Series Talk: Around the NHL - Playoff Edition

[Gary Nylund]

NYI has had two very easy paths this year and last year, but as soon as they face a true contender, they fold.

They were swept by Boston, now they will be swept by Tampa Bay.

It would have been really interesting to see the narratives if the Leafs had faced Pittsburgh last year or the Panthers this year. Those are huge downgrades from Boston and Columbus, although we should have been able to overcome Columbus.

Seriously? NYI has won 3 series so far, 2 of them against very good teams who finished 3rd and 4th in the East. One of them was scorching hot going in and the other was icing largely the same roster that won the cup not long ago. We couldn't even beat the team that finished tied with us for 6th that we were favoured to beat.

Did you see the game last night? Is your take that NYI folded?

 

[Gary Nylund]

The Burns teams with Dougie and Wendel were greater than the sum of their parts IMO. That team had no business beating the Red Wings, Blues and being one missed Kerry Frazier call away from making it to the finals.

I thought about them but in the end I decided that they were really good. The forward group wasn't deep and had nowhere near the offensive firepower we have today but they did have Gilmour who was in Hart trophy form, Clark was a helluva sniper and they played solid in their own end. The blue line was super solid though and so was the goaltending. They upset Detroit that's true but we were only 4 points behind them in the final standings, then we're favoured against STL and favoured again against LA. And the next year they went to the final 4 again, yeah I think they were just good.

No, it's not. It's actually entirely irrelevant, and ignores why that happened, who it happened against, and what else happened in that and other games. Our situation was entirely different than the Islander's situation.

Getting 1 goal in a game where you got a a 5 min PP, a 5 on 3, and faced a team missing, among others, two of it's best players, isn't any better. Getting beat down 8-2 isn't any better.

Getting shut out twice in 5 games, one of them being the most important game of the year is irrelevant. Well thanks for that mr "everything is awesome", I've heard it all now.

I was stating facts. You don't like them so you label them irrelevant. Good for you.

 

[Merrrlin]

Seriously? NYI has won 3 series so far, 2 of them against very good teams who finished 3rd and 4th in the East. One of them was scorching hot going in and the other was icing largely the same roster that won the cup not long ago. We couldn't even beat the team that finished tied with us for 6th that we were favoured to beat.

Did you see the game last night? Is your take that NYI folded?

You mean the game they still lost despite Tampa not having Point, Stamkos and Killorn?

Do you think this series would be competitive if NYI lost Barzal, Beauvillier and Nelson?

 

[Gary Nylund]

You mean the game they still lost despite Tampa not having Point, Stamkos and Killorn?

Do you think this series would be competitive if NYI lost Barzal, Beauvillier and Nelson?

They played hard and lost, no shame in that. When was the last time we saw the Leafs win 3 series in the post-season? I only ask because I don't think I've seen it in my lifetime, I'm pretty sure that we've never done it and I just can't bring myself to put down a team that just did it and is still playing.

 

[Merrrlin]

They played hard and lost, no shame in that. When was the last time we saw the Leafs win 3 series in the post-season? I only ask because I don't think I've seen it in my lifetime, I'm pretty sure that we've never done it and I just can't bring myself to put down a team that just did it and is still playing.

Throwing this back at the Leafs really does nothing to discredit my original statement: they've had a very easy path both years.

I think people undervalue how much luck comes into play in the playoffs - your path and your goaltending being two of the most important aspects in league with this much parity.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Throwing this back at the Leafs really does nothing to discredit my original statement: they've had a very easy path both years.

I think people undervalue how much luck comes into play in the playoffs - your path and your goaltending being two of the most important aspects in league with this much parity.

I don't even remember (and don't really care TBH) who they played last year but WSH and PHI are two very good teams so I'll just say that I disagree quite strongly with you on this one.

 

[Merrrlin]

I don't even remember (and don't really care TBH) who they played last year but WSH and PHI are two very good teams so I'll just say that I disagree quite strongly with you on this one.

That's your choice. Word is Washington didn't want to be in the bubble, and they played like a team that was spending all day drinking beer and partying in the pool. Philly was a disaster in the bubble, every positive thing they did during the regular season flipped (awful defensively, sketchy goaltending, offence from the defence)...they barely scraped by Montreal.

