The OFFICIAL 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Fri Apr 15, 2016 7:48 am

Maybe they should play in the afternoon!

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Fri Apr 15, 2016 9:14 am

Gritty win for the Caps last night. Kind of reminded me of the CHI-STL game... Sort of. Flyers had a chance to exploit some sloppy play in the first period (3 PPs), but Holtby and the kill came up big.

It was true during the regular season and carried over last night: When the Caps go up a goal, they really clamp down. I don't have the stats, but after Carlson scored on the PP, I don't remember the Flyers really threatening to score again. I'm sure they put something on net, I just don't remember ever feeling like they were going to score again.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Fri Apr 15, 2016 9:25 am

Video of Simmonds, a 30 goal scorer, negating a power play down one late so he could fight a 4th liner, and being applauded for it by his home announcers, should go in a time capsule so people 50 years from now can truly understand Flyer hockey.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Fri Apr 15, 2016 9:46 am

mister d wrote:Video of Simmonds, a 30 goal scorer, negating a power play down one late so he could fight a 4th liner, and being applauded for it by his home announcers, should go in a time capsule so people 50 years from now can truly understand Flyer hockey.

Ha ha. Yes!

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Fri Apr 15, 2016 1:28 pm

Yeah, that was unbelievable.

Except, no, it was totally believable.

bapo! · Post by **bapo!** » Sat Apr 16, 2016 12:53 pm

mister d wrote:Video of Simmonds, a 30 goal scorer, negating a power play down one late so he could fight a 4th liner, and being applauded for it by his home announcers, should go in a time capsule so people 50 years from now can truly understand Flyer hockey.

This is so good. And so true.

I wish that this could be a 7-game series because this is an interesting match-up, but Washington should take this in 4 or 5, right? I want Washington to tear it up this spring.

Tampa up 2-0. The Jonathan Drouin Redemption Story continues.

rass · Post by **rass** » Sat Apr 16, 2016 2:17 pm

Geno!

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Sat Apr 16, 2016 10:14 pm

Stole home ice!!!!!!!

rass · Post by **rass** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 10:25 am

I hope your wife fell asleep while you posted that...

Denis · Post by **Denis** » Sun Apr 17, 2016 7:18 pm

So bizarre to feel confident about this series. Maybe I shouldn't jinx it by posting but gfy Black Hawks.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Mon Apr 18, 2016 8:55 am

Under "ways to not win a game against the Blues", go ahead and put "the best player in the league taking a double minor at center ice in a tie game with 7 minutes left" somewhere in the top 3?

Woof. This is still going Hawks in 6.

Special fuck you to Steve Ott. Fuckin' goon.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:16 am

Steve Ott is horrible. I'll drink to that. He's Corey Perry without the talent.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Mon Apr 18, 2016 7:46 pm

Hate Orpik but that's a scary one.

Post by **Sabo** » Mon Apr 18, 2016 8:51 pm

mister d wrote:Hate Orpik but that's a scary one.

And what a shock, a Flyer did it.

I have no idea how he didn't break his neck.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:32 pm

Orpik looked like he fucked his arm. Orlov almost broke his neck.

I honestly don't think it's a suspension. Definitely earned the 5 but I don't see anything beyond that. What garbage from the fans though. The young players in that system deserve so much more than what the old guard and shit fans give them in Philly.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Mon Apr 18, 2016 10:17 pm

I would be pretty embarrassed to be a Flyer tonight. I'll leave it there.

Post by **brian** » Mon Apr 18, 2016 10:18 pm

Just another day at the office for Philly fans.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 12:45 am

Trolling when you sit in the seats behind the other team's coach.

rass · Post by **rass** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 6:02 am

"Fans everywhere are often the same"

hahahahahaha

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 6:22 am

Lou Nolan....think you got this one wrong

wapo wrote:The game ended in ugly mayhem, with fans chucking their promotional light-up bracelets on the ice as crestfallen PA announcer Lou Nolan repeatedly pleaded with them to stop.

