With the Preseason starting today I wanted to Start the discussion about this hockey season going. Big Topics for me are: Will Vegas be good in their First season? Are the Pens strong enough to sustain a third cup run with losing so many key players? NHL player protection policy/handling of coaches challenge. Personally I think they need to clear up some rules about having the puCK in sight and goalie interference. GO PENS
Poll: Will the Penguins Repeat?
Yes (6)
33%
No (5)
28%
No, but they will make it to Playoffs (5)
28%
No, but they will make it to Conference Finals (2)
11%
18 total votes
Your vote: Will the Penguins Repeat?
(Vote): Yes (Vote): No (Vote): No, but they will make it to Playoffs (Vote): No, but they will make it to Conference Finals
yay for new thread!!! Quite a turn off with the title though. We need a better title.
Excited for what Columbus brings this season. Also with Stamkos back, Bolts will have even stronger offense. Don't expect much from Capitals, even though i predict TJ to have an impressive season.
On September 20 2017 19:58 fLyiNgDroNe wrote: yay for new thread!!! Quite a turn off with the title though. We need a better title.
Excited for what Columbus brings this season. Also with Stamkos back, Bolts will have even stronger offense. Don't expect much from Capitals, even though i predict TJ to have an impressive season.
On September 20 2017 07:17 Gorgonoth wrote: If for any reason someone cant watch their team tonite, here ya go https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLStreams/
i might finally bite the bullet and go sans cabld this year and do this
anyone have any experience with the nhl streaming package and vpns?? i'd be local for NYR, so that would be my main conern
Out of all the pens games last year I watched 90% reg season and 100% of playoff games in HD and no problem without spending a dime. Others teams may be different. Your mileage may vary
On September 20 2017 19:58 fLyiNgDroNe wrote: yay for new thread!!! Quite a turn off with the title though. We need a better title.
Excited for what Columbus brings this season. Also with Stamkos back, Bolts will have even stronger offense. Don't expect much from Capitals, even though i predict TJ to have an impressive season.
Hey have you seen the NFL thread title???? Sheesh
yeah but NFL thread is no reference for us hockey fans here.
I think the stories of this season are Pens threepeat, Connor vs Sid and Vegas Knights. Any ideas?
On September 20 2017 19:58 fLyiNgDroNe wrote: yay for new thread!!! Quite a turn off with the title though. We need a better title.
Excited for what Columbus brings this season. Also with Stamkos back, Bolts will have even stronger offense. Don't expect much from Capitals, even though i predict TJ to have an impressive season.
Hey have you seen the NFL thread title???? Sheesh
yeah but NFL thread is no reference for us hockey fans here.
I think the stories of this season are Pens threepeat, Connor vs Sid and Vegas Knights. Any ideas?
I think the Pens are a lock for the Playoffs, too early to say about the cup imo I think Connor and Sid are both good players. Sid's real value though is improving others around him. Ie Guentzel and Sheary. He forced them to match his level of puck control and recieveing clutch passes. I think Sid is better simply because he has more experience. I think the Knights have the best shot yet at an expansion team to be good. They are in the worst division. If Flurry is clutch i could see them pushing hard to make the playoffs.
On September 20 2017 07:17 Gorgonoth wrote: If for any reason someone cant watch their team tonite, here ya go https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLStreams/
i might finally bite the bullet and go sans cabld this year and do this
anyone have any experience with the nhl streaming package and vpns?? i'd be local for NYR, so that would be my main conern
I got the NHL package one year and used my VPN to watch 'local blackout games'. It was garbage. All Oilers games were blacked out in the 'target region' (which was like most of Western Canada) and so were all nationally televised games (so all weekend games and playoff games, regardless of region). On top of that, some games were still PPV, if I recall.
And when I'd stream, the quality was always so poor from the NHL service. It'd be low quality or constantly buffering. And this was the case even if I was watching the games the next day (so no VPN). It was just bad service. Maybe things have improved since then? I dunno.
Either way, it was an expensive service that was far shittier than what I could get for free using 3rd party streams. The only advantage was that I could watch condensed games after-the-fact when I couldn't catch them live. But totally not worth it imo.
On September 20 2017 07:17 Gorgonoth wrote: If for any reason someone cant watch their team tonite, here ya go https://www.reddit.com/r/NHLStreams/
i might finally bite the bullet and go sans cabld this year and do this
anyone have any experience with the nhl streaming package and vpns?? i'd be local for NYR, so that would be my main conern
I got the NHL package one year and used my VPN to watch 'local blackout games'. It was garbage. All Oilers games were blacked out in the 'target region' (which was like most of Western Canada) and so were all nationally televised games (so all weekend games and playoff games, regardless of region). On top of that, some games were still PPV, if I recall.
And when I'd stream, the quality was always so poor from the NHL service. It'd be low quality or constantly buffering. And this was the case even if I was watching the games the next day (so no VPN). It was just bad service. Maybe things have improved since then? I dunno.
Either way, it was an expensive service that was far shittier than what I could get for free using 3rd party streams. The only advantage was that I could watch condensed games after-the-fact when I couldn't catch them live. But totally not worth it imo.
