The Official 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Good series, if not for Mason tonight would have been over before the final period. Grats Rangers' fans, good luck moving forward.

Mason was fantastic. The rest of the team just didn't show up.

[BishopMVP]

One Game 7 in the 3rd period, one going to OT. Not sure why the NHL wouldn't stagger start times by like an hour, but its fun to watch.

[kingfc22]

Oh Sharks. Why must you always let us down.

[bhlloy]

I really really wanted to play the Sharks rather than the Kings, but in a perverse way I'll take some comfort in San Jose finding new ways to choke a playoff series away.

Feel sorry for the Sharks fans on here though. I have very little doubt the Kings will absolutely roll the Ducks in less than 6 so what goes around will very likely come around pretty soon.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Sigh.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

Oh Sharks. Why must you always let us down.

In fairness to sharks, when quick is on there is no one better. Fantastic to see them come back.

[MrBug708]

#Beatheducks!

[bronconick]

I stopped having hope once Vlasic had the concussion. Easy once you have 3-4 days to prep for it. Insert the "Changes" theme song

[Vince, Pt. II]

So what do you do if you're running the team? Thornton, Marleau and McLellan were just signed to extensions. Something has to change after this, right? What do you do? Give up on another goalie? Niemi had a pretty good year, but his lows were pretty awful. Stalock looks like he'll be ok in net, but he's not exactly seasoned.

At a loss here...despite the fact that this happens EVERY YEAR, this is yet another new way to go down in flames.

[bronconick]

When you have Hannan, Stuart and Boyle in your 6 d-men in 2014, you have issues. That's 3 #6 guys, one of which is a #2 PP specialist.

[Karlifornia]

Tough night in downtown San Jo. Fans not happy, understandably, but I think we should refrain from demanding scalps. The team played lights out regular season.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by bronconick

When you have Hannan, Stuart and Boyle in your 6 d-men in 2014, you have issues. That's 3 #6 guys, one of which is a #2 PP specialist.

I feel like Hannan has been long in the tooth for a while now, but just two years ago Stuart was the Wings 3/4 defensemen. Has his game slipped that much? As for Boyle, he's what 38 or so? He still seems to have some pretty decent mobility.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Rough schedule for the Rangers here.

Friday night, Sunday night, Monday night back in NY.

Back to game 6 of Flyers series, 5 games in 7 days, Tues-Mon.

Uncle Gary up to his old tricks...

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

Tough night in downtown San Jo. Fans not happy, understandably, but I think we should refrain from demanding scalps. The team played lights out regular season.

Same script for what - the last 5-6 years though? At some point, regular season success isn't enough (and yes I'm very aware that this is the script that Boudreau teams seem to follow as well, so I may be eating my words shortly)

[Logan]

SR, if I checked this thread before responding to your PM, I wouldn't have made that same point to you on the scheduling.

As said, Mason was unbelievable last night. After Akeson scored on that blocked shot that came right back to him, the full narrative played out in my head of how I expected the rest of the game to go, looking back on all those amazing saves/failures to capitalize. I would have been in real bad shape. But a great series and hopefully this team rests up quickly, because I think we finally have a good shot against the Pens.

[britrock88]

This game is uuuuuggggghhhhh.

[britrock88]

Well, more specifically, the third period.

Montreal did a great job holding off the Bs and counter-attacking well, and Price was amazing. Then, with persistence, the screens started falling into place, the sheer number of chances added up, and Boston has now been able to equalize twice.

The Habs' best hope seems to be to score early, or else this could devolve into a siege.

[DaddyTorgo]

Price has been keeping them in this game, no doubt.

And I don't know why Rask doesn't play well against Montreal.

Montreal's speed is scary.

Torey Krug hasn't looked strong defensively - hopefully he gets the weaknesses out for the series here.

[DaddyTorgo]

Blargh, well Carey Price stole the fuck outa that game.

[britrock88]

Really good sign to see a functional power play... it wasn't good against the Lightning, and the B's penalty kill is strong.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Rask, all-time vs Montreal @ TD Garden: 0-9

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm

Rask, all-time vs Montreal @ TD Garden: 0-9

Yeah. Rask's career numbers vs. Montreal are bad. Very bad.

[Ronnie Dobbs3]

If the B's keep playing like in Game One they will win the series. Couple of surprises kept this one away from them.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Ronnie Dobbs3

If the B's keep playing like in Game One they will win the series. Couple of surprises kept this one away from them.

I tend to agree with you, but it's frustrating to have a game stolen away like that.

And Rask really needs to fucking improve vs. Montreal.

[Ronnie Dobbs3]

I guess this is the new thing, every time an African-American hockey player scores a GWG the media is going to actively search out twitter to find the nitwits. I remember actually looking at many of them after the Ward goal and most of them seemed to be high school kids. So, we give them a megaphone for their stupidity, they delete their accounts and pageviews are achieved. Yay, media!!!

[chadritt]

It was trending, at least locally, so with the current sports news climate I dont think its silly to mention it.

