League News: NHL Talk - (News n' Scores n' Stuff) - COVID Season Edition - Vol. 2

[um]

I wouldn't be mad with a Kuzy for Nylander swap, straight up.

Doubt Leafs do that.

Nylander had a good playoffs and Leafs already have two top line centers.

 

[trick9]

Leafs remind me of us pre-Cup. They were defeated before that Game 7 ever even started.

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

Leafs remind me of us pre-Cup. They were defeated before that Game 7 ever even started.

Yeah, eerie similarities. The team that just can’t get over the hump.

At least the Caps typically fell in Round 2.

 

[Jacoby4HOF66]

 

[895]

Leafs remind me of us pre-Cup. They were defeated before that Game 7 ever even started.

Perhaps I'm biased but when we kept losing it felt like the universe was conspiring against us. Ovechkin always showed up at least.

The Leafs are losing because Matthews and Marner didn't do anything.

 

[g00n]

Try watching the series again.

The Caps had 3 total goals in the last 3 games of that series after outscoring MTL 17-9 in the previous 3.

Halak had

37 saves and a .974 sav% in G5
53 saves and a .981 sav% in G6
41 saves and a .976 sav% in G7

There is no way everyone but you is misremembering 131 soft shots with no traffic.


Halak was 25 at the time and over a decade later he's still posting season sav% above .900, so the guy is/was good.

I mean ffs there's video on the internet. Here's some G7 and you only have to watch a few minutes to see 1-2 Caps in front of the net quite a bit (esp Laich & Knuble who had one waved off for Interference), high danger chances in the slot, rushes, etc...in the 3rd period it was pandemonium:



No traffic here:

Come on.

 

[maacoshark]

The Caps had 3 total goals in the last 3 games of that series after outscoring MTL 17-9 in the previous 3.

Halak had

37 saves and a .974 sav% in G5
53 saves and a .981 sav% in G6
41 saves and a .976 sav% in G7

There is no way everyone but you is misremembering 131 soft shots with no traffic.


Halak was 25 at the time and over a decade later he's still posting season sav% above .900, so the guy is/was good.

I mean ffs there's video on the internet. Here's some G7 and you only have to watch a few minutes to see 1-2 Caps in front of the net quite a bit (esp Laich & Knuble who had one waved off for Interference), high danger chances in the slot, rushes, etc...in the 3rd period it was pandemonium:



No traffic here:

View attachment 441744

Come on.

Holy shit that's one Fricken play. Get real. Like I said watch the series again not one or 2 plays. The majority of shots were low percentage.

 

[tycoonheart]

Obviously its been a while since that series, but my take after it was that the Caps panicked and it felt like individual players were trying to score rather than us playing as a team. Halak was good no doubt, but I place that series on Bruce's shoulders.

 

[g00n]

Holy shit that's one Fricken play. Get real. Like I said watch the series again not one or 2 plays. The majority of shots were low percentage.

You clearly didn't watch the video.

One fricken play can result in a goal. And when 2 of the last 3 games were decided by ONE goal, that mattered.

Everyone in hockey understands what "Halak'd" means here.

 

[sycamore]

Yeah I think we've officially leapfrogged the Leafs in terms of league wide reputation.
Losing to massive underdogs who also happen to be your archrivals is beyond embarrassing.

 

[OV Rocks]

Perhaps I'm biased but when we kept losing it felt like the universe was conspiring against us. Ovechkin always showed up at least.

The Leafs are losing because Matthews and Marner didn't do anything.

They mentioned during the game last night how Montreal was doing a great job forcing shots to come from Hyman and not Matthews or Marner One, good for Montreal, but two, this is just another example of how insanely dominate Ovechkin has been.

Look back at his career and you can point to maybe one dud of a playoff, 12/13. Ironically his playoff performance was overshadowed by the joke of a coach Adam Oates, and the worst trade in NHL history.

 

[StrikingDistance]

Holy shit that's one Fricken play. Get real. Like I said watch the series again not one or 2 plays. The majority of shots were low percentage.

hahaha Goon is 100% correct on this. I was at every game in this series Row M behind the net where the Caps shoot twice. Please tell me I'm blind and didn't see any of this.

Also, I never sat in those seats again after that...

ps Still pissed at that disallowed goal. Total BS.

 

[HeyMattyB]

You clearly didn't watch the video.

One fricken play can result in a goal. And when 2 of the last 3 games were decided by ONE goal, that mattered.

Everyone in hockey understands what "Halak'd" means here.

Haha I appreciate the backup here. I just didn't have it in me to do all the research. If anything, I was starting to doubt my own (11-year-old) memory of that series.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

The Leafs collapse against the Habs in this series is a bigger and more embarrassing collapse than anything the Capitals ever did in their playoff history.

