2017 NHL Playoffs Thread

That time of year again. Kind of sucks we missed out on Battle of Ontario and Battle of Alberta in Round 1, but some potential Round 2 match ups could be amazing. Montreal v. Boston potential, Caps v. Pens, Chicago v. St. Louis, Anaheim v. San Jose, Edmonton v. Calgary.

Pens v. Jackets features highest combined point total by 2 teams in a Round 1 series.

Guess I'll do Round 1 picks:

East (winner in bold)

Washington v. Toronto (Caps in 6...I would say 5, but we're the Caps)
Columbus v. Pittsburgh (Pens in 7. Even with all the injuries, I don't think Bob can steal it)

Montreal v. NY Rangers (Rangers in 7. Lundqvist needs to step it up, but I think Rags get it done)
Ottawa v. Boston (Bruins in 6. Might be shorter than that if Sens are missing Karlsson and Methot)

West

Chicago v. Nashville (Blackhawks in 7. I think Nashville's big guns push the Hawks quite a bit)
Minnesota v. St. Louis (Blues in 7. Sorry Boudreau, based on recent form I think you lose another home G7)

Anaheim v. Calgary (Ducks in 6. Ducks had a very hot finish to the regular season. Too much for Flames)
Edmonton v. San Jose (Oilers in 5. Sharks banged up, McDavid is all kinds of for real)

Uber Uberest said:

Given that the regular season thread is only 11 pages, this doesn't really seem necessary.

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Eh, I suppose that's true. Business seemed to pick up in the playoff thread last year. I feel like we're missing some people, though. Eomer still completely ghosted? I figured he'd be flooding the thread with McDavid spurg.

lurkingdirk said:

As a Toronto fan I'm really confused by this year's bracket. It includes Toronto.

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Shit. I'm so glad the Caps are playing them this year before that team becomes gangbusters. I'm a little envious of Toronto and Edmonton. Playing with house money already, just at the start of their generational players' careers. Not to mention the supporting casts for both. Toronto is going to be a damn force if they can shore up their D a little. Babcock must be pretty optimistic with what he can do with this group of forwards in the next couple years.

StoiCynic said:

Kreider isn't a dirty player....

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Nice win tonight StoiC. Btw, not sure if you're familiar with Steve Dangle, big Leafs fan, does podcast and such I believe. He made a video of his playoff bracket picks. You really only have to listen for about the first minute to see the relevance here...

Lodi said:

Sharks absolutely dominated those last two periods. I can only hope that March was simply playoff hibernation...

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Yeah really thought the injuries and Oilers form down the stretch would dictate the series...and through 20 minutes, seemed to be true. Sharks gave them a lesson in playoff hockey after that.

I didn't see him do anything dirty last night, though I was watching the Pens/Cbus game mostly. Nice it was staggered by a half hour though so I could switch during intermission of either or. Just commenting on the idea you seemed to have that Kreider is some squeaky clean guy, you seemed taken aback I would suggest he has a rep for running goalies. Everyone knows about it. I just thought it was funny Dangle singled it out. Didn't see anything bad from you guys last night.

It's funny good buddy of mine was convinced Habs was easiest winner to call in East of Round 1 and I thought he was crazy. I'm starting to think my pick of you guys in 7 was too many games. Montreal just doesn't have enough to threaten offensively if Lundy is going to play like that all series.

Also...holy fucking hell Tom Wilson. Tom Wilson? Tom Wilson. Shitty ass start to that game though. Gotta realize they have speed and skill to run and gun if we turn the puck over like we were. Got stronger as the game went on but holy hell, don't give them hope.

StoiCynic said:

Ahh, gotcha. Misunderstood where you were going with that. Not that I think he is squeaky clean, just not as evil as some people seem to make him out to be. The fact he looks like a Bond villain doesn't help.

Leafs looked like trouble there in the first. Not sure if Caps were taking them lightly and had to adjust or the kids just ran out of gas. Your defense was struggling early though so that might of been why the leafs looked so explosive. Wilson and Glass both with gwg's... what a world we live in...

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Hahaha if you had said Glass beats Price with a backhand...most Rangers fans heads would explode I bet. Maybe we took their speed too lightly, which we shouldn't have. Trotz needs to have them ready to go...Babcock certainly had the Leafs ready. On the other hand, most of us have noticed we've not looked great after longer layoffs (anything greater than 3+ days), so starting Thursday probably didn't help. Although it was nice to see Trotz give most ice time to Niskanen and Orlov, who most of us believe have been our true top pair all year. Carlson looked rusty as hell missing the last 4 games or so of the regular season.

Honestly against a team like Toronto...I'd prefer us to play Schmidt over Orpik on the 3rd pairing. Shattenkirk was a monster though, getting 9 shots on goal. We'll see how tomorrow plays out. We really took control of the game towards end of the 2nd period and throughout the 3rd and OT. Leaf fans can bitch at Andersen for the game winner all they want, but he made some crazy stops to keep that game 2-2 in 3rd/OT before that. Also while that was a very low percentage shot for Wilson to take...when you actually put it where he put it, you're probably scoring. It's just the fact 98% of the time you're missing high and wide and it'll be an auto clear out of the zone off the boards that makes it a suspect decision.