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The Everything NHL Thread

Going off topic with the WHC (not that anyone actually cares but still just tossing it out), America defeated Canada in OT 5-4 with a Jack Johnson goal (Goddamn that hurts). After watching a replay, while skimming over the game, Cam Ward was pretty terrible I hope I don't have to see him play in 2014 even if I do have to watch a potential Fleury meltdown (which I don't expect, since Price will hopefully take up the mantle by then, since Luongo will definitely be too old, and will go out like Brodeur). The Americans played hard and checked hard, and I really enjoyed seeing that; it reminded me of the US and Canada first game in the Olympics, where the Americans outhustled the hell out of the "all-star" roster of the Canadians. I hope the WJC Canadians wake up and start playing a bit better; squeaking a win over the Slovaks and then getting out played by the Americans doesn't show much of their play.

Also, more shitty Canucks news, Hansen suspended for 1 game for checking from behind (didn't see the replay on that so I can't really say anything), and Burrows is out with a concussion. Kicking us in the nuts while we're on the floor lol.
 
jrrrrrrr said:
I don't find the games where both teams play like theyre on the wrong end of a power play for 120 minutes to be entertaining. 60 is more than enough of that for me.
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So you'd rather watch the PHX-NSH snooze-athon? Okiedoke.
 
DM that's like saying watching paint dry is more exciting than watching grass grow. One might be more exciting, but they're both pretty darn boring. After the way the regular season and playoff round 1 went, I was expecting something more out of these series. Going near 80 game-minutes between goals does not excite me, this series has been watchable in the same way that chess is watchable.
 
DM said:
So you'd rather watch the PHX-NSH snooze-athon? Okiedoke.
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Yes, though I guess I have a reason for wanting to watch...

Ok I really don't get how it's such a snoozefest personally, hockey isn't that big of a high scoring game. They get into about as many fights as the other series. I can only guess people find it boring because the teams don't take as many shots, but even then to me that makes Smith all the more appreciable since the Coyotes are fairly inept at scoring. I guess it's kinda like football, in that people like high scoring teams and find defense boring. Or maybe I'm just missing something altogether since I really don't watch anything besides Coyotes.
 
I enjoyed watching Phoenix and Nashville mainly because Phoenix employs a strong forecheck and backcheck system, while most teams left in the West stick to clogging up the neutral zone when on the defense (LA in particular). Nashville also sticks to a nice defensive system, but also has the offensive guns and size to crash the net for rebounds. I'm obviously not expecting any run-and-gun plays from any of the West teams, but lowering my expectation and watching for strong defensive plays is okay to watch sometimes. Not sure why everyone's whining about the supposed "snoozefests" when I had a perfectly good time watching Nashville and Phoenix duel it out and same with Washington and NY, and this is coming from a Canucks fan whose team encouraged a lot of shoddy defensive play, with their defensemen jumping up the play a shit ton.
 
I dunno man, I thought the 1-1 score going into 3OT was pretty dang intense, I was on the edge of my seat about the whole time. Of course, I'm more emotionally invested in a WSH-NYR game than a Bruins fan would be, anyway.
 
Honestly, I haven't found any of these series to be as bad as I expected. Nashville is generating a decent bit of offense that just isn't showing up on the scoreboard(though imo that is still easily the worst of the three series and its being made even more frustrating because Phoenix is getting outplayed badly every game but is still way ahead in the series), and while I think STL/LA would have been a bunch of snoozers if STL would have scored first more because of how they choke things out once they do, LA has put up 3 a game pretty easily ever since they got Carter and the playoffs have been no exception. They're generating a lot of that through turnover by clogging the neutral zone, obviously, but when you see goals like Kopitar's shorthander I think it's pretty easy to defend that LA is not a boring team and that series has been decently interesting since they've had momentum. Still a horrible fan draw in that series, though -- no one outside of St Louis cares about the Blues, and most of the East doesn't care about the Kings, so hard to sell even though it's been decently entertaining with the reputation those teams have and the lack of fan involvement. I expect LA to draw the way teams like Boston, Pittsburgh, Philly, NYR, and Washington to do now within a couple of years. Team has an exciting core and will be good for a long time. The Conference Finals will start selling casual fans on them. There's a lot of hitting and offense coming from a team with Richards, Carter, Kopitar, Brown, Doughty, and Voynov (even Penner is showing up), and I think Quick is entertaining for a goal because of how fast is.

