Board 8 > NHL Discussion Topic - Playoff Edition

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm a fan of Ottawa oh my fucking god I want to strangle Eugene Melnyk and hope he fucking chokes on his money Senators

Good on Vegas and these other suffering fans/fanbases are salty

I would very much like to not lose in Game 6, but if we have to, I would like it to be via Ovechkin scoring the game winner.

He deserves it.

And then for Crosby to tell him "You better win it all" like OV told him in 09.

To be honest though I don't think either of our teams can beat Tampa. They look pretty legit.

I really like Winnipeg but I can't not root for Fleury. Him having more Cups than Sid and Malkin would be kind of hilarious tbh
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I need somebody to run the numbers on NHL teams and conference final appearances in the past x years (whatever x works).

Like off the top of my head I know it's 3 for Ottawa (last year, 2007, 2003). And 4 for Toronto in recent history (93, 94, and twice in the early aughts).

I just want to see the list of "0" franchises and then put Vegas above them with 1. It's just a great story, and hilarious. I ain't even mad I'm basically eliminated from the prediction challenge with my Sharks +8 pick, this is just too good.

MartinFF7 posted...

I need somebody to run the numbers on NHL teams and conference final appearances in the past x years (whatever x works).

Like off the top of my head I know it's 3 for Ottawa (last year, 2007, 2003). And 4 for Toronto in recent history (93, 94, and twice in the early aughts).

I just want to see the list of "0" franchises and then put Vegas above them with 1. It's just a great story, and hilarious. I ain't even mad I'm basically eliminated from the prediction challenge with my Sharks +8 pick, this is just too good.

All time it's just Columbus and Winnipeg without an appearance in the conference finals

What Vegas is doing is awesome and I am rooting for them 100% in this playoffs.
And I come from a long suffering hockey town.
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davidponte posted...

I'm just salty that my team has been mediocre for 50 years and Vegas is good in their first year. I selfishly want to see them do poorly.

The expansion draft is over the hell powered and I expected Vegas to at least make the playoffs. Just their expansion draft roster alone was clearly better than some entire teams.

This... Not so much. Not the seed or the level of dominance they've shown.
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As a Washington sports fan who doesnt expect to see a championship ever in any sport, Im cool with Vegas winning. Talk about a story right there.

After they get it though they can fuck off.

Unless its against the Caps. But I still expect a Game 7 blowout coming up. :(
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To be honest though I don't think either of our teams can beat Tampa. They look pretty legit.

Yeah, assuming Fleury doesn't regress, the winner of this series is probably the weakest team left in the final 4.
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How many goalies have won 4 Stanley Cups?

I'm wondering if this might put Fleury near GOAT status
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I mean this one would add a ton of legitimacy. His last two he basically split time with Murray throughout the playoffs.
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ExThaNemesis posted...

How many goalies have won 4 Stanley Cups?

I'm wondering if this might put Fleury near GOAT status

Jacques Plante 6
Ken Dryden 6
Grant Fuhr 5
Billy Smith 4

Their backups may have been there for the same years, but whatever.
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Penguins playing very much like a team that has played a lot of extra hockey the last two years and kind of wants to be done with this season tonight.
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we had five minutes where we didn't suck and now we're back to sucking

lucky we scored.
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Schultz woof
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Kessel has been a horror show tonight
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like the worst I've seen a Penguins player perform in a playoff game
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Been an entertaining 3rd so far
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If this goes to OT Washington will score but it will controversially be overturned
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For a single moment with 7 seconds left I actually thought the Caps had it when Murray was down

I was a fool.
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Washington far and away deserves to win this game.

They have never had a better chance to put us out in the Crosby/OV era.
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Finally.

With that, all the truly terrible cup winning options are out.
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Hooray, Ovi finally gets the second round monkey off his back!
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Congrats to the Capitals. Were absolutely the better team all series long.
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Oh my god, it finally happened

Is it Ovechkin's year at last?
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This series was such a reverse of the norm

Pittsburgh gave away 3 games on blatant **** ups normally committed by the Caps
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Damn.

I was ready to bet four digits on Pittsburgh winning Game 7!
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Yup.

