Rite of Spring '14: Can you fall asleep with a panic switch?

[NJTank]

If The Penguins go down in flames no way Fleury will be allowed back in Pittsburgh he is as bad as can be when the pressure goes up.

[Sport]

McCarthy is dead.

McCarthy got what he wanted and then some. Hope he didn't leave early.

He's passed-out after undergoing the boner of a lifetime during the goal sequence.

I feel he's gonna wake up in a "Hangover"-esque situation 24 hours from now under a car.

Wherever he is, I'm guessing he's pretty happy.

McCarthy needs to come back with a long, long tale.

Meanwhile, this series is TEARING ME APART (Lisa)

Well I wasn't going to make a long post, but since you asked for it....

That game is why you watch sports. That game is why you stick with your team.

I paid a lot of money for a ticket in the lower bowl on a whim last Friday because I’d never been to an NHL playoff game, but a single ticket was all I could get so I was sitting alone. Drove up from Cincy and got to my seat seconds before LEO! sang the anthem. After that I traded tickets with the lady next to me so she could sit next to her daughter and I ended up sitting ten rows closer to the ice, which as it turns out was right behind two of my high school hockey teammates. So I ended up not being the dork who went to a hockey game by himself. Things like that always seem to work out for me. Kids, be friendly and good things happen.

Penguins shorthanded goal, Penguins second goal that I don’t even remember, Penguins third goal that I don’t even remember, Blue Jackets penalty. I’ve seen this movie and I’m looking at the ground feeling sorry for myself. Three guinzers (new term for Penguins fans I coined) in the next section over couldn’t have been bigger toolbags and were behaving like they hadn’t watched the previous three games. All three were wearing Crosby baby blue jerseys, two of them counterfeit, the other a cheap replica, to give you an idea of what I was dealing with. It was 90-95% Blue Jackets fans so only selling tickets to Ohio credit cards actually worked.

Fortuitous bounce on the Power Play and it’s the dreaded 3-1 lead for Pittsburgh. Everybody’s joking that we got em right where we want em, but there’s no way it’ll happen for a fourth straight game. No way. A 5 on 3 results in an Anisimov/Johansen tap in to make it 3-2 and at that point that was the loudest sporting event I’ve ever been to. My friend tried to say something to me a foot away and I couldn’t hear him. My section didn’t sit down for the rest of the period and my knees got weak. The Blue Jackets had taken a dominant lead in shots and I felt really good about the way Fleury looked in the second period. He had the yips to borrow a golf term.

Third period, lots of chances but nothing’s working. We haven’t scored a pulled goalie goal damn near all season and they couldn’t get Bob out of the net. Suddenly Fleury comes out and that feeling you get when a goal is imminent washed over me. Dubinsky puts it in the net through two guins defenders and a diving Fleury and the place lost its damn mind. 22 seconds left. I don’t know how it got through. I’ve never yelled that loud in my life. I’m high fiving stangers, hugging my teammates like when we used to play together, the woman next to me was crying.

Overtime. This is only my second ever experience with my team in playoff overtime and it is the most nerve racking thing I’ve ever been through. (BTW, the Blue Jackets winning their first two playoff overtime games is the least Blue Jackets thing ever. Following Columbus Blue Jackets history the appropriate thing would've been to lose like their first 7 before actually winning one. I digress) Everytime the Penguins brought it in I had a mini panic attack. The Foligno goal happened on the opposite end from me so I didn’t see it go in and was mostly reacting to the crowd on the opposite end. At that point I was more relieved than elated, but I screamed my head off like an idiot. We high fived everyone on the way out, stopped to watch the impromptu dance party that broke out on the concourse, held my “We are the 5^th Line”* placard up the entire time I walked out. I said "Good Game" to every Penguins fan as I left (because they're not going to learn through hate). Got in my car and drove to my parents’ house. Got to sleep around 1:30.

I was at the first game against Chicago on October 7, 2000. I've been through a lot of with this team and I've stuck up for this team for a long time. Last night proved Columbus can hang. That crowd was like nothing I've ever seen. It was a religious experience.

*

*normally I'd feel compelled to mock something like #WeArethe5thLine, but I can't. I'm on board 100%. It was created by fans and the team embraced it. Homage turned tshirts around in like a day and they printed banners and cards with it.

That was the best game I've ever been to and last night is going into the forever memory banks. I can't stop smiling and nothing will ruin my mood today.

[Kramerica Industries]

Just finished watching the abridged version of the Blues/'Hawks game (that is, the "everything after the first period version").

Couple of observations/questions:

-Are there any other #91's in the league that I should be aware of? I suck with remembering numbers, but I do know that Stamkos, Tavares, and Tarasenko all wear #91 and are really damn good

-Vlad Sobotka missed a fantastic chance to put St. Louis up two goals after an abysmal turnover in the Chicago D-zone.