Yah I the NHL streams subreddit seems to do a good job getting quality streams up. Especially for reg season and postseason.
On September 28 2017 05:28 JimmiC wrote: I'd say not if Price stays healthy. If hes the goalie he's been they will make the playoffs
I think they should pretty easily make the first round. From what i watched last year with them vs the Rangers I'm hesitant to say if they will go past the second round
McDavid is fucking hax. The fact that the Oilers we allowed to tank until they got a player capable of single handedly carrying their team proves that the draft system was a mistake.
On October 05 2017 14:00 SetGuitarsToKill wrote: McDavid is fucking hax. The fact that the Oilers we allowed to tank until they got a player capable of single handedly carrying their team proves that the draft system was a mistake.
Best part is that if Toronto hadn't intentionally tanked so hard that year, Oilers wouldn't have won the lottery. A couple of teams were trying to out-tank each other that year and the Oilers were just legitimately bad, haha.
Vegas the heartbreak kids. Tie with 1.12 left win in ot! If this stops they will regret these points come lottery time but other wise this will earn fans!
I think it is blow back from the whole Stanley cup favorite BS. Good team? yes. But Favorite no. I mean the D is super suspect, and one of your 3 top 4 d men is out till at least Christmas. Anytime like 5-6 players have career years and analysts think "Those guys will do that again andn other guys will improve a ton too" you know it's a recipe for disaster.
I think they will turn it around and make the playoffs. I'm really hope for a battle of Alberta in the playoffs, if so you oiler fans get ready for some Sig bets!
Oilers will be alright once they can start a game not being down by a goal or two in the first minute.
They've been in the lead for a combined 43 minutes of hockey this season. 40 of those minutes coming in the opening game vs. Calgary. Lots of hole digging happening.
You would rather that 1/3 be what is wrong with the leafs? And who should the leafs trade for and what fa are going to sign their? Because as long as i have watched hockey its all leafs all tge time good bad or ugly( moslty ugly last decade)
"How to turn your decent team into rock bottom of the league for just one summer" by Marc Bergevin soon at your local book stores or online at ImTotalyClueless.ca.
And now NHL.TV decided to stop working so no more Tampa game for me....ffs its sad to stay up late to watch the games and have a service crash for so looooong.
Kucherov and Stamkos is the scariest duo in years. They can score anything from anywhere. I pity the defense and the goalies. It also helps the Bolts case that Vasilevsky plays outstanding hockey. Fun team!
On November 01 2017 09:15 Gorgonoth wrote: Pens are a absoulute roller coaster ride
they were one last year too basically for them first couple of months is still a hangover and then they are back with the vengeance.
quite surprising to see wild, preds and oilers having the worst starts in the west (well aside from arizona lol). What is going on
yah, i mean if they can keep up a record like this, then they should have no trouble making the playoffs. but the fact that they go from 1-10 blowouts to 4-0 shutouts is a bit concerning, tristan jarry looking good tho. Niemi was a waste of their time.
I agree with you, for sure when their already thin D has had some injuries. But vegas had them as the west favorite and second only to the Pens. Also most "analysts" had them up there. I have read they have had some bad luck, and talbot is performing way below his career averages but it is still surprising.
I'm still hoping for a playoff battle of Alberta. I'm sure that Vegas and Van will slow down, hopefully the AB teams can pick it up.
On November 07 2017 00:06 JimmiC wrote: I agree with you, for sure when their already thin D has had some injuries. But vegas had them as the west favorite and second only to the Pens. Also most "analysts" had them up there. I have read they have had some bad luck, and talbot is performing way below his career averages but it is still surprising.
I'm still hoping for a playoff battle of Alberta. I'm sure that Vegas and Van will slow down, hopefully the AB teams can pick it up.
I also blame our schedule as well. Edmonton has had 2 or more days off in between nearly every game. Cannot get into any kind of rhythm.
I think if they were doing well people say it is because of all the rest they are getting. I would think scheduling would be more an issue if it was to many games in a short period of time causing injuries and stuff.
Fair enough. In general teams suck when given too much rest though. Hockey players seem to benefit from playing more often in my experience, but only to a point.
Eberle scored vs the Oilers. I wish I bet money on that. Hell the assist is from a guy who they drafted with one of our picks too. Former Oilers always wreck this team. Been that way for as long as I can remember
gotta say Jake Allen is playing out of this world this season.
EDIT: this is probably the most ridiculously fun season in NHL for me so far. So many fantastic stories and achievements, its all great. Can't get enough hockey. I've been watching more games than any other year, even with teams i'm not particularly following.
If Vegas does not make it as a story of the year i will riot. The Subbans' standoff last night was super special and Vegas again made comeback to win it in SO against scary Preds.
I'm also pleasantly surprised, with all the injuries they have dealt with to see that the Bruins are closing in on second in the east. As much as I questioned his Hamilton trade, and the picks he made his first year (I mean barzal and conners were sitting right there!) They are tearing it up.
Edmonton looked like a team that wasn’t poised to repeat success last year imo. What were their possessions stats like??
Last year? Dunno. This year they are good though. Every player save Kassian and Caligula is at or above 50% (Kassian is 49.something I forget and Drake is 46%). We allow the 5th fewest shots, take the fifth most shots.
