NHL 2022-2023: FA July 13th - LET IT BEGIN

[gmillerdrake]

Despite their insane regular season, tough draw for the Bruins in Round 2.  They'll either get the Lightning, whose recent playoff success goes without saying, or the Leafs, who are talented enough to easily make a deep run if they can finally get over the 1st round mental hurdle.

By round 2 regular season really is out the window. Both teams are ‘confident’ and in playoff mode. It comes down to mistakes…..not making them and capitalizing on them.

Winner of that matchup will most likely be the Eastern Team in the Cup final.

[TAC]

Despite their insane regular season, tough draw for the Bruins in Round 2.  They'll either get the Lightning, whose recent playoff success goes without saying, or the Leafs, who are talented enough to easily make a deep run if they can finally get over the 1st round mental hurdle.

By round 2 regular season really is out the window. Both teams are ‘confident’ and in playoff mode. It comes down to mistakes…..not making them and capitalizing on them.

Winner of that matchup will most likely be the Eastern Team in the Cup final.

I also feel like a team from the Atlantic will make the finals.
I picked the Leafs to win the Cup last year and then again this year.

Don't know what to make of Tampa. They just weren't "the same" this year. But I definitely respect them. Still I do think Toronto with beat them.
The Bruins are going to need Bergeron to get healthy though. They can beat Florida without him, but they ain't going any further without him.

[King Postwhore]

They have been lacking on faceoffs without him.  I do think they can win without him. Thst game 2 loss was a wakeup call.  They can't coast like the regular season.  Also the 2 goals given up in game 3, was a reminder as well.

[pg1067]

I'd say it's 45% Bruins; 40% Hurricanes; 15% the field.

Not sure what to make of the west yet.

[crazy climber dude]

The Kraken look terrible.

I’m not expecting to win the series, but I was hoping for a home ice win in our first playoff appearance

Kraken similar to the Avs this year....they actually play better on the road.

What's scary to think is that until Game 3 the stars of the Avalanche were quiet. But they seemed to have solved Grubauer, who played well in the first two games.

[King Postwhore]

Let's wrap it up at home on Wednesday B's, and watch the Leafs/Lightning beat each other up.

[jingle.boy]

I'd say it's 45% Bruins; 40% Hurricanes; 15% the field.

Not sure what to make of the west yet.

I can't take them seriously without Svechnikov, and now Teräväinen.  Honestly, the Rangers look like the most dangerous team from the Metro.

[TAC]

I'd say it's 45% Bruins; 40% Hurricanes; 15% the field.

Not sure what to make of the west yet.

I can't take them seriously without Svechnikov, and now Teräväinen.  Honestly, the Rangers look like the most dangerous team from the Metro.

Yeah, the Rangers look good.
Remember the Canes are playing the worst team to make the playoffs.

[King Postwhore]

Yeah, they've had some big injuries.

[pg1067]

One period down....

Kings are a completely different team with Anderson, Vilardi and Fiala in the lineup.

[TAC]

One period down....

Kings are a completely different team with Anderson, Vilardi and Fiala in the lineup.

That was ugly for the Oilers.

[SchecterShredder]

The Oilers got down 3-0 on purpose to make the comeback all the more painful for Kings fans 

[Anguyen92]

I'm not going to make any excuses.  I knew when the game hit 3-0 that the Oilers are going to mount a comeback charge.  I just wished the Kings had enough to hold on with 3 minutes left in the 3rd.  Not meant to be for today.  So Jack Campbell starts Game 5?  He saved the Oilers hides and looked good the rest of the way.

[jingle.boy]

It will be interesting to see who Woodcroft puts between the pipes tomorrow night.  Gutsy win by the Oil.

[Stadler]

They have been lacking on faceoffs without him.  I do think they can win without him. Thst game 2 loss was a wakeup call.  They can't coast like the regular season.  Also the 2 goals given up in game 3, was a reminder as well.

Well, certainly Bergeron makes them better; he might be the most complete player in the league, even at his age.  The problem of course is that Krejci is out too, so you have TWO first line-capable centers sitting on the bench.  Charlie Coyle is playing out his ass (14-19 on face-offs yesterday, I think) but it drops off pretty quickly after that.

