Merrith
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I'm actually really curious to see the Conn Smythe voting to see how close he was. I know his overall stats weren't eye popping, but he seemed to really step it up when it mattered most.
2018-19 NHL Season Thread - Caps were not suck last year edition
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I'm actually really curious to see the Conn Smythe voting to see how close he was. I know his overall stats weren't eye popping, but he seemed to really step it up when it mattered most.
Vanderhoof
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Uber Uberest
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This is what losing feels like, sometimes you forget around here. This is good for Boston, lose a championship in a sport America doesn’t care about, just to remind us. Congrats on the one championship St. Louis fans, sorry about the World Series and afc championships. A lot of people wouldn’t have apologized for those, just shows how big of a man I am.
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Regime
LOADING, PLEASE WAIT...
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I’d be bitter too bro. If it’s just MLB and NFL (wtf cares about NBA amirite lmao) St. Louis has more titles lol.
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Uber Uberest
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Congrats on the titles you never saw bro, they must be awesome. It’s too bad I can’t not experience the 11 titles this millennium like you. It’s a heavy curse, but I bare it.
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Vanderhoof
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Your negative emotions are providing me great strength. If being a giant faggot makes you feel better, please continue to behave like a stereotypical Boston sports fan.
Vanderhoof
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StoiCynic
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13 out of 18 votes. Binnington got the other 5. Would of figured it would be closer but good for RoR. Eichel must be stewing.
Vandyn
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As the resident Canes fan, I can say from a local perspective the fan sentiment was that we were glad to just make the playoffs and anything after that was gravy. I personally thought the Caps were the worst matchup compared to the other two possibles (Pens/Isles). So despite the points at the end of the season, it was somewhat of an upset that the Canes won. Nationally there was literally no one giving the Canes a chance to win G7 and tbh I never like the odds of going on the road for a game 7. Also let's be fair, as was said when the series was going on, Caps really wasn't getting a lot of production outside of Ovi and Backstrom. Underperforming against a team that is playing with house money and has nothing to lose is asking for trouble.
Now all that being said, you correct that for basically 3+ months Carolina was playing high level hockey (3rd best record after new years I think). Nobody pays mind to that because who cares about what's going on in little redneck Raleigh but in February and March they were pulling wins out of their ass like a real good playoff team does.
I think going forward it's probably a better indicator to look how teams performed the last few months of the season vs. just coasting to the playoffs. Columbus had 98 points but their last 10-11 games of the season they basically only lost 1 or 2. Going in hot always helps the underdog.
Also gratz Blues. Winning G7 in the final on the road is something. Bruins felt like the Canes in G3 in the ECF by throwing the kitchen sink at the goalie and actually losing at the end of the 1st.
Uber Uberest
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A lot of lesser men would be bothered by your harsh criticisms, but not a man of my stature. I congratulated the blues on their first ever title, won’t get any credit for it, but I’m the only true Bruins fan still here, taking the insults. I know the Illinois and Missouri folks won’t say it so I will, you’re a class act Uber.
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Vanderhoof
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As a Hawks fan, I wanted neither win somehow but congrats on ending the drought!
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Merrith
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Well, at least it was just those two. ROR did have a big playoffs too. Lol about Eichel...imagine if Skinner's production falls off a cliff after that contract, too?
Merrith
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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Like I was trying to get across, it was an upset, but mostly based on past accomplishments/experience and not current play. Losing Kempny last couple weeks of regular season was huge blow. I think it's a little amusing still we're framing it in a "no way the Caps could lose a Game 7 on home ice" style, since that's basically been our MO for years. Agreed on production, Wilson was the next highest goal scorer for us in the series behind Ovechkin and Backstrom. I've noted this elsewhere, but Backstrom piled up all 8 points in the 3 wins, had nothing in the 4 losses. Not trying to put it all on him, obviously other guys should have stepped up...but double OT in Game 7, any bounce or guy chipping one in would have flipped the results. It happens.
As I posted, it wasn't just you guys. The Blues obviously were the best team in the West the 2nd half of the season, and it carried over to the playoffs too. Boston and San Jose also played very well 2nd half of the year (Boston was good throughout, basically). You're right that Columbus was kind of like Colorado in that they had to heat up down the very final stretch to secure that last playoff spot. Still, Calgary was not Tampa, in that Tampa was an absolute juggernaut that should have had the answer to any potential question they came up against. Calgary finished first in the West, but many were noting they were lucky they were avoiding Vegas/Sharks until Round 2. No one really had a hard favorite out West because it's not like the Calgary team didn't have questions about it.
Frankly so many of the teams were so close together in the regular season, there really weren't a lot of mismatches in Round 1 other than the assumed Tampa match up. Both the Metro and the Central were so clumped together points wise, a lot of the match ups were toss ups. I'm not really sure how any coach/GM would go about trying to replicate Columbus' success against Tampa (or a similar underdog of that nature), what happened in that series was crazy. The other semi mismatch...Calgary and Colorado, good luck trying to get your goalie to put up ~0.950 sv % in 4 straight games, put together a top line that looks like MacKinnon, Rantanen, and Landeskog, and duplicating trying up two games with under 3 minutes to go that you eventually win in OT to turn the series. Apologies to Edmonton fans, but watching that series and them play the Sharks after...Nathan MacKinnon might be the scariest player in the league right now offensively.
Vandyn
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I can't really figure out Columbus/Tampa. Perhaps it has more to do with mental than actual skill in that series. Game 1 Tampa goes up quickly 3-0 and you're thinking (plus everyone on that team I assume) ok, we're just going to cruise through this. Then Columbus comes back and actually wins that game, on your home ice and I would imagine they went into some sort of shock. They never really recovered from that, maybe because they never were punched in the mouth all season like that.
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Congrats to the Blues and their fans. Boston dominated that game (and most of the series) but Binnington made some crazy saves and the Blues got all the puck luck they needed to pull off the upset.
Next year I'm hoping Samsonov improves dramatically and becomes the Caps' Binnington so I don't have to watch Holtby shit the bed again (though he wasn't our only problem this year)
Next year I'm hoping Samsonov improves dramatically and becomes the Caps' Binnington so I don't have to watch Holtby shit the bed again (though he wasn't our only problem this year)
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Merrith
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Vanderhoof
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Personally, I enjoy the parity in the NHL. It feels like the distance between the best and worst teams is much smaller than the NFL and NBA. Every game is exciting.
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HOCKEY is one of the only sports where any one day, the best can beat the worst or tie or lose etc.. and a series, if a goalie gets hot, forget about it, you are going to lose to that team.
boston played...ok last night, the blues played a touch better, and the one game we needed rask to be great, he was just,,,ok. binnington was LUCKY on a few saves in the first period, but them's the breaks.
marchand had a shot that hit the jersey under the blocker/arm and fell, the shot goes 2 inches to the left and it is a goal.
grats blues fans the team played great and deserved the win.
bruins did too, but alas was not to be.
o'reilly deserved the smythe, if not for his plays and scoring- the series would have been over in 5 or 6 with the blues losing.
boston played...ok last night, the blues played a touch better, and the one game we needed rask to be great, he was just,,,ok. binnington was LUCKY on a few saves in the first period, but them's the breaks.
marchand had a shot that hit the jersey under the blocker/arm and fell, the shot goes 2 inches to the left and it is a goal.
grats blues fans the team played great and deserved the win.
bruins did too, but alas was not to be.
o'reilly deserved the smythe, if not for his plays and scoring- the series would have been over in 5 or 6 with the blues losing.
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