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

[CS85]

Oh let them be. Come, let's go shine last years trophy collection.

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

There are very few things in life that are certain. Death is one. Taxes are another. Joining that list will be a LA loss tomorrow night.

Should I be wrong, I will send a crisp dollar bill each for up to five people who decide to challenge it.

Challenge accepted. I'm serious.

i want that dollar bill.

[Billy B]

That was a disappointing loss for sure, but it's hard to be angry with all the recent success the Hawks have had. I just calmly turned off the game after the goal and went on and watched Game of Thrones.

I'm pulling for the Rangers now. Partly because of their beautiful uniforms and partly because you tend not to like a team very much after consecutive playoff meetings. Good news for Rangers fans is that the last time the team I was pulling for in the Finals lost was when the Red Wings beat the Penguins.

[Kevin W.]

That was a disappointing loss for sure, but it's hard to be angry with all the recent success the Hawks have had. I just calmly turned off the game after the goal and went on and watched Game of Thrones.

My thoughts exactly. We can't expect the team to win the Cup every year. One every three years is more than acceptable to me.

[CS85]

...and the Blackhawks weren't even that good this year. Regular season and playoffs. If they can half ass games with a lukewarm bench and mercurial goalie and still make a great team need 7 games to deny them a cup defense, then yeah. It's scary.

[Morgan33]

That was the greatest thing I've ever seen. Thank you L.A. All is forgiven.

You're a sad little man.

How dare I be happy with the result of a hockey game. You sure showed me

[CS85]

It's shameless the way we flirt.

[Kevin W.]

...and the Blackhawks weren't even that good this year. Regular season and playoffs. If they can half ass games with a lukewarm bench and mercurial goalie and still make a great team need 7 games to deny them a cup defense, then yeah. It's scary.

Compared to last year, I'd say we were bordering on mediocre.

That was the greatest thing I've ever seen. Thank you L.A. All is forgiven.

You're a sad little man.

How dare I be happy with the result of a hockey game. You sure showed me

Your hate for the Blackhawks is really pathetic. Grow up.

[-kj]

Yeah, check the mirrors, all of you.

[dbadefense1990]

So I'm going over the Cup Final schedule, and I see something very quirky.

For U.S. viewers, Games 3 and 4 are slated to be on NBCSN while the rest are on NBC. This TV formation for the NHL's championship series has been in place since 2009, despite the risk of having a Game 4 Cup clincher (only possible in a sweep situation) on cable while shutting out some fans of the potentially-winning team from watching such possible clinching.

This consequence of the formation did happened in 2012, as some Kings fans were shut-out of watching a potential Cup clincher in Game 4 (but that clincher eventually occurred in Game 6, so that makes the TV thing a semi-moot point). Thus with this fate actually having the possibility of occurring, last year's 'Hawks-Bruins series saw a broadcasting change. Game 1 was on NBC, 2 and 3 on NBCSN, and the remaining games back on NBC, in order to ensure that no matter how far the series goes, the Cup clincher is guaranteed to be seen on network TV.

But apparently, they reverted back to the stupid consequence they wanted to avoid when switching the broadcast order of last year. OITGDNHL.

[Still MIGHTY]

...and the Blackhawks weren't even that good this year. Regular season and playoffs. If they can half ass games with a lukewarm bench and mercurial goalie and still make a great team need 7 games to deny them a cup defense, then yeah. It's scary.

#HumbleBrag

[CS85]

...and the Blackhawks weren't even that good this year. Regular season and playoffs. If they can half ass games with a lukewarm bench and mercurial goalie and still make a great team need 7 games to deny them a cup defense, then yeah. It's scary.

#HumbleBrag

#BlackhawksWouldveCrushedDucksIn5

[Kramerica Industries]

But apparently, they reverted back to the stupid consequence they wanted to avoid when switching the broadcast order of last year. OITGDNHL.

Or they originally had the same construct but changed it because having a Triple Crown Belmont leading into the Stanley Cup Final is likely going to help ratings, but that would destroy your narrative so lets just ignore that.

[Still MIGHTY]

...and the Blackhawks weren't even that good this year. Regular season and playoffs. If they can half ass games with a lukewarm bench and mercurial goalie and still make a great team need 7 games to deny them a cup defense, then yeah. It's scary.

