Official 2017-2018 NHL Thread v. Break the Ice

[King Postwhore]

 

I am worried because there is so many injuries to key players right now. Somehow they keep winning.  We just need them healthy for the playoffs.

[pg1067]

2012 Playoffs all over again.

As a Kings fan, I can only hope!

Seriously, though, the Kings "mood swings" are infuriating.  Looked like crap in 7-2 beatdown against STL on Saturday, then had one of their strongest games of the year against an admittedly weak Vancouver team on Monday, and then went down 2-0 early last night against the worst team in the league and had to struggle mightily to force OT and earn a point after a shootout loss.  The Kings' remaining schedule is relatively easy, but if they continue to play like crap against teams that are below them in the standings, the next four weeks are going to be long and painful.

[axeman90210]

Considering I had Cam Ward playing for my fantasy team tonight, I was not happy

The Bruins are 3rd in the league in goals. Why would you have Cam Ward active?

I can start two goalies per day and he was one of only two who were starting last night It's very had for goalies in our league to earn negative points in a given game, he just got way fewer points for me than he would have if they held course at 4-1. Although, in the grand scheme of things this probably helps thin out the race for one of the wild card spots so I can't complain too much

[jingle.boy]

Big win by the Leafs last night, and I was at our company box as a last minute invite.     That was a solid back and forth game... but I haven't seen what the issue was with Anderson coming out.

[axeman90210]

Free box seats ftw

Hoping that the Devils are picking the right time to get hot, they stopped the Predators' winning streak on Saturday and then dropped an 8-spot on Vegas last night, both on the road. What's annoying is that I had planned on going out to Vegas for the game last night until something came up at work that meant I couldn't get away this week. Would have been a really fun game to get to.

[jingle.boy]

Man that Western conference Wild Card race is gonna be a tight one.

In the East... not so much.  Carolina has managed to play their way out of contention, whereas the Panthers are killing it.  I'm glad the Leafs only have one game left against them, and the Bs have three more. 

And the bodies keep piling up... Komarav (Leafs' best defensive forward) looks like a bad knee injury; who knows what the deal is with Andersen.  Chara now on the shelf?  It's gonna be a grind for the next 3 weeks!

[pg1067]

Man that Western conference Wild Card race is gonna be a tight one.

It's maddening!  It seems like every Kings win vaults them from out of the playoffs completely and into a WC spot or third place in the Pacific, and ever loss pushes them out of the playoffs.

Five points separate 2nd place from 5th place in the Pacific,, and 3rd through 5th place in the Central are separated by only two points.  Likewise, five teams are within 5 points of each other for the two WC spots.

No one has more than one game in hand on anyone else, and the Kings and Avs currently own the ROW tiebreaker.

Tonight I'll be rooting for the Sens over Stars, Flames over the Sharts, Wings over Sucks, and Knights over Wild.

Fasten your seatbelts!

[gmillerdrake]

Blues are out of that race. They lost to the Av's at home last night despite having 45 shots on goal (22) of which were quality scoring chances. the Av's goalie of course stood on his head.

The Blues are 1 of 4 teams who have made the playoffs six years in a row.....looks like that streak will end this season. Which I think is a good thing being that there are issues that need to be addressed and missing the playoffs would force those to be a priority.

[romdrums]

I'm hoping the Red Wings continue the losing streak.  It's time to start Fallin' for Dahlin, or Suck Assmus for Rasmus, whichever you prefer.  Anything that forces Chris Illitch to make a change!  Watching Jeff Blashill's line blender the past 3 seasons has been frustrating. 

[TAC]

Blues are out of that race. They lost to the Av's at home last night despite having 45 shots on goal (22) of which were quality scoring chances. the Av's goalie of course stood on his head.

No complaining about the refs, or are we just assuming it? 

[KevShmev]

The Blues might be sucking, but I am going tomorrow night now. All-inclusive, courtesy of my cousin who I am going with, meaning free beer, free foods (nachos!!), and seats 10 rows from the ice.

[jingle.boy]

The Blues might be sucking, but I am going tomorrow night now. All-inclusive, courtesy of my cousin who I am going with, meaning free beer, free foods (nachos!!), and seats 10 rows from the ice.

Can't beat that, even if it is a frustrating product on the ice.

[gmillerdrake]

The Blues might be sucking, but I am going tomorrow night now. All-inclusive, courtesy of my cousin who I am going with, meaning free beer, free foods (nachos!!), and seats 10 rows from the ice.