[Ronnie Dobbs3]

What was trending?

[chadritt]

The racist tweets. Specifically the N word was trending after Subbans goal.

[Ronnie Dobbs3]

Not true.

The talking point this morning was that "nigger" was trending on Twitter in Boston last night, though it turns out that's not true. Here's an image of the tweet that started the rumor—it appears to just be a screenshot of search results. The Twitter user who inadvertently started it later apologized and tried to clear things up this morning, but by then it was too late to shake the storyline that the racism had been so pervasive that it registered in the Twitter algorithm.

http://deadspin.com/bruins-condemn-f...ium=socialflow

But of course, that got repeated and repeated because this kind of a story draws clicks. It's like reporting on Youtube comments. What's the point?

edit: I mean, do you know how many people would have to be tweeting to get it to trend? While yes we have some racism issues, probably higher than many places, this isn't the antebellum south.

[The Jackal]

belated sigh

[Suburban Rhythm]

My two takeaways from the Subban-Boston Twitter thing:

1) I wish they'd have asked Boston's goaltender in Providence in the AHL his feelings on this.

2) Best tweet on the aftermath, today when the Bruins released a statement saying they don't condone that behavior-

Originally Posted by @ GrantLawrence

that's it? One sentence? Cam Neely had more lines in "Dumb and Dumber"

[molson]

If you do a twitter search for any black athlete or celebrity name and any racial slur, you get results. For some reason it's only a news story when it involves the Bruins.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by molson

If you do a twitter search for any black athlete or celebrity name and any racial slur, you get results. For some reason it's only a news story when it involves the Bruins.

True.

Every city has its idiots. If Subban had scored in the playoffs before last night I bet you'd find idiots in Tampa saying the same thing.

[molson]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

True.

Every city has its idiots. If Subban had scored in the playoffs before last night I bet you'd find idiots in Tampa saying the same thing.

Wayne Simmonds had a hat trick the other night. This was the result from the vile depths of twitter.

Twitter / Search - Wayne Simmonds nigger

Not a news story. Maybe it was somewhere, but not here, and certainly not to this extent. Did the N.Y. Rangers make a statement? The Bruins get criticized for their statement not being LONG enough.

Edit: It's just interesting to me how people use racism to their own ends. Sometimes its for attention/web traffic. Sometimes its to paint your political opponents in a broad brush stroke. In this case, it's to take on the real evil in America, a Boston sports team.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by molson

If you do a twitter search for any black athlete or celebrity name and any racial slur, you get results. For some reason it's only a news story when it involves the Bruins.

That sounds faintly familiar.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Lord knows he has his issues, but Fleury is left out to dry more often than any goaltender in the league right now

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by molson

Edit: It's just interesting to me how people use racism to their own ends. Sometimes its for attention/web traffic. Sometimes its to paint your political opponents in a broad brush stroke. In this case, it's to take on the real evil in America, a Boston sports team.

Whitlock has made a career out of that.

[Neuqua]

Go Blackhawks.

[Danny]

What a game 1! Way to steal it

[The Jackal]

Seems like Fleury is having himself a pretty good playoffs. Watching this series is very depressing.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Originally Posted by The Jackal

Seems like Fleury is having himself a pretty good playoffs. Watching this series is very depressing.

Outside of a horrible 3 1/2 minute stretch in game 4 vs CBJ, he's been one the Pens best 3 players, along with Sutter and Martin.

Heading into the the Rangers series, his ES SV% was .944. The PK unit that was #1 in the league a good part of the year has fallen apart. And that's not even facing Philly who would have picked it apart with ease.

[The Jackal]

Well let's just all take a minute and laugh at the Rangers PP. I mean I know the Flyers PK has been good this year, but they have been epicly bad since their first 6 or so PPs of the playoffs.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by The Jackal

Well let's just all take a minute and laugh at the Rangers PP. I mean I know the Flyers PK has been good this year, but they have been epicly bad since their first 6 or so PPs of the playoffs.

I think the Devils will win a shootout before the Rangers score another PP goal.

[timmae]

Originally Posted by Neuqua

Go Blackhawks.

For sure!! I imagine most of the country hates Kane with a passion but.... "Showtime!!!"

[The Jackal]

I can't believe how snakebitten the Rags are with these posts. I almost feel bad for them.

[Grover]

Originally Posted by The Jackal

I can't believe how snakebitten the Rags are with these posts. I almost feel bad for them.

Almost.

[The Jackal]

Originally Posted by Grover

Almost.

If they were playing anyone but the Pens (and the Devils) I'd be laughing. But I'm torn here.

[Danny]

So happy to have the kings in situation where they can compete for the cup every year. First time in history

[Warhammer]

Agreed. Kopi is one of the most underrated skill players in the NHL that I can remember.

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by timmae

For sure!! I imagine most of the country hates Kane with a passion but.... "Showtime!!!"

Good thing for you guys he got all his post clangs and all the other bad stuff in the Olympics this past year.