Around the NHL VIII - 2017-2018 Season

[AdmiralsFan24]

Vegas is basically us last year.

Sweep a team that has won multiple Stanley Cups this decade and only allow them to score 3 goals. Granted they only scored 7 goals to our 13 but still.

Win in 6 games in the second round granted they had home ice and we didn't.

Beat a team with home ice in the Conference Finals. They did it in 5 games while it took us 6 but the goal differential for each team was +4.

In 15 games in the playoffs this year Vegas has scored 43 goals and allowed 27 for an average of 2.87 goals for and 1.8 goals against. In 16 games last year we scored 47 goals and allowed 29 for an average of 2.94 goals for and 1.81 goals against.

 

[NoNecksCurse]

Vegas basically loses the San Jose series without him playing as well as he is. We didnt even need a guy to do what he did, we just needed someone that was good every single night.

we aren't winning a cup w/ rinne. he is going to start declining as soon as next year.

 

[PredsV82]

we aren't winning a cup w/ rinne. he is going to start declining as soon as next year.

No offense but people have been saying that for at least three years. And he just had his best regular season of his career.

What will hopefully happen is the Rinne Saros split next year is something like 50/32 and then in the playoffs if Rinne looks tired/shaky give Saros a chance.

But if the "decline" is that he just doesn't win the Vezina again we should still be OK

 

[Enoch]

He had his best regular season but he had his worst post-season. He was AWFUL in the playoffs.

 

[PredsV82]

He had his best regular season but he had his worst post-season. He was AWFUL in the playoffs.

Understood.

Poile and Lavys offseason assignment is to figure out if the playoff performance was caused by fatigue, injury(obviously nothing was announced), a change in the way the team played in front of him, or just Rinne crapping the bed.

I still think the largest part of the problem was that long won streak gave the players a feeling of being able to do whatever they wanted and Rinne would bail them out or they would be able ton come back and win anyway.

When that stopped happening then Rinne started feeling like he had to win games by himself and so he got nervous and overplayed the puck, leading to goals, and then the players felt like they couldn't trust Rinne so they stopped being aggressive on the forecheck and got tentative and it all snowballed.

 

[drwpreds]

The most stunning thing for me is not that Vegas won that series, but that they did it in 5 freaking games. I might could have been convinced that Vegas could win the series, but in 5 games??

No possible way- absolutely incredible. Stunning. Mind-blowing.

Couple of thoughts:

After scoring 3 goals in the first 7 minutes of game one, the Jets scored SEVEN goals the rest of the series- 7 goals in almost 5 games. We gave up that many in 1 game, and also gave up 15 goals to them in 3 home games. Mind-boggling, no other way to put it.

After game 1, Vegas never trailed again in the entire series. Again, simply stunning and mind-boggling.

I keep hearing people say the only reason this is happening is they have a hot goalie. I don’t buy that at all. Fleury has been fantastic but if you watch the games, at least for me, it is not just him- it is a total team effort.

The Jets 5 on 6 play at end of game is absolutely incredible, and makes our awfulness in this area all the more painful. We looked like a Chinese fire drill 5 on 6, but the Knights completely controlled the play. Jets could barely get set up, much less score.

To me, the Jets looked completely out of gas during the latter stages of the game. No doubt a byproduct of their series with us.

Speaking of that- taking nothing away from Vegas- they completely deserve where they are at, period. No excuses. But I still say they gained an incredible advantage that should have been ours. Got an easier path to the WCF and got to play a Jets team coming off a grueling 7 game series win. Even Vegas players/coaches conceded that yesterday. Jets/Knights should have been a 2nd round series, and if that had happened, they would have been facing a rested Jets team coming off an easy first round win. With the way things are going for Vegas it may not have made any difference at all, but I still would like to have seen what would have happened. No one can argue that the Knights got the benefits that should have been reserved for the #1 seed- the Preds.

 

[drwpreds]

One more thing I forgot to add. Did anyone notice yesterday that in the final 5:37 of the game yesterday there was not a single whistle- no stoppage in play?

