Maple Leafs onto round 2 for the first time since VT won their first ACC championship, Boston out in round 1 coming off the most regular season wins and points ever, Kraken trying to knock off the defending Stanley Cup champs in game 7.
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First round has been highly entertaining this year. Still crazy that Bobrovsky took out the Tampa team a few years ago with the sweep and follows it up by taking out his second record setting points team.
Go devils
French, if the blueshirts choke a 2-0 lead I'm going to be pissed! Especially with the "all-in" mentality that we took with trades this season. Tonight's game is HUGE
Agreed. It has been very frustrating that the Rangers changed their strategy to accomodate Patrick Kane's addition (screams Dolan- they needed a grinding winger that could create space on Panarin's line or play the fourth line and allow Vesey to move up) and then keep messing up what works to give him ice time in critical situations. I would have loved for the Rangers to add Accari to the Tarasenko/Mikkola deal or find another good faceoff center-wing or a Josh Anderson type power RW instead of Kane. Kane playing at the top of the RW circle on the PP really screwed things up.
Welp...
I hate being right.
😈
Man Boston went all in this year and boy did it ever backfire spectacularly. Wonderful regular season, but now the only thing people are going to remember is the choke of the 3-1 series lead, and not the fact they were the best regular season team in NHL history. And they absolutely mortgaged the future to go for it this year. Oof.
Really disappointed that the Canes are dealing with the injuries we have. Could really use Svechnikov going forward, if we had him I think we'd probably be the odds on favorite to win the Cup. But without him we're going to have to lean heavily on defense and goaltending to advance. Good thing is we probably have the best defense, and if NJ knocks off NYR, we probably have the best goaltending of anyone left, so.... who knows, it could happen
i thought you were a flyers fan? guess my spreadsheet entry was wrong
Grew up a Flyers fan, but being from Raleigh, the Canes are literally my only home team, and have followed since they moved from Hartford, mostly converting fully once Brindy was traded down. Have had season tickets off and on in some sense since 2009.
I'll still cheer for the Flyers if the Canes are out of it, but yeah...
For everything else, Raleigh doesn't have a team so its all Eagles, Phils, Sixers, etc. Charlotte being 3 hours away just doesn't hit the same in terms of being a 'home' team.
went to many a Keith Primeau-Jeff O'Neil led Canes game at the Greensboro Col
Back then I really only went to the Flyers games, but yeah, looking back those were some fun days. Remember the black tarp of death they had to put down to close off the upper deck for the playoffs in '98.
before the tarp came out, you could sit anywhere upper deck for $10-13 with a student id just walking up. Year 2, they broke out the tarp for a Gretzky game, and got turned away from the window for a "Sell Out"
lol yeah the crowds in Gboro sucked. Can't blame anyone, 90 min drive for the 'home' base in Raleigh, and the people in Greensboro were checked out from the start because why care about a team that is already destined to move when their new building is completed?
Just glad the franchise finally has solid ownership and management that is willing to pay to win while playing the patient long term game to slow build a winner. The last 5 years have been incredible for the fanbase here, and it keeps up, should pay off for generations to come with fans who grew up actually emotionally invested with the team rather than just looking at them as some distraction from college sports that might be good 1 out of 5 years.
I'm a Florida fan.
Boston wins that series 997/1000 times. They basically had Game 5 won, they threw it away. Had Game 6 won, threw it away. Had Game 7 won and threw it away. If Ullmark was injured, Montgomery should have started Swayman in Game 5. The Bruins have a lot of meat and potatoes forwards, but lack some creativity. Their top 2 centers and Marchand are 35+, so they couldn't play for an entire series at a high pace.
Granted, teams make their own luck and Boston got out-worked and out played at 5 on 5 in this series. By Games 6 and Game 7, their D was completely overwhelmed with FL forecheck.
