2021 NHL Playoffs

[brian]

I don't feel good about this VGK-Wild game tonight and I'm definitely not gonna feel good about a potential Game 7 though at least most of the guys on the team got that particular monkey off their back last year.

[rass]

Reluctant to consider what I’d do to never have to hear Pierre say “juicy” again

[degenerasian]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/oi ... than-bear/

Why are people so fucking disgusting? The kid is a great role model and a good young player.

[sancarlos]

I think one obstacle the Islanders will face in the second round is that Tristan Jarry won’t be on the ice.

[brian]

I think one obstacle the Islanders will face in the second round is that Tristan Jarry won’t be on the ice.

If VGK can somehow get a goal and MAF a shutout that will rub some salt in the wound. Of course, the Pens or anyone in the NHL probably could have had Fleury in the off-season for a mid-round draft pick.

[brian]

(With the caveat of having to absorb his cap hit.)

[brian]

Welp...

[govmentchedda]

Had a whole ass drunk person fall on me after the empty net goal.

[degenerasian]

Welp...

Never say the S-Word

[brian]

I think this makes the season series 7-7 so sure make it a best of 15.

[rass]

I think one obstacle the Islanders will face in the second round is that Tristan Jarry won’t be on the ice.

If VGK can somehow get a goal and MAF a shutout that will rub some salt in the wound. Of course, the Pens or anyone in the NHL probably could have had Fleury in the off-season for a mid-round draft pick.

(A) fuck you

(B) I love him but fuck MAF because if he played as well for his full run of playoff time in Pittsburgh as he has in Vegas they might have had more cups and he might still be there (using this clip just because of the Jarry fuck up the other night playing the puck, if I really wanted to be mean I'd look to the Flyers series but I don't want to see that either)



(C) Pens beat writers insist former GMJR approached VGK with every intention of getting MAF (article from this past spring after he left Pittsburgh).

Rutherford tried mightily to bring him back to Pittsburgh in October 2020 after it became clear that Robin Lehner was the preferred goaltender for the Golden Knights last fall.

“That’s one of the reasons we decided to buy out Jack Johnson,” Rutherford said. “I was trying to clear money for Marc.”

Rutherford usually plays by unwritten rules in the world of general managers. But for the opportunity to snag Fleury, he did something a little unorthodox.

“I did what I never do and will never do again if I work again,” Rutherford said. “I called a general manager (Kelly McCrimmon) during their playoff series (against Dallas). I said, ‘If you’re moving Marc, you make sure you call me. I want him.'”

Rutherford and McCrimmon spoke about the possibility of a deal, but talks never became serious.

“We tried to bring him back,” Rutherford said. “You have to realize there are moving parts because of the money he makes now. The only way we would have been able to pull it off is if they took back a lot of his money. They made the right decision. The other goalie has been hurt. Marc’s been great, maybe the best in the league.”

Rutherford insists this became a primary goal of his last fall.

“Yes,” he said. “Yes. Yes. I was serious. Very serious. Very willing to give a lot to get him, too. What I think is a lot and what the other team thinks is a lot may be two different things. I wasn’t looking at it as them giving him away. I was certainly willing to pay the price to get him back. I tried.”

(D) Go Wild!

[Giff]

Had a whole ass drunk person fall on me after the empty net goal.

Sounds fun.

[govmentchedda]

Had a whole ass drunk person fall on me after the empty net goal.

Sounds fun.

Came out of fucking nowhere. We score the empty netter, then dude from the row behind me is literally on top of me, and I'm pancacked over trying to not smash the people in the row in front of me. Beer all over me and the girls in front of me, though his can could have been much more full. I'm under the weight of his whole drunk ass wondering if I was going to have to punch my way out of the situation. Thankfully he didn't fall on a kid or someone elderly. The crazy thing was normally you'd realize the guy behind you was super drunk, and this type of thing would have had some sort of warning based on prior noise or whatever. Not at all. On a side note, I was impressed with how noisy a half full building could be. And, as always, fuck the Panthers.

[mister d]

Sounds like he has grit. What if we offer Lundkvist and a 1st?

[degenerasian]

If the Leafs choke another series away, the Canadian talking heads are gonna explode. No Matthews or McDavid? They might actually have to go off the air for the remainder of the playoffs since they'll have nothing to talk about.

And fans are going to be allowed in Canada for the first time in Game 6. 2,500 at the Bell Center tomorrow night. The cheapest retail ticket it going for $1,800.

[degenerasian]

What a dumb policy to begin with. That and a guy falling on chedda.

[mister d]

It’s an embarrassing enough policy before you resort to enforcing it against the Florida Panthers.

[govmentchedda]

Stupid policy. Glad to see it go. They started it back in 2015 just as this group was getting good and games against teams with a lot of transplants would have a lot of fans of the visitors. That mindset is very much gone now. Now, if they could just work on the falling drunk guy problems.

[brian]

I think one obstacle the Islanders will face in the second round is that Tristan Jarry won’t be on the ice.

If VGK can somehow get a goal and MAF a shutout that will rub some salt in the wound. Of course, the Pens or anyone in the NHL probably could have had Fleury in the off-season for a mid-round draft pick.

(A) fuck you

(B) I love him but fuck MAF because if he played as well for his full run of playoff time in Pittsburgh as he has in Vegas they might have had more cups and he might still be there (using this clip just because of the Jarry fuck up the other night playing the puck, if I really wanted to be mean I'd look to the Flyers series but I don't want to see that either)



(C) Pens beat writers insist former GMJR approached VGK with every intention of getting MAF (article from this past spring after he left Pittsburgh).