Our NHL worst 71% PK and NHL 5th worst 15% PP are the real hinderancer. Oh and we shoot the 5th worst at 7.3%.
On January 19 2018 19:38 fLyiNgDroNe wrote: After crushing Bolts last night, Vegas is 1 win away from being the TOP TEAM in the LEAGUE. WTF?!
Its a crazy season. Second hottest team is the Bruins, who many picked to miss. You have the two teams people picked to win the cup out (pit and edm) not to mention the hawks. Colofuckingrado went from worst season in history to legit playoff threat, Devils are back??? ITS MADNESS. And I for one and enjoying the hell out of this year.
They should just give the Jack Adams to Gallant right now. And Florida fans (if they exist) must be mad as fuck about his firing.
Well they traded Smith for a 4th but yeah. I mean the hole Talon promotes a guy he does some different stuff so they fire him and bring tallon back was UGLY. Now they have contracts they don't want can't handle and no direction. They needed to get rid of tallon when they hired the new guy or just keep tallon. Only worse ran team is the Oilers, I mean how do you get fleeced over and over by Garth snow? of all people. And he was raping Chirelli while he was still in Boston.
Was at Bruins/Islanders game last night. Basically as many bruins fans there as there was Islanders fans, it was funny to see. Glad it was an ez game for the Bs, they are looking good!
Only a few games ago, it seemed like the pens might have a rough year ahead of them. But after what theyve been able to pull together in the last few games with great defense and a quality goal tending duo(trio??) Im pretty confident that theyll reach the post season easily
Pens are known to be streaking close to postseason, there is no way they wont make it to the cut. That's probably the best season strategy too - leaving as much strength and hunger for wins for the most important part of the year.
On January 22 2018 06:34 Orcasgt24 wrote: I hope that's what the Oilers are doing because they need about 28 more wins to have a shot to make the playoffs.
RIP season. 5-0 to Buffalo is the nail in the coffin.
I honestly can't compress what it must be like to be a oilers fan.
As a Albertan with many Oiler fan friends it appears that you are very happy every off season and especially around lottery draft time, again pumped with "experts" say how amazing you will be, then slowly more and more depressed throughout the year, until you hit rock bottom and get ready for the excitement of winning the next off season! Rinse and repeat.
On January 25 2018 02:39 JimmiC wrote: As a Albertan with many Oiler fan friends it appears that you are very happy every off season and especially around lottery draft time, again pumped with "experts" say how amazing you will be, then slowly more and more depressed throughout the year, until you hit rock bottom and get ready for the excitement of winning the next off season! Rinse and repeat.
If the oilers win the lotto again I'm going to personally riot at NHL headquarters.
On January 25 2018 02:39 JimmiC wrote: As a Albertan with many Oiler fan friends it appears that you are very happy every off season and especially around lottery draft time, again pumped with "experts" say how amazing you will be, then slowly more and more depressed throughout the year, until you hit rock bottom and get ready for the excitement of winning the next off season! Rinse and repeat.
Since you live in Alberta, I have to ask you a question thats been burning in my mind forever. Is there a stark line in Alberta that separates Oilers fans over Calgary? Is it a pretty antagonistic rivarly? The teams seem so close that I could see a ton of tension there.
Well Calgary loves The Flames and Edmonton people love the oilers and you should hate the other. However non hockey fans are happyif a "Alberta team makes it."
Then out side of the those areas geography doesn't seem to matter it is more split by how old you were when they were good and kind of random.
But for sure most people pick a side and hate the others. Back in the 80's and early 90's when both were good the "battle of Alberta" was a super heated rivalry. I was hoping it would start up again with the teams on the up swing, but the Oilers are bad again so who knows when. A all alberta playoff series would be nuts!
On January 25 2018 02:39 JimmiC wrote: As a Albertan with many Oiler fan friends it appears that you are very happy every off season and especially around lottery draft time, again pumped with "experts" say how amazing you will be, then slowly more and more depressed throughout the year, until you hit rock bottom and get ready for the excitement of winning the next off season! Rinse and repeat.
Pretty much.
I sorta bought the preseason hype but am still vert skeptical of our defense. And I figured even if Talbot was 15% worse we would still be ok. But everyone not named McDavid is way more than 15% worse...sucks for us.
What's really scary is their winrate at home. At home, they're 19-3-2. Makes sense though that you take a bunch of 20-35 yr old dudes who happen to be millionaires to Vegas, and somehow they don't quite wake up in the zone.
On February 07 2018 06:21 JimmiC wrote: I would take the field over those two making the finals. I'd say there is at least 4 teams in each conference at least as likely to make the finals.
On the Pens side I only really worried about the Bolts. Caps and jackets cant seem to beat the pens, but the bolts could give em a run for their money
On February 03 2018 09:24 Mordanis wrote: What's really scary is their winrate at home. At home, they're 19-3-2. Makes sense though that you take a bunch of 20-35 yr old dudes who happen to be millionaires to Vegas, and somehow they don't quite wake up in the zone.
On February 07 2018 06:21 JimmiC wrote: I would take the field over those two making the finals. I'd say there is at least 4 teams in each conference at least as likely to make the finals.
