NHL Thread

This is a must.

The Penguins finally fell to the Flyers tonight after a 12 game winning streak. Evgeni Malkin came back from missing the last four games to score two goals. Sidney Crosby is just better than everybody.

HBO 24/7 with the Caps and Pens premieres tomorrow night at 10 Eastern/9 Central. I'm sexcited.

Capitals are frustrating the shit out of me lately. Not as much as the fans are, though. "OH NO A LOSING STREAK! RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR FIRE EVERYONE!" It wont get to that until we lose like 20 games in a row or something or we fall out of the playoff picture. They did look better in their game against the Ducks yesterday so that's a good sign. Hopefully we can turn it into a win against Ottawa tomorrow.


In other news, PK Subban is a dick.

LastOneToDie wrote:

In other news, PK Subban is a dick.

I disagree.

Why?

Hal Gill - Subban's own teammate- publicly called him out as being a dick.

Is it bad that I can't even remember why I called him a dick in that post? He has kind of settled down lately, though.

Guess all we'll here about for the rest of the week is about Chara almost killing Max Pacioretty. That was scary.

Chara is one of my favorite non-Penguins, but that hit was inexcusable. I don't think Big Z meant to injure him, but that hit was completely irresponsible. Furthermore, his comments afterward on TSN really weren't that great either. He basically faulted Pacioretty for the hit ending so badly. Pacioretty had dumped the puck before the hit, so it can't even be excused as a finished check. Just a bad situation.

I guess what's most frustrating is that if this were Matt Cooke, people would be calling for him to be thrown out of the league. So far, the only fans that want Chara's head are Habs fans. Everyone else is ready to excuse Chara. If this had been Cooke, or any other 3rd/4th line agitator, all hell would've broken loose.

With all the concussions that have happened this year, I really hope the NHL cracks down.

Colin Campbell and his team of idiots won't do it though. They should've started by making an example of Trevor Gillies after the Tangradi hit.

It's a tough call. On one hand, if this happened at any other part of the ice, it would have been just an interference penalty. The more I watch the replay, the more I think Chara needs to show restraint before hitting a guy in a vulnerable position like that. I can see the finishing his check argument but the hit came really late. It's a dirty hit in the sense that it's blatant interference and the fact that checked Pacioretty right into the turnbuckle makes it worse. I guess he could get something like 2-4 games.

Campbell can't make the decision in this because the Bruins (Gregory Campbell) are involved. I thought he did make an example of Gillies by suspending him another 10 games after a hit on Clutterbuck, which wasn't that bad. Granted, Gillies should have known better than to go after him like that in his first game back from a suspension.

The good news is that Pacioretty appears to be in stable condition now.

He apologized for that incident though. Dicks don't do that. Gill didn't accept anyways...
I just think everyone's mistaking confidence for cockiness. I won't call him a dick till later. He's still adjusting.

Nothing like having a game against the Oilers to make you feel better about your team.

Dear Washington,

You have a 2-0 series lead. Don't fuck this up.

edit: I need to change my avatar.

I would like to extend that sentiment to the Nashville Predators. They've been playing some outstanding hockey. If they can keep the pressure, the Ducks are easily beaten. They've got to stay out of the box and make some smart decisions. And Selanne just needs to fuck off, basically.

As for the Pens... same thing. They HAVE to stay out of the box. They're missing so much out of their PK that they cannot afford to take so many penalties. They also have to push hard and get the job done. They're doing this series without Crosby, who may not even return to the playoffs. And they're also missing Cooke desperately.

Speaking of Cooke, anyone see the Torres hit on Seabrook? I didn't like the hit at all, but I still don't know if the action was suspendible or not.

Also, good call on the NHL to suspend Bobby Ryan. I'm glad that his status as a star player didn't interfere with their decision making.

Staying out of the box is what the Caps need to do as well. Seven fucking penalties yesterday and it probably lost the game for us. NYR only scored on one powerplay but it's hard to create offense when you're a man-down seven times in a game. Doesn't help that New York got a few bounces go their way. Hoping we can have a more disciplined effort on Wednesday because we need to win one of these games at MSG if we want to take this series.

The only problem I had with the Torres hit was that he decided to nail Seabrook instead of playing the puck like he should have. Other than that? Clean hit, shoulder to chest and Seabrook had his head down.

I still don't think you have to worry. The Rangers just don't have the offense to compete with the Caps. It may take longer than you want, but I have a feeling we'll see the Caps in the second round.

Hawks fans have been flipping out on Tumblr all day. I was expecting murder to hear how they were talking about it. I didn't think it was a huge deal. The hit was hard, but Seabrook was up almost immediately. It looked close, but the more I've seen the hit, the less of a big deal it is. Just Hawks fans whining.

Ducks fans have been especially annoying. There were a lot of people who saw nothing wrong with Bobby Ryan's stomp and thought it was ridiculous that he was suspended.

As I'm typing this, Steve Downie left his feet on a hit on Lovejoy. I didn't see a clear enough replay to decide what I fully think of it. But it's Downie, so I'm going to assume the worst.

This is the sentiment with NHL fans:

My team gets called for a penalty - worst call ever, fuck these refs they are trying to give the other team the win
the other team gets called for a penalty- fuck that guy he is a dirty piece of shit and should be suspended forever and possibly killed

It's why I try to stay off the internet during games. If Torres' hit was ruled dirty then you might as well just ban hitting from the game. What Ryan did was a chicken-shit move but not as bad as what Pronger did a few years ago like some are implying. The Ducks have a lot of pests but he usually isn't one of him so I didn't expect him to do that. Downie's hit was brutal, though. Pretty much a textbook charge and he will probably get a game for it.

