Board 8 > NHL Discussion Topic 2: Holiday Road

(+) Yeah! (+)

Oh ya go my Marner winning the last man in vote
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In the past month:
-8 games started
-allowed 3 or more goals in 7 of them
-selected to all-star team
-Korpisalo being injured means he'll be the starter for the Metropolitan division

lol

okay I'm done Holtby posting. Here's that satisfying Kovalchuk OT goal from last night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdRqpY59_I8

He really is producing at a pretty good clip w/ Montreal, wonder how long that keeps up. And I'm used to Leafs fans taking over the CTC, feels weird seeing the Habs fans doing it this time, lol...

Gees devils beat the capitals

Oh, the Devils got rid of Ray Shero today.

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Just when I start thinking "Hey, the Leafs may have a chance after all" they go and do this!

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The Leafs are playing 4D chess here. Give up the division spot to the Panthers, then move ahead of the two Metropolitan teams in the Wildcard in an attempt to not play Tampa/Boston in round 1.

It's genius, really.

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....just got serious deja vu. We were dreaming of the same crossover-wildcard scenario last year weren't we, lol

The dream never dies
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Rielly out 8 weeks. This is fine.

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Forget Holtby posting, we're Samsonov posting now! I love this guy and surely he's going to force some hard (but really easy) goaltending decisions for Washington if he keeps this up a bit longer...!

davidponte posted...

Rielly out 8 weeks. This is fine.

If it makes you feel any better, and you haven't seen it yet, check out this Marchand shootout attempt from tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo1TmtjzjgY

The other night, my fiance asks me, "What happens if, in a shootout, they just miss the puck?"

Her favorite player is Brad Marchand.

Tonight, this happens.

https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1216917329814212609

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SmartMuffin posted...

Her favorite player is Brad Marchand.

How is this real
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davidponte posted...

How is this real

My cousin is a diehard Bruins fan and even he hates Marchand...

SmartMuffin posted...

The other night, my fiance asks me, "What happens if, in a shootout, they just miss the puck?"

Her favorite player is Brad Marchand.

I was following this story perfectly fine up until this point.

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One of the first games she ever watched with me was that playoff game where he licked a dude!

I guess that's something you don't see every day?

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The Red Wings and Devils suck huh

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Matthews with his first hat trick since scoring 4 in his debut.

He might get 55 this year as every Leafs game ends with a combined 10+ goals.

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Red Wings lose by 6. Goal differential is back to more than twice the next worst team.

Also, Crosby came back from his injury and got 4 points tonight, so I guess he's back up to speed already,

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I should thank Crosby, because he's helping pull the Wild back in the shitter. The closer it gets to the trading deadline, the better it is for the Wild to just admit the season is lost, and hope Guerin doesn't what Fenton did do: piss off the fanbase.

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https://twitter.com/GoldenKnights/status/1217470677739102208?s=19

Whooooooooooaaaaaaa

Grumble grumble lucky teams with their firing of coaches for underachieving grumble grumble

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In a year of what the fuck coach firings, Gallant might take the cake.

He might be employed again by the end of the night at this point. What is Vegas doing?

Also he is currently the coach of the Pacific Division All-Star team!
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Imagine replacing Gallant with Pete DeBoer and thinking you're in a better position now lmao
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Well, not that I defend firing Gallant, but in terms of teams who are underachieving their talent level, Vegas is nearly at the top of that list...

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I actually went to ESPN to confirm this because I couldn't imagine Vegas of all teams firing their coach

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davidponte posted...

Also he is currently the coach of the Pacific Division All-Star team!

Oh yeah, uh... does that get forfeited now and DeBoer takes it or does he still keep his spot

I mean, talk about awkward... but they probably figured, hey, make the coaches be from the #1 teams, they'll never get fired! Never!!!

Vegas firing their coach now is incredibly surprising to me, wow.

Hopefully they didn't tell Gallant while on the road and force him to take a taxi home.

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Gallant should get to recruit his own team of all-star snubs that gets to challenge the winner of the 3-on-3 tournament at the end.

