GDT: 2/28/19 - 7:30PM EDT - Tampa Bay @ Boston

[The Macho King]

These guys must be new, they we're around 3-4 years ago when there was actual, legitimate things to complain about.

God we were shouting into the void of unwavering optimism as we were getting caved in night in and night out, but because we'd score two goals late and lose 4-2 instead of 4-0, everything was alright.

 

[Antiramie]

The overreaction by a few posters to this is fun. There was not this much panic after the team lost 3/6 at the end of January. But the first loss in regulation in 13 and a 10 game win streak and it's all doom and gloom by some.

Given the history of Presidents Trophy winners going on to win the Cup, I think it can just as easily be argued that the optimists are just as quick to jump the gun as the pessimists.

 

[The Macho King]

Given the history of Presidents Trophy winners going on to win the Cup, I think it can just as easily be argued that the optimists are just as quick to jump the gun as the pessimists.

This isn't about optimism. What are we supposed to do - not win the President's Trophy and lose to fall to the two seed? No one is saying the Cup is guaranteed because we are winning the President's Trophy.

Everyone knows the playoffs are what matters. No one is saying otherwise. Three substandard outings in February will have zero bearing on what this team is doing in June.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Boston doesn't really scare me in a playoff series because we've proved we can already handle them. Are they the same team as last year? No, but I think the same strategy holds true. As long as the Johnson - Point - Kucherov line can cancel out the Marchand - Bergeron - Pastrnak line once again, we'll be good.

 

[AlphaCatalyst]

Given the history of Presidents Trophy winners going on to win the Cup, I think it can just as easily be argued that the optimists are just as quick to jump the gun as the pessimists.

Sure, fair point.
What about teams that have gotten 100 points in 63 games?
What about teams who have had multiple point streaks of over 12?

 

[Antiramie]

We're going to have to agree to disagree that what you do late in the regular season leading up to the playoffs is meaningless, whether you're a record setting President's Trophy winner or an 8 seed. Practice makes perfect. If you're not trying to perfect your play late in the season you're doing it wrong.

#notaswitcher

 

[OurlordAndSaviorKuch]

My girlfriend Informed me that it was my fault we lost, Due to me washing my Bolts shirt I had been wearing during the 10 game winning streak and for that I apologize.

 

[BowDownToVasilevskiy]

Kind of an expected loss. And even more expected reaction by some people here.

Well in the playoffs we are guaranteed to lose some games. Might as well get used to this feeling now. 17 more games until playoffs.

 

[AlphaCatalyst]

We're going to have to agree to disagree that what you do late in the regular season leading up to the playoffs is meaningless, whether you're a record setting President's Trophy winner or an 8 seed. Practice makes perfect. If you're not trying to perfect your play late in the season you're doing it wrong.

#notaswitcher

Who is disagreeing with that? The disagreement is looking at 1 bad game (3 with lackadaisical effort) and trying to make a case that the team is doomed to failure because of that 3 game sample size.

The teams goal right now is to stay healthy going into the playoffs and that means that going all in & full effort takes a slight back seat on occasion. Would it be nice to have the team play a 60 min effort every game? Sure, Every fan wants that but at the same time the goal is #1. making the playoffs and #2. giving yourself the best chance to go win the Stanley Cup. #1. is a foregone conclusion at this point so now #2 is the priority and if that means not giving 100% every night so they are all healthy come game 1 and if it comes at the cost of losing a few games down the stretch, then that's fine by me. I understand you are saying that is your concern because it can possibly lead to getting into bad habits, but that is where we as fans need to trust that the past few seasons were learning experiences and has only made them more hungry come game 1 and beyond.

 

[DFC]

Boston doesn't really scare me in a playoff series because we've proved we can already handle them. Are they the same team as last year? No, but I think the same strategy holds true. As long as the Johnson - Point - Kucherov line can cancel out the Marchand - Bergeron - Pastrnak line once again, we'll be good.

Wouldn't surprise me if we try to match Cirelli against them this time, to free up Kucherov, mainly. Last year it was Johnson-Point-Gourde who did the job.

 

[CupsOverCash]

We're going to have to agree to disagree that what you do late in the regular season leading up to the playoffs is meaningless, whether you're a record setting President's Trophy winner or an 8 seed. Practice makes perfect. If you're not trying to perfect your play late in the season you're doing it wrong.

#notaswitcher

Playoffs are still over a month away. We will pick it back up again. This team knows what is at stake. Its definitely easy for us to say they should be playing hard every game but the reality isnt possible. Yes we havent played particularly well the last 3 games but we are playing better this time of year than we did last year. If last 3 games annoyed you look back to last years february until late march. Pretty brutal. Yet we still won some games. I dont like it when they play like this either. Nobody does, but to expect a full effort every game is just unreasonable. I dont even excuse the 3 poor games, its no good. However, the majority of this season has been a huge step up from last year. We have been giving a lot more consistent efforts. As good as we really can in my opinion. There are some flaws with this team but I think this is easily our best team ever. Even over the team that won the cup. Expectations are high as they should be. Lets just hope that when the playoffs come they are ready to play. If last year is any indication, they did so when they needed to but we lost to a very good team in the Caps. I expect that effort to be better for sure and they have a lot to learn from last year. I think they will. I'll bet it pained them to watch the team who beat them lift the cup again. Im expecting an angry pumped up team once the playoffs roll around.

 

[Hint1k]

We're going to have to agree to disagree that what you do late in the regular season leading up to the playoffs is meaningless, whether you're a record setting President's Trophy winner or an 8 seed. Practice makes perfect. If you're not trying to perfect your play late in the season you're doing it wrong.

Imagine that instead of 82 games you need to run an 82 miles distance. If you try to perfect your speed over the first mile you would not be able to finish even that 1st mile.

So, its not about a perfection. Its about an optimal speed that allow you to finish in top16 runners. And Tampa's optimal "speed" is the best in the league.

Bolts = 1.6 points per game, Flames = 1.4 points per game. This is 0.2 "miles per hour" advantage over the 2nd runner.

The higher your "speed" the more energy you spend the less energy left (for the playoff). Therefore, Tampa actually needs to decrease the current "speed". To get only 1 point lead instead of 13 by the end of the season. That's the optimal solution.

 

[kuzy92]

We're 18-7-3 against current playoff teams (if i did my math right). Extrapolate that and we still probably win the Presidents Cup (114 pts). Not even close to mediocre. However, I do think there have been a lot of games where our immense talent is able to overcome lazy tendencies. Whether that will hold up in the playoffs...we'll see.

Haven't played the Caps yet

 

[Master P]

Haven't played the Caps yet

 

[kuzy92]

3 times this month

 

[DFC]

3 times this month

...That's a weird way to make the schedule.

But yeah, that'll be a decent test. I'm actually looking forward to seeing just how much Trotz played a role in the destruction we ran into last season.

While I think Trotz did play a massive role, I think there are people on this board who really want someone to blame (Cooper) and are a little too blind to the fact that Washington has a very good team, and they've been a very good team for a very long time.

 

[TeslaCoilFan]

...That's a weird way to make the schedule.

But yeah, that'll be a decent test. I'm actually looking forward to seeing just how much Trotz played a role in the destruction we ran into last season.

While I think Trotz did play a massive role, I think there are people on this board who really want someone to blame (Cooper) and are a little too blind to the fact that Washington has a very good team, and they've been a very good team for a very long time.

Not only did Washington have a great team last season, they also beat their eternal bogeyman team for a huge momentum/psychological boost plus had Ovechkin playing the entire playoffs like a man possessed.

Will be very interesting to see how we play them this month.