League News: 2016-17 General NHL Fan Talk - Part the Second (News n' Scores n' Stuff)

[Alexander the Gr8]

The turtle derby for the second wild card spot continues.

Florida loses to Buffalo and the Isles fall to the Preds.
Carolina loses in OT to Detroit.

Tampa Bay tied with Chicago 4-4 with 4 minutes to play.

I think we'll get Boston or Toronto if we finish 1st. Bring them on, anything but the Pens or CBJ in the first round.

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

I think we'll get Boston or Toronto if we finish 1st. Bring them on, anything but the Pens or CBJ in the first round.

TBay in OT, right now. If they win, they'll only be 1 point behind Boston.

Can't say I'm a big fan of facing TBay with their plethora of playoff experience. :O

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

TBay wins in OT. Now 1 point behind Boston. :O

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

TBay in OT, right now. If they win, they'll only be 1 point behind Boston.

Can't say I'm a big fan of facing TBay with their plethora of playoff experience. :O

They're not that good this year, their defense beyond Hedman is in shambles. Focus on Kucherov and their offense is gone. They don't scare me at all.

Yzerman sold this year because he knows his team isn't going anywhere right now.

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

They're not that good this year, their defense beyond Hedman is in shambles. Focus on Kucherov and their offense is gone. They don't scare me at all.

Yzerman sold this year because he knows his team isn't going anywhere right now.

I agree that it looks that way and the Caps have a great recent record versus the Lightning...

But it's the Caps and the playoffs...

Mind you...they do have some unfinished business with a TBay. Pay back, as it were.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I agree that it looks that way and the Caps have a great recent record versus the Lightning...

But it's the Caps and the playoffs...

Mind you...they do have some unfinished business with a TBay. Pay back, as it were.

People said that the Flyers would give us trouble last year. We reamed them in the first 3 games and we would've swept the series if not for Neuvy getting revenge on us. Flyers had scored only 2 goals when they were put on the brink of elimination in game 4.

If we face TB, they're out in 5 or 6 max. Doesn't get to 7.

Boston will make it anyway. TB winning today simply eliminated the Isles and the Canes.

 

[bacchist]

I think we'll get Boston or Toronto if we finish 1st. Bring them on, anything but the Pens or CBJ in the first round.

I don't care. We will have to play one of those 2 at some point. Bring em on.

 

[SpinningEdge]

Tampa Bay is getting hot. I really don't want them in the first.

Give me Boston. They'll lose in 4 or 5 against us. We are in their head.

 

[deadpenguin]

I don't even worry about the opposing team as a whole in the playoffs anymore. Not worried about crosby, kucherov, tavares, karlsson, whatever. It's always the ****ing opposing goalies that give me migraines as they seem to channel their inner god mode/go Roy Hasek hybrid against us, doesn't matter who it is. We've seen it countless times with Halak, Lundqvist, Neuvy last year, and then the damn rookie with no playoff experience Murray. We beat the cup champion pens if not for him. And you could tell we were a much much tougher out for the pens than the sharks were

Obviously its not like these goalies only play stellar against us, but you can always count on a goalie, any goalie, getting hot against us. Martin biron could probably come out of retirement and bring it to 7 against us. Holtby will take care of business on his end, we know this. We can beat any team in this league and get over this incessant playoff hump, we just need to focus on exposing the opposing goalies, not their D or forward core

 

[Corby78]

Tampa Bay is getting hot. I really don't want them in the first.

Give me Boston. They'll lose in 4 or 5 against us. We are in their head.

agreed, I'm hoping they either miss or get the Atlantic 2/3 seed. Looking more and more like the later.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Could care less who we face at this point, just get it done. No need for excuses of "if only we played X team in Y round, we would of went to the final or better yet won it all". They need to just grow a pair and not turtle regardless who they play.

 

[crazy8888]

Could care less who we face at this point, just get it done. No need for excuses of "if only we played X team in Y round, we would of went to the final or better yet won it all". They need to just grow a pair and not turtle regardless who they play.