That’s awesome! I’m sure you’ll get to see a good game. They’re acting like they want to win again. Issue is you can’t lose 7 games in a row in the Central Divison and think you’ll be fine. It’s just too tough a division.

Armstrong has a LOT to prove over the summer. I’d still love to hear his excuse as to why he didn’t sign Panarin two years ago when he, Tarasenko and his agent were begging the Blues to sign him.

[TAC]

Awesome National Anthem in Tampa tonight.


Oh, and I love David Backes. Have I mentioned that before?

[KevShmev]

The Blues might be sucking, but I am going tomorrow night now. All-inclusive, courtesy of my cousin who I am going with, meaning free beer, free foods (nachos!!), and seats 10 rows from the ice.

That’s awesome! I’m sure you’ll get to see a good game.

Or I will wake up sick to my stomach the morning of the game and not be well enough to attend.

[jingle.boy]

Oh, and I love David Backes. Have I mentioned that before?

Scary looking injury there. The urgency suggests he might've got a major artery. 

[TAC]

Oh, and I love David Backes. Have I mentioned that before?

Scary looking injury there. The urgency suggests he might've got a major artery. 

Well the Bruins statement says that he had a laceration above the knee and had multiple stitches, and is "resting". It didn't mention going to the hospital, so hopefully he dodged a bullet.

[jingle.boy]

Phew. Never want to see anyone get a bad injury.

[TAC]

I try not to come in here and pump the Bruins tires, but tonight was one of, if not the, best games of the year. A 3-0 win in Tampa.

No Bergeron
No Chara
No MacCavoy
No Debrusk
No Backes after the 1st.

Just winning battles all over the ice. Rask was ridiculous as well.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I think there are only 2, maybe 3 teams in each division that are legitimate Stanley Cup threats. In the West it is NSH and WPG (if they can get healthy), but since that is unfortunately looking like a round 2 matchup I will throw Vegas in there, but it looks like their magic is starting to run out.

In the east there is BOS, and then maybe PIT (If Murray can get healthy and bring his playoff mojo) and TB (they really haven't played good hockey since December). I'm predicting a NSH-BOS final.

[King Postwhore]

I try not to come in here and pump the Bruins tires, but tonight was one of, if not the, best games of the year. A 3-0 win in Tampa.

No Bergeron
No Chara
No MacCavoy
No Debrusk
No Backes after the 1st.

Just winning battles all over the ice. Rask was ridiculous as well.

 

A BIG HELL YEAH!!

[axeman90210]

Free box seats ftw

Hoping that the Devils are picking the right time to get hot, they stopped the Predators' winning streak on Saturday and then dropped an 8-spot on Vegas last night, both on the road. What's annoying is that I had planned on going out to Vegas for the game last night until something came up at work that meant I couldn't get away this week. Would have been a really fun game to get to.

And so it continues, pitching a shutout in LA today. Don't think it's possible to enjoy watching your team go up 2-0 less than I enjoyed watching the first period of today's game. The Kings outshot the Devils 19-4 and had 4 power plays (including a minute of 5 on 3) but the Devils managed to score twice.

[jingle.boy]

I think there are only 2, maybe 3 teams in each division that are legitimate Stanley Cup threats. In the West it is NSH and WPG (if they can get healthy), but since that is unfortunately looking like a round 2 matchup I will throw Vegas in there, but it looks like their magic is starting to run out.

In the east there is BOS, and then maybe PIT (If Murray can get healthy and bring his playoff mojo) and TB (they really haven't played good hockey since December). I'm predicting a NSH-BOS final.

On paper, you're right.  You're reasoning is sound, but that's why they play the games.  #8 seeds can easily topple a #1 - just ask Nashville and LA fans... both #8 seeds this decade that made it to the finals (LA winning).  There's also lots of examples of #7 and #8 teams at least providing a 1st round upset, if not a run to the conference finals.

That's what I love about the NHL (vs NBA).  Don't count anyone out.  A hot goalie, a couple of (un)lucky bounces, a key injury, a 1-2 game slump... all can send top ranked teams to an early golf season.  For that reason, I never make any predictions.

[TAC]

Anyone else watching NHL On The Fly this morning?

[axeman90210]

Anyone else watching NHL On The Fly this morning?

Oh my. Not nearly enough screen time for her

[King Postwhore]

Ted Donato's son Ryan scores his 1st goal as a Bruin in his 1st pro game. 

I can't imagine dad, who was a Bruin seeing his son score for them.

[TAC]

Marchand's goal was filthy.

My brother played on a travel team with Teddy Donato in Pee Wee. Teddy used to skate circles around every other kid.

[pg1067]

Anyone else watching NHL On The Fly this morning?