[SchecterShredder]

I'm not going to make any excuses.  I knew when the game hit 3-0 that the Oilers are going to mount a comeback charge.  I just wished the Kings had enough to hold on with 3 minutes left in the 3rd.  Not meant to be for today.  So Jack Campbell starts Game 5?  He saved the Oilers hides and looked good the rest of the way.

I think he goes back to Skinner. I don't know if there's enough confidence in Campbell.

I was very glad to see the Oil make it out of that 3rd period. The team looked awful. They couldn't make a pass to break out, and were giving up grade A chances all over. 

[TAC]

They have been lacking on faceoffs without him.  I do think they can win without him. Thst game 2 loss was a wakeup call.  They can't coast like the regular season.  Also the 2 goals given up in game 3, was a reminder as well.

Well, certainly Bergeron makes them better; he might be the most complete player in the league, even at his age.  The problem of course is that Krejci is out too, so you have TWO first line-capable centers sitting on the bench.  Charlie Coyle is playing out his ass (14-19 on face-offs yesterday, I think) but it drops off pretty quickly after that.

I think Nosek actually has the best Face Off % in the league, but simply didn't qualify with number of faceofs taken.

Coyle has been great, and Zacha/Frederic/Foligno just have to try and even out.
Krejci was killing them when he was in so the best thing they can do is to keep him out at this point.

[pg1067]

Playing with a lead has been a problem for the Kings all season long.  Kings outplayed the Oilers for 2/3 periods and earned a tie.  OT was pretty even.  I think both teams have to regard tomorrow as a "must win" game.

I've been following the game day thread on the Oilers page on Reddit.  It's a source of much amusement.  I didn't go back after the start of the second period last night, but it felt like half the population of Edmonton was jumping ship after the first.

[SchecterShredder]

Playing with a lead has been a problem for the Kings all season long.  Kings outplayed the Oilers for 2/3 periods and earned a tie.  OT was pretty even.  I think both teams have to regard tomorrow as a "must win" game.

I've been following the game day thread on the Oilers page on Reddit.  It's a source of much amusement.  I didn't go back after the start of the second period last night, but it felt like half the population of Edmonton was jumping ship after the first.

That sub is a gong show most days lol. I try to avoid it as much as possible. In fact, that's my general philosophy with Reddit as a whole. It boils my blood reading the nonsense people put on there

[Anguyen92]

Anything people want to talk their mouths off about this series is just whatever.  I've been mentally going into this series saying, "I'm not going to get into a war of words or bemoan anything that goes wrong for the Kings."  Get the series win how they get them is the main goal at hand.  If anything goes awry for whatever reasons be it external or internal, it's what it is.

[Stadler]

Maybe I watched a different game, or I wasn't paying attention (possibly true; my step son and I won a Music Trivia event at our local restaurant) but I felt like if I was Edmonton - or a fan of Edmonton - I'd be pissed at the analysis; I did not think they got outplayed in the first two periods, even with the score what it was. I was not impressed with the Kings' game last night.

Funny thing, not related:  I was at a bar, so the TV had captions on.  EVERY time they said Draisaitl's name, the captions said something different. I am not making these up:  Recycler; Tricycle, Dr. Seidel, Drive Cycle.  There was a fifth, but I forget what it was now.  I just thought that funny (I also think he's arguably playing the best right now on that team.  Big fan).

[Anguyen92]

Everything was cool, playing wise, for the Kings for the 1st period, then it wasn't cool in the 2nd, and then it was ok in the 3rd after the 4-3 lead before the Evander Kane tying goal.

And yes, I'm putting Leon Draisaitl as the series MVP so far.  He's been on the ice for all 14 goals that the Oilers scored.  He's even more scary to deal with than McDavid, this series, and McDavid is a scary player to go against.

[jingle.boy]

Maybe I watched a different game, or I wasn't paying attention (possibly true; my step son and I won a Music Trivia event at our local restaurant) but I felt like if I was Edmonton - or a fan of Edmonton - I'd be pissed at the analysis; I did not think they got outplayed in the first two periods, even with the score what it was. I was not impressed with the Kings' game last night.

My vote is that you weren't paying attention, because you're too smart to have watched that and thought that the analysis was off.  The Oil played mediocre (at best) in the 1st, and when they did get some decent chances, Korpisalo stoned them (plus, a couple of pucks off the pipes).  Defensively, they were terrible; offensively they were ok.

Like the Leafs the night before, they were the 2nd best team on the ice, and the OT victory was robbery.

