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Playoffs Thread

C

CarolinaPen

Active member
You know the interest is waning in the Canes and NHL when the board doesn't even do the usual pick 'em contest. To late for that, but we still need somewhere to discuss the playoffs.

Last night was a good start to the playoffs with some tight games that mostly went the visitors way. The Penguins were the only home team to win. Tonight it will be interesting to see how a young Toronto team fares against the Capitals....that could get ugly.

I will never understand the NHL scheduling and marketing efforts. This is always a weak point for the league. Last night you had the defending Cup champs and second best point total in the league opening against the 4th best point total in the league buried on the USA network. Great first round matchup. This has the potential to be a pretty brutal series as the teams don't like each other and has a lot of star power (Crosby, Malkin, Bobrovsky). Instead of highlighting individual talents we get the big market teams (Rangers, Montreal).

I understand the market factor, but the teams play a fairly boring style and lack the big name individual talent outside of the goalie matchup. Not the game I would showcase in attempt to bring in new fans.

Then in the nightcap more of the same. The Minnesota/St. Louis game gets top billing....again due to market size while the more intriguing and star powered teams (Edmonton and San Jose) fall to the USA network. The NHL is crazy not to showcase McDavid every chance they get. He plays at a different speed than every other player in the NHL and has the potential to be unstoppable once the other parts of his game round out. Pair that with he is matched up against the defending western conference champs who possess another unique league talent in Brent Burns and this makes for an exciting series.

The NHL only seems to care about maintaining viewership from existing big markets and doesn't seem interested in growing the game. Don't even get me started on the streaming mess for the playoffs. The NHL has a good product in the NHL.com gamecenter streaming during the regular season and the NBCsports.com streaming is a mess for the playoffs. Nothing like taking a step back for cord cutters/mobile people for your marque games. It's not like those are the younger demographics the league needs or anything!
 
I only caught the last 10 minutes of the Wild/Blues game last night. Jake Allen was a freaking stud, 51 saves, a couple of 10 bell saves in OT alone and the Blues win it on a freak play. Suter makes a bad decision and chases Schwartz out to the blue line, Tarasenko gets the puck, turns Koivu inside out but loses the puck right to Joel Edmundson all by his lonesome in the low slot.
 
CarolinaPen said:
You know the interest is waning in the Canes and NHL when the board doesn't even do the usual pick 'em contest. To late for that, but we still need somewhere to discuss the playoffs.

Last night was a good start to the playoffs with some tight games that mostly went the visitors way. The Penguins were the only home team to win. Tonight it will be interesting to see how a young Toronto team fares against the Capitals....that could get ugly.

I will never understand the NHL scheduling and marketing efforts. This is always a weak point for the league. Last night you had the defending Cup champs and second best point total in the league opening against the 4th best point total in the league buried on the USA network. Great first round matchup. This has the potential to be a pretty brutal series as the teams don't like each other and has a lot of star power (Crosby, Malkin, Bobrovsky). Instead of highlighting individual talents we get the big market teams (Rangers, Montreal).

I understand the market factor, but the teams play a fairly boring style and lack the big name individual talent outside of the goalie matchup. Not the game I would showcase in attempt to bring in new fans.

Then in the nightcap more of the same. The Minnesota/St. Louis game gets top billing....again due to market size while the more intriguing and star powered teams (Edmonton and San Jose) fall to the USA network. The NHL is crazy not to showcase McDavid every chance they get. He plays at a different speed than every other player in the NHL and has the potential to be unstoppable once the other parts of his game round out. Pair that with he is matched up against the defending western conference champs who possess another unique league talent in Brent Burns and this makes for an exciting series.

The NHL only seems to care about maintaining viewership from existing big markets and doesn't seem interested in growing the game. Don't even get me started on the streaming mess for the playoffs. The NHL has a good product in the NHL.com gamecenter streaming during the regular season and the NBCsports.com streaming is a mess for the playoffs. Nothing like taking a step back for cord cutters/mobile people for your marque games. It's not like those are the younger demographics the league needs or anything!
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Sadly, McDavid gets painted with the "he plays for Edmonton" brush and that hurts him and the league because the NHL is too caught up in that big market syndrome you touched on.