Now NYI is facing a real test without 2 of their best 4 players....and they are going to go down in 6 or less.

 

[TheBigFour]

i guess some leaf fans like the islanders better than the leafs....pretty sad.

 

[Gary Nylund]

No, it's not. It's actually entirely irrelevant, and ignores why that happened, who it happened against, and what else happened in that and other games. Our situation was entirely different than the Islander's situation.

Getting 1 goal in a game where you got a a 5 min PP, a 5 on 3, and faced a team missing, among others, two of it's best players, isn't any better. Getting beat down 8-2 isn't any better.

Getting shut out twice in five games is irrelevant. Got it.

 

[Dekes For Days]

I was stating facts. You don't like them so you label them irrelevant.

Actually, I was stating facts about the most recent game, in a reply to another user who discussed those same stats. You replied to me, proclaimed that stats are for losers, and then posted some useless stat from a completely different series...

 

[Gary Nylund]

That's your choice. Word is Washington didn't want to be in the bubble, and they played like a team that was spending all day drinking beer and partying in the pool. Philly was a disaster in the bubble, every positive thing they did during the regular season flipped (awful defensively, sketchy goaltending, offence from the defence)...they barely scraped by Montreal.

Now NYI is facing a real test without 2 of their best 4 players....and they are going to go down in 6 or less.

There's no such thing as an easy series win in the playoffs and NYI has done it 3 times in a row now. That's not nothing, not to me anyway. Why is it so important to discredit NYI's success anyway? Is it so we can feel better about ourselves? I don't really care whether they do well or not TBH, I'm 1000 times more interested in what Dubas is thinking about right now.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Actually, I was stating facts about the most recent game, in a reply to another user who discussed those same stats. You replied to me, proclaimed that stats are for losers, and then posted some useless stat from a completely different series...

All the stats you post are highly relevant and all the stats I post are useless. Got it.

 

[Merrrlin]

There's no such thing as an easy series win in the playoffs and NYI has done it 3 times in a row now. That's not nothing, not to me anyway. Why is it so important to discredit NYI's success anyway? Is it so we can feel better about ourselves? I don't really care whether they do well or not TBH, I'm 1000 times more interested in what Dubas is thinking about right now.

I am not aiming to discredit them, I am pointing out the fact that they have been extremely lucky with their matchups. I think I will be vindicated when, for the 2nd year in a row, they lose to a team that is a contender. I don't think we should be looking at them and saying "man, I wish we had that" when realistically they aren't actually any closer to winning a cup.

They were on pace to miss the playoffs, and by a lot, if the season finished based on the probabilities which took scheduling and weight recent performance.

 

[Mickey Marner]

I thought Tampa played like shit aside from Vasilevskiy. NYI squandered way too much PP time trying to forced a goal short-side glove hand and failed to get Vasilevskiy to move laterally, by ignoring half the ozone.

Hard work can win you a couple rounds, but at some point skill (or the lack thereof) will out.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

i guess some leaf fans like the islanders better than the leafs....pretty sad.

I actually think it's moreso Leaf fans trying to downplay the Isles success because of the whole Lou vs. Dubas thing.

There's nothing to really crap on the Islanders for. Tampa is just a far superior team. They would have had their way with the Leafs too. Unfortunately for us, we just haven't found a way to get there whereas this "vastly inferior" Isles team propped up mostly because of a new coach and superb goaltending () has them a round away from the Cup finals.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I am not aiming to discredit them, I am pointing out the fact that they have been extremely lucky with their matchups. I think I will be vindicated when, for the 2nd year in a row, they lose to a team that is a contender. I don't think we should be looking at them and saying "man, I wish we had that" when realistically they aren't actually any closer to winning a cup.

They were on pace to miss the playoffs, and by a lot, if the season finished based on the probabilities which took scheduling and weight recent performance.

I agree with that for sure. I haven't seen anyone say that though (could be I missed it I guess). I have seen a lot of posts (and I do mean a lot) talking about how many dumb moves Lou has made, there was a lot of talk about how bad they would be this season and so on, I'm also not so sure that WSH and PHI weren't considered to be contenders before these playoffs started but whatever, like I said I really don't care that much.