-How long has Bickell been playing on a line with Toews and Hossa? Interesting line pairings, and it helped get the GTG last night.

-Patrick Kane looked fantastic last night and like he's past whatever injury bugaboo he had before. Great news for the 'Hawks.

-St. Louis is repeating the exact thing they did last year; win the first two at home in precarious ways and then lose the next two away. They lost Game 5 vs. LA last year; wonder how this circumstance will play out a year later.

To me, the 'Hawks have been the better team in this series, and I expect them to ultimately prevail here. That said, St. Louis can take to heart that this is a 2-2 series where they trailed in the last two minutes of the two games they won. They're playing better now, thankfully, with relative health returning to that lineup. Best-of-3, anything can happen.

[SuperLeafsFan]

The funny thing about the Ducks losing, is their HUGE weakness is showing through. They don't have goaltending. I don't care what anyone says, but when you have to rotate goalies, you don't have a starter. Even if they survive Dallas, it will kill them. They've become the Flyers or Caps of the west, teams that look good on paper, but will go nowhere in the playoffs because they don't have a guy who will grab and be that #1 goaltender. Their last legitimate #1 was Giguere. Of course the rest of the world is figuring out that Dallas is a damn good team. Truthfully, the way it looks right now, it doesn't matter, the Cup goes through San Jose. Of all the teams playing, they are rolling 4 lines and clicking in every facet of the game, and that's what Cup champions do. Of course there is the next round. There's just that feeling of a team that has one thing in mind and no one will stop them, and that to me looks like San Jose.

Thank you for posting this. Hiller is like the Fleury of the West. He can win you games in the regular season, and then goes nowhere in the playoffs. I don't think the Sharks are the team thats going to win it all, but I do believe they will go far this year. Niemmi had his run in Chicago. San Jose seems to be a place where he can just bide his time until he calls it quits. They are going to need a new goalie in a year or two.

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

while scrolling past all the Blue Jackets fapping, I'm kinda interested in this Stars/Ducks series. Is this a case where the Stars are really this good or the Ducks shooting themselves in the foot? Seems like the ducks should be running away with this series.

[The_Admiral]

The Stars are just filler. The hockey world seems to be spankin' it to Ryan Garbutt as of late, but I was never taken aback by their non-Seguin/Benn players during the season. Lehtonen is really streaky, and their blue line is crap on a stick, which nullifies a great deal of their prodigious offense. They're not anything the Jets wouldn't be if the Jets had anything better than a drinking bird in the crease. Obviously, Getzlaf being hurt changes the calculus of the series, but I still expect the better team to win.

[CS85]

I couldn't believe the Stars even got in. There were times during the regular season where they were the dictionary definition of suck.

[Kramerica Industries]

Really, probably not as often as we would've thought. They were one of the better puck possession teams in the league this year and probably pick up plenty of points to comfortably make the field in the East. As long as Kari Lehtonen isn't pulling his groin that's a pretty decent team. It's also high time more people realized that Jamie Benn is one of the best forwards in the NHL.

[crashcarson15]

As far as the probability that these results would've happened in this series...

In Game One, the Penguins' lowest win probability was 21.5%—right before they scored to make it 3-2.

In Game Two, the Jackets' lowest win probability was 12.8%—happened twice, right before they scored to make it 3-2 and 3-3.

In Game Three, the Penguins' lowest win probability was 5.3%—right before they scored to make it 3-2.

In Game Four, the Jackets' lowest win probability was 1.2%—right after the Penguins scored to go up 3-0.

The probability that all of that happens in this series?

.00175027%. That'd happen statistically less than 1-in-50,000 times.

My goodness.

EDIT: Shout-out to Extra Skater for the win probabilities.

[TheOldRoman]

I'm not even enjoying this. It's just draining.

C'mon. That's playoff hockey. Did you "enjoy" the Detroit series last year?

And what's with this turn of events that has you declaring the season a failure when down by a goal while Andy is being level-headed? Quick, post clever wordplay to prove you two haven't traded user accounts.

[Kramerica Industries]

As far as the probability that these results would've happened in this series...

In Game One, the Penguins' lowest win probability was 21.5%—right before they scored to make it 3-2.

In Game Two, the Jackets' lowest win probability was 12.8%—happened twice, right before they scored to make it 3-2 and 3-3.

In Game Three, the Penguins' lowest win probability was 5.3%—right before they scored to make it 3-2.

In Game Four, the Jackets' lowest win probability was 1.2%—right after the Penguins scored to go up 3-0.

The probability that all of that happens in this series?

.00175027%. That'd happen statistically less than 1-in-50,000 times.

My goodness.

EDIT: Shout-out to Extra Skater for the win probabilities.

Game 7's gonna start out with somebody scoring six goals in the first period and then the other team's gonna score seven unanswered to win in OT, isn't it?

[STL FANATIC]

So you're telling me that you Japanese tentacle fetishists don't enjoy the delicacy that is St. Louis style pizza? For shame.

