Columbus and New Jersey avoiding Pittsburgh

[Rudy Russo]

If there is any team that played tonight, and should of rested players it should have been Nashville.

 

[SladeWilson23]

Does any other team have Crosby, Malkin, and Kessel?

Ok. Kucherov, Stamkos, Point, Gourde, and Hedman are scarier as a unit than those 3 on PIT.

 

[NeedleInTheHay]

Ok. Kucherov, Stamkos, Point, Gourde, and Hedman are scarier as a unit than those 3 on PIT.

Nope.

Did I need to bring up Guentzel, Letang, Hornqvist, and brassard too?

 

[SladeWilson23]

Nope.

Did I need to bring up Guentzel, Letang, Hornqvist, and brassard too?

Still not as good as Tampa.

 

[DearDiary]

Yeah, I'm sure players like Hall and Vatanen will say the same thing. "We had to end the season with a 6 game road trip and then pretty much win out the rest of the season until game 81, but the other teams weren't playing at 110%, so those must win games were nice and easy, we're super well rested."

You said "playoff hockey", now you're spinning my argument into something else. I never said the games were easy, I said it was obviously not "playoff hockey". Are you saying I'm wrong?

 

[Nocashstyle]

You said "playoff hockey", now you're spinning my argument into something else. I never said the games were easy, I said it was obviously not "playoff hockey". Are you saying I'm wrong?

Yes, I'm saying you're wrong. The Devils went 10-2-1 in their previous 13 games and only clinched on the 81st game. They basically HAD to win out. That is playoff hockey atmosphere for any team.

 

[AfroThunder396]

New Jersey is 3-0-1 against Pittsburgh this year and the only loss was from a flukey Crosby baseball swing in OT.

The Devils would have loved to play Pittsburgh, Shero specifically built this Devils team to do so.

They instead decided to rest their key players who have been playing must-win games for nearly 3 weeks now and to make sure they don't get hurt in a meaningless game.

 

[DEVILS130]

I was one of the few Devils fans upset with the decision because I think it could’ve been a good tune up game for everyone, including Hall. However, the notion that they did this to avoid the Pens is insane. If anything, the Devils would’ve preferred to face the Pens

 

[Holocene]

Or... they already clinched and are just giving their best players a rest before the playoffs? It's not like Boston/Tampa won't be as tough as the Pens.

 

[Emperoreddy]

New Jersey didn’t rest guys to avoid Pitt. They would have happpy went to Pitt for game 1.

They wanted to give some of their top guys a well deserved rest after a really tough home stretch.

Devils feel like they can play with anyone. Having Hall fresh and healthy was more important then matchups.

Why would any Pitt fan care? A NJ or Columbus matchup was way less favorable then a Philly matchup for them.

 

[Viqsi]

If there is any team that played tonight, and should of rested players it should have been Nashville.

They rested their leading goal scorer.

 

[Gnashville]

If there is any team that played tonight, and should of rested players it should have been Nashville.

They have been resting players for the last 2 weeks. Viktor Arvidsson had a chance at 30 goals and sat out tonight.

 

[PredsV82]

If there is any team that played tonight, and should of rested players it should have been Nashville.

I'm guessing since our AHL club is still fighting for a playoff spot we didn't call anyone up and with Y Weber and Jarnkrok already out with injury there wasnt much way to sit a bunch of players.

But as said above we have been rotating scratches for the last two weeks or more.

 

[Richard]

New Jersey is 3-0-1 against Pittsburgh this year and the only loss was from a flukey Crosby baseball swing in OT.

The Devils would have loved to play Pittsburgh, Shero specifically built this Devils team to do so.

They instead decided to rest their key players who have been playing must-win games for nearly 3 weeks now and to make sure they don't get hurt in a meaningless game.

Ya ok..... sure.

The Pens lost like every game against the Caps in '16.....

How'd that turn out?

Playoff hockey is a different animal. Jersey doesn't have the defense or centericemen to take out Pittsburgh. Jersey was the second team I wanted to play after the Flyers.

