Official NHL 2015-2016 Thread

[gmillerdrake]

Great game

It really was. That's why I'm pi$$ed that the teams weren't allow to win or lose it.....it was decided by utterly horrid officiating.

[KevShmev]

Yep, anybody who doesn't think that game wasn't decided by the officiating is either a Hawks homer, someone who didn't watch the game or a f'ing idiot.

One positive is, I have been considering not keeping cable when I move in two weeks, but kept thinking that I can't not watch the hockey playoffs, but after tonight, screw it.  Sayonara, cable!

[gmillerdrake]

Yep, anybody who doesn't think that game wasn't decided by the officiating is either a Hawks homer, someone who didn't watch the game or a f'ing idiot.

Oh....there will be people who think we're insane and just whining. Of which....they will fall into the three camps you've listed.

[gmillerdrake]

Hitchcock owes it to the fans and his players to take the fine and go off on the NHL and the officiating.....

[KevShmev]

Agreed. The team would be so behind him and fired up, it would be unreal, but he won't; it's not his nature.

Doesn't even matter anyway. The league isn't going to let the Blues beat the Hawks, so no point in even watching.

[King Postwhore]

All the Boston hockey writers are talking on Twitter about how poor the officiating was for that game.

[gmillerdrake]

All the Boston hockey writers are talking on Twitter about how poor the officiating was for that game.

As a fan of the Blues it was infuriating.....I'm curious if anyone here who watched it with a partial eye could comment?

[gmillerdrake]

Still fuming from this.....the officials were involved in every Chicago Goal. Blown Icing call that was clearly not icing leads to late goal, blown goal reverse call and blown goalie interference call.

[TheCountOfNYC]

There is a clear bias towards some teams and against others. Pittsburgh use to have every call go their way but that has stopped for the most part in the past few years. Chicago, Boston, LA, and Montreal tend to have the refs on their side while both NY teams and St. Louis tend to get the shaft from the officiating crew. The refs openly admitted that they "missed" three calls that led directly to LA wins in their last cup run. Two in the finals against the Rangers and one in the game seven of their first round series against the Sharks (meaning if the game was called correctly, the Kings wouldn't have even been in the finals). I don't know if it's intentional bias or not although it certainly feels that way at times, but the refs have been deciding games way too often in recent years and that needs to change because it's making the sport much less enjoyable.

[Nick]

Caps win a physical game 1. Good start.

The series is going to the Caps, that much is clear after game 1.

First off, Caps are the stronger team, no doubt about that, and they are completely healthy to boot.

Next, you have the injury to Couturier. His importance to our team cannot be understated. He is key 1, 2, and 3 when shutting down big players, and his loss is huge.

Then there is Ghost, who should absolutely win the calder this year, for what he did for this team. As great as he was, he had a noticeable slowdown going into the playoffs. You have to remember he missed nearly all of last year with an injury. Coming back from that he's been asked to hop into the NHL, play good minutes, and now extend that into the playoffs. He's nearly out of gas.

Finally there is Streit and especially Voracek, who have been playing like crap. Voracek was doing well up until his last injury, and has just failed completely at having a great game since coming back.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'd expect Caps in 4 or 5, which kills me.

I'm sorry folks, this post was clearly in error, but allow me to fix it now.

Had the reffing refs not reffing reffed us so hard, I feel we would have reffed a lot harder, and in the end, through a lot of reffing ref, we would have reffed our way to victory in the game. Then as long as the refs didn't ref so reffing ref, we would reffing take the series too. Fucking refs.

[Jarlaxle]

 

Caps win a physical game 1. Good start.

The series is going to the Caps, that much is clear after game 1.

First off, Caps are the stronger team, no doubt about that, and they are completely healthy to boot.

Next, you have the injury to Couturier. His importance to our team cannot be understated. He is key 1, 2, and 3 when shutting down big players, and his loss is huge.

Then there is Ghost, who should absolutely win the calder this year, for what he did for this team. As great as he was, he had a noticeable slowdown going into the playoffs. You have to remember he missed nearly all of last year with an injury. Coming back from that he's been asked to hop into the NHL, play good minutes, and now extend that into the playoffs. He's nearly out of gas.

Finally there is Streit and especially Voracek, who have been playing like crap. Voracek was doing well up until his last injury, and has just failed completely at having a great game since coming back.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'd expect Caps in 4 or 5, which kills me.

I'm sorry folks, this post was clearly in error, but allow me to fix it now.

Had the reffing refs not reffing reffed us so hard, I feel we would have reffed a lot harder, and in the end, through a lot of reffing ref, we would have reffed our way to victory in the game. Then as long as the refs didn't ref so reffing ref, we would reffing take the series too. Fucking refs.

[Accelerando]

If there was any indication from the end of the Lightning/Red Wings game last night, Game 3 is gonna be a blood bath.

[TheCountOfNYC]

Big bounce back win for the Rangers. Going home with the series tied often makes a huge difference. Now let's keep the momentum on our side.