“This is Philly, this is not somewhere else in the NHL,” he said. “Have some class.”

B.T.W. isn't this the kind of behavior that causes Soccer teams to play games in empty stadiums. Don't see the NHL going that route for game 4

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 8:19 am

Post by **brian** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:11 am

wlu_lax6 wrote:Lou Nolan....think you got this one wrong
wapo wrote:The game ended in ugly mayhem, with fans chucking their promotional light-up bracelets on the ice as crestfallen PA announcer Lou Nolan repeatedly pleaded with them to stop.

“This is Philly, this is not somewhere else in the NHL,” he said. “Have some class.”
B.T.W. isn't this the kind of behavior that causes Soccer teams to play games in empty stadiums. Don't see the NHL going that route for game 4

Yeah, pretty much. Sadly, I don't think a punishment like that would have the intended effect but would instead just play into Philly's martyr complex.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 10:13 am

I almost couldn't watch the entire thing, I was getting so mad. Yeah, such big tough guys, going after our smallest, least likely to scrap line (92, 65 and 14.) That was calculated goon hockey. They were targeting Orlov all night, but he's a tank and wasn't backing down. So the escalation is to put him neck break-style into the boards, and then glove punch a punch of guys with a sum total of 0 career fights.

(Shit, I don't know Williams' history that well, he might have scrapped at some point. I can guarantee you Burakovski and Kuznetsov have never dropped gloves.)

((Hockeyfights.com says Burakovski got gooned down in the minors once, and Williams has about 10 fights to his name during his entire career, including 4 in OHL where you pretty much have to fight to get to your lockerroom between periods. Nothing shows up fo 92. )

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I know Oprik is a "leader" and has provided some solid presence on the blueline, BUT... He's actually been involved in at least 2 of the Flyer goals and he's getting beaten quite a bit behind the net. Schmidt needs to step up his game and we'll see if they bring Weber off the scratch list to bolster things back there.

I just want to get out of Philly without anyone else getting hurt, but I'm not real confident of that. That said, I have no idea how the Flyers react to this game. It wasn't even satisfying in terms of pound of flesh... Orlov got bruised but then the Caps proceeded to humiliate them with the subsequent PPGs. Their ability to keep their collective shit together is really going to be tested on Wednesday.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 1:35 pm

Yup, pretty much par for the course and the same way other fanbases feel. Hartnell used to be an expert at finding the smallest guy on the ice and running him with a few minutes left in a loss. They're all shitheads with shithead fans.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 1:49 pm

Was waiting for my kid at a soccer training last night and Caps playoff game was on. Watched one period. Caps appear to be really good.

#hockeytalk #valueadded

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 1:51 pm

Yeah, they're at two totally different levels. Has to give Flyers fans who are convinced they just need their D prospects to come up and join the forwards and Mason and they're contenders some legit pause.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 1:53 pm

mister d wrote:Yup, pretty much par for the course and the same way other fanbases feel. Hartnell used to be an expert at finding the smallest guy on the ice and running him with a few minutes left in a loss. They're all shitheads with shithead fans.

I agree, and was texting with friends that Philly fan is worse than Boston fan. I don't know if they were watching last night, but my point was that Boston fan is not usually violent. Philly fan has a long history of actually getting involved, while Boston fan is generally just insufferable.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 1:56 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: I know Oprik is a "leader" and has provided some solid presence on the blueline, BUT... He's actually been involved in at least 2 of the Flyer goals and he's getting beaten quite a bit behind the net. Schmidt needs to step up his game and we'll see if they bring Weber off the scratch list to bolster things back there.

Edit - He's been involved in both goals. Not sure why I thought they'd scored more than twice in three games.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 1:59 pm

Oh yeah. He's slow and probably my no-thought pick for "if a Cap has to get injured" just because of his history of cheap shit with the Rangers, but still ... There's nothing fun about that sort of thing (unless you're a Flyers fan).

