Board 8 > NHL Playoff topic: OVERTIME. PLAYOFF. HOCKEY!

(+) Yeah! (+)

Vegas fired their coach

Canes in 6
Bolts in 7
Avalanche in 5
Flames in 6

Oilers in 7
Blues in 6
Panthers in 6
Rags in 7

Ah so busy i forgot to post this

+8 Colorado
+6 Carolina
+4 Tampa Bay
+2 Edmonton

....still rooting for Florida though, and Calgary probably wins but I'd like to see some McDavid success at some point...

This Rangers third period is an embarrassment to both them and to Pittsburgh for somehow losing to this team.

Going to be feeling pretty good about my Canes in 5 pick when they win this OT in like 4 minutes.

...But I don't feel good about my Blues in 6 pick at all after how THAT game went and the Wild should feel equally embarrassed.

Lighting in 6
Oilers in 7

Looks like I gave the Rangers too much credit when I said 4 minutes.

Just like we saw at the end of the regular season, when the Canes get serious, they are so much better than the Rangers it's ridiculous.

Meanwhile Edmonton is trying to compete for an even more embarrassing game 1 than the Blues and Rangers...

What the hell is this game is this really happening?

oh so NOW classic Mike Smith shows up

hope it ends up 9-9 heading into overtime

I was super fucking salty at the start of the second and I just kept getting saltier and saltier, now I'm just pumped lol

Edmonton's actually going to win this aren't they

...Who needs goaltenders?

It's kinda weird how terrible the Oilers PP has been for having 6 goals in the game.

The Oilers scored 6 goals and trailed for all but like, 1 1/2 minutes of the game.

That's kinda wild.

Bye Panthers.

Rick Bowness "voluntarily stepping down" as coach of the Stars a.k.a. they're not renewing his contract and this is just a face-saving statement...?

https://twitter.com/DallasStars/status/1527715862089801729

Can't blame the Stars for wanting to go in a different direction, but damn... between the bubble cup finals and pushing the heavily-favoured Flames to Game 7 OT, you think there'd be room for a contract renewal there. I guess they'll be targeting one of the "Coaching free agent" big names then?

I wonder if Trotz would be a good fit for Dallas

The Hurricanes scored shorthanded on a 4 minute PP in which the Rangers got 0 shots on goal in about 15 seconds of offensive zone time.

All 3 Rangers PPs have resulted in more scoring chances for the Canes than they have for the Rangers.

Good lord.

So through 2 games so far:

Carolina and Tampa Bay up 2-0, not really any surprises there but that go-ahead goal with like 3 seconds left in the Lightning/Panthers Game 2 was a heartbreaker (but really an absolute beauty of a pass from Kucherov too)

Colorado/St Louis 1-1, on the back of the resurgent Binnington who's currently 81 for 85 in the series (0.953 save percentage) including 51 saves in the Game 1 OT loss. If he keeps this up, more specifically if they can massively-upset Colorado, it's not too hard to hear the echoing of "Gloria" and memories of 2019...

Edmonton/Calgary 1-1, good for Edmonton winning tonight, though again Mike Smith needed to get dug out of an early deficit ("only" down 2-0 after 6:02, better than down 3-0 after 6:05 like in Game 1 I guess). Tonight's result also puts Smith and Markstrom tied at 11 goals allowed, each, through the two games (Calgary's 9th in Game 1 was an empty netter). Expected from the former, not so much the latter, sure the Oilers are a high-powered offence but gotta be better! Will be interesting to see how Game 3 goes.

Saturday only has Colorado/St. Louis Game 3 and I just might watch it. Florida/Tampa Bay get the extra day off leading to the triple-header Sunday but as a result have the back-to-back Monday? a rarity at playoff time, must've been some arena scheduling issue there...

Don't care what anyone says, I think Kadri did that on purpose.

Maybe I missed something and I need to rewatch it, but on the replay I didn't see any indication of his moving his stick trying to get/play the free puck; it just looked like intentional barreling to me. But maybe it's just a coincidence that one of the top 3 dirty players in the league did a dirty thing.

Hopefully Binnington's back for Game 4, but even then if he comes back he needs to be in his same 110% effective form he'd been showing of late which isn't a guarantee. What a crappy development.

I think we're going to have a situation where both east series are done so long before both west series that the NHL should consider pulling an NBA and start the ECF around the same time as the West second round finishes.

Rangers and Panthers will both be out by Thursday. Flames/Oilers may not finish until the Monday after.

MartinFF7 posted...

Don't care what anyone says, I think Kadri did that on purpose.

Maybe I missed something and I need to rewatch it, but on the replay I didn't see any indication of his moving his stick trying to get/play the free puck; it just looked like intentional barreling to me. But maybe it's just a coincidence that one of the top 3 dirty players in the league did a dirty thing.

Hopefully Binnington's back for Game 4, but even then if he comes back he needs to be in his same 110% effective form he'd been showing of late which isn't a guarantee. What a crappy development.