This is one of the worst collapses in NHL history, right next to the teams that blew 3-0 series leads.

It’s even worse than their collapse in 2013 against the Bruins in Game 7 where they were winning 4-1 with 10 minutes left in the 3rd period.

The Leafs should’ve at least made it to the semi-finals this year. It was their best opportunity to win the Cup, they had by far the easiest path of all the playoff teams by only facing shitty teams from the North division.

No team except for maybe the Sabres has a worse losing culture than this.

 

[HeyMattyB]

hahaha Goon is 100% correct on this. I was at every game in this series Row M behind the net where the Caps shoot twice. Please tell me I'm blind and didn't see any of this.

Also, I never sat in those seats again after that...

ps Still pissed at that disallowed goal. Total BS.

I know I've mentioned this multiple times here, but I had tickets to that MTL Game 7. I had been to the Flyers Game 7 and that Penguins Game 7 embarrassment the previous two years, so I was like, "Eff this, I know they're gonna lose, I can feel it in my weary Caps' Fan bones!" So I sold the tickets to pay for the UHaul that I used to move from DC to Philadelphia the very next morning.

I like to say, "I was so crushed by the Caps loss that I up and moved to Philly the next day!" But, really, I just had a lot of last-minute packing to do, and I got good money for those tickets. The last thing I packed was my TV, right after the game.

 

[max21]

Watching the Leafs collapse makes you appreciate our cup more lol

 

[g00n]

I know I've mentioned this multiple times here, but I had tickets to that MTL Game 7. I had been to the Flyers Game 7 and that Penguins Game 7 embarrassment the previous two years, so I was like, "Eff this, I know they're gonna lose, I can feel it in my weary Caps' Fan bones!" So I sold the tickets to pay for the UHaul that I used to move from DC to Philadelphia the very next morning.

I like to say, "I was so crushed by the Caps loss that I up and moved to Philly the next day!" But, really, I just had a lot of last-minute packing to do, and I got good money for those tickets. The last thing I packed was my TV, right after the game.

I remember everyone telling me the series was over when the Caps were up 3-1 and I was not at all convinced. IIRC one of my employees at the time was a PHI fan and he was already talking about the next round. I warned him it wasn't over.

Just had that feeling. Expected a collapse. Can't imagine why....

 

[HeyMattyB]

I remember everyone telling me the series was over when the Caps were up 3-1 and I was not at all convinced. IIRC one of my employees at the time was a PHI fan and he was already talking about the next round. I warned him it wasn't over.

Just had that feeling. Expected a collapse. Can't imagine why....

It was the first time a #1 seed had gone up 3-1 and lost to the #8 seed, IIRC? A HISTORIC COLLAPSE! Also, was that the time Smokin' Al was like, "Every year the Caps find a new way to break my heart in the post-season?" Maybe that was after a different/later soul-crushing playoff collapse? There were so many, I can't remember, lol.

 

[CapsDC]

When we got knocked out I was rooting for the Leafs. After we got ours I can't help but root for success starved fanbases. Watching them lose every game in gut punch fashion felt so familiar too. I couldn't look away in game 7, like a horrific car crash

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Watching the Leafs collapse makes you appreciate our cup more lol

2018 was everything and I don't know where my head space would be at sports-wise if we didn't have 2018. I mean, f***, sports are just brutal. Yeah, of course, the last few years and the early exits have sucked but it just doesn't bother me any more. I woke up the day after we lost to Boston feeling fine whereas prior to 2018 I would have been in a funk for a while. I'm able to sit down and watch hockey every night and enjoy it whereas prior to 2018 I couldn't watch any more of the playoffs once the Caps were out.

Not to get all meta but I guess for me I know 2018 will never be topped. It was my favorite player of all time playing for my favorite team in my favorite sport finally bringing this city a championship and this franchise it's first Cup after decades of cruel and unusual heartbreak. It's never going to be that sweet again and knowing I never have to see Ovechkin's name on the "best players who never won a Cup" list and knowing I never again have to wonder, "if not Ovi and if not this team, will it ever happen" is f***ing great.

More and more I find myself just trying to enjoy the time we do have left with this core more so than stressing out about any pitfalls or shortcomings. That's not to say I want to watch this team wither away like a dead flower -- I want BMac to be aggressive and ruthless to a fault in terms of trying to get this team over the hump again -- but the stress and anxiety and dread is done and gone.

 

[tenken00]

I know it's all fun to point at the Leafs and their fans because of the past few years and this year's collapse.

But I just feel a certain affinity for them because they are us a decade ago.

It's like I look at them and say, "That's our son."

 

[Calicaps]

Vol. 3