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

[Crabcake]

Also, can we talk about how bad the ice was tonight? How many times did the ice crew have to fix an issue with the ice?

 

its almost like playing hockey in the desert wasn’t the best idea

[oddball]

I love how the refs get together and after the fact call a penalty on the Marchessault interference (which it was), but they look the other way on the Reeves cross-check that lead to the goal.

[Crabcake]

2 minutes ago, oddball said:

I love how the refs get together and after the fact call a penalty on the Marchessault interference (which it was), but they look the other way on the Reeves cross-check that lead to the goal.

Definitely. He got away with a huge one there. Completely shifted the momentum of the game. 

[Lee Noire]

That was a ride. Let’s do it 3 more times.

[ozzyman314]

That was a :censored:ing awesome cant. 

Honestly cant be mad at whatever team end up winning in the end. 

[Crabcake]

I really hope the Caps can find a way to pull this off, somehow. Because if they don’t, I won’t be able to watch any of the 30 for 30s/documentaries/movies produced about this Vegas team because it’ll just remind me of the pain. 

[Crabcake]

Here’s one. 

 

Let’s say that the person that Ryan Reaves cross checks in front of the net to set up the momentum-shifting, game-altering equalized is not John Carlson, but Sidney Crosby. What are the chances that Reaves’ goal is not only taken away but that he’s serving a suspension for it?

[Unocal]

Sign me up for 7 games of this, a REAL championship series unlike that other sport still going on.

[habsfan1]

 

[habsfan1]

This prediction I made in January has a good chance of coming true, after all.

 

On 1/19/2018 at 10:29 PM, habsfan1 said:

This june, there will be a Stanley Cup Parade on the Vegas Strip. Screencap this.

[Lights Out]

This was an epic game and a great way to start the Cup Finals. There's no way anyone can convince me that this Vegas team is bad for the league.

[Cujo]

8 hours ago, Lights Out said:

There's no way anyone can convince me that this Vegas team is bad for the league.

 

MOD EDIT: Let's stick to discussing the merits of the 2018 NHL Playoffs, as opposed to baiting our fellow CCSLC members. Thank you.

[Unocal]

14 minutes ago, Lights Out said:

This was an epic game and a great way to start the Cup Finals. There's no way anyone can convince me that this Vegas team is bad for the league.

 

That was everything the NBA is not- unpredictable, different, variety, fresh.

 

Give me Vegas/Ovechkin over another joyless CLE/GSW rerun.

 

I'm so angry about Cleveland/Golden State part infinity that I honestly don't care if an expansion team wins a Cup.

 

It's a great refreshingly DIFFERENT story, unlike the National Bron Association.

[FiddySicks]

So these two leagues have totally different issues that cause the same problems. The NBA has zero parity and it’s caused some stagnation, people don’t wanna take it seriously and don’t wanna watch. On the other end, the NHL has levels of parity that are absolutey off the charts and it’s so overblown that it makes the league a God damn joke, people don’t want to take it seriously and nobody wants to watch. 

 

I dont know about you guys, but I’ll take too little parity over too much parity any day of the week, because the alternative is flat out EMBARRASSING. People want to say that the NBA regular season is useless because it’s the same two teams, but it’s the regular season that helps to at least flesh out who the top teams are. The NHL has it set up so half the league makes the playoffs, low seeds get hot and cruise to the finals, and now a God damn expansion team is three games from a title. In that case, you might as well not waste six months of people’s time and slot every team into an NCAA style tournament and just go from there. 

 

If this Vegas team wins the cup, I’m am legitimately never wasting a single second of my time with this trash exhibition, because it’s no longer a worthwhile sport. It’s a joke. Figure skating is more legitimate. It’s a garbage sideshow you would’ve seen in Vegas before this year, but nobody would deign themselves to pay to watch that festering pile of landfill.

[mcj882000]

Yeah - one league's dominated by two teams pretty thoroughly right now, but guess what? It's the league people actually want to watch, because that league's teams are driven/carried by their big, heavily-marketed stars, and said stars can actually make it to the championship finals. One of the NHL's two biggest stars just made the Finals for the first time ever, after 12 attempts, and his team's likely to be eliminated by a team that didn't even exist last season! The other star just made it to back-to-back finals... after his team was eliminated early in the 5 previous to that. Compare that to the NBA, where the league's 2 biggest names will meet in the Finals for the 4th year in a row, yet TV ratings, attendance & merch sales seem to suggest this is exactly what their audience wants.

What I'm learning is that, no matter how much individual people or smaller groups complain about dynasties and the lack of parity, and the same teams winning every year, in the wider country it's the opposite - fans like to get behind consistent, proven winners, who can dominate the league and win titles with ease, year after year... So on that note, for better and for worse, if they keep it up the NHL's team of the future may very well be the Las Vegas Knights.

Assuming the NHL can market them properly, along with avoiding a lockout in 2020. (lol)

[ozzyman314]

10 hours ago, Bucfan56 said:

I dont know about you guys, but I’ll take too little parity over too much parity any day of the week, because the alternative is flat out EMBARRASSING. People want to say that the NBA regular season is useless because it’s the same two teams, but it’s the regular season that helps to at least flesh out who the top teams are. The NHL has it set up so half the league makes the playoffs, low seeds get hot and cruise to the finals, and now a God damn expansion team is three games from a title. In that case, you might as well not waste six months of people’s time and slot every team into an NCAA style tournament and just go from there. 

I am 100% in the opposite camp. Variety is what makes things interesting. 

The NBA is so :censored:ing boring with the exact same rerun Finals for the 4th straight year. It’s bad enough when 1 team is dominant and makes consecutive appearances but both? The hell is the point in watching? Especially since people this outcome day 1....of 2016. None of the teams of matter outside of 2 have mattered since like, 2014. 

 

On The other hand no one know what to expect with the Cup playoffs. Yeah Penguins were in it and had a chance of 3-peating, but it didn’t seem obvious or even inevitable like Cavs-Warriors Final did.

it’s far more embarrassing to see a :censored:ing lottery team make the championship solely because of one generational talent on the team. 

Vegas doesn’t seem so bad compared to the joke Lebron turned the NBA into. 

[Unocal]

At least we're guaranteed something different on ice.

[-kj]

36 minutes ago, Bucfan56 said:

The NHL has it set up so half the league makes the playoffs

 

The same number of teams make it to the NBA playoffs, so I'm not sure this is a good comparison point.

 

Also, I'm still loving all the chaos. 

[FiddySicks]

Yeah but the 8th seed in the NBA isn’t ever going to win a title. They’ve reached the finals ONCE, and that was in a lockout-shortened season. 

[Unocal]

Let's be honest- even Pittsburgh's back to back Cup wins were more unpredictable than predictable.