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I didn't realize this, apparently dougie hamilton broke his leg a game ago? Man that really hurts. He was having a great season.
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Yeah, that does suck for him. And for Carolina which looks to be falling off a bit after a great start.

The wild card picture in the east is actually looking pretty interesting. Canes/Flyers/Panthers/Leafs/Bluejackets(!!) are all within a couple points of each other.

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The Pacific division is pretty nuts right now too. No team is great, but they're all close. Edmonton is currently 5th place in the division, but a win would jump them to 1st.

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I'm just hoping Kuemper returns in the same form before his injury so he gets the Vezina nom he deserves (maybe even the win), plus the Coyotes would have a lock on a playoff spot if so, maybe even the division. Though I wonder about the Knights and whether the coaching change really does help them resume control.

Calgary and Vancouver falling down in the division would also be great. And Edmonton actually winning... long-suffering Edmonton... I won't hold my breath on that though.

Right now, I got Holtby benched and I need a typical Holtby performance to really put the dagger into his starter role and cement the Samsonov ascendancy. Though in the spirit of "Holtby does the opposite of what Martin wants" I'm expecting a dazzler... but I need him to come through (negatively) now more than ever! Come on Holtby!!

Edit: 2 goals on 10 shots so far, thank you Holtby!!

Calgary leads a division with a -9 goal differential wtf

Also the start of Islanders Capitals

Refs call a penalty on Cizikas when he didn't even touch the guy

Realize they goofed, then called one on Ovechkin where he didn't do anything either

MAKE UP CALL

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Holtby goes 18/22 over two periods, gets pulled

Caps come back from 4-1 down to score 4 + an empty-netter

Samsonov gets the win

The Islanders have been going downhill for weeks and this feels like the trigger that can slide them right out of a playoff spot.

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So this Elvis signing has turned out to be fantastic yeah? He could start shooting up the Calder Trophy lists.
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Oh, and there we go. Oilers lead the Pacific now. If Vegas gets a win in their current game, theyll jump to first. And if Vancouver gets a win later tonight, theyll jump to first. We could have four teams lead this division in one day.

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Here we go again, Blackhawks up big on the Leafs early in the first. I fully predict the Leafs to come roaring back in the third period like always.

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Yeahh.... being down 3-0 early in the first at home isn't the best look.

On the plus side the Leafs will be dropping down to a wild card spot after tonight probably!

(on the downside, the way Washington's going to be with a Binnington-esque Samsonov run, the wild card strategem isn't going to help...)

The Wild Yo-Yo keeps on a rolling. Today, they told Dallas to get bent.

Stop making me go on a rollercoaster dammit. Pick a side already.

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Doesn't that team excel at fan torture almost every season

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Yes...

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Does part of you secretly like it

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No. The pride of winning is balanced out by the shit taste of knowning they always lose later.

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Join the club, Blackhawks also have had this annoying habit of rattling off wins over good teams right off the heels of two/three game losing streaks, only to shit the bed when they're within striking distance of the wild card spots.

This really annoys me because it makes the front office hold on to guys that ought to be traded. Hi Erik Gustafsson, why are you still on this team?!

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The Blackhawks are much better off right now than the Wild tbqh.

If I were to make a list of "teams least likely to win the cup at any point in the next ten years" the Wild are probably at the very bottom. Maybe the Sharks. Not good enough to be a contender now (or any time soon), not bad enough to have even started the rebuild yet.

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https://twitter.com/NHLdotcom/status/1218977859114557440?s=19

Lmao fuck off
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If they're gonna do that, it should've been the Sharks/Knights game last year

except everyone was asleep and nobody saw that one

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Damn... I don't even know why I was still awake, it was a work night. I was probably working from home the next day, and caught in the playoff spirit.

Also just remembered that comeback happened because of a bad penalty call so, in addition to being on the west coast, that definitely taints it.

I didn't realize that we had two Latvian goalies. I feel like that is two more than the rest of the league combined lol.

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