On the Pens side I only really worried about the Bolts. Caps and jackets cant seem to beat the pens, but the bolts could give em a run for their money
The Bruins to them are like they are to the caps. so I think the Pens should be worried about running into them as well. But yeah they are at worst the top 3 favs to come out of the east. I just think it is a little early to be calling anything a cup preview still a lot up in the air!
On February 03 2018 09:24 Mordanis wrote: What's really scary is their winrate at home. At home, they're 19-3-2. Makes sense though that you take a bunch of 20-35 yr old dudes who happen to be millionaires to Vegas, and somehow they don't quite wake up in the zone.
Winnipeg are 20-3-2 at home so, you know.
Vegas it is because they party to hard, Winterpeg it is because they can't party hard enough. Totally makes sense.
Yeah, the high today in Winni is 6F (-14C). Anyone traveling there from south of the 49th parallel is going to get 3 kinds of flu, frostbite, and seasonal affective disorder. That's also quite a nice homefield advantage :D. Compare to Vegas where visiting players just get VD and a hangover.
You're right though, both teams are monstrous this year.
I still do not understand how or why Edmonton's special teams coaches are still employed. League worst in PK(with a solid 2.9% cushion to boot) and only 0.3% from last on the PP.
Habs losing while Otawa is winning. Canadiens with a solid chance for 3rd worst. Hell, with 24 games in hand, even Buffalo and Arizona are not unreachable.
in 40 games of 2017 Pens are 19-18-3 in 21 games of 2018 Pens are 16-4-1 They are doing their 2015/2016 run boys. Legitimately hot. The only difference is that Bruins and Flyers are hot too, and things dont always go well for Pens against these two.
Is your ass all luced up for the 3-6 times a day updates and theories on what is and isn't wrong with austin matthews injury, irrational speculation and baseless guessing?
Rangers flip grabner to devils of all teams. For a good dman prospect who may never leave the khl and a 2nd. Not a bad haul. This is better than moving mcdonagh who is still young and good.
Unless they’re positive he won’t reup in two years or they’re getting a Lindros type return it would be a dumb move. They’re bad because it’s mostky a bad team around him.
That being said I would love to see him on either of those teams. Nash would have the best goddamn d
Getting rid of belesky is great, spooner was a player they may or not have signed. So that is not huge. 1st is high but it will be late and the prospect projects to be bottom a pairing D.
Maybe it’s just me but I’m not all that thrilled with the mcdonagh return. Namestinkov is basically Russian jr miller. Good winger but shit center. So that’s a wash.
The center prospects primary asset is that he is big. Maybe a future third liner. The dman might be good but isn’t a high end prospect. And the picks are froma good team so it’s really more like a 2nd and third??
On March 03 2018 00:05 JimmiC wrote: I think you are underselling how bad their tending was last night!
I didn't think Casey was terrible, I would say two of the shots weren't his fault, I mean the man had zero visibility. Jarry on the other hand, that was pretty pathetic. I'm hoping this was just an off game because he has shown promise before.
I really got a good feeling about a playoff run for the Pens again. The trade shook up the chemistry a bit, but it seems their back on track and I think brassard will be a quality player for them for a long time.
Caps don't have enough ingredients to even pass round 1 this year. They will be lucky to hold their berth fwiw. Last year they had the best PK and one of the best D in the league, this year its almost the worst. Combine this with lack of overachieving young players (like Point in bolts or Guentzel in Pens) and you get the picture.
On March 10 2018 00:23 JimmiC wrote: But they can't beat the bruins
Yah we just have to cross our fingers and hope the caps eliminate the bruins first in the playoff seeding
Its true, not matter how good the Caps are the pens will always beat them, and no matter how much better the pens are the Bruins will beat them. But the Bruins could lose to anyone.
The Atlantic is another crazy division. You have according to many power ranking (3 of top 5 in the league) and points the top 3 teams in the East. And because of the screwed up nature of the NHL playoff system you will have the 2nd and 3rd teams playing each other, likely Bos vs TO at this point, but Bos could pass TB.
They are like the opposite of other Metropolitan because they are also the only 3 teams in the playoffs for that division. Fla is making a late charge but it will be tight if they make it in.
Oilers will have most of that list. Eberle for strome, griffen rienhart for the pick that becomes Matt Barzal. Shutlz for a third was pretty bad. Then if you move to their free agent signings, russell yikes, lucic yikes, sekara yikes.
I think hes trying to fight milbury for all time worst gm
On April 01 2018 17:42 fLyiNgDroNe wrote: that Karlsson goal i mean we've all seen this before but that was a 2-2 game and a breakaway on PK. Insanely huge balls on this dude.
On April 01 2018 21:55 Gorgonoth wrote: hype for the Pens Caps second round preview
regular season games between these two are never the preview for the "second round"
anyway i told this last year and repeat here, Trottz should not play Holtby vs Pens. Grubauer can carry.
Caps and Pens both played like it was a playoff game. But your totally right Holtby just seems to crumble to the pens. watching Gruubaer play a solid 60 minutes of hockey genuinely scary.