Can't believe the Ruutu suspension. I feel like he got suspended more because of his last name than the actual hit. I'm a huge Preds fan, and I hate that Marty is injured. But I don't understand how that hit was a one game suspension and the Torres hit got nothing. Regardless of how you feel about the Torres hit, it was far worse than the Ruutu hit. I feel like there needs to be definite consistency in the disciplinary rulings, and I think the NHL is seriously lacking that.

Also, what the fuck have the Blackhawks been drinking? Or, conversely, what the fuck has happened to the Canucks? I'll grant the Canucks one time to shit the bed, but they should've closed it out back on home ice in Vancouver. I'm not a Hawks fan at all, so I counted them out early. But this is ridiculous on the Canucks part. I think they've been too overconfident in the past two games.

I was sad the 'Yotes got knocked out so early. I had them down to be swept on my bracket, but seeing it hurt. I admittedly have a soft spot for the 'Yotes and I desperately wanted to see Doan advance. Hopefully they'll find a way to stay in Phoenix and we can have these talks next year. Either way, props to the 'Yotes and their coaching staff for making their way back into the playoffs a second year in a row. Give it time and they'll advance.

As for the Preds, I think the next game makes or breaks the series. If the Preds go to Anaheim and beat the Ducks, then I see no reason why they can't advance. However, if they get beat in Anaheim, I look for them to lose on home ice. Shame really. I want them to at least make it to the next round. Either way, this series has been HIGHLY underrated and one of the more entertaining series of the playoffs. I think the keys to the next game will be for the Preds to stay out of the box, but keep a clean, physical game. They have to work on generating offense and the defense cannot shit the bed. Bobby Ryan will be back, so we'll have to deal with another offensive threat. Plus, I think it's actually worse for the Preds that Ruutu is out of the lineup. He was always counted on to get a stupid penalty. Now, he's out.

Now the Pens/Lightning. There's been some great hockey played between these two teams. Quite frankly, I've been selling my team short. I had them advancing on my bracket, but that was the homer in me. The logical side in me just couldn't see them making it to the next round without Sid or Geno. I was wrong. Hopefully this will be closed out in Pittsburgh and we can start thinking about the next round. We get Cooke back if we advance and I think that will be a huge advantage for our PK. Plus, it's always good to have Cooke out there agitating. Hopefully he's learned his lesson and won't be taking anymore careless hits. Penguins management has made it clear that they won't stand for it anymore. I'd hate to see Cooke in any other jersey than a black and vegas gold one.

Props to Marty St. Louis. I've been extremely annoyed with Tampa Bay and their fans with their fucking vuvuzelas, but I have to give props to St. Louis. He's been playing lights out. Every time he comes into the Pens zone, he makes me soooo nervous.

And lastly, LOL Andrew Ference. Can't believe he had the balls to flip off the Bell Centre. He'll get a nice fine for that. As hilarious as it is to flip off Habs fans and mock them relentlessly, it was a classless (but hilarious) move. I'm sure he won't mind coughing up a few thousand. The satisfaction of flipping off thousands of Habs fans at once is a moral victory that must be oh-so-sweet. Go Bruins.

I didn't get to see game 4 of Preds/Ducks because the double OT game ran into it but I agree that it's been a great series so far. No idea why Versus hasn't shown any games of it yet until tonight. The Preds need to halt the Ducks' top line because after that, they don't have much of anything except for Selanne. Also, Rinne HAS to be better. He hasn't exactly been the goalie I thought he would be this series after the season he had.

Vancouver's having a complete meltdown. I can understand losing game 4 to Chicago in a desperation situation but to shit the bed on home ice that badly? Yikes. They literally did everything wrong that game. I know a lot will blame Luongo for giving up 10 goals in 2 games but their D hung him out to dry on both nights. The guy can only stop so many odd-man rushes and break-aways. Plus, the Sedins have looked terrible, especially in their own end, and Kesler and Burrows have disappeared. Chicago's got a lot of things to rally around with Seabrook's injury/Torres' hit and Vancouver's dirty play so a comeback is possible but unlikely. Keith's been unreal these past two games. Vigneault hasn't been the best at motivating his team in the past so we'll see what happens.

I had the Pens getting through at least the first round since they are better than Tampa Bay in goaltending and defense and the Bolts have been underperforming big time for the last two months. Where the fuck has Stamkos been because in December, everyone was talking about how he was going to shatter his goal total from last year. He didn't even hit 50. People talk about how Ovechkin is predictable when Stamkos shoots from the same fucking spot on the powerplay and teams didn't figure it out until a month ago. I don't know how the Pens will fare after that, though. Their D and goaltending is very good but their best remaining forward is Chris Kunitz and that just isn't going to take teams that far unless Fleury plays like Hasek the rest of the way.

Hoping the comeback win over the Rags will help us close out the series tomorrow. Neuvirth's been our MVP so far which isn't necessarily a good thing because the offense has been kind of spotty. Still, they are getting the job done and getting big goals when they matter so I think we will have enough to take this series. I'm a little nervous though because we literally had to throw everything in our disposal at Lundqvist to finally score in double overtime on Wednesday. Part of me thinks he has to be gassed by now but he is still capable of stealing a game.

Blackhawks and red wings should be a good series. Being from Illinois ill be rooting for the Blackhawks that's for sure!