and he gets the team to the last four!

Or, maybe we'll go even deeper, and will win the next round, too. I don't know. I think we are not THAT good. But it's a huge improvement for a first year head coach, to take a team from complete futility, to at least the final four.

Let's go 'Canes!

Anybody who loves a Cinderella story and whose team is no longer in contention, should be rooting for the 'Canes at this time.
 
Carolina Hurricanes, 5-1 now, 4 minutes left. What a massacre! 6th straight playoff win.

The 'Canes odds to win the Stanley Cup at the beginning of the playoffs: a dead last 60 to 1.

Now: 3 to 1!

Final score, 5-2, the Canes win the series 4-0. On to the Eastern Conference Finals!

Let's go 'Canes!

The Hurricanes now get a well-deserved break; maybe some of our injured players will recover.
 
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