I am sure I see him moving his stick in such a manner, watching a replay of it. I don't think it was on purpose. This isn't the best quality but you can see him jutting his stick out trying to get to it, then he runs into the other dude and they both slam into binnington.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/7/3/AAb9RHAADQdx.jpg

Binnington threw a water bottle at Kadri after the game during an interview lol. Not as bad as trying to take Kadri's head off earlier in the year but he's still crazy.

Sam Girard out for the rest of the playoffs with a broken sternum, after that giant jumping check into the boards.

Binnington out for at least the rest of the series apparently.

Well, Colorado's probably got that series closed out already.

I find it preposterous that a player on the opposite team would choose to intentionally injure an opponent instead of going after a scoring chance with a loose puck in front of the net where the goalie is off to the side, in the playoffs at that.

I know both Binnington and Kadri have poor reputations, but it would be pure idiocy to ignore the great scoring chance, which is why I just can't see that being intentional.

So Florida is getting swept.

If Washington had any sort of remotely decent goaltending they don't get out of round 1, but sheesh.

Feels bad for the Panthers, this just shows how good the Leafs were I guess... looking forward to the x-stats, lol.

KCF0107 posted...

I know both Binnington and Kadri have poor reputations, but it would be pure idiocy to ignore the great scoring chance, which is why I just can't see that being intentional.

What's one goal-scoring opportunity vs. knocking out the only player in the way of your team winning? Do just enough to give the appearance it's not on purpose and you can get away with it?

But yeah, fine, it was probably accidental... but the fact it HAD to be Kadri out of all possible players is just the cosmic joke of this all, ugh.

Like I assumed I'd be cheering for Colorado to win to prevent the Lightning three-peat but now it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Though I should be rooting for the Calgary/Edmonton winner in the conference finals, at least...

Do the Oilers have the Flames figured out or is it just that the Flames can't figure out the McDavid-Draisaitl combo? They were on the ice for all 4 Oilers goals (and Evander Kane on 3, only missed the 4th since it was the remnant of a PP unit he wasn't on)

Another bad one from Markstrom and got pulled, meanwhile Mike Smith back into "Dr. Jekyll" mode, 5 minutes short of a shutout. Looking forward to Game 4 here, Flames surely don't want to fall into a 3-1 hole but I am rooting for the Oilers so I like it.

Also, came across this & lol'd

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/6/6/AAC56kAADQle.jpg

Poor Panthers...

And nobody really did care about Florida...

Looking at capfriendly, most of the team is still intact next year so they could probably run it back, if Bobrovsky is sufficiently adequate. Though might be having some cap issues, plus no Giroux, but still... running it back pretty well lands them in the same spot as this year too, but who knows.

Joe Thornton is UFA at 42 years old - probably his last game? would some team out there take him on for league minimum?

Carolina maintaining their perfect 100% home win and road loss record is pretty funny, but just thinking about how much leisure time the Lightning will get between series. Time to hit the clubs until 3 am.

Edmonton early 2-0 lead, nice... won't be able to stay up to watch the game this time, hopefully that holds.

The Mike Smith experience

:)

Just watched the Game 4 highlights on youtube, saw the 3rd Calgary goal - "oh this must have been when Crescent posted", lol. Still won!!

I'm surprised at how obviously better the Oilers are.

Between Binnington being obliterated and this the west isn't going as long as I thought it would.

Interestingly, the Rangers would have home ice on Tampa if Igor can steal them two more games. Same points, better tiebreaker.

Colorado still has a problem with lacking that killer instinct.

I'm trying to think if the Rangers have had a single loss in these playoffs where they didn't completely embarrass themselves.

This game has been such a bore.

Meanwhile Calgary and Edmonton resume their first to 5 goals wins series..

No kidding.

I was going to make a

Crescent-Moon posted...

The Mike Smith experience

joke, but then the Oilers got it right back... now going on the penalty kill again and I bet Calgary's going to score... well at least there's still the 3rd period!

Battle of Alberta as entertaining as promised

Never been so happy for a no-goal call.

....the danger being I'll feel compelled to stay up if it gets into overtime, and the gnashing of teeth that'll happen if Edmonton wins the game & series, but still.

Lmao that's so bullshit.

The puck was going in the net in 0.25 secs regardless.

Getting shades of Flames vs Lightning game 6. Robbed by Refs again. Good stuff!

Zigzagoon posted...

The puck was going in the net in 0.25 secs regardless.

Then he shouldn't have kicked it.

He didn't, he was on one skate being squashed into the goalie by the other mother fucker lmao

And even if you want to rule it a "kick". There have been like a million other "kicks" this season that were actually kicks that were ruled as goals so yeah explain that.

Refs win again

Zigzagoon posted...

He didn't, he was on one skate being squashed into the goalie by the other mother fucker lmao

If Kevin Bieksa says it was kicked in, the NHL got the call right.

Edmonton/Tampa Bay final

I actually thought right away that he tilted his skate at the puck. It was closer to a good goal on review than I thought it'd be.

I'm cheering for an 06 rematch