What I use to enjoy most about the NHL playoffs was the physical contact that gets ramped up like 20 notches come playoff time and I did not see a lot of that last night. Some of those games were as brutal as the regular season, which should never happen! Every check should be finished and every shift should count this time of year...here's hoping tonight is better! I don't expect the Leafs to beat the Caps in a seven game series, but boy is all the pressure on the Caps to win this year and if the Leafs skill and speed comes out of the gate early and often that may be a fun series to watch!
 
FWIW:

Pittsburgh v Columbus: Pittsburgh in 6
Ottawa v Boston: Boston in 7
Montreal v NY Rangers: Montreal in 7
Washington v Toronto: Washington in 5

St. Louis v Minnesota: Minnesota in 7
Edmonton v San Jose: Edmonton in 6
Anaheim v Calgary: Anaheim in 6
Chicago v Nashville: Chicago in 6
 
One other impressive thing worth mentioning from last night. How about the NHL debut for Charlie McAvoy for the Bruins. 1st NHL game and gets put out there for 24+ minutes in a playoff game. Impressive. Hopefully we get Olympic hockey back in 2022 as team USA would look pretty impressive by that time.

Jake Bean (McAvoy went right after) better work out long term as I think McAvoy will be pretty good.
 
Ho Hum Yawn Stretch Playoffs On Really Don't Care

Which series is Forslund doing? I might look in on that one. Othewise, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
 
JFG said:
Ho Hum Yawn Stretch Playoffs On Really Don't Care

Which series is Forslund doing? I might look in on that one. Othewise, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
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The Mighty Forslund has Wild/Blues with former Cane Brian Boucher as his analyst.
 
CanadaCanes said:
What I use to enjoy most about the NHL playoffs was the physical contact that gets ramped up like 20 notches come playoff time and I did not see a lot of that last night. Some of those games were as brutal as the regular season, which should never happen!
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While it was fairly physical that Habs/Rangers game was so buttoned down defensively that it was just flat out boring for large stretches. IMO we're VERY close to sinking back into the defense-first malaise of the late 90s ... without the physicality.
 
OK ... the Caps/Leafs game last night restored my faith in the playoffs ... and in Justin Williams as a playoff monster, not that my belief in that had ever wavered. Classic playoff game ... Toronto took control early and Washington slowly but surely, building shift by shift tilted the ice back in their favor. Then it was just a matter of who would make the play to end it. The Caps did early in OT, but that was just a great game no matter the outcome.
 
jeffbear said:
OK ... the Caps/Leafs game last night restored my faith in the playoffs ... and in Justin Williams as a playoff monster, not that my belief in that had ever wavered. Classic playoff game ... Toronto took control early and Washington slowly but surely, building shift by shift tilted the ice back in their favor. Then it was just a matter of who would make the play to end it. The Caps did early in OT, but that was just a great game no matter the outcome.
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Game was pretty much a mirror image of the Edmonton-Sharks game. Young talented team versus a talented vetern team. Same results. Edmonton and Toronto will learn, but the younger teams usually take some lumps during first playoff run. I wouldn't want to face either in about 3 years.
 
A graphic during the Oilers game brought back a smile as well as a tear. They mentioned that it was the first playoff win by the oilers since game 6 of the 2006 playoffs!
 
HurryCanes said:
A graphic during the Oilers game brought back a smile as well as a tear. They mentioned that it was the first playoff win by the oilers since game 6 of the 2006 playoffs!
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Interesting to see the Oilers bounce back and win with basically two short-handed goals combined with taking 6+ penalties. Not the usual formula to win, but it worked last night for them. I am rooting for the Sharks in this one, but it is pretty fun to watch McDavid play. His speed and acceleration is just off the charts. Usually guys with that quickness and speed don't have the hands/head to match but he does. Pretty incredible combination. He seems to have the drive to get better so it will be interesting to see how he continues to develop the next couple of years (net front, face-offs, defense, overall grit).
 
Jackets and Wild both have career years in the regular season for points and both find themselves facing elimination and down 3 nothing in their series. Rangers were 13 seconds away in game 2 of being up 2-0 and heading home in great shape vs the Habs...yet here they are down 2-1 and losing momentum...
 
