The Rite of Spring (AKA 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread)

[Crabcake]

I’m choosing to look at every Caps win with Craig Anderson in net as a stolen game, so conversely every loss with Anderson in net stings just a fraction less. Still hurts to lose that one after being up with 2 and a half to go. 

[TBGKon]

On 5/16/2021 at 1:35 PM, GDAWG said:

 

That first part is interesting.  What happens if there's no answer by then?  Or Canada still requires Americans to quarantine for two weeks, therefore screwing up the postseason schedule?  

I would think the Canadian winner comes to play in a US team arena not in the playoffs.  Somewhere central like Chicago might be best.

[AnPheitseog]

19 minutes ago, TBGKon said:

I would think the Canadian winner comes to play in a US team arena not in the playoffs.  Somewhere central like Chicago might be best.

If they do this, i'd imagine it would be an arena 1. Close to the team 2. Close to the other team. 

 

2 is likely a bigger deal, so they can minimize travel.

[TBGKon]

6 minutes ago, DiePerske said:

If they do this, i'd imagine it would be an arena 1. Close to the team 2. Close to the other team. 

 

2 is likely a bigger deal, so they can minimize travel.

True. When you probably have to make plans sooner rather than later to hold dates it causes a challenge, especially when you need to hold up to as long as 2 rounds.  It doesn't help that the Canadian teams are spread between Edmonton and Montreal, and due to the reseeding rule in the final 4 (1v4, 2v3) the luxury of knowing the opponent isn't available. 

 

A centralized location of a non playoff city (Chicago, Detroit, maybe Dallas, maybe Buffalo) for the Canadian winner would be logistically easiest.

[Brass]

Dear Bruins

 

[habsfan1]

The Quebec 9:30 PM curfew will be lifted on May 28.

 

If the Canadiens win at least 2 games, there's plans to have the remaining home game(s) with Habs fans in attendance.

 

I predict their ticket box office website will crash, if that happens.

[BrySmalls]

Going out on a limb to say that whoever wins Game 3 of Caps - Bruins tonight ends up winning the series.

Also, I would love for the Caps to avoid a Game 7 for obvious historical reasons.

[Crabcake]

5 hours ago, BryanSmalls said:

Going out on a limb to say that whoever wins Game 3 of Caps - Bruins tonight ends up winning the series.

Also, I would love for the Caps to avoid a Game 7 for obvious historical reasons.

And let’s take a look at the Caps lineup tonight!

 

-Starting goalie is Ilya Samsonov, who hasn’t played since May 1 and was inconsistent when he did play

-Evgeny Kuznetsov is on the first line, who also hasn’t played in 2 weeks, and who also has a nasty habit of disappearing

-Missing Lars Eller, one of the most underrated glue guys in the league (in my humble, biased opinion)

-Decided to remove Daniel Sprong, a legitimate depth scoring option and hard worker, for some reason

 

Not feeling too good about what’s about to happen. 

[Crabcake]

Ain’t no way in heck are the Caps making it out of this series alive. Top 6 has been invisible and lethargic all three games. Been carried on both ends by our fourth line. Wasted two straight great goalie performances and lost both in heartbreaking fashion after having leads in the 3rd. I give this team credit for hanging in during some tough times. But they’re done. Stick a fork in us. 

[Crabcake]

2 minutes ago, Crabcake said:

Ain’t no way in heck are the Caps making it out of this series alive. Top 6 has been invisible and lethargic all three games. Been carried on both ends by our fourth line. Wasted two straight great goalie performances and lost both in heartbreaking fashion after having leads in the 3rd. I give this team credit for hanging in during some tough times. But they’re done. Stick a fork in us. 

One thing I forgot to mention in this mini-rant: this team looks old. Really old. In the past when the Caps peaked in the regular season, it was more of a failure to show up. Now most of them look too tired to put in real effort on half of their shifts. 

[dont care]

17 minutes ago, Crabcake said:

One thing I forgot to mention in this mini-rant: this team looks old. Really old. In the past when the Caps peaked in the regular season, it was more of a failure to show up. Now most of them look too tired to put in real effort on half of their shifts. 

Then you got ovechkin berating his goalie who made one mistake all game, versus him who did jack squat all game. I will say it’s way to early to give any side the advantage. Both teams are playing very close right now as evident by all 3 games going to OT. I do believe the bruins a built better for a grind it out series though.

[Crabcake]

2 minutes ago, dont care said:

Then you got ovechkin berating his goalie who made one mistake all game, versus him who did jack squat all game. I will say it’s way to early to give any side the advantage. Both teams are playing very close right now as evident by all 3 games going to OT. I do believe the bruins a built better for a grind it out series though.

Funnily enough watching the game I felt Ovi was one of the more effective top players for us. He at least drove the net and got some shots. Kuznetsov was not in game shape, and Oshie was silent. The Backstrom-Mantha-Wilson line got better as the game went on but Backstrom was brutal to start the game. 

[habsfan1]

The Oilers, with the exception of McDavid & Draisaitl, are not very good.

 

They got destroyed in the last few minutes. They pull their goalie twice, the Jets respond with 2 immediate empty net goals. Not even a fighting chance.

[speedy]

10 hours ago, Crabcake said:

Funnily enough watching the game I felt Ovi was one of the more effective top players for us. He at least drove the net and got some shots. Kuznetsov was not in game shape, and Oshie was silent. The Backstrom-Mantha-Wilson line got better as the game went on but Backstrom was brutal to start the game. 

 

The Bruins are definitely the younger, better conditioned team in this series and I think that was glaring in the overtime periods. The Caps gave it all they had in those final 5-10 minutes of the 3rd and seemed to be deflated coming up empty. Washington's game plan seems to be just throw the body at the smaller Bruins and grind them down, but this team is far more resilient than in years past. It's a shame for Dowd he lost his cool there in the 3rd because he played one hell of a game up to that point, but that penalty was one of the dumbest things I've seen in a long time.

 

Ovi berating Samsonov was pretty wild to see, considering he's been MIA for huge parts of this series. So much so that I wondered last night if he was in the locker room in the OT. It wasn't even really Samsonov's fault there, sure he could've been more decisive but the defender needs to come get that puck.

 

Regardless of the 2-1 series lead, this is still a Caps/Bruins playoff series and I am not the least bit comfortable here.

 

Also.. Taylor F'n Hall.

[IceCap]

Leafs/Habs in the playoffs for the first time since 1979. I'm hyped. 

 

Go Leafs go!

[habsfan1]

4 hours ago, IceCap said:

Leafs/Habs in the playoffs for the first time since 1979. I'm hyped. 

 

Go Leafs go!

 

In front of nobody.  

 

Unless that changes later in the series.

 

 

[Seadragon76]

It feels weird that Canada is going to have possibly no fans in the stands for the first two rounds.. This is a year where Canada has a chance to have at least one team among the final four and maybe have a team play for the cup.

 

It just feels so off..

[DTConcepts]

The officiating in the Isles/Pens series has been god-awful so far. Even the NBC announcers have had to comment on how biased the referees have been towards Pittsburgh in the series.

[See Red]

That John Tavares injury was brutal.   That was a scary scene when they were tending to him on the ice and he fell back.  Hoping he's okay!

[Crabcake]

1 hour ago, DTConcepts said:

The officiating in the Isles/Pens series has been god-awful so far. Even the NBC announcers have had to comment on how biased the referees have been towards Pittsburgh in the series.

Playing Pittsburgh in the playoffs is like skating 5-on-6.