Rutherford tried mightily to bring him back to Pittsburgh in October 2020 after it became clear that Robin Lehner was the preferred goaltender for the Golden Knights last fall.

“That’s one of the reasons we decided to buy out Jack Johnson,” Rutherford said. “I was trying to clear money for Marc.”

Rutherford usually plays by unwritten rules in the world of general managers. But for the opportunity to snag Fleury, he did something a little unorthodox.

“I did what I never do and will never do again if I work again,” Rutherford said. “I called a general manager (Kelly McCrimmon) during their playoff series (against Dallas). I said, ‘If you’re moving Marc, you make sure you call me. I want him.'”

Rutherford and McCrimmon spoke about the possibility of a deal, but talks never became serious.

“We tried to bring him back,” Rutherford said. “You have to realize there are moving parts because of the money he makes now. The only way we would have been able to pull it off is if they took back a lot of his money. They made the right decision. The other goalie has been hurt. Marc’s been great, maybe the best in the league.”

Rutherford insists this became a primary goal of his last fall.

“Yes,” he said. “Yes. Yes. I was serious. Very serious. Very willing to give a lot to get him, too. What I think is a lot and what the other team thinks is a lot may be two different things. I wasn’t looking at it as them giving him away. I was certainly willing to pay the price to get him back. I tried.”

(D) Go Wild!

With all due respect, stay mad.

(I think MAF got bad coaching in PGH maybe not head coaching but definitely bad goalie coaching. I think that’s been a chunk of the difference the last few years. His game has been rebuilt).

[degenerasian]

I know this Talbot!

[travzilla]

Colorado-Vegas is going to be so good and I'm probably going to end up seeing like 4 periods of it total. Really miss living in the central time zone during playoff time. Every game in that series will probably start at 11pm my time. I don't even have work to go to in the morning, I just can't stay awake past midnight anymore without a bunch of planning/drinking.

edit: Just saw game 1 tomorrow starts at 9:00 for me, so I'll definitely take that. That's actually earlier than all 4 of the Jets-Oilers games were.

[travzilla]

Canadiens speed-bagging the Leafs for the first five minutes. Most lopsided start to a game I've seen in a long time. Eventually evened back out a bit but this could be a tight game (though I think Habs are going to regret not scoring there in the end).

This is the first I've seen of this news... up to this point I think it was still believed that the Canadian team would have to relocate south for rounds 3+4.



So looks like there will be an exemption so the teams can cross back and forth. Will still be weird going from full fans to no fans in the same series (unless it's Montreal. I don't see Manitoba or Ontario allowing fans even in 2-4 weeks)

[EdRomero]

[travzilla]

Dammit, if the Leafs would have just won last game this Matthews/Marner no-show would have been game 1 against the Jets

[degenerasian]

Habs just scored their first powerplay goal of the series. They still have no points from defenseman.

[brian]

The Leafs blowing a 3-1 lead to lose to the Habs would just be...<chef’s kiss>. It’s bad being a Lions fan being a Leafs fan might be worse.

[travzilla]

Leafs-Canadiens game 7 Monday night. I'm actually kinda more scared of Montreal right now. If they win game 7, they'll come into the next round so fired up the lack of rest won't matter. Leafs are gonna be shell shocked either way.

[brian]

You sign up for it when you play for Toronto but the pressure on them for Game 7 will be overwhelming.

[Pruitt]

The Leafs blowing a 3-1 lead to lose to the Habs would just be...<chef’s kiss>. It’s bad being a Lions fan being a Leafs fan might be worse.

This city is going to have a collective nervous breakdown.

Classic Leafs!

[brian]

I'm actually kinda rooting for Toronto, because we don't have any Habs fans here and Pruitt needs a win, but one weird quirk if Montreal does win the series is that the conference "finals" would be known in advance since the Colorado-Vegas winner would definitely be playing the Montreal=Winnipeg winner, meaning the Tampa/Carolina winner would definitely face NYI/Boston.

[sancarlos]

I’m rooting for Toronto!

[mister d]

Also on Team Leaves.

[degenerasian]

https://torontosun.com/sports/hockey/nh ... aple-leafs

And again, the sport’s leading scorer, Auston Matthews, was goalless. As was linemate Marner, and that’s now 17 playoff games for him without a goal. That’s not accidental. That’s not bad luck.

[mister d]

Vegas with more headshots than goals.

[brian]

Hopefully Reaves is suspended forever. VGK is better without him, both figuratively and literally.

[brian]

(though I'll probably be indignant if Reaves is suspended for five-ish games and Kadri's suspension is reduced to like four games even though Reaves doesn't have the same history of bad intent.) But I still maintain Vegas is better off without Reaves in the lineup regardless.

[mister d]

Wow. My comment was pre-Reaves. Nice G1.

[sancarlos]

Pretty surprised by that woodshedding. I missed most of the game. Why didn’t Fleury start? I have to believe there is an injury (although I can’t find any discussion of it). Particularly after they left Lehner in for the entire game.

[degenerasian]

I'm scared what the Avs would do to Montreal/Winnipeg

[sancarlos]

I feel bad for Joe Thornton and Jason Spezza.

Really thought this might be Toronto’s year.

Gotta love the unpredictability of sport.