Draisaitl has been the best player of any of the 16 teams - by a fair margin.

[Stadler]

Maybe I watched a different game, or I wasn't paying attention (possibly true; my step son and I won a Music Trivia event at our local restaurant) but I felt like if I was Edmonton - or a fan of Edmonton - I'd be pissed at the analysis; I did not think they got outplayed in the first two periods, even with the score what it was. I was not impressed with the Kings' game last night.

My vote is that you weren't paying attention, because you're too smart to have watched that and thought that the analysis was off.  The Oil played mediocre (at best) in the 1st, and when they did get some decent chances, Korpisalo stoned them (plus, a couple of pucks off the pipes).  Defensively, they were terrible; offensively they were ok.

Like the Leafs the night before, they were the 2nd best team on the ice, and the OT victory was robbery.

Draisaitl has been the best player of any of the 16 teams - by a fair margin.

I'm not saying the Oilers were great, I'm just saying that it was a more even game than some of the analysis.  I'm frankly not that impressed with either team, to be honest.  As a Bruins fan, I'm far more worried about the Stars than either the Kings or the Oilers.

[pg1067]

Everything was cool, playing wise, for the Kings for the 1st period, then it wasn't cool in the 2nd, and then it was ok in the 3rd after the 4-3 lead before the Evander Kane tying goal.

And yes, I'm putting Leon Draisaitl as the series MVP so far.  He's been on the ice for all 14 goals that the Oilers scored.  He's even more scary to deal with than McDavid, this series, and McDavid is a scary player to go against.

Definitely agree about Draisaitl.  Seems to me that the Kings have made it a focus not to let McD beat them.  Mission accomplished so far, but they've been focusing so much on McD that "pissy" Leon is running around virtually unchecked.  Not sure if that's fixable.  We'll see.

[SchecterShredder]

I thought Edmonton was decent through 2 periods, and lucky they escaped the 3rd tied. I haven't looked at any of the advanced stats yet, nor have I read any analysis, so I can't speak for what the pundits had to say about the game.

I think every team should be afraid of Edmonton. They have the top 2 offensive players on the planet right now. At any point they can turn up ice and score a goal. No other team has 3 100 point players, or 2 50 goal scorers. You'd be foolish to take them lightly.

Considering LA was ahead of the Oilers in the standings for a good chunk of the season, I'm not surprised how the series has gone so far. I think Edmonton has been the better team overall, but they certainly aren't dominating. If it weren't for the ridiculous run to end the regular season, Edmonton could just as easily been playing from the WC position.

[axeman90210]

Getting a Devils W for my birthday 

[TAC]

Wow, no lead is safe against the Leafs!

[gmillerdrake]

Wow, no lead is safe against the Leafs!

No kidding. I looked at my youngest when TB went up 4-1 and said “Welp…..this game is over”.  Boy was I wrong.

[Anguyen92]

Well, I can take some solace in the fact that the Kings won't be the only team this first round that had a 3 goal lead and lost the game in OT.  Holy crap, did the Leafs do that?  The Leafs.  Actually rose to the occasion and won it in OT?

[KevShmev]

Epic comeback by the Leafs!

jammindude, remember when we told ya how meaningless home ice was in the SC playoffs?  The home team is now 11-19 so far in the playoffs.

[jingle.boy]

These are the kinds of games that the Leafs usually lose in the exact manner that they won. They were not the better team for the first 40 minutes. But holy shit did they turn it on in the 3rd.

Now … hopefully they’ve given the Bolts a severe case of the yips.

[Nick]

I picked the Leafs in my bracket and they are actually doing what I would have hoped. That first game was bad, but man, they finally get over the hump of the first round and they could be really dangerous.

Edit: Just checked, 5-0-3 in the first round thus far, with 5 teams I picked ahead, and 3 series tied. Could easily be 4-0-4 by the end of the night if Colorado loses their game and series goes to a tie.

[Nick]

Had Howden missed that empty net goal at the end I think Stone would have made it so his ass got left in Winnipeg.

[jammindude]

Many firsts. Now my first playoff OT.

I hate the way the Kraken play when I start watching!

Anyone else have the experience where you miss parts of the game, and the parts you missed are the only times they are dominating??

When I first tuned in we were up 2-0 and shots were 28-12.  But all I’ve seen is a team that has played pretty scrappy…but mostly on their heels.