No icings, no offsides, no puck out of play- nothing

I am not sure I have ever seen that in all my years of watching hockey.

 

[Viqsi]

Are we doing a Vegas bandwagon thing here? If so, can I join in? Back on the Jackets board it's impossible to be happy for them because our resident Debbie Downer jerkasses keep citing every single game as "oh, hey, William Karlsson therefore everything sucks and fire everybody and you suck and are stupid if you say otherwise", and I need fresh air.

 

[LCPreds]

I'm all in for Vegas if Vegas v TB. Will be rooting for Trotz if given that option.

 

[Drake744]

Don't know if this is common knowledge, but I just saw Tampa Bay is 7-0 all time in Washington in the postseason

 

[Armourboy]

The most stunning thing for me is not that Vegas won that series, but that they did it in 5 freaking games. I might could have been convinced that Vegas could win the series, but in 5 games??

No possible way- absolutely incredible. Stunning. Mind-blowing.

Couple of thoughts:

After scoring 3 goals in the first 7 minutes of game one, the Jets scored SEVEN goals the rest of the series- 7 goals in almost 5 games. We gave up that many in 1 game, and also gave up 15 goals to them in 3 home games. Mind-boggling, no other way to put it.

After game 1, Vegas never trailed again in the entire series. Again, simply stunning and mind-boggling.

I keep hearing people say the only reason this is happening is they have a hot goalie. I don’t buy that at all. Fleury has been fantastic but if you watch the games, at least for me, it is not just him- it is a total team effort.

The Jets 5 on 6 play at end of game is absolutely incredible, and makes our awfulness in this area all the more painful. We looked like a Chinese fire drill 5 on 6, but the Knights completely controlled the play. Jets could barely get set up, much less score.

To me, the Jets looked completely out of gas during the latter stages of the game. No doubt a byproduct of their series with us.

Speaking of that- taking nothing away from Vegas- they completely deserve where they are at, period. No excuses. But I still say they gained an incredible advantage that should have been ours. Got an easier path to the WCF and got to play a Jets team coming off a grueling 7 game series win. Even Vegas players/coaches conceded that yesterday. Jets/Knights should have been a 2nd round series, and if that had happened, they would have been facing a rested Jets team coming off an easy first round win. With the way things are going for Vegas it may not have made any difference at all, but I still would like to have seen what would have happened. No one can argue that the Knights got the benefits that should have been reserved for the #1 seed- the Preds.

The reason I say its Fleury is the San Jose series, he literally stole at least two of those wins. They also had some pretty incredible luck as seen in one of the games where San Jose hit 8 posts, and had two other shots go through the 5 hole but leak just wide.

Vegas as a team has played well at times, but they've had several games in the first two series they played that they should have lost. Winnipeg very much looked like us in the last series, would dominate play and then make one mistake and it's in the net. Vegas has been hard to beat all season once they get a lead, and the Jets were something like 1-10 when they didnt score first.

Vegas made it through but without Fleury standing on his head they dont sweep LA and they dont beat San Jose imo.

 

[NoNecksCurse]

fleury isn't standing on his head like people love to imply. vegas was the best team in the regular season for 80% of the year. even w/ back up.. hell even 3rd string goalie. it's no surprise they are in the finals. they play a great team game and play hard for one another. sticking to the system. vegas will win the cup against either that comes out of the east in 6 games.

 

[Armourboy]

fleury isn't standing on his head like people love to imply. vegas was the best team in the regular season for 80% of the year. even w/ back up.. hell even 3rd string goalie. it's no surprise they are in the finals. they play a great team game and play hard for one another. sticking to the system. vegas will win the cup against either that comes out of the east in 6 games.

Yeah he really is, and that's not coming from stats, that's coming from watching the games. He's flat stolen some games, and one could argue if not for him completely dominating LA they may not even get by LA. The guy has been the definition of standing on ones head. He didn't really need to in the Jets series, but the other two he absolutely did.