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 2:33 pm

I may be a homer, but I just want to note that the Sharks dominated the third period and the overtime, despite losing in OT. Had two power plays in the third period that looked good but they couldn't beat Quick. (The refs were trying to swallow their whistles in the 3rd, but Milan Lucic grossly speared Justin Braun and they had to call that, and later a King flung the puck over the glass for a delay of game.) Still in a bit of a mood over losing a game they should have won. These teams are so evenly matched you have to win them when you deserve to do so. But, I'm going to the game Wednesday!

Also saw a stat on twitter near the end of the game that said the Sharks' Corsi when Joe Thornton was on the ice was 64%, but only 47% when he wasn't on the ice. The guy is so much better than many people realize.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 6:32 am

I'm too old and couldn't hang for the whole Hawks game last night, and wake up to find that they lost.

My fault. Damn.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 7:00 am

I picked all road teams to win on both Monday and Tuesday. The Wild won as a home team on Monday, keeping me from 100%. I'm leaning the same way tonight, but feel strongest about the Caps and Stars.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 9:27 am

The Flyers are benching Mason for giving up 4 even strength goals over 3 games to the second best scoring team in the NHL. Just when it looks like this series can't get any more Flyers-ish, it gets even more Flyers-ish.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 9:36 am

So, the thing is... I think Neuvirth probably gives them a better shot than Mason at this point. He is a very good goalie and he'll be motivated against his former club.

And, really... Mason has given up a number of really soft goals. One that immediately gets put into NHL Network's "Worst Goals Allowed Ever" archive and another flukier goal off of a weird ricochet that he still should've handled better and then got completely clowned on by Kuznetsov after the bobble.

I agree, it's not like he's playing like shit. But this seems like a pretty reasonable shake-up.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 9:45 am

Nonlinear FC wrote:So, the thing is... I think Neuvirth probably gives them a better shot than Mason at this point. He is a very good goalie and he'll be motivated against his former club.

And, really... Mason has given up a number of really soft goals. One that immediately gets put into NHL Network's "Worst Goals Allowed Ever" archive and another flukier goal off of a weird ricochet that he still should've handled better and then got completely clowned on by Kuznetsov after the bobble.

I agree, it's not like he's playing like shit. But this seems like a pretty reasonable shake-up.

Especially down 3-0 against a clearly superior team. They've gotta be willing to throw everything at the wall here and see what sticks.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 9:46 am

Its only reasonable if you wipe out the whole "Flyers have found their goalie" narrative. Rangers aren't pulling Lundqvist here, Caps aren't pulling Holtby, etc, etc.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 10:09 am

mister d wrote:Its only reasonable if you wipe out the whole "Flyers have found their goalie" narrative. Rangers aren't pulling Lundqvist here, Caps aren't pulling Holtby, etc, etc.

Ah. Gotcha. I'm not up on my Flyer narrative, though I do remember you mentioning this in the context of "we're close!" the other day.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 10:42 am

The one guy I do hope they trade soon is Couturier. I forget the exact thing I ran, but it was something like only two guys led their teams in forward Corsi% and QoC and the other one was Bergeron, who is the perfect center.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 11:10 am

BSF21 wrote:I'm too old and couldn't hang for the whole Hawks game last night, and wake up to find that they lost.

My fault. Damn.

So, with the Blackhawks down and just over 2 minutes left, Andrew Shaw decides it's the right time for an unnecessary cheap shot. He gets caught and sent to the box for essentially the rest of the game, ruining Chicago's chances of coming back. He of course throws a tantrum and cameras catch him calling the ref a "faggot" and "fuck you". Nice.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 11:37 am

And the NHL with "You Can Play" and all that has been at the forefront of the major sports in telling people like him to fuck off, so this could and should be a serious example setting. Not like the NBA's bullshit slap on the wrist of Rondo.