[The Trooper]

Big bounce back win for the Rangers. Going home with the series tied often makes a huge difference. Now let's keep the momentum on our side.

 

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Welp. Steve Mason isn't gonna get any sleep for the next lifetime.

Yep, anybody who doesn't think that game wasn't decided by the officiating is either a Hawks homer, someone who didn't watch the game or a f'ing idiot.

Guess I'm a f'ing idiot then.

[KevShmev]

Damn Blues...



 

[mikeyd23]

Big bounce back win for the Rangers. Going home with the series tied often makes a huge difference. Now let's keep the momentum on our side.

Yup, HUGE win for the Rags. The Pens lacked all the things in that game that allowed them to finish the season so strong. Only difference, Geno back in the lineup...Could an elite level player like Malkin actually do more harm to their team than good by returning to the lineup and break up the chemistry of 4 lines that had been playing great?

Anyway, good game by the Rags they created some nice chances and cashed in. On to NYC we go!

[cramx3]

Big bounce back win for the Rangers. Going home with the series tied often makes a huge difference. Now let's keep the momentum on our side.

Yup, HUGE win for the Rags. The Pens lacked all the things in that game that allowed them to finish the season so strong. Only difference, Geno back in the lineup...Could an elite level player like Malkin actually do more harm to their team than good by returning to the lineup and break up the chemistry of 4 lines that had been playing great?

Anyway, good game by the Rags they created some nice chances and cashed in. On to NYC we go!

Yup, very nice game!  Bring it back to the garden baby!

[gmillerdrake]

Don't know if any of you saw this article on the coaches challenge for 'offsides', but it's pretty much right. The rule has done nothing to improve the game....

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/nhl-offside-coach-s-challenges-must-die-152539096.html

[KevShmev]

What I saw of the Panthers/Islanders game last night was pretty great.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Flyers didn't waste any time tonight!

[jingle.boy]

Don't know if any of you saw this article on the coaches challenge for 'offsides', but it's pretty much right. The rule has done nothing to improve the game....

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/nhl-offside-coach-s-challenges-must-die-152539096.html

This rule is ok for obvious misses - like the one that brought about the rule (see below - I like that picture better).  The refs should get one-look at one angle, or a grand total of 15 seconds to review.  If it can't be determined after that, then it doesn't get overturned.



Plays like this, where he Duchene then scored (primarily because the entire Predator team gave up on the play knowing it was offsides (and assuming a whistle was about to blow), deserve to be challenged.  And the penalty to a lost challenge should be just that - a delay of game penalty - not a virtually meaningless loss of timeout... THAT matters in the NFL, it's meaningless in the NHL.

[TheCountOfNYC]

The Flyers were supposed to be the team that could give the Capitals a tough series. Now it looks like the only teams in the East that have the potential to beat them are the Penguins and possibly the Rangers.

[KevShmev]

Epic meltdown in Philly tonight.

[Nick]

Epic meltdown in Philly tonight.

Tell me about it. Everything was going OK until the refs started penalizing us when the Caps through their heads into our fists, or their backs into our sticks.

Honestly though, that fluke goal off the boards is what really killed it. Down 2-1, I felt good about coming back, we were showing a lot of life. But then that happened and things just went to shit. I feel bad about Orpik, as that was just a normal hit that had some seriously bad results. Be interesting to see what his status is in the coming days.

I can see us digging in and getting a win in game 4, maybe, but there is little to no chance this series goes past 5 games.

[MetalJunkie]

So I really want to get into hockey, the NHL specifically. I don't think I've ever watched a pro game in my life. I'm kind of partial to the Stars because I lived in and graduated from the Dallas area.

Is there a resource site for dummies that explains the simple stuff? Like... Are there conferences and divisions like the NFL? Who are the rivals? How do playoffs work? Etc.

[TheCountOfNYC]

So I really want to get into hockey, the NHL specifically. I don't think I've ever watched a pro game in my life. I'm kind of partial to the Stars because I lived in and graduated from the Dallas area.

Is there a resource site for dummies that explains the simple stuff? Like... Are there conferences and divisions like the NFL? Who are the rivals? How do playoffs work? Etc.

There are 30 teams split into two conferences with two divisions each.

The Eastern Conference has 16 teams and they are organized into divisions as follows: The Atlantic Division is comprised of the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Toronto Maple Leafs while the Metropolitan Division has the Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Washington Capitals.

The Western Conference has 14 teams and they are organized into divisions as follows: The Central Division contains the Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, and Winnipeg Jets while the Pacific Division is filled by the Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, and Vancouver Canucks.

The NHL playoffs are structured a bit differently than other sports' playoffs are formatted. Eight teams from each conference make the playoffs and don't play any cross conference playoff games until the Stanley Cup Finals, when the Eastern and Western Conference champions meet to determine the league champion. This is similar to other leagues that use a 16 team tournament but the way the teams are seeded in the bracket is completely different.