No one outside of St. Louis enjoys St. Louis Style pizza. Christ, even Andrew Zimmern turned up his nose at the stuff, and that guy never met an anus he wouldn't tongue. Once people escape the Metro and discover actual cheese, they realize how much they've been duped by Imo's all their lives.

St. Louis style pizza joints are starting to open successfully in locations throughout the country. Best pizza by far.

But hey, if you prefer to choke on a slop of cheese and sauce on top of bread, by all means enjoy your deep dish... we'll stick with the best.

[monkeypower]

So you're telling me that you Japanese tentacle fetishists don't enjoy the delicacy that is St. Louis style pizza? For shame.

No one outside of St. Louis enjoys St. Louis Style pizza. Christ, even Andrew Zimmern turned up his nose at the stuff, and that guy never met an anus he wouldn't tongue. Once people escape the Metro and discover actual cheese, they realize how much they've been duped by Imo's all their lives.

St. Louis style pizza joints are starting to open successfully in locations throughout the country. Best pizza by far.

But hey, if you prefer to choke on a slop of cheese and sauce on top of bread, by all means enjoy your deep dish... we'll stick with the best.

I didn't even know that St. Louis had a type of pizza. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Chicago deep dish pizza.

I'm a fan of New York style pizza.

[Still MIGHTY]

-Are there any other #91's in the league that I should be aware of? I suck with remembering numbers, but I do know that Stamkos, Tavares, and Tarasenko all wear #91 and are really damn good

According to Hockey Reference, the only other #91 this season is Tyler Seguin, who is also quite good.

[Kramerica Industries]

Yes, Seguin, excellent work there. Thanks.

Of course, a recent trend in the NHL has been high draft picks taking the number of the year they were born (I feel like Crosby started that) so maybe it shouldn't be a huge shock that players with a number like that are really good (Stammer isn't #91 because he was born in '91 but the story is relatively long, tedious, and unnecessary).

[TorinK92]

-Are there any other #91's in the league that I should be aware of? I suck with remembering numbers, but I do know that Stamkos, Tavares, and Tarasenko all wear #91 and are really damn good

According to Hockey Reference, the only other #91 this season is Tyler Seguin, who is also quite good.

I hear this guy's also pretty good.

[STL FANATIC]

So you're telling me that you Japanese tentacle fetishists don't enjoy the delicacy that is St. Louis style pizza? For shame.

No one outside of St. Louis enjoys St. Louis Style pizza. Christ, even Andrew Zimmern turned up his nose at the stuff, and that guy never met an anus he wouldn't tongue. Once people escape the Metro and discover actual cheese, they realize how much they've been duped by Imo's all their lives.

St. Louis style pizza joints are starting to open successfully in locations throughout the country. Best pizza by far.

But hey, if you prefer to choke on a slop of cheese and sauce on top of bread, by all means enjoy your deep dish... we'll stick with the best.

I didn't even know that St. Louis had a type of pizza. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Chicago deep dish pizza.

I'm a fan of New York style pizza.

You can never go wrong with NY style. My second favorite for sure.

[The Six]

Before someone splits this off into a new topic, the best pizza is clearly Margherita, just like the Neapolitans intended.

while scrolling past all the Blue Jackets fapping, I'm kinda interested in this Stars/Ducks series. Is this a case where the Stars are really this good or the Ducks shooting themselves in the foot? Seems like the ducks should be running away with this series.

The Ducks realistically probably fall into that Maple Leaves camp that stat people were crowing about all season: an OK team that played above its heads and in reality isn't that good. I never thought the team, aside from Getz/Perry and the vets, was in "ready to win now" mode. Perhaps Murray agreed, going by his lack of making a big move at the trade deadline. The core depth players just aren't there yet.

[-kj]

I don't have it terribly often, but Neapolitan pizza is fantastic.

Really, there are few styles of pizza that are actually bad. I like St. Louis pizza (though, to be fair, I haven't had it in many years), I like Chicago pizza (though that pales in comparison to the Chicago hot dog), I like New York pizza...

...basically, I'm a fatty.

[Still MIGHTY]

California pizza, brah. All about that barbecue chicken. (But for real, it's New York pizza. No contest.)

---

The Ducks realistically probably fall into that Maple Leaves camp that stat people were crowing about all season: an OK team that played above its heads and in reality isn't that good. I never thought the team, aside from Getz/Perry and the vets, was in "ready to win now" mode. Perhaps Murray agreed, going by his lack of making a big move at the trade deadline. The core depth players just aren't there yet.

I'd disagree with that. Saying they played above their head and all that stat stuff, people are always waiting for the other shoe to drop at some point during the season. And for the Ducks, that shoe never dropped. At some point, you are what you are, and I think the Ducks proved they are a very good team. Did they have their little slumps? Sure, but nothing ever as catastrophic as the stat people predicted or what the Maple Leafs did.