GDT: 5/6/16 - 7:00PM EDT - #2 Tampa Bay @ #4 New York [ECSF GAME 4]

[FinnLightning26]

That gif kills me every time

 

[The Macho King]

Can't keep having ****** starts and hoping Ben keeps us in it. The Isles weren't backed into the corner in game 3 or 4. Sunday we are going to get the maelstrom.

Also, really tired of people saying we've had a cream puff schedule so far. It's the playoffs. Regular season standings no longer matter. Lower seeds beat higher seeds. Matchups create nightmares. Detroit plays a physical, tight checking style. They aren't an easy out. The Isles play with speed and aggressiveness. They aren't an easy out. Why do people keep making it seem like we are steamrolling peewee teams on our way to a Cup?

I mean - we did have a cake schedule. Easiest first and second round competition of any team so far. We've benefited big time from it (and we were hurt by it last season with a very HARD run), but I don't give a ****. People can use it to discredit us all they want, but the Cup doesn't have asterisks for Strength of Schedule.

 

[The Gongshow]

Fantastic!

 

[Legionnaire11]

Maybe lighter competition, but also missing Stralman and Stamkos. Many in the hockey world thought the Bolts were an easy out because of that.

I would say, if anything, they've proven what a great team they are to not only survive in the playoffs without major pieces in the lineup, but to be getting through with such relative ease.*



*not easy, just relative to what you'd expect. A 5 game series win is relatively easy to what you expect.

 

[Hoek]

Yeah whining about our schedule is dumb considering we also have the misfortune of critical injuries. Since we are killing these "easy" teams anyway it kind of proves we good enough, IMO.

They better have learned from the last Game 5 and actually show up and want to finish the series instead of sleepwalking for 58 minutes. Or at least not catch the flu AGAIN.

 

[LordZapp]

I think sustr definately deserves some credit for his play this postseasons..Hell this year. Dude has made some huge strides. Went from almost carle status to competent defenceman. I'm glad patience is paying off with him.

 

[Legionnaire11]

I think sustr definately deserves some credit for his play this postseasons..Hell this year. Dude has made some huge strides. Went from almost carle status to competent defenceman. I'm glad patience is paying off with him.

No doubt, look back a year ago and 99.9% of the fanbase would have been happy to launch Sustr (along with Carle and Morrow) into a black hole.

 

[MattM92]

Detroit was an easy out, they're a team everyone should've beaten, but we shouldn't be faulted for taking care of business when we were supposed to. Can't deny that we've had weaker competition compared to the Western Conference teams or even Pittsburgh but you play the teams in front of you and Tampa is certainly taking care of business.

But whatever, there's no asterisk if you win a cup while facing weaker teams on the way.

I mean - we did have a cake schedule. Easiest first and second round competition of any team so far. We've benefited big time from it (and we were hurt by it last season with a very HARD run), but I don't give a ****. People can use it to discredit us all they want, but the Cup doesn't have asterisks for Strength of Schedule.

How many times have we seen the underdog take out the sure thing? Hell, look how much trouble Washington had with Phili this year. Or Dallas with Minnesota. Those were supposed to be the sure things in the first round. Everyone had Dallas and Washington in 4 or 5 games.

And there is a big difference between us making it look easy and it being easy.

 

[CupsOverCash]

I think our team is sneaky good. We aren't a team that's going to dominate the play by any means but when we have enough chances we take advantage of them. Also when you have a goaltender as good as bishop is it wears on the other team and gives us opportunities as the game keeps going. So basically if our defense and goaltending is good enough each game our team has a chance to win. Which so far this year have been the best things about our team. Bishop being the easy MVP. Also helps that Kucherov has been so clutch.

 

[The Gongshow]

Kucherov is already 3rd in franchise history with playoff goals! Jesus. How many did he wrack up last year?

 

[DFC]

Kucherov is already 3rd in franchise history with playoff goals! Jesus. How many did he wrack up last year?

10 I think? He was phenomenal last year, the deeper we got. Started out quiet/lost vs. Detroit, then got red hot vs. Montreal.

 

[PaulGG]

It looked like Boychuck tried to line up to hit Flipper and Flipper knocked him down in OT right before the scoring sequence. I had to rub my eyes, did I see that?

 

[snowden]

Shutout for Greiss incoming. Series might be over for us already

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

We're doomed.

 

[CarpeNoctem]

Isles win next 3 games by a combined score of 16-3.