Time to fill out your brackets!! Playoffs start in two days. My prediction, pens will absolutely cruise through philly, have a little harder time in the second round and then face their toughest challenger in the semis
I'm not really a fan of any big upsets against the 1 seeds in the first round. The 2/3 divisional match-ups are all ready good except for the Jets/Wild.
Preds in 5. Jets in 5. Knights in 7. Sharks in 6.
Lightning in 5. Bruins in 6. Caps in 5. Pens in 6.
dunno if anyone from this forum follows SC2, but i could swear i saw the SC2 caster Rifkin on TV at the maple leafs game during the national anthem, lol. is he a hockey fan? could have just been someone who looked like him.
On April 16 2018 03:03 brickrd wrote: dunno if anyone from this forum follows SC2, but i could swear i saw the SC2 caster Rifkin on TV at the maple leafs game during the national anthem, lol. is he a hockey fan? could have just been someone who looked like him.
I don't think he's much of a hockey guy and I really really doubt he was in Boston last night, he usually lives in Vancouver
The true calling of the righteous though is regicide. And no one is more suited to that job than the Knights.
Don't get me wrong -- I hate the Kings, too. However, the Ducks are the dirtiest team in the NHL and have been for years. Just look at the shitshow that they put on at the end of last night's game. They were acting like a bunch of rabid dogs. The NHL really shouldn't tolerate that crap.
Yeah they took over from Vancouver when they took two thirds of the triumvirate of evil. Kessler and Bieksa. If Burrows had came over in that deal, it would have been even worse.
It was funny in the Bos Van series a few years ago how the Bruins were thought of as the "bad" guys but really only Marchant was a shit disturber. Van had far more, they just had their Sedins out looking gentle to mask their super assholes.
On April 18 2018 01:07 JimmiC wrote: Yeah they took over from Vancouver when they took two thirds of the triumvirate of evil. Kessler and Bieksa. If Burrows had came over in that deal, it would have been even worse.
It was funny in the Bos Van series a few years ago how the Bruins were thought of as the "bad" guys but really only Marchant was a shit disturber. Van had far more, they just had their Sedins out looking gentle to mask their super assholes.
What makes the Ducks special is that they rot from the top. Getzlaf and particularly Perry are world class assholes. Hell, even the coach is an asshole. Carlyle said many years ago that he doesn't want any Lady Bing candidates on his roster.
On April 18 2018 01:07 JimmiC wrote: Yeah they took over from Vancouver when they took two thirds of the triumvirate of evil. Kessler and Bieksa. If Burrows had came over in that deal, it would have been even worse.
It was funny in the Bos Van series a few years ago how the Bruins were thought of as the "bad" guys but really only Marchant was a shit disturber. Van had far more, they just had their Sedins out looking gentle to mask their super assholes.
What makes the Ducks special is that they rot from the top. Getzlaf and particularly Perry are world class assholes. Hell, even the coach is an asshole. Carlyle said many years ago that he doesn't want any Lady Bing candidates on his roster.
Yeah, I'm not saying that the Ducks aren't dirty as dog shit on top of horse shit. They are. But my team is the Coyotes, and the last time they were decent their season ended like 40 seconds after Brown took out one of our best scorers. There is a special hatred for Brown, Doughty, Kopitar, and the arena sound assholes that play "go kings go" with the South Park voices.
On April 18 2018 01:07 JimmiC wrote: Yeah they took over from Vancouver when they took two thirds of the triumvirate of evil. Kessler and Bieksa. If Burrows had came over in that deal, it would have been even worse.
It was funny in the Bos Van series a few years ago how the Bruins were thought of as the "bad" guys but really only Marchant was a shit disturber. Van had far more, they just had their Sedins out looking gentle to mask their super assholes.
What makes the Ducks special is that they rot from the top. Getzlaf and particularly Perry are world class assholes. Hell, even the coach is an asshole. Carlyle said many years ago that he doesn't want any Lady Bing candidates on his roster.
Yeah, I'm not saying that the Ducks aren't dirty as dog shit on top of horse shit. They are. But my team is the Coyotes, and the last time they were decent their season ended like 40 seconds after Brown took out one of our best scorers. There is a special hatred for Brown, Doughty, Kopitar, and the arena sound assholes that play "go kings go" with the South Park voices.
Brown is definitely a piece of shit, but I still don’t feel like the King’s have the same dedication to evil that the Ducks do. The Ducks went from being a clean team with Kariya and Selanne as the faces of the franchise to trading for Chris Pronger. It was all downhill after that, and sharply so.
We'll see how the Sharks/Ducks series wraps up, but the Sharks will be a tougher matchup for the Knights than the Kings were. The Sharks have far more depth and speed. The biggest problem for the Knights is that they are fairly reliant upon their top line for scoring. The Sharks are one of the best teams in the league at neutralizing top lines thanks to their strong two-way forward play and the Vlasic/Braun pairing. Just look at how they have erased the Getzlaf line. I also have doubts as to whether the Knights blue line is going to be able to hold up against the Sharks power forwards over the course of the series. They have a guy on every line who is a handful to deal with. The Sharks have absolutely abused the Ducks down low with their cycle game, and the Vegas defensemen are nothing to write home about.