 

[Maylo]

It's pretty clear that both Columbus and New Jersey rested their best players and lost on purpose to avoid playing Pittsburgh. Both are willing to face higher seeded teams (Washington and Atlantic winner). This is a dumb and cowardly decision in my opinion. Pitt is not the juggernaut it was the last 2 years.

Thoughts?

In closing, Tortorella is a coward

Ugh, team that lost to Toronto on purpose last season to eliminate Bolts from PO is talking here. Ok.

 

[JeremyTB]

I wonder if NJ and Columbus would have played all their players if the game meant something for the team they were playing.

 

[PenguinSpeed]

I think you fell for another fake McKenzie account...

-The Stanley Cup Playoffs start in 4 days. Does that sound good to you? Geez, Stamkos might return to practice. Might....

Tampa Bay Lightning
Apr 6
Steven Stamkos	Status: Out Stamkos (lower body) will miss the final two games of the regular season, according to Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who is not ruling out the star pivot returning to practice next week

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[BahlDeep]

Seems like Pens fans on here are upset that there's a chance their bitter rival eliminates them

 

[ColePens]

All the Devils fans saying they would have loved to play Pittsburgh...

Folks.. actions > words. IF they wanted to play Pittsburgh, they would have gone out and played to play Pittsburgh. They didn't want to play Pittsburgh. They figured their chances were better elsewhere and they know what they have with their team. You are fooling yourself if you see it any other way. That's just flat out neglect. NJ and CBJ knew Philly needed to win and they would be jumped. Columbus thought it'd be better with Washington. NJ knows they are a young team playing with house money. They wanted to test the waters elsewhere.

Trust me... if they wanted Pittsburgh in Round 1, they would have played for it. It's that simple. Or you can turn a blind eye to it.

 

[ColePens]

Seems like Pens fans on here are upset that there's a chance their bitter rival eliminates them

1) Most of our fan base is so uncontrollably happy with how blessed we are, that everything is house money from here on out.

2) Most of our fan base actually really enjoys watching NJ, likes Hall, and even like Shero. So there is no hatred to NJ at all.

3) The small minority of insufferable Pens fans will be the loudest on HF because there are like 5-10 users who somehow feel they are entitled to win the Cup every year. Trust me.. we hate them as much as anyone.

 

[Zakkk]

There is this thing called "resting players".

Oh right, that's only happening because they don't want to play the pens in round 1....
Hilarious.

Seriously, have you guys ever watched hockey? This happens every year. Teams like to rest their players. Why is this such a problem to some of you?

I swear to god all the dumbest hockey fans are in HFBoards. I mean, some of you almost sound like conspiracy theorists.
"Bush did 9/11! CBJ and Devils are avoiding the Pens! Bigfoot is real!"

 

[JeremyTB]

There is this thing called "resting players".

Oh right, that's only happening because they don't want to play the pens in round 1....
Hilarious.

Seriously, have you guys ever watched hockey? This happens every year. Teams like to rest their players. Why is this such a problem to some of you?

I swear to god all the dumbest hockey fans are in HFBoards. I mean, some of you almost sound like conspiracy theorists.
"Bush did 9/11! CBJ and Devils are avoiding the Pens! Bigfoot is real!"

So every year coaches rest players in meaningful games late in the season? If NJ wanted that #3 seed they would have played for it. At the very least they weren't going to lose any sleep over avoiding the two time defending champs.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Zach Werenski has played through an injury most of the year.

Seth Jones has been injured since the Colorado Avalanche game. Hasn't practiced since that game, and missed a few games due to the injury.

Panarin has played tons of minutes as a forward.

Wennberg has been injured on and off all year.

Bobrovsky has played the most games he's ever played in his career. Thus, the most minutes.

Sorry it doesn't fit your narrative, I know Pittsburgh has a superiority complex because of Crosby and Malkin and the cups and everything (and its deserved), but nobody is ducking anybody.

 

[Tender Rip]

Jackets and Devils both made games of it. That’s all you can ask of the players.

If their managements rested players to get a better likelihood of a desired matchup....to me there is zero problem with that, and in Columbus case especially I would have done the same. For the Devils, that likely backfired on them with Boston being a worse matchup. But it was an understandable decision anyway, IMO.

 

[Colin226]

Some Pens fans trying really hard to flatter themselves here