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2018-19 Miscellaneous News Thread

andyt said:
Tampa has had a lot more success in the playoffs than San Jose. In 3 of the previous 4 years, they’ve at least made the conference finals. The one year they didn’t, they missed the playoffs with 94 points. San Jose has a lot of 1st and 2nd round losses with 1 SCF appearance.
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No they are not 100% identical. But from 2010 to 2016 the Sharks lost in the WCF 2x and the SCF once. They are a solid team from year to year, usually putting up 95+ points and often breaking 100. They are well run. And they have a reputation as not getting it done in the playoffs.
 
Punzil said:
Islanders are next, sweeping the Penguins.
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Hindsight is 20/20 they say, but maybe the Pens should have lost in game 82 in regulation to get the Caps...the Islanders ate them up with that stifling game that Barry Trotz implements so well.
 
I wouldn't read too much into either of those series wins. Torts got his guys to quit fighting and buy into his puck pressure system and Trotz has had the Isles playing classic 90s Devils hockey all season. Both of those defensive systems are tied and true under pressure and they derailed two teams that really ought to know better than to get that frustrated that they have to fight for territory. Coaching and defense often lead to early round upsets in this league.
 
Our buddies Bill Peters, Elias, Noah, and Derek, the 'best team' in the Western Conference are down 3-1 to WC2 Colorado.
 
The Avs beat the Flames again last night and have taken a 3-1 series lead. If they can close that out in 5, it would be almost as shocking a result as the two sweeps in the East, and it would eliminate a Western favorite. This post season is THIS close to cracking wide open into a free for all.

Oh ... and Leafs/Bruins and Preds/Stars are both knotted at 2.
 
jeffbear said:
The Avs beat the Flames again last night and have taken a 3-1 series lead. If they can close that out in 5, it would be almost as shocking a result as the two sweeps in the East, and it would eliminate a Western favorite. This post season is THIS close to cracking wide open into a free for all.

Oh ... and Leafs/Bruins and Preds/Stars are both knotted at 2.
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If by "THIS close" you mean already has, then, yeah, I agree. I don't think you can call a team (CGY) that's down 3-1 in the first round any sort of front runner.

According to The Athletic's model, Vegas is the front-runner, at least for today. Carolina sits at 11th, with a 31% chance of surviving the first round. Dallas, SJ and CGY (and obviously Tampa and Pitt) have worse odds of making it to Round 2.

Here's the odd "Did You Know?" of the day: The "T" in "TD Bank," and thus in "TD Garden" -- home of the Bruins -- stands for Toronto.
 
Calgary was a pretty heavy favorite to come out of the West, especially after San Jose collapsed down the stretch.
 
cmaleski2 said:
Our buddies Bill Peters, Elias, Noah, and Derek, the 'best team' in the Western Conference are down 3-1 to WC2 Colorado.
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Two goal lead (2-0) with 13 minutes to go (goals by Lindholm and Ryan).

Lost 3-2 in OT.

Sounds familiar. :sarcasm
 
Winnipeg's Hayes makes a spectacular save on his own shot... he was trying to put it home behind Binnington and ended up scooping it out instead.

Would have made a difference too, as the Blues score three in the third to take a 3-2 series lead.

Road team has won every game of this series AND has trailed at some point during the game.
 
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Right ... the West is tight, which is fitting given the regular season. San Jose climbed back to trial the Knights 3-2 after looking like roadkill in Game 4. Preds and Stars are knotted at 2. The only one that looks like a runaway right now is the Colorado/Calgary series ... and looks can be deceiving.
 
LJG said:
First playoff goal ever by a kid born in Raleigh from K Kapanen tonight?
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KK born in Finland a year before the move to Raleigh/Greensboro. My daughter born just a couple months earlier than KK took "Little Gym" classes with him that first year Canes were here. I remember teasing Sami about getting Fedorov during the offer sheet mess.
 
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And Calgary is out, eliminated with a 5-1 loss at home to Colorado, who win their first series since 2008. Calgary signed James Neal to a big free agent contract in the summer and he was a healthy scratch tonight. Johnny Hockey was invisible in the series with only an assist. He missed a penalty shot, missed a breakaway and had a goal wiped out because of incidental contact.
 
Boardwork said:
How could the genius let his team lose in the first round?
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We like to call that series another “Wild Bill Peters Special”...

Lindholm and Hanafin were damn near invisible when it counted most, tough summer ahead for the Shames after that epic collapse.

Stop serving Kinetico water between periods Bill...
 
Colorado, a team that finished 17th overall with a losing record, squashes the alleged top team in the conference. That’s gotta hurt. It’s gonna be interesting who takes the fall for that.

I know it’s unprecedented to have both top seeds fall this early (and they fell hard) but it really does send a message about how little value there is to the regular season. The playoffs have become such a different animal from the regular season. It makes the job of GM very difficult. You basically have to build two teams at the same time. I wonder if the league will try to address that in some way. They’ll probably just blithely chalk it up to parity or being a statistical outlier and move on. However, why would I want to spend so much money on regular season games that mean so little?


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