Around the league: Playoffs II | Did I mention Calgary sucks? And also Winnipeg?

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Jay Cee

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I am loving every bit of the Tampa series. After the regular season they had and all the fuss made about them it is nice to see them crash and burn. I also like Columbus' team quite a bit.
 

Mr. Canucklehead

Kitimat Canuck
Dec 14, 2002
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I view the Tampa and Pittsburgh situations separately.

Watching Pittsburgh, I think they are toast. The Isles are outworking them in every facet of the game - winning every race to loose pucks, every board battle, every battle for position. The Penguins look slow and tired, and they aren’t generating any sort of quality chances. I think that series goes to the Islanders.

The Lightning is a bit different. They are still showing the speed and skill that could take over a series, but - IMO - they are trying to be too cute, trying to make the perfect play to score. They need to take a page out of Winnipeg’s playbook and just throw everything at the net and jam for it. Even then, though, 3-0 is a big hole to be in, especially with Columbus clicking the way they are.

Greatly enjoyed watching the Golden Knights take the Sharks apart last night. I think Thornton gets a slap on the wrist from the league, but what a game from Stone. Hopefully Vegas can keep it up.

Also good to see Winnipeg bounce back against St. Louis. Hopefully they can win game 4 to even the series.
 

thecupismine

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Apr 1, 2007
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I haven't watched much playoff hockey this year (been out of town), but one thing I still despise is how the refereeing changes in the playoffs. The old adage of "let the players decide the game" is absolutely ridiculous, not calling penalties impacts the final outcome far more than anything else.

I swear hockey is the one sport that promotes neutering their best, most exciting players in the playoffs.
 

krutovsdonut

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Sep 25, 2016
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stone outplaying karlsson is interesting. if they cannot get out of this round i do not see sj signing him, so ek might be available this summer.
 

Boose Brudreau

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Nov 27, 2006
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I haven't watched much playoff hockey this year (been out of town), but one thing I still despise is how the refereeing changes in the playoffs. The old adage of "let the players decide the game" is absolutely ridiculous, not calling penalties impacts the final outcome far more than anything else.

I swear hockey is the one sport that promotes neutering their best, most exciting players in the playoffs.
good 5 on 5 hockey with pace, skill and physicality is way more fun to watch than a penalty filled flow killing power play fest....IMO
 

Dab

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Apr 17, 2017
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Man if Mark Stone were draft eligible this year so many amateur scouts would be picking apart his skating. Dude really lumbers around out there.
 

Dab

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I am loving every bit of the Tampa series. After the regular season they had and all the fuss made about them it is nice to see them crash and burn. I also like Columbus' team quite a bit.
Yup, loving every minute of it.
 

vancityluongo

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The Tampa series sucks for hockey because it gives some credence to the regular season being absolutely irrelevant and just squeezing into the playoffs because "anything can happen." And that PHYSICALITY matters above all and that speed and skill based Tampa just can't get it done in the playoffs.

Which is undoubtedly going to be the takeaway, not that Columbus was a really, really good team that became even better after going all-in at the deadline instead of banking on minor, conservative additions to avoid disrupting team chemistry or some shit.

NHL fans love to shit on the NBA for making the regular season irrelevant, but this might be even worse. It's not a good look for the sport IMO for one of the best regular season teams in history to flame out like this, in the first round. Parity is fun, sure, but nobody watched the Masters to cheer on Xander Schauffele or Francesco Molinari to beat out Tiger yesterday.
 

Hit the post

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The Tampa series sucks for hockey because it gives some credence to the regular season being absolutely irrelevant and just squeezing into the playoffs because "anything can happen." And that PHYSICALITY matters above all and that speed and skill based Tampa just can't get it done in the playoffs.

Which is undoubtedly going to be the takeaway, not that Columbus was a really, really good team that became even better after going all-in at the deadline instead of banking on minor, conservative additions to avoid disrupting team chemistry or some ****.