#HumbleBrag

#BlackhawksWouldveCrushedDucksIn5

#ThatsBull AndYouKnowIt

[Unocal]

I picked Colorado to make the Cup Finals- I admittedly took Chicago and LA lightly, because I thought they should have hone for higher seeding.

[Lights Out]

...and the Blackhawks weren't even that good this year. Regular season and playoffs. If they can half ass games with a lukewarm bench and mercurial goalie and still make a great team need 7 games to deny them a cup defense, then yeah. It's scary.

Please.

The Blackhawks were scary as always, they just lost fair and square.

[CS85]

...and the Blackhawks weren't even that good this year. Regular season and playoffs. If they can half ass games with a lukewarm bench and mercurial goalie and still make a great team need 7 games to deny them a cup defense, then yeah. It's scary.

Please.

The Blackhawks were scary as always, they just lost fair and square.

I'm not sure when I ever said anywhere that the Blackhawks were cheated, but thanks for putting words in my mouth. All I was implying was that this was a haphazard, exhausted team that wasn't properly replenished after a very short offseason yet still, thanks to the magical powers of their stars found a way to come back from 3-1 in a series where they were overmatched.

But yeah, the refs screwed them or something, blah blah. Doofus.

[Still MIGHTY]

So I'm going over the Cup Final schedule, and I see something very quirky.

For U.S. viewers, Games 3 and 4 are slated to be on NBCSN while the rest are on NBC. This TV formation for the NHL's championship series has been in place since 2009, despite the risk of having a Game 4 Cup clincher (only possible in a sweep situation) on cable while shutting out some fans of the potentially-winning team from watching such possible clinching.

This consequence of the formation did happened in 2012, as some Kings fans were shut-out of watching a potential Cup clincher in Game 4 (but that clincher eventually occurred in Game 6, so that makes the TV thing a semi-moot point). Thus with this fate actually having the possibility of occurring, last year's 'Hawks-Bruins series saw a broadcasting change. Game 1 was on NBC, 2 and 3 on NBCSN, and the remaining games back on NBC, in order to ensure that no matter how far the series goes, the Cup clincher is guaranteed to be seen on network TV.

But apparently, they reverted back to the stupid consequence they wanted to avoid when switching the broadcast order of last year. OITGDNHL.

NHL also gets a potential Triple Crown-winning Belmont as its NBC lead-in on Saturday. That's probably why they switched it, trying to capitalize on the ratings.

[HedleyLamarr]

What's the reason why NBC isn't doing all seven games?

[oddball]

...and the Blackhawks weren't even that good this year. Regular season and playoffs. If they can half ass games with a lukewarm bench and mercurial goalie and still make a great team need 7 games to deny them a cup defense, then yeah. It's scary.

Please.

The Blackhawks were scary as always, they just lost fair and square.

I'm not sure when I ever said anywhere that the Blackhawks were cheated, but thanks for putting words in my mouth. All I was implying was that this was a haphazard, exhausted team that wasn't properly replenished after a very short offseason yet still, thanks to the magical powers of their stars found a way to come back from 3-1 in a series where they were overmatched.

But yeah, the refs screwed them or something, blah blah. Doofus.

While I will agree with you that the 'Hawks had a short off season, please don't use the excuse that they were tired. The Kings have played the most playoff games over the past three years, so that makes the idea moot. You get to Game 7 of overtime of the conference finals, it's not who's got more energy, it's who's going to get the lucky break. The Kings got it. This was a series of two teams going blow to blow and never backing down. It was probably an awesome game to watch. I didn't watch it because I had something planned for that night, so I went out and did it just like I did for Game 4 of the first round, Game 7 of the first round, and Game 7 of the second round. I wasn't about to change, but I will say that seeing a 3-2 score after one concerned me. I don't know how many games the Kings have one after giving up three goals in the first round over the past three years, but it's probably less than 10. Having the fortitude to get it to overtime, says a lot about them. And yes, I will say, the got friggin' lucky to win the game. I'll take it. I will give credit to the 'Hawks, they're one hell of a team and keep coming. And when you start hating players because they just keep coming (Toews and Kane), that's when it becomes fun. And I didn't hate them before, and I don't know, I just hated that they are friggin' battlers and never give up! I look forward to next year and the conference finals between these two. It's gonna be fun. The thing that impressed me about this series, was it was hard and not chippy. It's the way hockey supposed to be played.