Board 8 > NHL Discussion Topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

Crawford was surprisingly really
good this series though!

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Suprak the Stud posted...

Crawford was surprisingly really
good this series though!

Crawford was abysmal in game 2 and did play well in game 4, but also got some luck in. Oilers missed a couple of effectively empty net shots in the third.

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so the Oilers, Penguins and (assuming what's expected happens) Leafs will all have a shot at the #1 pick.

Literally 37.5% chance it goes to one of those three.

oh geez.

"12th seed" Blackhawks moving on is pretty great though, and also, ya go my Coyotes. I guess the winner of tomorrow's Golden Knights/Avalanche game plays the Hawks and loser plays the Coyotes, then, hmm...

Also, the Habs play the winner of tomorrow's Lightning/Flyers game, and the loser... plays whoever wins between the Leafs (lol) and Bluejackets. would hope the Flyers win since that's arguably a better opponent for the Habs and we can get a rematch of last year's round 1 Lightning disaster.

MartinFF7 posted...

so the Oilers, Penguins and (assuming what's expected happens) Leafs will all have a shot at the #1 pick.

Literally 37.5% chance it goes to one of those three.

oh geez.

"12th seed" Blackhawks moving on is pretty great though, and also, ya go my Coyotes. I guess the winner of tomorrow's Golden Knights/Avalanche game plays the Hawks and loser plays the Coyotes, then, hmm...

I would fear the Blackhawks more just because they're the Blackhawks. Nashville is also a perennial jobber, so you only get like, half credit for beating them in the playoffs.

Like, if Chicago stopped constantly sabotaging themselves, I think they could actually pressure the #1 in a series. I don't think they'd win, but I think they could put up a good showing. If they do as many dumb things (Like those penalties to end the first and second period), I feel like they're just going to give away 3 games and be brushed aside in 5.

Vancouver is clearly the better team, and I think they close it out tonight. So we're left with:

Penguins, Oilers, Leafs are bad #1s.

Panthers, Wild, Predators, Jets basically would be "ok, moving on"

I feel like the Rangers fit neither category, but there's a 50% chance the #1 goes to a team basically no one cares about.


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Blackhawks would get absolutely demolished by the Avalanche. They wouldn't fare that much better against the Golden Knights, but they are horrendously outmatched against Colorado.

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Shadow Dino posted...

Blackhawks would get absolutely demolished by the Avalanche. They wouldn't fare that much better against the Golden Knights, but they are horrendously outmatched against Colorado.

Yet if they play competently as a team I feel like they get the series to at least 6 just because they're the Blackhawks.

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Is Toronto going to lose this 3-2?

Is this really going to be how it ends?

....Huh.

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Toronto choked game 3, but that was a choke for the ages by the Jackets in game 4.

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CBJ ruined elimination Friday. God damn it.

that was a lot of fun to watch

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well now I regret not watching the game, geez... Leafs pulling off the comeback, nice.

(making us all look bad in the process too)

(could this be the turning point or just delaying disappointment to game 5???)

Uhh, never a doubt?

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Oilers miss the playoffs 13 out of the last 14 years.
Why do I bother?

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rammtay posted...

Oilers miss the playoffs 13 out of the last 14 years.
Why do I bother?

Because Oil runs through our veins.

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so thats 2 games in a row that I turned off the Leafs game when it was 3-0

yup

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Well, the Wild season ended with a thud. But in a weird way, it just means things can finally move on. Fiala was amazing for as cheap as his contract is, Koivu and Galchenyuk getting dumped (one would hope) is about $10 million off the cap, and Suter, Spurgeon, and Staal (Parise to a lesser extent) are still "good enough." to hold things together while hopefully Fiala keeps the hot streak going. Stalock seems to have taken over for Dubnyk permanently, so that could be another way to save money.

Dumba was a downer, but the injury really screwed things up. I have no idea about this Kaprizov guy though. He better be Gaborik 2.0 for all the time the management won't shut the fuck up about his "IMPENDING AMAZING ARRIVAL OMFG HYPE!" train. But hey. If he can replace Zucker's production or exceed it, fine. Apparently, the defenseman they got in the Zucker trade is a good pickup too...who knows.

I think the reason I'm less pissed than usual is even if the team didn't move in the standings one way or another, the team seems to have woken up and at least bothered to CHANGE. For years, it was a misguided young core of up and down talent that never seemed to get better, nor was bad enough to be worse. But most of those guys are gone. Fenton's run was a disaster, but at least he and Guerin did what Fletcher couldn't: see the writing on the wall.

Might still take another year or two, but there's movement at least.

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I hope the Wild win the draft lottery, but it'll probably end up being the fucking Penguins or Leafs.

Adding Kaprizov and Lafreniere at the same time would be huge.

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damn, Vegas won. That means we get Vegas/Blackhawks and Avalanche/Coyotes. Would've preferred the other way around...

Fly guys look pretty good

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Now in addition to Vegas/Chicago and Colorado/Arizona, we're set for
-Philadelphia vs. Montreal
-Tampa Bay vs. Toronto/Columbus winner

Other than Leafs/Jackets, last two matchups Sunday:

Boston vs. Washington
-winner plays NY Islanders
-loser plays Carolina

Dallas vs. St. Louis
-winner plays Calgary
-loser plays Vancouver

I was thinking whether we'd run into a situation where a team wants to lose that last game; certainly Boston/Washington don't want any of Carolina, the way they looked against the Rangers. But while I haven't watched any of their games, I'd rather play Vancouver than Calgary? So maybe that still happens there.