At regular seasons' end, the top three teams from each division plus two wild card teams make the playoffs in each conference. The higher seeded division winner plays the lower seeded wild card team in the first round while the lower seeded division winner plays the higher seeded wild card team. The second and third place team from each division play each other (for example, Atlantic team two plays Atlantic team 3).

In the second round, the first place team of a division or the wild card that they played depending on who wins the series plays the second or third place team of the division winner's division. In the third round which is the Conference Finals, the remaining two teams from each conference play each other. The winning teams from those two matchups advance to the Stanley Cup Finals and whoever wins that is crowned as the league champion.

There are some intense rivalries in the league. Most are division rivalries (meaning two teams in the same division) but some are historical and predate the current division system. Some major division rivalries include Rangers-Islanders and Penguins-Capitals from the Metropolitan Division, Bruins-Canadiens and Maple Leafs-Red Wings from the Atlantic Division, Blackhawks-Blues and Stars-Wild from the Central Division, and Kings-Sharks and Oilers-Flames from the Pacific Division. Historical rivalries include Rangers-Bruins and Red Wings-Blackhawks.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Epic meltdown in Philly tonight.

Some Philly fans really lived up to their sterling reputation.

Hope the Caps can wrap this thing up tomorrow nice. Don't want to see this series prolonged and have a Caps player get hurt unnecessarily by a Flyers player frustrated by getting completely outclassed. 

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Pulling for the Caps these playoffs so I enjoyed last night. Hopefully tomorrow's game isn't too much of a bloodbath.

[gmillerdrake]

Don't know if any of you saw this article on the coaches challenge for 'offsides', but it's pretty much right. The rule has done nothing to improve the game....

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/nhl-offside-coach-s-challenges-must-die-152539096.html

This rule is ok for obvious misses - like the one that brought about the rule (see below - I like that picture better).  The refs should get one-look at one angle, or a grand total of 15 seconds to review.  If it can't be determined after that, then it doesn't get overturned.



Plays like this, where he Duchene then scored (primarily because the entire Predator team gave up on the play knowing it was offsides (and assuming a whistle was about to blow), deserve to be challenged.  And the penalty to a lost challenge should be just that - a delay of game penalty - not a virtually meaningless loss of timeout... THAT matters in the NFL, it's meaningless in the NHL.

 I like the rule for what it says and was intended for....egregeous errors. Not these micro second less than half of a half of a blink of an eye stuff. You could look at every entry into the zone and probably find that a good percentage of them are 'technically' offside.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Yeah upholding the rules of the game really hurts the integrity of the game.

[gmillerdrake]

Yeah upholding the rules of the game really hurts the integrity of the game.

Well....I don't think there's much else to say about it. If you want to stop the game for several minutes at a time to determine that a players skate is 1/4" off the ice each time a goal is scored or they enter the zone then you get what you pay for I suppose. 'Egregious' is the word in the rule....which to me interprets as stopping the plays that were just missed by the naked eye...the "obvious" ones. Not micro, millimeter offsides.....as I said, I don't know the exact percentage but I'd be willing to bet 20 or 30 percent of all entries into the zone are offside according to the rules.

[SchecterShredder]

Yeah upholding the rules of the game really hurts the integrity of the game.

Well....I don't think there's much else to say about it. If you want to stop the game for several minutes at a time to determine that a players skate is 1/4" off the ice each time a goal is scored or they enter the zone then you get what you pay for I suppose. 'Egregious' is the word in the rule....which to me interprets as stopping the plays that were just missed by the naked eye...the "obvious" ones. Not micro, millimeter offsides.....as I said, I don't know the exact percentage but I'd be willing to bet 20 or 30 percent of all entries into the zone are offside according to the rules.

Personally, I don't have a major problem with the coach's challenge, but it definitely needs tweaking. I would rather they get the call right, but I also don't like a lot of extra delays for review. Maybe if they penalized the challenging team with a delay of game penalty if the challenge fails, then we'd see coaches only use the challenge for good reason. Or pure desperation, I suppose.

[mikeyd23]

It's funny the league is so concerned with this sort of call, meanwhile clutch and grab hockey rules the day, scoring is down, and stars in the league are being held to less points than ever before. I love hockey much more than football, but I feel like the NHL could learn a thing or two from the NFL. The NFL puts it's star players in a position to score, and has made the effort to increase scoring across the board. The NHL could really benefit from a mindset change in that direction.

[gmillerdrake]

It's funny the league is so concerned with this sort of call, meanwhile clutch and grab hockey rules the day, scoring is down, and stars in the league are being held to less points than ever before. I love hockey much more than football, but I feel like the NHL could learn a thing or two from the NFL. The NFL puts it's star players in a position to score, and has made the effort to increase scoring across the board. The NHL could really benefit from a mindset change in that direction.

Interesting the football comparison. I think that if they actually made the Blue Line/offside rule to nix the skate having to be on the ice and change it to the Blue line is kind of like the goal line in football....it just extends upwards and all you have to do is break the line so to speak....that'd still allow the egregious calls to be made and would eliminate these micro offiside calls.