NHL fans love to **** on the NBA for making the regular season irrelevant, but this might be even worse. It's not a good look for the sport IMO for one of the best regular season teams in history to flame out like this, in the first round. Parity is fun, sure, but nobody watched the Masters to cheer on Xander Schauffele or Francesco Molinari to beat out Tiger yesterday.
Well isn’t it a foregone conclusion that the NBA championship is Golden State’s to lose?
 

Dab

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Apr 17, 2017
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Yeah, and you're much more likely to get that when players stop clutching and grabbing for fear of getting a penalty that could kill their team.
I don’t really see Columbus doing that. Which teams are “clutching and grabbing”?
 

Jay Cee

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The Tampa series is what it is for hockey. It's like saying it's not fair that baseball isn't set up so a team with all big bats always wins because it is more exciting.

Look at Tinman Stamkos. Great regular season performer, and well below his regular season output in the playoffs. Not a great kind of player to build your team around.
 

thecupismine

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Apr 1, 2007
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I don’t really see Columbus doing that. Which teams are “clutching and grabbing”?

Its been bits of pieces of every game I've watched at the bars while out. No team specifically (Tampa's problems can't be blamed on reffing), its more a broad range of "Jesus how is that not a penalty" all over the place.
 

VanillaCoke

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Oct 30, 2013
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Tampa as a whole is laying an egg, singling out cup winner and 40 goal scorer as not a player to build around is ridiculous and shortsighted.
 
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Jay Cee

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Tampa as a whole is laying an egg, singling out cup winner and 40 goal scorer as not a player to build around is ridiculous and shortsighted.

Your guys who are taking up your cap space and getting it done in the regular season have to be the same players in the playoffs. That's how it works. It's not your 4th line or your bottom defensive pairing's fault that you are down 3-0 in the series. It is how your best players perform vs the other team's best players.

Tinman Stamkos:

Regular Season GPG 0.53 PPG 1.03
Playoffs GPG 0.37 PPG 0.74
 
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tantalum

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Your guys who are taking up your cap space and getting it done in the regular season have to be the same players in the playoffs. That's how it works. It's not your 4th line or your bottom defensive pairing's fault that you are down 3-0 in the series. It is how your best players perform vs the other team's best players.

Tinman Stamkos:

Regular Season GPG 0.53 PPG 1.03
Playoffs GPG 0.37 PPG 0.74

While your premise is correct, you likely have to be careful just looking at the PPG or GPG drops. They normally drop. Some great leaders like Yzerman have similar drops. Though admittedly these are a little larger (nearly 0.3 on point compared to 0.1-0.25 type drop).
 

Fire Benning

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Oct 2, 2016
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It stinks seeing Tampa potentially get swept this early, juggernaut teams are a good thing for the sport and it would've been cool to see a team be so utterly dominant run through the playoffs so they can get the respect they deserve and have the actual best team in the league win the championship as oppose to the team who just got the most hot for 20 games.

Instead we have this which will perpetuate the "championship or bust/playoffs are the real test" mentality which is so prevalent in North American sports as well as having to endure the barrage of nonsensical narratives about how acquiring skilled players is somehow a bad team building philosophy and how "they didn't want it enough" or whatever. Just seems so fruitless to build a team capable of winning 75% of their games over 6 months and yet by the end of it no one can stop talking about how much you actually stink.

On the flip side, Columbus going on a run after an unconventional trade deadline might encourage teams to be less conservative in the future, whereas if they missed the playoffs or going out in the first round which probably would've resulted in the league being even more boring than it already is.
 
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Motte and Bailey

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Jun 21, 2017
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Have you guys already forgotten that Tampa Bay are a team of shits who celebrate potentially career threatening headshots on our players aka Stecher? f*** the Lightning to DEATH. I hope they get swept every year for the rest of their existence.
 
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vadim sharifijanov

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Oct 10, 2007
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well i'll be, torts having his revenge on tampa bay. i expect him to do his post-series press conference holding a money phone.

john-tortorella-answers-reporters-phone.jpg
 
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