I can see why people wouldn't like Caps/Rangers (and to a great extent Caps/Bruins before it, though this series has had a lot more chances and action, IMO), but I've found it to be really entertaining even though there aren't a lot of pucks going in the net. Decent bit of chances, lot of hitting, just two teams playing the vaunted "playoff hockey." There's a lot less obstruction this Caps series than the previous one so the refs essentially not existing is annoying me a little less. There's a good chunk of interesting young players on both teams, and both teams have cores that they can keep around for a long time, so like Blues/Kings people should probably just get used to these guys because they aren't going away. Greatly enjoying seeing Alzner/Carlson logging so much time after whining for years when Carlson was a rookie and Alzner wasn't really seeing NHL time about how much better I thought this team would be when they were carrying the minutes instead of Mike Green(who still gets too many minutes). Rangers probably still the better team though... better in corners and more disciplined. I don't think the Caps can go deep while they have Semin and Green on their roster.

I miss a bit of both of the Devils/Flyers most recent games but that series has seemed pretty interesting too... goals aren't coming in bunches these playoffs but I think it's been entertaining, and the TV ratings have proved it -- highest since several years before the lockout to this point.

Speaking of which, if people are curious, since I know we enjoyed discussion git on IRC a bit the one night(keep in mind games on NBC do not count):

puckthemedia said:
Top 10 Most-watched Games of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs in the US on Cable
1. NY Rangers vs. Washington, Game 3 (5/2/12, NBCSN): 1.85 million
2. Philadelphia vs. New Jersey, Game 3 (5/3/12, NBCSN): 1.66 million
3. Washington vs. NY Rangers, Game 2 (4/30/12, NBCSN): 1.53 million
4. Washington vs. Boston, Game 7 (4/25/12, NBCSN): 1.32 million
5. New Jersey vs. Philadelphia, Game 2 (5/1/12, NBCSN): 1.29 million
6. Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh, Game 5 (4/20/12, NBCSN): 1.07 million
7. Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia, Game 4 (4/18/12, NBCSN): 1.03 million
8. Ottawa vs. NY Rangers, Game 7 (4/26/12, NBCSN): 984,000
9. New Jersey vs. Florida, Game 7 (4/26/12, NBCSN): 867,000
10. NY Rangers vs. Ottawa, Game 6 (4/23/12, NBCSN): 861,000
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The way the LA Kings have been playing, I'm gonna have to consider them SCF favorites. Lots can happen between now and June, but quite frankly, LA has managed to shorten down the amount of games they play, allowing for less wear that plagues SCF teams. They're also playing behind Quick, who's putting up a Thomas-like performance against teams expected to contend for the Cup this season (seriously where the fuck was this team in the regular season). Their defense is good enough to keep shots on the outside and box out opponents, allowing Quick to make easy stops, and their offense is probably one of the best, after Philly.
 
Just got out of Staples a few minutes ago. Kings owe everything to Quick what with all their fanned shots and broken sticks. Every save had the crowd chanting "MVP!" and who could blame us? Kings outshout 12-1 in the 2nd, it was absolutely ridiculous. Regardless they pulled through and the place was roaring. I have been to hundreds of Kings games and have never been deafened.
 
Also shit if the kings win I'mma have to take back all the shit I've said to nixhex about the Kings. This can't happen. Go 'yotes/East.
 
Ugh I don't think the Devils can stop the LA Kings in the finals. Hard to pull for them when NY is still here.

For teams that have already been eliminated, word is Quenneville might be headed to Montreal (purely based on speculation because of a supposed rift). Another candidate is Vigneault (word is Gillis wants him back, the ownership does not; they meet on Tuesday to discuss this). Either coach would be a strong decision for Montreal and I could see them rebuild and retool their team for a strong run in 2-3 years, especially after buying out Gomez.

Edit: Gillis signed an extension with the Canucks. Likely means AV stays on board. Thank god.
 
If this color commentary guy had the Rangers dicks any further down his throat they'd be coming out his ass.

"I thought the 2nd period would be more even but I think the Rangers have the upper hand because of that pushback they've had since the Caps goal."

Oh, the pushback where they got exactly 0 shots on the powerplay?

So they swallow their whistles for all the dirty shit the Rangers do for the last two minutes but when Ward high sticks someone because that person illegally wraps him up on the faceoff they call it. Then even though they said he was bleeding to make it a double they stall and let the bloody player stop the bleeding and stay on the ice.

Way to show your true colors refs.

Well, not much we can fucking do when the refs clearly wanted the Rangers to win.

