Columbus and New Jersey avoiding Pittsburgh

Jackets Fan

Registered User
Mar 28, 2014
2,337
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Central Ohio
What the hell would the point of risking injuries be for CBJ?
They already lost out on their home ice chances, which would have been the only motivator for dressing all the starters against Preds.
What’s the point? They’ve clinched. A win does nothing. They still have to open on the road ( again, ughhh ).
 

Its a Trap

Yes I’m still here to piss you off
All the Devils fans saying they would have loved to play Pittsburgh... :biglaugh:

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. :laugh:
Tell us more about what the hockey professionals were thinking from your armchair :rolleyes:
 
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Cheddabombs

Status Quo
Mar 13, 2012
24,653
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Really thought HFboards was at least better than this, what a shame. No, the Devils (and I assume the Blue Jackets too) didn't f***ing "throw" their last game. They've been playing insanely hard pretty much the past month just to secure their spot. And since they had a chance to give their top guys a rest, and avoid potential injuries, they did so.

Holy shit some next level stupidity in this thread man.
 

shtorm2005

Registered User
Aug 9, 2015
6,493
6,506
Montreal, Canada
Really thought HFboards was at least better than this, what a shame. No, the Devils (and I assume the Blue Jackets too) didn't ****ing "throw" their last game. They've been playing insanely hard pretty much the past month just to secure their spot. And since they had a chance to give their top guys a rest, and avoid potential injuries, they did so.

Why not both? Rest key players and get easier matchup? You can't tell what coach has on mind.
 

HenriquesJawLine

Registered User
Mar 6, 2009
4,873
2,675
What a weird thread of fans trying to feel more important than they are. Jackets and Devils basically just played a month of playoff hockey feeling like they need to win every game. They went on crazy runs and still didn't clinch until game 81.
 

Curufinwe

Registered User
Feb 28, 2013
55,502
42,244
I think the Devils would match up better against Pit than Bos or TB.

Anyone know what the tiebreaker situation would have been if the Flyers had also finished on 97 points?
 

MrBrightside

Registered User
May 5, 2010
4,905
2,667
Franklin Park, PA
I'm beginning to suspect some Pens fans are bitter that they have to go up against Philadelphia (and take crap from Philly fans) and are trying to take it out on the Jackets and Devils.

The guy who started this thread isn't a Pens' fan, and I can assure you that most Pens' fans wanted Philadelphia of the possible options in the first round.
 

Nocashstyle

HFBoards Sponsor
Sponsor
May 27, 2009
7,560
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NJ
All the Devils fans saying they would have loved to play Pittsburgh... :biglaugh:

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. :laugh:

Whatever helps you feel better.
 
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Saekk

Registered User
Jul 25, 2017
1,546
2,698
Wonder why all of the whiners in this thread are from teams that clinched ages ago or non-playoff teams..
 
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NJDevs26

Once upon a time...
Mar 21, 2007
67,117
31,153
People are losing their minds on the Devils board because we're playing the Bruins most likely and aren't in the Metro bracket. But sure, we wanted to avoid the Pens lol

I mean let's get real there wasn't a 'preferred' choice in the lot, all the teams we could have played are formidable. So if there's really no difference why bother playing out the last game? The Devils chose a rest day (when the guys they were resting likely would have been going at half speed anyway) over busting it and trying to pick a road matchup that really wasn't any better or worse than the alternative.
 
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Viqsi

"that chick from Ohio"
Oct 5, 2007
53,660
30,952
40N 83W (approx)
The guy who started this thread isn't a Pens' fan, and I can assure you that most Pens' fans wanted Philadelphia of the possible options in the first round.
Not concerned about the OP, or the majority of Pens fans (most of whom are pretty reasonable folks). Just a handful of people being surprisingly shrill about this conspiracy theory in this thread.
 

MrBrightside

Registered User
May 5, 2010
4,905
2,667
Franklin Park, PA
Not concerned about the OP, or the majority of Pens fans (most of whom are pretty reasonable folks). Just a handful of people being surprisingly shrill about this conspiracy theory in this thread.

I guess I don't see why it's such a conspiracy. I'll be the first to admit that the Pens absolutely punted the last game of the 2008 season to get Ottawa in the first round (who they swept) and I had no problem with it and don't have a problem with a team doing it now. I do think CBJ wanted to avoid the Pens, yes. I don't know about NJ - personally I'd think Boston is a worse matchup for NJ than PIT is, so it wouldn't make a lot of sense. But yes, I sincerely do think CBJ wanted no part of playing the Pens in the first round again.
 