Yeah, but the whole power forward thing is something they just dealt with. Dealt with quite handily. I mean, LA has always had issues with scoring, but the issue has never been that they don't have forwards who can throw the body around (pretty much all of them are power forwards except for Rieder and Toffoli). You could be right, but from what I saw this regular season, the scariest thing about the Sharks was the just constant redirections. The way Vegas has been playing they're always on the man ready to stick check or poke. I think we definitely see a lot more scoring, but with the defense that Vegas just showed and their offense they showed pretty every game of the regular season, I just don't see the Sharks taking it.
On April 21 2018 04:05 JimmiC wrote: My buddy takes care of the Flames cell phone accounts and they just ordered one for their new head coach. Expect an announcement shortly!
Peters
this is the 2018 my uncle works at nintendo hahahaha
love those towels so much.
I am really looking forward to the Knights-Sharks series. And just any series with the Preds or lightning.
The only problem with the Sharks/Knights series is that I can't work myself up to hate the Knights. The Knights aren't even a dirty team, so it's unlikely that they're going to give me a reason to hate them. Playoff series are more fun when there's some bad blood.
On April 23 2018 06:15 Gorgonoth wrote: Pens gonna clinch it tonite
Pens are insanely good in playoffs. Playing without Malkin and Hagelin, trailing 2-4, they just switched gears and scored 6 more goals. The game ending was brutally sad though.
Thanks to idiotic NHL's playoff system 3rd year in a row its a caps-pens second round
Caps in 5
oh wait
"Pittsburgh has played Washington 10 times in the playoffs, including second-round wins in each of the past two seasons (six games in 2016, seven games in 2017). The Penguins have won nine of the 10 series, including seven in a row."
welp, maybe Tampa will slow them down in conference finals ... although at this stage even threepeat does not seem all too impossible...
Anyone else rooting for the Canadian teams? The whole country has been cup-less since 1993, and that just doesn't seem right when 1/2 the players are from Canada...
This next round is going to be money. Arch rivals Caps vs Pens, Speed series Jets vs Smashville, Vegas vs Sharks can Vegas really keep this up? and TB vs Bruins best regular season team vs best team in the second half. This is going to be a great GREAT round.
Capitals were basically pushed across the finish line by the refs in game 2. A disallowed good goal, a missed obvious goalie interference, and at least two clear missed penaltys.
On May 01 2018 21:19 JimmiC wrote: He stole the series for Pit vs Was last night. His playoff history is either he is unbelievably good or yikes bad lol.
yeah exactly. He is one of those goalies who can do unimaginable stuff in both directions and you just need to hope its going to be the "right" direction in the right time. Last year Caps could not solve MAF at all, now he is doing the same to Sharks.
in other news, boy is the Point line fun to watch or what?!
I really like Nashville and all its players, but man. Big Buff has been a monster these playoffs. Big points, crushing dudes, ragdolling 2 players at once.
On May 04 2018 02:16 xDaunt wrote: I need to redo my assessment of the Knights. There are some dirty fuckers on that team. They were committing some really bad slashes and other things.
No one has ever gone in to a playoff series rooting for one team and come out the other side without some level of hatred for the other team. It's part of the fun!
Guentzel is just on a whole nother level of play, Except for last night, he is mostly pretty disciplines about not taking bad penalities. And man he can score
well the games might have seemed to be close, but i was impressed how calm and collected Tampa handled the series as opposed to shaky, at times desperate hockey from Bruins.
And Point scored again a beauty last night, what a baller.
Michel Bergeron, ex NHL coach who does not work for the Bruins and never has said that the refs should be disciplined for calling it so against the Bruins.
I do feel it was one sided reffing. But the Bruins have not been getting calls for 20 years based on reputation so I didn't think it was worse then normal.
On May 07 2018 08:21 JimmiC wrote: Did you watch the series or look at the scores? Games were incredibly close and reffing was super one sided.
I watched the series. Yes the reffing was one-sided, but every game after game 1 was all Tampa. Bruins looked gassed in every game after their first win and TB just looked way more poised and calm compared to Boston. The scores were close but Tampa dominated on offense in comparison and Rask did not have a good series at all. There were points where the Bruins couldnt even breach the neutral zone for like 10 minutes at a time.
Man, Vegas dropped the hammer on the Sharks in those last two games. MAF was good, but he really didn’t have to be. The Knights totally clogged the Sharks up in the neutral zone and dominated the passing lanes.
On May 08 2018 05:26 xDaunt wrote: Man, Vegas dropped the hammer on the Sharks in those last two games. MAF was good, but he really didn’t have to be. The Knights totally clogged the Sharks up in the neutral zone and dominated the passing lanes.
Just finished watching the First playoff series loss from the pens in three+ years. I dont think Ill ever be used to it. Gotta hand it to the caps tho, they played a clean game and Holtby made some good stops. All I can say now is go Knights.
Gotta say Pens didn't show up in this series. I'm talking about you Phil and Geno. Also a couple of huge blunders from Doumolin and Letang caused them some games. Anyway Ovi was saying that eventually its going to happen, cause you cant fool luck. With a number of really close games both teams played over the years, the goalpost after Kühnhackl's shot was that necessary amount of luck that let Caps move on. Should it have moved to game 7 i seriously doubt it would turn out well for Caps. Awesome story. 13 years for Ovi to get to the conference finals.