Why do refs whore D.C. teams in every sport? Is it because we're the smallest of the big cities and the only big city whose fanbase isn't comprised entirely of scumbags?

Giradi charged Green in a hit identical to the one that got Ovie 2 minutes and had Rangers fans calling for a suspension and he gets nothing.

Someone (too pissed to remember) takes Alzner to the ground by the net when the puck is up at the point. No call for interference.

Fucking bullshit. The black and whites will always be undefeated.
 
Reffing has been bad the entire playoffs, but like I told jrrrr last round with the bruins they aren't the reason the caps lost the game tonight. I hate the rags as much as anyone but they dominated almost the entire game. Yeah that was a backbreaking way to lose such a big game, but you can't blame the refs for washington losing this game. They missed a ton of really good chances in the 3rd to put the game away and couldn't burry one.
 
The Caps can't complain about anything in that game after Ovechkin wasn't suspended for leaving his skates to hit Girardi in the head in game 4. Other way around and Girardi is serving for at LEAST a game. They deserve to get fucked by the refs after the league bailed them out.
 
Too bad the Caps couldn't stay disciplined in the last bit of the game. Also too bad they couldn't score on those good chances the Rangers lobbed to them to put the game out of the reach in the 3rd. Blame those on the refs too I guess?

Also lol @ jrrrrr whining for a suspension. It was a charging minor (or should've been, don't know what they called it as, if they called it at all), and nothing more.

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Also, when Smith lobbed the puck down and just missed the empty net, I just held my breath. Would've been incredible and also be a huge kick in the nuts to the Preds. Happy for the 'yotes for advancing, and hope the WCF can have a bit more parity in terms of play than the shitfests the rest of the LA-the rest have been.
 
I don't watch much hockey(due to the only channel that ever shows any matches is VS, and they barely show any during the regular season), but I have to say these playoffs have been pretty entertaining.(I personally enjoyed the Bruins/Capitols series)

I actually think the Kings could do it with all the momentum they're carrying, though it's sort of funny since I didn't even know LA had a team until the the last couple of weeks of the regular season.(don't hate, there's hardly any hockey fans where I live :x) But yeah, I'm hoping for the Kings vs. Devils in the finals.
 
jrrrrrrr said:
The Caps can't complain about anything in that game after Ovechkin wasn't suspended for leaving his skates to hit Girardi in the head in game 4. Other way around and Girardi is serving for at LEAST a game. They deserve to get fucked by the refs after the league bailed them out.
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Except Girardi did the exact same thing to Green this game and didn't even get the two minutes Ovie got...
 
BlueCookies said:
Reffing has been bad the entire playoffs, but like I told jrrrr last round with the bruins they aren't the reason the caps lost the game tonight. I hate the rags as much as anyone but they dominated almost the entire game. Yeah that was a backbreaking way to lose such a big game, but you can't blame the refs for washington losing this game. They missed a ton of really good chances in the 3rd to put the game away and couldn't burry one.
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So because the Caps missed capitalizing on good chances they deserve for the refs to let Girardi charge Green (he left the ice) and let the Rangers get away with tons of holding/hooking/interference and the call a double minor for high sticking that was caused by the Rangers player lifting Wards arms in an act of interference on the faceoff and then Ward making the bonehead move to turn without lowering his stick.

The loss is entirely because the refs swallowed their whistles for the Rangers and then called a huge penalty on the Caps.
 
Or maybe the fact that it even went to overtime in the first place was because Holtby was pretty damn great behind an awful capitals defense? Come on man, stop complaining so much, you're making us caps fans look like whiners. It's a really frustrating way to lose a game, but there's no way you can say we deserved that win.

I still have hope, we can still take Game 6 in Washington, and then buckle down for Game 7 - we won game 7 in Boston, so I think we can do it in New York, too.
 
Fair enough, but seriously, I'm a transplant and only became a D.C. homer five years ago. The first eight years I watched D.C. teams and rooted for them to lose and even then I saw that they are absolutely disrespected by national broadcasters and more importantly the officiating.

I'm really getting sick of watching guys scrape their faces with their gloves to draw blood. Who gets a cut on their face and as a first response vigorously rubs it with rough gloves? It was obvious he was drying to make sure his face was bleeding. And I'm also pissed they paused the game and let him back on the ice. Either he's bleeding and shouldn't be on the ice or he's not bleeding and it should have been only a minor.
 
You're really suggesting these guys rub their faces with "rough gloves" in an effort to make themselves bleed? Seriously? You're losing more and more credibility with each post.
 
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