Oh my. Not nearly enough screen time for her

Whom were we talking about here?  Kelly Nash?  Jamie Hersch?  Sadly, I no longer get NHLN.



On the subject of actual hockey, the Kings' Jekyll and Hyde month continues to infuriate.  A 4-3 OT win over Minnesota on Monday and a 2-1 OT loss to the Jets last night.  All I can say is thank goodness for the ROW tiebreaker.

[jingle.boy]

Leafs snatched defeat from the jaws of victory last night.  For 36 mins, the dominated the Bolts.  Gave up 1 late in the 2nd, then came out flat for the 3rd to allow 3 more for the regular time loss.   


Guess that's why TB is best in the east.  Gotta play a full 60 minutes.


And damn a lot of Leaf fans are gonna be mad to lose JVR in the off-season - I just hope there isn't too much resentment on Marleau.  If he doesn't he stays a 25+ goal scorer, I fear he's gonna be very disliked going forward.

[Dittomist]

A couple weeks ago I believe there were 8 teams battling for 5 Playoff positions in the Western conference. Now it looks like Minnesota and San Jose have all but secured their spots. I don't see Colorado running out of steam anytime soon. Calgary and Dallas are falling out of contention fast. So as a Blues fan, I really hope that teams start defeating Anaheim and Los Angeles soon!  I also hope that the Bruins will decide to act like gentlemen tonight for a change and blindfold their goalie to give us a fighting chance.

[gmillerdrake]

A couple weeks ago I believe there were 8 teams battling for 5 Playoff positions in the Western conference. Now it looks like Minnesota and San Jose have all but secured their spots. I don't see Colorado running out of steam anytime soon. Calgary and Dallas are falling out of contention fast. So as a Blues fan, I really hope that teams start defeating Anaheim and Los Angeles soon!  I also hope that the Bruins will decide to act like gentlemen tonight for a change and blindfold their goalie to give us a fighting chance.

Rask isn't starting for the Bruins tonight which is good.....he stole the game the last time we played Boston. Like you said, the way it looks it's one of three teams right now for the final spot....The Blues, LA or Anaheim. The Blues have (2) games in hand on LA and are (4) pts behind them (1) game in hand on Anaheim and are (3) pts behind them.

To even have a shot the Blues need to go no worse than 6-3-1 in the final ten games and even then that'd be close. 7-3 should get it done....if it's better than that then I think they get in. Four of their next five opponents, Boston, Columbus, San Jose and Vegas, are all playoff teams with more points than the Blues. There's also a game with Washington coming up. They'd need to beat Chicago twice (which we just beat them last game so going 3 for 3 in a two week span seems doubtful)  a suddenly hot Arizona (6-3-1 in its past 10) and Colorado on the final day of the season.

Bottom line is....I think the Blues players are golfing early this year and it serves them right.

Dream scenario is they scrape in and draw Nashville the first round and eliminate them.....giving me relief from my brother in law's certain bragging and pain in the a$$ fake fandom over 'his' Preds.

 

[TAC]

I also hope that the Bruins will decide to act like gentlemen tonight for a change and blindfold their goalie to give us a fighting chance.

Rask isn't starting for the Bruins tonight which is good.....he stole the game the last time we played Boston. 

If the Blues can't beat the Bruins tonight, then they deserve to be playing golf early.

No Bergeron
No Chara
No McAvoy
No Backes
No Debrusk (their top offenseive rookie)
No Nash (Rick)
No Rask

Anyone else watching NHL On The Fly this morning?

Oh my. Not nearly enough screen time for her

Whom were we talking about here?  Kelly Nash?  Jamie Hersch?  Sadly, I no longer get NHLN.

[gmillerdrake]

Tim.....I have full confidence that the Blues can find a way to lose tonight against the ailing Bruins 

[TAC]

Tim.....I have full confidence that the Blues can find a way to lose tonight against the ailing Bruins 

I'll be watching, for sure!

You  must be happy at least that the Blackhawks are out.

[gmillerdrake]

Tim.....I have full confidence that the Blues can find a way to lose tonight against the ailing Bruins 

I'll be watching, for sure!

You  must be happy at least that the Blackhawks are out.

For sure. But my issue is that the Blues have been ‘this close’ since I can remember. They were ‘this close’ in the 90’s but Detroit was ‘the team’ then that killed their dreams. Then Detroit fell away and Chicago took their place. Now Nashville has leap frogged them as being ‘the team’

Blues are perpetually on the cusp of reaching that next, elite level. Always in the mix but can never get over the hump.