Yeah. Minny just doesn't have that been there, done that look playing against a team that does. And I really had hopes that Columbus' offense could derail the Pens, but they just can't get timely anything at this point. Not a huge margin between either of those two teams and the teams that are swamping them, but the devil is in the details.
 
jeffbear said:
Yeah. Minny just doesn't have that been there, done that look playing against a team that does. And I really had hopes that Columbus' offense could derail the Pens, but they just can't get timely anything at this point. Not a huge margin between either of those two teams and the teams that are swamping them, but the devil is in the details.
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Torts is the wrong coach for Columbus....especially against the Penguins. Ever since Sullivan took over the Pens he made them disiplined and has them focused winning the games. Torts is employing the same strategy that worked very successfully against the Penguins from 2010 to 2015 and has his team more focused on play after the whistle and trying to make big hits and getting out of position. That is a shame because Columbus has the talent, though maybe not the depth, to actually play against Pittsburgh. Torts is stuck in the last decade and doesn't realize what the current NHL is about and how to win. His World Cup coaching performance backed that up as well.

In two years, there won't be a better defensive tandem than Seth Jones and Werenski. They are both absolute stud D-men and Werenski is going to be in the Norris conversation in the coming years. Wonder if the Canes can call a mulligan on the Hanifin pick and redo! Not that Hanifin is a bad player, quite the opposite, but Werenski looks to be a special talent and the whole package.
 
CanadaCanes said:
Jackets and Wild both have career years in the regular season for points and both find themselves facing elimination and down 3 nothing in their series. Rangers were 13 seconds away in game 2 of being up 2-0 and heading home in great shape vs the Habs...yet here they are down 2-1 and losing momentum...
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It would have been a shame for the Habs to go down 2-0. There truly have dominated the series so far. Lundqvist has been unreal... especially in games 1 and 2.
 
Looks like my playoff hex is working as it normally would. I picked the Caps to lose in the finals...the Leafs might accelerate that although it is only 2-1 Leafs. I picked Minny and Chicago as well. I also picked Columbus, Boston, the Rangers, Sharks. Only Anaheim (who I picked to the win the Cup) looks good so far :thumbup:

As for who I would be 'ok' with winning the Cup, going with my 'never won before' approach, if any of Nashville, Minny, St. Louis, SJ, Ottawa (not counting Cups won by an Ottawa franchise a long long time ago) or Columbus wins I will be 'happy'. Yes I intentionally omitted the Caps, I continue to reserve the right to hope the Caps never win the Cup.

My 2nd tier list includes just Montreal under my 'good for hockey' category. If it comes down to the Habs vs. any team on the list below, I'm definitely rooting for Montreal.

Just say no list includes the NYR, Boston, Caps, Calgary (barely, this would not be horrible), Anaheim, Pens, Leafs, Chicago, and Edmonton, who just barely misses my 2nd tier list due to the fact that they seemingly tanked for so many high picks that I can't root for them to be rewarded for it.
 
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In the east I'm pulling for the Sens, sort of. Montreal, well would be nice for hockey but I'm not enough of a fan to get behind them that far =)

In the west, just because its insane how long they've competed and fallen flat - I'd like to see the Sharks finally get rewarded with a Cup. Not a big fan of Big Joe, but the guys needs to win the Cup for San Jose and vice versa.
 
I still think Washington will come back and win the series BUT if the Caps fall in the first round you would have to assume a big roster shakeup is on the way. Two years in a row of winning the President's trophy and not making it even to the ECF is a problem. My friend, a Caps fan, would rather see them get upset by Toronto versus win the series and turn around a lose to the Penguins again! That's harsh.
 
I have casual rooting interests in the Ducks (the team my son pulls for in addition to the Canes) and the Preds (Lavi behind the bench and I just like the way they play the game). In the East, I really don't care. I mean, I don't want to see Pittsburgh or Boston win but that's just personal. The West should be fun to watch though because I really do think most everybody aside from maybe Calgary is kind of good enough on their day to do real damage. It's going to mostly be about matchups and hot hands and I like that kind of uncertainty.
 
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