 

[BigFatCat999]

I'm at full screw them all. Would it be awesome for Washington to win giving Trotz and Ovi the cup? Sure but there is speculation that the Wild are going to try and recruit Trotz. Which makes him the enemy.

 

[klt2001]

Well it looks like Washington isn't going to choke game 6 at least.

 

[PredsV82]

Well it looks like Washington isn't going to choke game 6 at least.

Yeah they looked just like we did in game 6 against WPG... hopefully they look better than we did in game 7

 

[klt2001]

Yeah they looked just like we did in game 6 against WPG... hopefully they look better than we did in game 7

I know. Win one game but then choke on the next or the most important game that counts. I'm rooting for them but wouldn't be surprise if they choke the next one.

 

[drwpreds]

That was a heck of a hockey game- bring on game 7

 

[drwpreds]

fleury isn't standing on his head like people love to imply. vegas was the best team in the regular season for 80% of the year. even w/ back up.. hell even 3rd string goalie. it's no surprise they are in the finals. they play a great team game and play hard for one another. sticking to the system. vegas will win the cup against either that comes out of the east in 6 games.

For what it’s worth I’m with you on this- Fleury has been fantastic but this is not a case of a hot goalie just stealing games.

I mean they are 12-3 for crying out loud. He may have stolen a game or 2 but they still had a good margin of error

You could sub in several goalies for Vegas and they still would likely be where they are

Only thing I disagree with you on is the finals- I think Tampa beats Vegas. (I know I know- I should learn my lesson, right??)

I give a slight nod to Vegas over Caps

 

[klt2001]

I think Vegas will win only because they have gotten the most rest in between series than any other team where as the teams that they seem to go against seem to limp into the next round after having to battle it out for long series w/o hardly getting any rest in between. If the other team can capitalize and win the first two games off of Vegas being rusty going into the series, then I think the other team will win the series. That or the team that can't handle the pressure/nerves the best will lose.

 

[klt2001]

Between Tampa and Washington, I think Tampa would have an easier time beating Vegas than Washington. Washington I feel though has more will to win then either just don't see them blowing out either team but just barely winning their games if they win it. Of the three teams, I would like to see Washington win it all. If it's between Tampa and Vegas though, I rather see Vegas win. I just don't care for Tampa Bay one way or the other. I just have never been drawn to them as a team or their players. I don't hate them but I don't love them either. They are just blah to me. I like Vegas because of James Neal and Fleury. I like Washington because of Trotz and would like to see OVI finally get pass his choke demons for being such a big/well known player and finally get rewarded for his hard work.

 

[LCPreds]

Sure but there is speculation that the Wild are going to try and recruit Trotz. Which makes him the enemy.

Speculation from what source?

 

[Drake744]

Speculation from what source?

I haven't seen anything either but with Fenton as the new GM who knows

 

[predfan24]

It goes without saying that goaltending is KEY.

However, I think Pitt last year and VGK this year proves you don' t need several star players on the back end to be successful. You need guys that can skate, can defend well, and can move the puck efficiently.

Furthermore, I think the league keeps trending towards speed, skill and structure in all aspects. I think the Preds have plenty of skill and structure but the overall lack of team speed worries me.

 

[predfan24]

I forgot to mention how much I enjoyed seeing the Jets not only lose but lose in 5. I visited the Jets forum and their tears tasted good. I don't dislike the Jets as a team at all. I was thoroughly impressed by them. The fans on the other hand...... a good bit were cocky as all get out.

VGK has been incredible. They deserve to be where they are and have earned it to this point. All year everybody (myself included) doubted them and they literally proved the doubters wrong at every stop.

This will come off as sour grapes and to be honest it probably is but I have to say because I feel strongly about it..........VGK's year 1 expansion success makes the NHL look like a joke. I will still root for them if they play TBL but if it is WASH I'm hoping Ovi and Trotz can finally get a ring. They deserve it.