Pre-Game Talk: 2022 NHL Playoffs: Around The League

[Stammertime91]

They're a better version of the Florida Panthers based on what you just wrote...I mean, this is exactly how we would've talked about Florida this entire season up until the playoff series we had against them. More experienced though and a deeper blueline. They had two of these run-and-gun games but also had two games in the middle where they kept the Oilers to two goals total as well, which deserves mention.

They'll be favorites no doubt. They finally managed to live up to their hype to reach the Final. They've probably been the Vegas favorites the last three seasons now including this one.



This is definitely true, but probably will play to their advantage as well in terms of rest though. The toughest team they faced in the playoffs were the Blues. If we're to reach the Cup, we'll have had to play three teams just as good, or better, than the Blues, and each team being significantly better than both the Preds and Oilers were.

Can't knock them for it. Not only is this outside their control but we'd also be hypocrites if we didn't acknowledge having some favorable draws the last couple years...Dallas and Montréal were the furthest thing from world beaters to face in the last two Cup Finals.

It's true and I agree. Their route is more fortunate than lucky or easy, especially what happened to the goalies (and facing Smith, well...). I just think the gap between them and their opponent closes against TB/NY. If they beat either in 4 or 5 games I'll eat these words but I want to see them play a #1 goalie with legit defenseman back there.

 

[Hoek]

Well, at least if Tampa can rally vs NY, maybe it'll be a reversed situation to start against the Avs, who would be coming off a break of anywhere from 7-9 days vs Tampa's likely 1 day off.

Actually it sounds like they will start the final later to accommodate a longer series, so we might get 3 days off even if it goes 7.

 

[Stammertime91]

I really want to say "McDavid couldn't touch Kucherovs playoff best" on the main but I want to continue posting on this board lmao

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

Actually it sounds like they will start the final later to accommodate a longer series, so we might get 3 days off even if it goes 7.

Here's the remainder of the East Final schedule:

Game 4: 6/7
Game 5: 6/9
Game 6*: 6/11
Game 7*: 6/14

It's kinda nuts the Rangers could be sitting for five days themselves and the Avs sitting for over a week even if the Conference Finals end in 5 and 4 games. I would imagine if the ECF ends in 6 that the Final still begins 6/15, and 6/18 if it goes the distance. Neither us nor New York would go in on particularly short rest, and that's might negate some of that Colorado/thin air thing I mentioned earlier. When it comes to mountain air, I've generally heard there's one of two ways you can go about handling that - you can get there as early as possible to acclimate your bodies, or you can go there as late as possible and leave as quickly as possible to try and avoid the acclimation process entirely (apparently this works; I've heard it before during one of the NFL/Mexico City games). Doing the latter isn't terribly practical when you're playing two games in Denver to open the series, so you're probably flying out there days ahead of time and doing the former. The latter might be a consideration for the one-off Games 5 and maybe 7, though.

I just know I remember Las Vegas had short rest before playing Game 1 against the Avs last year, and got absolutely smoked. They ended up playing better the remainder of the series and winning, but that doesn't mean it's ideal at all to, in effect, be spotting your opponent a game in the championship round. So it's pretty key to see that, no matter what, a short rest scenario won't happen.

 

[Hoek]

Bad news for Colorado

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

Bad news for Colorado

Only three teams in the post-O6 era have swept their Conference Final.

'69 Blues
'92 Blackhawks
'03 Mighty Ducks

None of them won the Stanley Cup.

 

[JoVel]

I really hope the Oilers go with Smith and Koskinen again for next season. Koskinen is f***ing awful and Smith, while he maybe hasn't been as awful as I usually claim, is gonna drop off even more. Wouldn't be surprised if he's a sub .900 goalie next year.

 

[StammerHammer]

Western conference goaltending is a thing to behold.

 

[JTBF81]

Actually it sounds like they will start the final later to accommodate a longer series, so we might get 3 days off even if it goes 7.

So if Tampa makes it, they look to be getting a 3 day break while the Avs will get anywhere from 8-11 days off.

 

[justloveleafs]

Leaf fan again, cheering for the Bolts for many reasons.

I have admired the Bolts ever since my favorite NHL player of all time, Phil Esposito brought them into the NHL.

When my third favorite NHLer of all time Steve Yzerman became GM, it was a shoe in, as to who my second favorite NHL team was going to be, for all time.

My cheering for the Leafs is a dna thing, I have tried on a few occasions to exorcise the chords that bind me, and it was successful in terms of the intensity of my emotions that ran for them, but to date, I have not been able to cut full ties.

What I like about the Leafs is that they are in a way, similar to what the Bolts were just before their Championship years Zesty, spicy, really fast and entertaining. Super charged to watch.

But as the Bolts finally found out, goaltending and being downright stingy on D, is what brings Cups.

I miss the Bolts of old sometimes, just going 15% faster than any other NHL team. It was crazy to watch, but now I see that whenever I want, when the Leafs play most of their games.

If I want to watch a team that has figured out the magic formula of how to win. In the time of year, most like actual war and battle I I watch now, the Tampa Bay Lightning. in the playoffs.

If and when Tampa snuffs out the hopes and dreams of a team that has a fair amount of future in front of it, the Rangers, a heckuva confrontation awaits the NHL.. And NHL historians.

In a wildly equalized parity environment, an NHL team might win three Stanley Cups in a row.

Which, is insane, in this crazy cap humbling NHL world.

Its really exciting for me, I cannot think of what it must be like for a Tampa first and foremost fan.

And there is a heckuva team waiting to prevent that from happening.

As a fan of hockey, of the NHL, I eagerly await, a potentially historic/epic/epoch making final.

Very similar to a New York Islander/Edmonton Oilers of the eighties like confrontation.

This is a potential series, particularly if its really close, to make the grand time history books of the NHL.

One that will far outlive the lives of current fans and players.

So, lets get past New York today, injury free, and wade into history, big time history.

Tampa has the best player in the NHL imo, and its always best to have that guy, Vasi....

I am rubbing my hands in anticipation.

 

[Zwui21]

So if Tampa makes it, they look to be getting a 3 day break while the Avs will get anywhere from 8-11 days off.

Would be nice to be able to steal game 1 off the gate (IF Tampa makes it to the SCF) due to the Avs being rusty