EDIT: oh yeah and boy did Holtby bounce back this year. Best goaltending i've seen from him. HOT.
Damn the Knights look good. Fleury stood on his head in the 3rd period. These guys are on a mission. However I feel like it would be super bush league if the expansion team made it to the finals/won it all...
apparently team made of mostly 2-liners and a weird goalie is better than any other team that has a couple of stars and a bunch of 3rd and 4th liners in their roster... Knights getting into playoffs was a fantastic fun to watch story, but this is too much. The games weren't even that close.
Last night game was epic. Caps showed up quite charged and Bolts were hurting. Hopefully, game 7 delivers too, but i'll be happy with either team advancing.
On May 22 2018 23:51 JimmiC wrote: I would prefer Was just because Ovi as the greatest goal scorer of his generation on a constantly very good team would be sad if he never won a cup.
yep and arguably he is playing his best hockey ever too. The guy is on a mission. Would indeed be very fair to get the Cup.
Either team winning the cup is fine by me but seeing Ovi win would be really special. Washington was the first team I ever saw play live (against the Oilers *gag*), so I guess I have a bit of a soft spot for them. Gogo Caps
The knights have good depth due to lots of solid 2nd and 3rd line/pairing guys. But I think they’re where they are because karlssson has been a legit stud and fleury has been lights out all season and playoffs.
Washington absolutely dominated that third period. They dominated most of their wins in that series imo. Also tom Wilson is really starting to turn into a pretty good powerforward capable of doing more than mashing in heads. That was hilarious watching his slap around coburn
well yeah Wilson is a lot underappreciated. Its funny to see how often he battles for the puck on the boards and wins those battles a lot that leads to quality chances. Barry is so smart to put Wilson on that first line, its amazing how well that worked out. Also that marvelous hit on Kunitz leading to their first goal lol. Makes it even better knowing Kunitz used to be on that Pens team that cock blocked WSH two previos years.
damn its such a pleasure watching Ovi this postseason, when its all joy, power, skill and not frustration. He is definitely on another level, wrecking bodies and scoring big goals. I doubt any hockey fan out there does not enjoy this.
Was able to snag a ticket to last nights game and man was that an awesome experience in person. I’ve been to plenty of sporting events/games before but the atmosphere last night was a different level, every single person in that building was totally into the game, made it so much more intense. I generally don’t watch much hockey outside of the Caps, but this season has been special and has totally hooked me. So happy this is finally happening especially after the playoff disappointments we have had the past three years
so my GF is from Buffalo and apparently those canadians really like their hockey. great time for me to pick up hockey in the district. man i really wish people in my family were hockey fans growing up this shit is so much better than baseball.
well so now that i’ve found this thread, god DAMN smith-pelley let me down in game 3. which sucked, because the rest of his line was overperforming.
but i’ll be damned if he didn’t make up for it with that goal play in game 3, getting 10 ft in the air to keep the puck in the zone AND getting to the net to get that in? disgusting. god bless.
and oshie i’m pretty sure is just a magician on skates. he made that look so easy. god hockey is fun af when the pens aren’t cock blocking you for the third year in a row.
Wow congrats to the Caps, really turned it on this series and Ovechkin heavily deserves this Cup win. So cool to see how fired up he was the whole playoffs.
Goddamnit, it only took 13 years for Ovi to finally overcome the bullshit argument "yes, but how many cups he has?" Hell of an effort from everyone on that team, and symbolic for Ovi to score his signature pp-goal from his office from a feed by Nicky, whom he played with all these 11? years shoulder to shoulder. Pretty amazing story, along with many other storylines.
On June 08 2018 22:37 JimmiC wrote: It must suck to be a sports fan in the east, everything is so bloody late. I'm MST and wish I was west it can feel late for even us.
Living in Belgium, woke up at 3:20 am and watched the game + post-game ceremony until 6:15am. Good thing i can stay working from home, i would be fucked at work otherwise. #Worthit
I don’t think I’ll ever understand the habs logic when it comes to trades. Domi isn’t bad by any means, but that team lacks goal scorers not undersized pricks
As the resident AZ fan, I just want to say that if Domi hadn't been shoe-horned into playing center, plus really bad luck, plus having Zac Rinaldo and a fourth-winger/top6-AHLer as linemates, plus a broken hand a little over a year ago, he could easily have been a 20+ goal scorer. And he had something like 36 assists. Can't find a clip of it but towards the end of the season he had this really sick play on the forecheck where he knocked a saucer pass out of the air, deked past the D-man, and sniped it home.
I'm happy about Galchenyuk, and I'm not saying that in a year everyone's going to be singing the praises of Bergevin, but this was not a hugely one-sided trade IMO.
LOLilers. I remember when Barzal fell to the Oilers at the draft and the fans were going crazy. Then, as the Oilers will do, they traded the pick (and more, obv) for the (already busted) prospect, Griffin Reinhart. Ya know, because he played on the Oilkings and they saw him good. Smartest men in the room. Fans were not pleased.