It's been so long, I almost forgot what it was like to be eliminated from a playoff series.

Ah well, it had to happen eventually.
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This is already the best playoffs in a very long time.
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I'm so damn happy

....goddamn, now they better beat the Lightning to get to the cup finals!!!!

(Though let's be fair the Lightning are better than both these teams)
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No matter what, we'll have three of the final four playing for their first Cup. That's pretty cool.
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The best playoff win from any DC sports team since the Caps last pulled this off 20 years ago...

so many feelings
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Meow1000 posted...

(Though let's be fair the Lightning are better than both these teams)

(Yeah, I'm ready to mash that +8 Lightning in the confidence topic)
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I think this has a chance to be like in 04 when the Red Sox finally got past New York.

They will not be stopped now.
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I dont count MLS.
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Lightning, Caps, and Blue Jackets were the only teams I wanted to come out of the East and two of them played Round 1. Devils would have been meh. Flyers and Leafs would have been bad but I could at least tolerate it since it's been so long since they've won. Bruins and Penguins would have been awful.

So nice to see Washington finally get to the conference finals.

Conversely, Kings were probably the only West team that I didn't want to see win it all.

I guess interesting things happen when the Blackhawks don't make the playoffs. =/
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Also I'd like to credit myself for not watching a second of the last two games.

I should probably also not watch the ECF, but I'm gonna.
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ExThaNemesis posted...

I think this has a chance to be like in 04 when the Red Sox finally got past New York.

They will not be stopped now.

except all they had left was a mediocre NL team

The Caps have to get through Tampa, who is definitively better than them at pretty much every position (oh, and the last time they met in the playoffs, swept them) - and if they get through that, most likely Nashville or Winnipeg... who are also definitely better than them at every position.

I'm not saying it's impossible. Worse teams have won the cup before. And then won it again the next year.
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ugh thinking about 04 and how we would have obliterated St. Louis makes me sad.
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we're just getting set up for a forsberg cup winner against the caps
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did i read right that the caps beat the pens in the playoffs
huh
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oh god... oh god... I just realized how this ends

Caps lose to Vegas in the finals

just fucking shoot me now
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Vegas shouldn't be able to get past whoever they face in the WCF, but with Fleury channeling the power of the Infinity Gauntlet, they've got a decent chance.

I certainly wouldn't be shocked if they pull it off. It's kinda an indictment on the league as a whole, but whatever.
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Shadow Dino posted...

Vegas shouldn't be able to get past whoever they face in the WCF

why

Shadow Dino posted...

It's kinda an indictment on the league as a whole

which is
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it never should've happened!! it wasn't in the tea leaves!! they're chopped liver and will be exposed!!
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On paper, the Jets and Predators are superior teams that can outgun and outskate anything the Knights can throw at them. Now, its more of a 60/40 advantage than an 80/20 thing, but Vegas will be underdogs in the WCF.

As for Vegas getting this far being an indictment on the league: Well, their roster is considered to be the castoffs from every other team. At least players that their original teams didn't care enough to have around. And said castoff expansion roster kept kicking everyone's ass and made it to the conference final.

So it's a sign that the talent in the league is so watered down that an expansion team can pile up many wins and make a deep playoff run or that the front offices across the board are filled with imbeciles that can't properly evaluate talent that their castoff turn out to be studs that are stars. And it's probably both.

(It also helps that Fleury has gone superhuman. Great goalies can carry a team far)
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They're both better than Vegas as a whole, but Vegas has one huge advantage that continues to make me hesitant to bet against them. They have the best and by far most accomplished goaltender left.

Championship goaltenders are rare, which is the #1 reason I felt it was obvious they'd be playoff-caliber. Fleury getting out of Pittsburgh was the best thing that could happen to him. He's absolutely capable of taking a team with this talent level to the cup, and he's the only goaltender left we can say this about.
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https://twitter.com/BarDown/status/994322447771013122
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On paper, the Jets and Predators are superior teams that can outgun and outskate anything the Knights can throw at them.

Dude, "on paper" this is true of like 20+ other teams in the league. That's what I've been saying all year!
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The thing about paper is that nobody knows how players will preform when they are placed in different rolls, schemes and with different linemates.
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