CBJx614

Registered User
May 25, 2012
14,846
6,450
C-137
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.
As did Columbus. They were literally the hottest team down the stretch and still could have missed out had they lost another couple of games.

For a long time in the middle of the season I was starting to accept that we weren't gonna make the playoffs. I just hope they didn't streak to early.
 

AfroThunder396

[citation needed]
Jan 8, 2006
39,056
22,927
Miami, FL
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.
Figured you would have learned by now:

 
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Tripod

I hate this team
Aug 12, 2008
78,751
86,033
Nova Scotia
Seems like Pens fans on here are upset that there's a chance their bitter rival eliminates them
Slim chance.

Pitt has scored 5 goals against Philly in every game we played them this year. Philly can't match their speed especially the 3rd and 4th lines and guys like Manning, AMac and Gudas on D.

Not to mention the sad goaltending and awful PK.
 

Viqsi

"that chick from Ohio"
Oct 5, 2007
53,660
30,952
40N 83W (approx)
I guess I don't see why it's such a conspiracy. I'll be the first to admit that the Pens absolutely punted the last game of the 2008 season to get Ottawa in the first round (who they swept) and I had no problem with it and don't have a problem with a team doing it now. I do think CBJ wanted to avoid the Pens, yes. I don't know about NJ - personally I'd think Boston is a worse matchup for NJ than PIT is, so it wouldn't make a lot of sense. But yes, I sincerely do think CBJ wanted no part of playing the Pens in the first round again.
I wouldn't be shocked if the Jackets didn't want to play Pittsburgh again. I just get testy about folks insisting that that's all this was about. As plenty of Jackets and Devils fans have pointed out, both teams were playing at extremely high intensity for quite some time, so a rest day on an otherwise nigh-meaningless game isn't exactly unexpected.
 

Beau Knows

Registered User
Mar 4, 2013
11,525
7,293
Canada
Figured you would have learned by now:

You have to play somebody, as a fan there is nothing wrong with wanting to face a certain team over others. It doesn't mean it will work out the way you think, but I'd rather play the Oilers than Tampa Bay. The difference between Columbus, NJ and Philly is much smaller, but they are still all different teams. My preference to face them was Philly->NJ->Columbus.

The players and coaches? Yeah they can't think that way, and it doesn't look like the Penguins were, they were focused on getting home ice. NJ and Columbus though? It seems like they may have preferred certain match-ups...
 

Cheddabombs

Status Quo
Mar 13, 2012
24,653
31,227
You have to play somebody, as a fan there is nothing wrong with wanting to face a certain team over others. It doesn't mean it will work out the way you think, but I'd rather play the Oilers than Tampa Bay. The difference between Columbus, NJ and Philly is much smaller, but they are still all different teams. My preference to face them was Philly->NJ->Columbus.

The players and coaches? Yeah they can't think that way, and it doesn't look like the Penguins were, they were focused on getting home ice. NJ and Columbus though? It seems like they may have preferred certain match-ups...

"Yeah, the players can't think that way and the Penguins definitely weren't. But the Devils and Blue Jackets, well it looks like they were thinking about potential matchups!"

Lol. L. O. L.
 
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Beau Knows

Registered User
Mar 4, 2013
11,525
7,293
Canada
"Yeah, the players can't think that way and the Penguins definitely weren't. But the Devils and Blue Jackets, well it looks like they were thinking about potential matchups!"

Lol. L. O. L.

Both teams iced poor rosters in games that determined their match-ups, it's not hard to see that they may have felt better off losing their games there.
 

Zippy316

aka Zippo
Aug 17, 2012
19,490
4,481
New Jersey
Both teams iced poor rosters in games that determined their match-ups, it's not hard to see that they may have felt better off losing their games there.

Blue Jackets and Devils have both won like 13 of their last 16 games and still didn't clinch until Game 81.

I think both teams are more than content with how their team is playing. I would assume they preferred resting their top players and taking their chances against any team with how well they're doing.
 
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John Matthews

Registered User
Dec 4, 2017
382
164
On a computer
That's not what I'm saying, but the Penguins were definitely the weakest team out of the 4 that I named in the regular season.
lmao the Pens are not the weakest team, it helps when you use context. Playing an extra two months than any of the other teams you listed; who either missed the playoffs or didn't make it past the Pens... With an almost entirely returning roster thats been upgraded. Yes, the early season was bleak for the Pens but they were the second hottest team in the back half of the season. its clear you cant see past your own opinion. 3 peat in bound.
 

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