And Hall. I'm so happy right now. If only because I cheer as much for my teams failings as I do their successes.
On June 21 2018 15:59 Mordanis wrote: As the resident AZ fan, I just want to say that if Domi hadn't been shoe-horned into playing center, plus really bad luck, plus having Zac Rinaldo and a fourth-winger/top6-AHLer as linemates, plus a broken hand a little over a year ago, he could easily have been a 20+ goal scorer. And he had something like 36 assists. Can't find a clip of it but towards the end of the season he had this really sick play on the forecheck where he knocked a saucer pass out of the air, deked past the D-man, and sniped it home.
I'm happy about Galchenyuk, and I'm not saying that in a year everyone's going to be singing the praises of Bergevin, but this was not a hugely one-sided trade IMO.
I don’t think domi is bad by any means. But the habs objectively shit at scoring goals, and just traded their young goal scorer for a young guy who has a pretty brutal sp. I do agree that he’s had shit in the way of help in AZ at times .... he’s not gonna get a lot of help in Montreal haha.
It’s sad watching price having the same career arc as lundqvist. Very talented goalie having his prime pissed away behind garbage teams he inexplicably carried for years.
On June 22 2018 00:02 Flaccid wrote: LOLilers. I remember when Barzal fell to the Oilers at the draft and the fans were going crazy. Then, as the Oilers will do, they traded the pick (and more, obv) for the (already busted) prospect, Griffin Reinhart. Ya know, because he played on the Oilkings and they saw him good. Smartest men in the room. Fans were not pleased.
And Hall. I'm so happy right now. If only because I cheer as much for my teams failings as I do their successes.
This is for the better. Your old man liver can not handle an honest to goodness cup run.
I'm really excited for this coming season though as an AZ fan. We lost our worst player (Luke Schenn), our most embarassing player (Zac Rinaldo), and picked up Galchenyuk and Mikey Grabner. That plus the solid play at the end of the season has given me real hope for a good season. I'm still ready for abject disappointment though.
Canucks overpaid for a few 4th liners. Like wtf, 3M each for Jay Beagle and Antoine Roussel? 2M for Tim Schaller? Who are these guys? I guess we can bury them in the minors if they don't work out. If they can replace Dorsett for grit that would be nice though.
On July 02 2018 20:37 brian wrote: shit they snagged Beagle huh, that’s a bummer. his faceoffs in the playoffs were crazy
He’s a perfect example of a great 4th luner thst you just can’t retain after success. That’s way too much for a guy who is marginally above replacement level.
It’s almost hard to hate Toronto now. I always loved Tavares and their kids are so good.
Multiple sources saying karlson to TB done deal awaiting league approval. No word on compensation! Wowza, move over T.O. TB still the favorites. Poor rest of east it just got a lot harder this week.
I only saw one two tweets about it but no details. Supposedly nyr is a third team??
Assuming the d stays they have a group of Karla son hedman mcdonagh stralman sergachev girardi and cobur. Those top 5 are insane. Only Nashville would even be close.
LoseForHughes is the motto of Montreal for the next season. And then they will probably trade him for Lucic or someone like that. They need to blow up the entire organisation and to start over. Starting with the GM. The worse part is that moving Price(if he keeps his performance from last year) and Weber is nearly impossible, so they are stuck with them.
Honestly, how could that be the best offer they could get? Like Larrson got Taylor Fucking Hall. I get he's just got one year but still, brutal. I'm glad I'm not a sens fan, they are going to be horrible and they have no pick. The Avs must be loving life.
Yeah, the Sharks are going to be like the Ducks when they had Pronger, Niedermayer, and Beauchamin. Karlsson, Burns, and Vlasic is simply a nasty top 3 D.
On September 14 2018 23:59 fLyiNgDroNe wrote: Is window open now for Sharks? Do they even need a solid G with such D?
Will QH make a new thread? I miss the best OP titles on TL.
Yeah, this Sharks roster should be good enough to make a cup run. They're very clearly going all in right now. I wouldn't be surprised if they make another trade to add a top-6 forward at the trade deadline. As of now, their lineup is going to look something like this:
Thornton may very well start the season on the third line to conserve him for the playoffs and to add more scoring depth. The key will be for the young guys (Hertl, Lebanc, and Meier) to really step up and pick up the slack from Thornton and Pavelski, who are both on the decline.
On September 14 2018 23:59 fLyiNgDroNe wrote: Is window open now for Sharks? Do they even need a solid G with such D?
Will QH make a new thread? I miss the best OP titles on TL.
Yeah, this Sharks roster should be good enough to make a cup run. They're very clearly going all in right now. I wouldn't be surprised if they make another trade to add a top-6 forward at the trade deadline. As of now, their lineup is going to look something like this:
Thornton may very well start the season on the third line to conserve him for the playoffs and to add more scoring depth. The key will be for the young guys (Hertl, Lebanc, and Meier) to really step up and pick up the slack from Thornton and Pavelski, who are both on the decline.
Yes they will be sick. And they are in the "easier" division in the west. I also think Jones has been pretty solid for them so I don't think Tending will be a big Achilles heal.