If I am either of these teams I don't like either matchup, but Carolina is definitely worse. This game has felt lethargic at best, but the Bruins in general have barely felt like they're trying outside of one period against Tampa.

Whoever loses this is getting ousted by Carolina.

Whoever wins is going to have to wake up a lot more or the Islanders will grind them down.

I feel there's a good chance this game is just deciding who gets eliminated by which team, but I'd definitely take my chances playing the Islanders.

I feel like Vancouver has more talent than Calgary, but is also much more mistake prone. I'd rather play Vancouver because they're more likely to beat themselves. I would take Calgary in a series against them.

The Flames may turn out to be one of those sneaky good teams that takes every series to the brink.


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Flyers in 5
Lightning in 6
Hurricanes in 5 (Boston will wake up eventually, but it will be too little and far too late.)
Islanders in 7 (Tough to pick, but I trust the Islanders defense just a little more than I trust the Caps offense.)

Just going to assume the Blues beat the Stars..

Knights in 6
Avalanche in 5 (This could be a sweep. Its easily the biggest mismatch.)
Flames in 7 (They can beat the Blues at their own game. This series could go either way.)
Canucks in 6

Flyers in 6 (The winner of Islanders/Caps is simply a step below the remaining 3 teams in the East)
Hurricanes in 7 (Hedman going down will make a difference. If he's totally good to go for the series, this might change to Lightning in 7. This feels like the toughest series to pick regardless.)

Knights in 6
Avalanche in 6

Flyers in 7
Avalanche in 6

Avalanche in 6

The Avalanche are the best team. Now the best team doesn't always win, but.. I really don't feel there's a compelling reason to pick against them.

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Boston/Carolina, I hope the Hurricanes hype lives up. Fuck the Bruins.

(actually while looking up last year's playoffs to see if Washington played the Islanders, I completely forgot Carolina beat them in the first round and Boston/Carolina was the eastern final. Damn.)

MartinFF7 posted...

Boston/Carolina, I hope the Hurricanes hype lives up. Fuck the Bruins.

(actually while looking up last year's playoffs to see if Washington played the Islanders, I completely forgot Carolina beat them in the first round and Boston/Carolina was the eastern final. Damn.)

Boston swept the Hurricanes, who swept the Islanders, who swept the Penguins.

It was a bad postseason for Pittsburgh.

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The Leafs are going with the money line by having Tavares-Matthews-Marner start tonight. Surely this can't go wrong now.

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So let's say the improbable happens and the Coyotes win the Stanley Cup. Do they put Chayka's name on the Cup???

MysteriousStan posted...

So let's say the improbable happens and the Coyotes win the Stanley Cup. Do they put Chayka's name on the Cup???

He was GM this year, why wouldn't they.

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All the other first round losses were upsetting, but this shit is just infuriating. Like come the fuck on.

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This isn't even a first round loss. This is sub-first round loss. We can't even qualify to have the opportunity to lose in the first round.

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Only makes it more infuriating!

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Just think about the 12.5% chance...

Okay now that the game's nearing the end I've turned it on.

Edit: ok don't blame me for that

fire everyone into the sun

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That was an awful goal in an otherwise well goaltended game.

Just give up one more, and they'll have Columbus right where they want them...

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I think what really gets me here is that the defense and goaltending, which always ends up being the issue, has never been the issue in this series. Fred has given up some soft ones and it might be time to move on, but that's not why they lost.

You have all the talent in the world on offense and they didn't show up. You can upgrade your D core all you want, but there's no upgrading what they already have up front, so where do you even go from here?

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Absolute garbage overrated team that we're stuck with for a long time.

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davidponte posted...

All the other first round losses were upsetting, but this shit is just infuriating. Like come the fuck on.

I feel like winning game 4 made this so much worse than it needed to be.

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The Blue Jackets playing the very first game on Tuesday feels awfully unfair.

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Toronto is the team I always expect to be good and then blows it immediately in the playoffs. You think Id be better at pattern recognition by now.

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The pattern speaks for itself:

https://twitter.com/Tucker_TnL/status/1292648865322213376

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Wow. Now I don't feel so bad...The Wild at least made the 2nd Round a couple times...

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I did not realize the Maple Leafs had been that futile for that long.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have STILL never won a playoff series in the salary cap era.

That means Toronto gets tomorrow's first pick, right? I don't buy "odds." What I buy is "RIGGGGGGGGGGGGED"

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Strife2 posted...

That means Toronto gets tomorrow's first pick, right? I don't buy "odds." What I buy is "RIGGGGGGGGGGGGED"

I can say this, if anything was rigged the Oilers would never have won a first round pick. The NHL still hates them because they are a WHA team and because of our success in the 80's.

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Though, to be fair, even if they got the #1, I wouldn't trust the Wild with it. The last time they got such a high pick, they got Benoit Pouliot. I'm going to look up that draft again just to cry.

Edit: All I had to see were the names "Carey Price and Anze Kopitar" and I already gave up.

Edit AGAIN: Rask, Neal, Stasny, Oshie, Quick, AND Letang too? OH FUCK OFF!

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Though, to make me feel better, I laughed that some guy called "Wacey Rabbit" was also drafted...

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wacey_Rabbit

Why

Why do you name your kid that if your name is Rabbit...

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IfGodCouldDie posted...

I can say this, if anything was rigged the Oilers would never have won a first round pick. The NHL still hates them because they are a WHA team and because of our success in the 80's.

haha what

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Not Dave posted...

haha what

The NHL has a pretty blatant bias against the Oilers.

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News sites and Twitter buzz seems to be "Anywhere but Edmonton and Toronto" at this point.

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