Toronto is a bad matchup for FL, since they support the puck more on breakout, their Centers are younger and can skate better. They also have more high end talent and score in transition. My head says they should win 6 or 7.
GO STARS!!!
I was at Game 2 in Dallas vs Minn a couple weeks ago - impressive atmosphere!!
As a Kraken fan, the Stars could sweep Seattle and I would still look at this season as a success. It's all gravy at this point! I can't believe they took down Colorado 🦑
You guys are off to a good start. I hate these 8:30 Central starts in Dallas, games goes way too late. I guess I'm just getting old.
I haven't made it to the end of a single game yet. Anything past 11 on week days is too late for me and some of these games can go until 130 or later
The West Coast games are brutal. Kings, Oilers and Kraken always seemed to end up in OT games.
Never really payed much attention to hockey until I moved to the Raleigh area a few years ago - and now playoff hockey is one of the seasons in sports I look forward to the most! Carolina Hurricanes games are FUUUUN.
Going to my first playoff hockey games tonight between Devils and Canes. Let's go Canes!!
Go devils
😈😈😈😈
Purple seems to be the only devil emoji there is on my phone. Doesn't make much sense.
Huh - purple when viewing on my phone, red on my desktop.....
strange.
Confirmed.
I expect you to be at every home playoff game going forward. Go Canes!
Canes looked real good last night. It's nice to play a team that isn't actively trying to injure your players. Still, what could have been with Svech, Patches, and Turbo healthy...
Also how wild is it that there were back-to-back games with 4 goal players (Pavelski and Draisaitl) and both lost?
jmgreen4 were you there again?!?!
Wasn't there on Friday but boy was that a fun game to watch. Definitely going to a game in the Eastern Finals if the Canes make it.
Man, the Canes have found offense I didn't know they had in this series. Even in the game we lost, we still managed to score 4, and we're averaging over 5 goals scored per game. With our defense and goaltending, that's real tough to beat.
That goalie sucks. The Rangers didn't do anything to make him move laterally or find rebounds. Canes bring the lunchpail every game. Brindamour is one hell of a coach.
My favorite thing in the world right now is salty Rangers fans slandering the Devils for being soft even though the Rangers had a 2-0 lead after two road wins and still lost the series
GGC woke up and chose violence
Not french specifically because his ire is obv directed at the Rangers. But there are SO many Rangers fans around here that just like ... dont?? get it???? at all?????????
Not slandering the Devils at all. I thought they completely outplayed the Rangers, even in Game 6 when the Rangers won. If you think I wouldn't move planets to have Jack Hughes on my team, which hasn't developed a home grown all star caliber center since Jean Ratelle, you are nuts.
I am mad at the Rangers for being completely sloppy and inept with the puck and not going to the greasy places to make life tough for Schmid. In the four Devils wins, the Rangers went full periods without getting a dangerous scoring chance. The work wasn't there, and that is why they took the L.
Carolina is a limited team, especially with all their injuries to their forward group. But, their top guys WORK.
Outside of the rivalry, it would be hard to hate the Devils. They play a fun brand of hockey. It was easy to hate the old Devils because they played anti-hockey with the most detestable unlikeable human being since the 1940s playing goalie. Brodeur made Crosby look like Mr. Rogers.
This is also funny to me. the old devils definitely played defensive hockey with the trap and guys like Stevens rightfully earned a reputation for head hunting on hits. But Lemaire is a league legend and won a cup playing that way.
but regardless of Brodeur being a scummy guy off the ice, the fact that him being better and more successful than Richter and Lundqvist bothers Rangers fans so much that they still bring it up when Brodeur last played for the Devils a decade ago lol
Yeah about that...
Pacioretty we only had play in like 4 and a half games before his season was over. He never was really a part of the team.
Teravainen had himself a particularly terrible season, finding himself regularly demoted to 3rd and 4th line minutes over the 2nd half of the season.
Svechnikov definitely hurts, but he's streaky. Even then, we only got about 2/3 of a season out of him given when he went down with injury.