AMEN brother. I second that statement. If there are any teams out there that we can't beat in the first, we have no business beating them in the second of third. Bring on who ever it is and if its their time, it won't matter what team they play

 

[Sam Spade]

Tampa Bay is getting hot. I really don't want them in the first.

Give me Boston. They'll lose in 4 or 5 against us. We are in their head.

If the Caps can't beat the Bolts with that defense they might as well simply go home.

 

[g00n]

If the Caps can't beat the Bolts with that defense they might as well simply go home.

Exact same thing we said about the Pens last year.

 

[animositynow]

tampa is suddenly a team that we do not want to face.

kucherov, drouin, hedman..and I would bank on Stamkos being back for the spring season.

I believe this road trip the caps are on now will show us what were really working with. Last road trip was a blunder.

 

[sycamore]

I don't care. We will have to play one of those 2 at some point. Bring em on.

Why in the world wouldn't you WANT to the play the Penguins in the first round, when they have all those injuries? Play them in the second and you're likely facing a healthy team.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

"I want to win one the hardest championships in sport, but I want to only play fringe playoff competitors"

 

[txpd]

There is a legit reason not to want to play any team that might make the playoffs....and several that cant. The Caps are good enough to beat them all and prone to lose to any of them.

 

[animositynow]

"I want to win one the hardest championships in sport, but I want to only play fringe playoff competitors"

we have to beat the best to be the best no doubt. coulda woulda shoulda beat pittsburgh, but they were coming similar to how the lightning are now.

still don't need to be afraid of anybody, but can prefer certain matchups to help us get the most success and longevity throughout a grueling playoff battle.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

There is a legit reason not to want to play any team that might make the playoffs....and several that cant. The Caps are good enough to beat them all and prone to lose to any of them.

It would be better phrased as all teams have their own pros and cons. You'll be stuck playing a team regardless and focusing on the cons of playing that team is a **** mentality.

 

[txpd]

Why in the world wouldn't you WANT to the play the Penguins in the first round, when they have all those injuries? Play them in the second and you're likely facing a healthy team.

If the Pens are as diminished as you make them out to be, they will lose to Columbus in the first round. Pens are still more dangerous than say, the Leafs. They are champs.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Exact same thing we said about the Pens last year.

Pens were dominating the league and their guys were firing on all cylinders, even on D. Tampa's D is under performing and their depth scoring isn't what it used to be. The Pens were better than us last year, we knew it before the series started.

 

[RandyHolt]

Who has the modern day cap killers on their roster? Yeah all goalies, I know. Besides the Gs.

That is who I want to avoid. I cannot recall them all. Brunette seemed like one for a while there. I remember a Finn. Help. I think some have retired.

 

[g00n]

Pens were dominating the league and their guys were firing on all cylinders, even on D. Tampa's D is under performing and their depth scoring isn't what it used to be. The Pens were better than us last year, we knew it before the series started.

Pens D were considered a joke early last season and even during the playoffs we regarded them as weak and prone to being pinned in their zone. Even more so when Letang was out. That turned out to be wrong.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Pens D were considered a joke early last season and even during the playoffs we regarded them as weak and prone to being pinned in their zone. Even more so when Letang was out. That turned out to be wrong.

I believe their D is not that good beyond Letang but they do one thing very well. They move the puck up the ice quickly to the forwards, and then Sid and co. pin your defense in its own zone. Tampa can't do that with the current line up.

Here's their lineup:

Palat-Point-Kucherov
Killorn-Namestnikov-Drouin
Erne-Gourde-Vermin
McKegg-Dumont-Brown

Hedman-Dotchin
Coburn-Sustr
Stralman-Witkowski


Anything scares you there aside from Kuch and Drouin? Their 3rd line is straight from the Syracuse Crunch. You'll say that the Pens had a ton of players straight out of WBS but they made sure to surround them with their vets. Tampa's bottom 2 pairings would make an Orpik-Alzner pairing look solid.

If Tampa makes it, fine. Last time they were missing that many key players, the Habs swept them. I don't expect a sweep because of Vasilevskiy but they're just a warmup compared to the Pens or CBJ.