 

[TMLegend]

Islanders were the better team last night. Given the takes around here of late Tampa got "lucky" and won.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I thought Tampa played like shit aside from Vasilevskiy. NYI squandered way too much PP time trying to forced a goal short-side glove hand and failed to get Vasilevskiy to move laterally, by ignoring half the ozone.

Hard work can win you a couple rounds, but at some point skill (or the lack thereof) will out.

Well then, let's hope we get a hard working team one of these days. I can hardly remember what it's like to win a couple of rounds, I believe it's happened 4 times in the 50+ years I've followed this team and the last time was a very long time ago.

 

[Dekes For Days]

All the stats you post are highly relevant and all the stats I post are useless.

Finally, we can agree on something.

There's no such thing as an easy series win in the playoffs

I mean that's not really true. Match-ups matter a lot.

 

[Kiwi]

i guess some leaf fans like the islanders better than the leafs....pretty sad.

I like their results better

I'm a die hard Leafs fan and will stick with the team no matter what but I'm not going to lie about how disappointing i find our team, especially compared to a team I think we have more raw talent than who's results **** on ours over the last couple of years

 

[Stephen]

The Burns teams with Dougie and Wendel were greater than the sum of their parts IMO. That team had no business beating the Red Wings, Blues and being one missed Kerry Frazier call away from making it to the finals.

Similar to the Burns teams I thought the Islanders might run out of gas by the conference finals. Hoping this is the case because I think we want the league to be moving towards the Tampa style of play and not the Islanders, even though there are many admirable traits.

 

[Dekes For Days]

I think people undervalue how much luck comes into play in the playoffs - your path and your goaltending being two of the most important aspects in league with this much parity.

This, 100%. And injuries.

Word is Washington didn't want to be in the bubble, and they played like a team that was spending all day drinking beer and partying in the pool. Philly was a disaster in the bubble, every positive thing they did during the regular season flipped (awful defensively, sketchy goaltending, offence from the defence)...they barely scraped by Montreal.

Backstrom was also injured for Washington, and Couturier got injured for Philly. Pretty significant pieces.

 

[Ryan Michaels]

I actually think it's moreso Leaf fans trying to downplay the Isles success because of the whole Lou vs. Dubas thing.

There's nothing to really crap on the Islanders for. Tampa is just a far superior team. They would have had their way with the Leafs too. Unfortunately for us, we just haven't found a way to get there whereas this "vastly inferior" Isles team propped up mostly because of a new coach and superb goaltending () has them a round away from the Cup finals.

No it really has more to do with the obsession about using Lou's success to bash on Dubas, when Lou hasn't brought in very many key roster pieces at all, didn't have this amazing track record with the Leafs we pretend he did and brought in Trotz which pretty well single handedly turned that team around.

The biggest player personnel change Lou has made to the NYI is losing Tavares and it's not close. Which convienently he and Dubas had no agency in at all for the Lou diehards. He found a perfect marriage of team and coach which he deserves credit for but he failed on that regard with the Leafs anyway. Leaf fans just need to get the hell over it.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

No it really has more to do with the obsession about using Lou's success to bash on Dubas, when Lou hasn't brought in very many key roster pieces at all, didn't have this amazing track record with the Leafs we pretend he did and brought in Trotz which pretty well single handedly turned that team around.

The biggest player personnel change Lou has made to the NYI is losing Tavares and it's not close. Which convienently he and Dubas had no agency in at all for the Lou diehards. He found a perfect marriage of team and coach which he deserves credit for but he failed on that regard with the Leafs anyway. Leaf fans just need to get the hell over it.

I think it works both ways. I find Dubas has been given way more credit than he deserves as well. Both fanbases are being insecure about the other's success or lack thereof.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Tampa was missing Point and Stamkos and the Islanders still got outplayed. should be a short series

Stamkos will apparently be out the whole series, so that isn't a factor. Both Nelson and Point we're injured during the game.

I'm not sure why you think Tampa outplayed the Isles. They actually had more and better scoring chances. The only way Tampa was better was in finishing.