And we still finished the year with the 2nd best record in the NHL with a point total that would have won the President's Trophy in any year that didn't have the best historical regular season in NHL history leading it. The injuries really didn't hurt us as much as the names of those who were hurt would make you think.
Yeah, Caps fans watching this series could tell you Vanecek can't get it done in the playoffs (hence him not being in DC).
I've been impressed at times with Schmid, but it's going to be a tough hole for him to help them dig out now.
*whispers* and the Kraken got a 2nd round pick back for him
grumble grumble...
or
2nd round pick in a bad draft? (don't think it was a pick in this year's draft, so I'm okay)
I had to look it up. It was for a 2023 2nd round draft pick
The second rounder picked up from Winnipeg for Brendan Dillon. So a) still have a 2nd rounder in this draft (probably a better pick than had they traded their own pick), and b) made room for younger defensemen (Alexyiev and Ferharvary) to get a year under their legs in spite of Lavi's hesitance to playing younger players, and c) turned Vanecek into two picks in last year's draft, so all in all not terrible.
And yeah, I had to look that up, too.
Onto the conference finals
Get em, Canes!!
I started getting real anxious in OT. They had so many good chances early and didn't convert. Pretty impressive with all of the injuries.
Classic NHL move. No other hockey today and no NBA in the prime time slot so naturally they have the most exciting player in the world play (possibly his last game of the year) at 10 PM.
I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of scheduling so I don't know if they had the option to flex it to prime time, but they need to make every effort to have Mcdavid and Draisatl play in front of a national audience
Yeah I'm surprised they can't at least flex it down to 9pm. I'm sure even the local fans wouldn't mind the game starting a bit earlier.
Supposedly the NHL asked and both ESPN and the Oilers told them to fuck off. And from Edmonton's POV, I completely get it, the tickets were sold for a 7pm start in their time zone, and it would be bullshit to their fans if they changed that up just to cater to fans on the East Coast.
Was in Raleigh this past week, had the opportunity to attend Game 5 Thursday night. Did not disappoint! Let's go Canes!
Well I have to deal with a game 7 tonight, but at least its a 7 central start this time.
Was really hoping we closed it out in Seattle but I like our chances in a home game 7.
GO STARS!!!
What a season for the Kraken in only their 2nd year. Fun all the way down to the clock hitting 0 in game 7.
Having zero expectations for sports makes everything so much more enjoyable. I highly suggest everyone try it.
I really like Berniers
Admittedly I am still getting accustomed to the NHL landscape, but I hope he becomes the face of the franchise. I am not sure how ludicrous that statement is
Now the ECF has been a brilliant game some phenomenal saves and some crushing hits in the third all tied up!
I am hurting today. But at least I got my money's worth in that one last night.
Never thought I would ever see 2am in a hockey arena, especially during a game that started at 8....
And of course I had an 8am meeting at work today
That "do I risk oversleeping and go to bed or start pounding Red Bulls like they're 10 for a dollar?" question is a heavy one.
I got about 3 hours of sleep Friday morning. Ugh, tried to make it up last night but still dragging a bit in the lots today.
No worries, nothing a few beers can't fix
I do hockey contests on the Topps Skate app and seeing the back of Burns card say 71 shifts made me laugh at how ridiculous that game was to watch...can't imagine having sat through in person.
Honestly, despite the loss, it's a game I'll never forget. The absurdity of watching everything playing out on the ice was such a unique thing in hockey history.
Panthers looking like a team of destiny. Bobrovsky has been insane and Tkachuk keeps stepping up when it matters most.
Canes can't win when Jordan Staal is their biggest offensive threat.
Sometimes in sports, it's just a certain team's "time"
I think that's what we're watching with Florida right now. If they go through Boston, Toronto, and then Carolina on the way to the Cup Finals, they literally couldn't have had a tougher road.