Rite of Spring 2018-“What happens in the playoffs stays in the playoffs”

[The_Admiral]

Maybe Ehlers will decide to come back to life again and stop dragging his line (and his Laine) down. I hope so. I'd like to say we as hockey fans deserve better than an elite team getting clowned by the likes of David Perron, but let's not kid ourselves, it's exactly what we deserve.

[Crabcake]

Last night was my worst fears about this series coming true. 

-Vasilveskiy regains his confidences and has a good game. 

-Caps continually gift Tampa PP chances, leading to goals

-Caps' own PP goes cold without Backstrom

-Tampa looks dangerous at ES

-Holtby gets outplayed for the first time this series

 

Hopefully they can pull it together and regain their previous form in Game 4. 

[Dalcowboyfan92]

I was not expecting Washington to sweep, but this loss was rather discouraging.

 

I still Washington is going to win the ECF, but it's probably going to be in 6 games instead of 5.

 

This team is weird; for all the "Rock the Red" the Caps press, they play so much better on hostile ice.

[The_Admiral]

57 minutes ago, Dalcowboyfan92 said:

This team is weird; for all the "Rock the Red" the Caps press, they play so much better on hostile ice.

Same with the Jets. Maybe there's too much pressure?

Not surprised the Bolts got one back, they weren't gonna go down easy.

[Sport]

I think sometimes teams can feel an extra need to please the home fans while the visitors can just play and in hockey the more clear-minded team usually wins. I saw that in person in Game 6 of the first round when it seemed like the home crowd was making the Blue Jackets nervous while the Capitals were free wheeling and loose. 

 

Maybe the moment got a little too real for the Capitals like they could be up 3-0 going into a home game 4 and they got ahead of themselves. They looked tight, not at all the way they were in the first 2 games. They've basically never had an easy series in the Ovechkin era and Tampa is too strong to just sweep away so a home L for the Caps was to be expected. I still feel like it'll be Capitals in 6. 

[Dalcowboyfan92]

Tampa is just too strong of a team, too deep of a team; that I didn't think Washington was going to possibly sweep.

 

But, this "lackadaisical" performance in Game 3 hopefully means we'll see a sharper, more confident and looser.

[Kramerica Industries]

Home teams are 33-39 this playoff year, and only 11-18 since the second round began. The road dominance is really unusual.

[The_Admiral]

5 hours ago, McCarthy said:

I think sometimes teams can feel an extra need to please the home fans while the visitors can just play and in hockey the more clear-minded team usually wins.

 

That was definitely the case with Nashville. They avoided buckling down and taking their own crowd out of the game, which got them mildly burned by the Fightin' MacKinnons and incinerated by the Jets. I think there was definitely home-ice disadvantage in Jackets-Capitals, too, whether it was too much stress on Columbus or the WE ARE ALL DOOMED pall that seemed to cover DC.

[Alex Houston]

On 5/15/2018 at 2:28 PM, Kramerica Industries said:

 

?

 

Oh, you're talking about the Capitals. That's really funny, because right now the Lightning, with this core, look an awful lot more like Sharks East than the Capitals do. Lets see - one Cup Final, a couple other appearances in the Conference Final, but no silverware that anyone actually cares about. Sounds about right.

 

I mean, the Capitals couldn't even get past the second round for the last 19 years. They were their own kind of playoff bottlers. 

 

Soooo...we're in agreement then, right? The Bolts don't have much more than the others, but they have an all important Cup banner that all of us would love to have. Either way, whoever comes out of that series I'm cheering for. The Knights and Jets can suck it. 

[Lee Noire]

Scrolling through the Jets fans on twitter freaking out over the pre-game Medieval Times Show is a highlight of today.

[AstroCree]

You gotta admit, those Vegas intros are great! Yeah they're a little cheesy but I'm having a blast. 

[Lee Noire]

8 minutes ago, insert name said:

You gotta admit, those Vegas intros are great! Yeah they're a little cheesy but I'm having a blast. 

They are so much fun. I honestly would be disappointed if Vegas didn’t do extra. 

[mcj882000]

It'd be nice if the Jets could go back to scoring without taking a dump on the bed immediately afterwards...

[The_Admiral]

They really are :censored:ed.

[habsfan1]

On 2018-05-11 at 1:46 AM, habsfan1 said:

Would Vegas be in this position without Marc-André Fleury?

 

On 2018-05-12 at 2:49 PM, BeerGuyJordan said:

Absolutely not. Playoffs, probably, but not 1st in the Pacific, and there's no way they would have gotten out of that LA 1st round series with Subban in net.

 

[AstroCree]

Hang on, things are getting interesting. 

[The_Admiral]

So Vegas is basically through to the Final. Screw this garbage league.

[Lee Noire]

That was fun. 

[Wings]

 

 

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[habsfan1]

2 wins away from a Cup final...