NHL 2021 Irregular Season and Plagueoffs
- Thread starter Denamian
- Start date
- 40,912
- 173,924
- 40,912
- 173,924
I'm a Leafs fan and I knew they weren't going to win the North. Leafs in playoffs...they just can't even.
- 40,912
- 173,924
Oh, and my guess right now is that Montreal gets pounded by the first non-North team they play.
- 2
Merrith
Golden Baronet of the Realm
- 18,113
- 6,923
Yeah I just figured the whole "get to play all those crappy Canadian teams first 2 rounds" thing would get them to Round 3, at least.
- 40,912
- 173,924
Merrith
Golden Baronet of the Realm
- 18,113
- 6,923
Just remember, all of Caps fandom said this about us, too. 2018 still happened. It only takes 1 year.
- 40,912
- 173,924
- 40,912
- 173,924
Voldeth
Trakanon Raider
- 1,065
- 545
The difference is, the 2018 Caps was still stacked and minus their previous woes were favorites in every series (they had won the Metro if memory serves?). The Leafs would be facing much of the same (only with a far better roster) than the Habs presently are. While the Habs just finished off the Jets, we will now face either Colorado or Vegas. I suspect most odd makers will say (rightfully so) that's going to be a 5 games series with the Habs on the losing end. If they pull off a miracle there, in all likelihood they'll then get to face Tampa, which again would be viewed as a lope-sided series. Toronto would still be underdogs (albeit maybe they'd be given enough credit to be 6 game underdogs?).
As for the Habs: I'll enjoy the frenzy of the city for a bit but, while there's always a chance, especially with Price playing as well as he is, our path to lord Stanley basically revolves around praying that the Avs/Gold Knights decimate each other and Price stands on his head, with a similar hope for Tampa. The closet recent comparison I can think of would be how the Raptors ended up winning (getting hot at the right time + the team that was better being decimated with injuries and not at full strength).
- 1
Merrith
Golden Baronet of the Realm
- 18,113
- 6,923
Still stacked might be overstating it. We lost Justin Williams, Karl Alzner, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Winnik all to free agency, were basically forced to trade Marcus Johansson for cap relief, and lost Nate Schmidt to Vegas in the expansion draft. The whole "2 year window" in which we won the President's Trophy in both 2015-16 and 2016-17 ended with the Penguins eliminating us in Game 7 of Round 2, and everyone thought our best and maybe only chance at winning the Cup in the Ovechkin era had passed us by.
We were also NOT the favorite in every series, to be honest depending on where you looked we were the underdog in all 4 series. Columbus had actually entered the playoffs on a bit of a hot streak, meanwhile we suffered through a 2+ month slump playing below .500 from January into March. There were articles 2 months before the playoffs started that year about how Barry Trotz should just be fired. We are never ever going to be "favored" versus the Penguins who we had to play in Round 2. They literally were back to back Cup champions going into that series, and ended our previous two years both in Round 2 as well. Tampa was actually the odds on favorite to win the Cup that year, and we certainly weren't the favorite against them in the ECF, they were the #1 seed in the East. Even Vegas had home ice against us in the Finals, because they had more points than we did in the regular season, and had crushed through the West playoffs.
Out of curiosity I did a bit of digging around.. Habs have had 7+ winning streaks in playoffs a grand total of 8 times. 9 if count this season.
They won the cup 7 of those 8 years. Pretty good odds.
They won the cup 7 of those 8 years. Pretty good odds.
- 1
StoiCynic
Trakanon Raider
- 2,683
- 989
Just give TB the cup already, no ones beating them in 7 games. Vegas and Colorado are damn good teams, but the Bolts are just on another level. They just don't have a single weakness.
Don't really respect them gaming the system though. I expect the cba to be tweaked in the near future after some of these teams they are knocking out raise a big enough stink.
Don't really respect them gaming the system though. I expect the cba to be tweaked in the near future after some of these teams they are knocking out raise a big enough stink.
- 3
