Hot Ice: NHL Thread

[ursus arctos]

Wow

CBJ have swept the Lightning

[Hot Pepsi]

Bolts complete worst collapse in NHL history.

I suppose it’s better to go out this way than later in the playoffs, because this way they’ll have to face their real weaknesses instead of pretending it was just a bad bounce or hot opposing goalie. They played badly from the second period of game one onward and had no answer to how to reverse the slide, perhaps because they’d never been in a slump before. Cooper should have pulled Vasilesky. Why not?

They just extended his contract, but I have to think he’ll be out after next year if they don’t go far in the playoffs.

Or maybe they should trade everyone for draft picks and start over now. They’re going to have a hard time filling the building after this.

I suspect Columbus will lose in the next round and go back to trying to extort more money from the state of Ohio or Columbus.

[ursus arctos]

I don't know what you do with this.

A team that hasn't lost more than two in a row all season loses four in a row to a team they swept in the regular season and outscored 17-3. After almost running their opponents out of the building in the first period of Game One while taking a 3-0 lead.

[Hot Pepsi]

It’s uncanny. I can’t think of anything to compare it to.

Teams in various sports often underperform in one big game, but not usually four over a week.

And every World Cup has a few favorites crash out in the first round, but the World Cup odds aren’t based on as much data. Qualifiers and friendlies aren’t as much to go on as 82 games in the prior six months. And soccer is more flukey because there aren’t as many goals.

Sometimes teams fade late and then crash, but it’s not like they were playing badly in the last few weeks of the season.

I think that they got into a psychological slide that they just couldn’t steer out of.

But the Rays are 13-4. A year ago they were 4-13. Not that anyone will notice.

[ursus arctos]

And now Crosby and the Penguins can join them on the golf course.

Maybe Vegas' run last year was a harbinger of the new normal.

[BallochSonsFan]

Could have implications for the world championships next month.

GB playing in the top group for the first time in 25 years. Canada are in our group. Could we see Crosby playing for Canada against Pete Russell's boys? Ben Bowns will do well keeping any game to single figures.

Davey Philips up against Sid the Kid. That's going to end well...

[ursus arctos]

Maybe Stamkos too. Brayden Point may be likely, given his recent Team Canada ties.

Could also be a huge boon to the Russians.

[Hot Pepsi]

And now Crosby and the Penguins can join them on the golf course.

Maybe Vegas' run last year was a harbinger of the new normal.

Vegas' success was good for Vegas, of course, and perhaps future expansion teams, but I don't think it's good for the health of hockey if the Stanley Cup winner feels "random" and completely disconnected from the regular season. Why watch the regular season games on TV or pay $70+ for a ticket when it feels like there's not really much at stake?

And it's not good for hockey if the way to win the cup is the neutral zone trap. I don't know what hockey can do about that.

Some will say that it's bad if the well-known "stars" aren't in the finals, but the only way to ensure that would be to not have a salary cap, which would be a disaster for many franchises.

[Amor de Cosmos]

It's an inevitable result of the NHL's system of parity and game management. Crosby, Kucherov, McDavid, Kane and Pettersson all play on teams that either didn't make the play-offs or were swept in the first round. That's because there's really very little difference between most of the teams in the NHL, at least not enough that a single player, however talented, can exploit in a consistent fashion.

[ursus arctos]

Steve Yzerman returns to the Winged Wheel as GM

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/reporterchris/status/1119225721967169536

Some excellent NHL players there.

Crosby confirmed that he will not be playing for Canada.

[ursus arctos]

And now Calgary are gone, losing Game 5 to Colorado at home.

First time since expansion that the top two seeds have exited in the first round.

[ursus arctos]

The Winnipeg Jets join their highly ranked rivals on the golf course and Nashville is one game away from elimination.

Meanwhile SC Bern, the club with the highest average attendance in Europe, have won their 16th Swiss title, taking four games in a row from EV Zug after Zug won the opener.



Finally, CSKA swept Avangaard Omsk for the KHL title.

[jefe]

I hope this Twitter sourced stat is true: Calgary finishes the decade with fewer playoff wins than the basket case Oilers.

[Amor de Cosmos]

That might be because they've been in the play-offs more often than the Oilers.

[BallochSonsFan]

Mannheim tied the series 1-1 in the del finals. By all accounts a feisty game. Missed it because I wasn't a big. I'll watch game 3 tomorrow.

Auf gehts Mannheim

[ursus arctos]

The game is definitely called differently in the playoffs, but the much greater level of intensity and the much lesser influence of nonsense likely has more impact. Teams also tend to "shorten their benches", playing their best players for more minutes.

[Hot Pepsi]

Canada’s Stanley Cup drought continues. Alas

[Snake Plissken]

Terrible. Never mind.

[ursus arctos]

After what your lot have done to Canadian teams during the drought, I'm surprised that all of those Bruins fans in the Maritimes (and elsewhere) haven't had their citizenship revoked.

[Gerontophile]

Bye-bye Vegas.

[ursus arctos]

The rather predictable result in Boston broke a tie with Detroit and Montreal to give the Bruins the most Game 7 victories in Stanley Cup history (15).

The Bruins also share the all time lead in Game 7 losses (12) with . . . the Leafs.

[Exiled off Main Street]

Nice thing about last night's tiring OT win over the CBJ was that the equalizing and winning goal were scored by a local lad. CBJ uni's are UGLY.

[BallochSonsFan]

YES! Adler Mannheim are Deutche Meister 2019!

Fantastic effort from the guys. Pavel Gross has turned last year's disappointment into a fantastic team of champions.

[ursus arctos]

Well done Adler.

The NHL's insistence that Barclays is a "major league arena" whereas the renovated Nassau Coliseum is not is a complete joke. Major League arena don't have to park SUVs behind the glass to shield vacant corners from the television cameras. Having to play the series there is worth at least half a goal a game to Carolina.