The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

[DrJones]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

Habs-Isles would be the most ridiculous matchup in recent memory in terms of unlikelihood (and everything else you can think of...)

If you take both teams into account, 2006, 2012, and 2018 are the strangest Stanley Cup Final matchups of the 40+ years I've watched the NHL, although I think Habs/Isles would narrowly beat them. Chris Kunitz denied us of the GOAT WTF matchup - an Ottawa/Nashville SCF would never have been beaten.

[rdnk]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

If I was making a bracket of most WTF cup finals, my number 1 overall seed is probably Oilers/Canes 06. If we get Habs/Isles this year, that might beat it.

I had some other ones in mind, but they're mostly 1 favorite vs 1 WTF team. 81' and 91' North Stars, 82' Canucks, 96' Panthers, 02' Canes and 04' Flames.

[slickdtc]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

Flames/Lightning is a really good one all things considered. I was thinking the next SCF, Canes/Oilers, was the pick but it probably is CGY/TB. Plus, lockout... both of those, actually. Hmm..

For being a division rival, I have a soft spot for these Islanders. Even last year, I saw a lot of us, or what I wanted us to be haha, in them. They beat us, so it’s good to see it wasn’t a fluke. Always rooting for Montreal to finish the Cinderella story, too. Vegas has paid their dues by now. I only don’t want to see the Lightning because they just did it and have been right on the doorstep enough recently to be tired of.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

Flames/Lightning is a really good one all things considered. I was thinking the next SCF, Canes/Oilers, was the pick but it probably is CGY/TB. Plus, lockout... both of those, actually. Hmm..

I don't see 2004. Lightning were the top seed in the East, 2nd best record in the league, and they were generally considered an up-and-coming team coming into 03/04. I certainly don't think anyone expected anything from the Canes going into '05 (after the lockout, I don't think anyone really knew what to expect, and despite being the 2nd seed in the East, nobody trusted Gerber (and rightfully so). Calgary was a big surprise, but were a better team than the '06 Oilers and never had to upset someone as good as the '06 Wings.

Going into the 05/06 season, predicting a Canes/Oilers SCF would've been considered insane. Edmonton hadn't won a playoff series since 1998, Carolina had been pretty awful since their underdog run to the final in '02. Combine that with the fact that six of the seven games in the Final featured a goaltending battle between Carolina's rookie backup and Edmonton's journeyman 3rd stringer that was never heard from again (05/06 regular season SV%: Ward .882, Markkanen .880), and the 2006 Stanley Cup Final is the WTF clubhouse leader.

As mentioned earlier, the '91 North Stars were the strangest Finalist of all-time: 16th out of 21 teams, 12 games below .500 (when that meant something), -10 GD (13th), had to beat the best two teams in the league (38 and 37 points ahead of Minnesota in the standings) just to get out of their division, beat the defending Cup champs in the Conference Final, were actually up 2-1 in the Final over Pittsburgh in the Final before midnight struck.

The '82 Canucks were almost as bizarre, but for a different reason, as they finished 3 games under .500, had never won a playoff series in their sorry existence, yet played even worse teams in each of the 1st 3 rounds before getting squashed by the Isles juggernaut.

[rdnk]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

I was thinking about 2012 and 2018 some more. I'd probably put 2012 higher as a WTF final.

2018 is mostly strange because of Vegas. Washington had been a cup favorite for years, despite never getting past the second round. So it wasn't entirely shocking to see them in the finals especially after they finally killed their white whale in the second round.

No one expected the Devils in 2012. The post-lockout Devils are a strange bunch. Yeah Stevens and Niedermeyer were gone, but they were still consistently one of the best regular seasons teams in the league, only to get consistently upset in round 1 or 2. Heck in 2011 the Devils missed the playoffs entirely, and in a big picture sense have only made the playoffs one time since. They were the 6 seed coming in, and in the first round went seven games with a Panthers team with less points than they had and a negative goals differential. After that, they rolled their next two opponents before running into the Kings in the finals. Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise, Patrik Elias, David "Wendell" Clarkson, stud rookie Adam Henrique and Martin Brodeur doing his best Toby Keith impersonation comprise this team. Bryce Salvador, most known for being a mobile pylon, put up 0 goals and 9 assists in 82 regular season games, proceeds to put up 4 goals and 10 assists in 24 playoff games.

Heading into 2012, the Kings were certainly a cup contender after picking up Mike Richards from the Flyers and having a couple of first round exits under the belt. But like most of the Kings teams of that era, they were a massive disappointment in regular season. Trading for Jeff Carter and slotting in Voynov for JMFJ proved to be a catalyst for them to make a run to the 8 seed. Once in, they proceeded to slaughter the top three seeds in the west in 14 games before throwing the Devils over the top rope. I could be wrong, but I seem to remember a lot of people taking the Kings in the first round over president's trophy winner and defending western conference champion Canucks in the first round. So not really a WTF team, but a team that took a WTF journey through the regular season.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

2012 is definitely the most WTF Final in terms of regular season standings. Those Kings remind me a bit of the 1994 Canucks, in that both were actually good teams who underachieved during the regular season, then hit their ceiling potential during the postseason. I'm still slightly unnerved that before the 2012 playoffs started, someone posted a thread on HF-Boards predicting a Devils/Kings Final, LOL.

2018 is the clear WTF winner in terms of narrative, though. The most cursed team in NHL history, that endured a comical series of misfortune and choke over a 30+ season span, finally defeats all of their demons in one fell swoop, and faces an expansion team from freaking Las Vegas in the Final. It felt surreal, almost fake, like a random factoid in a future-set movie from the 80s/90s.

[bhurst99]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

In terms of weird Stanley Cup Finalists, the 1996 Florida Panthers have got to be up there. Third year in existence and beat a Philadelphia team with Eric Lindros and John LeClair in the Conference Semifinals and followed that up beating a Pittsburgh team with Mario and Jagr in seven games. It all game crumbling down when they lost a triple overtime Stanley Cup Final Game 1 to Colorado 1-0 and lost the following three games.

Dave Lowry of all players had 17 points in 22 playoff games. He never had more than 40 points in a regular season.

I don't think Florida has won a playoff series since 1996.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

The '96 Panthers were the worst case scenario when it comes to WTF teams who made a Cup run.

1. They prevented a couple of the juiciest potential late-round matchups ever (Mario vs Lindros in the East Final, Mario/Jagr vs Sakic/Forsberg/Roy in the Final)

2. While they were reasonably competitive in 3 out of the 4 games against the Avalanche, at no point did they have a prayer of winning. Cinderella's not very attractive when she falls on her face after finally arriving at the ball (the 3OT game was in Game 4, BTW)

3. They played efficient and horrific anti-hockey, which allowed the league to see that anyone could play like the Devils and compete on the cheap - this realization made the next decade of NHL hockey mostly unwatchable

4. Unlike many of the other Sun Belt teams that made deep playoff runs, their SCF appearance had no long-term positive effects on the Miami market - 25 years later, and the Panthers are still the least relevant NHL team outside of Arizona (though hopefully Q and their current squad can turn that around in the next few seasons)

[DrJones]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

The Isles and Bolts sure don't seem to like each other very much.

I don't remember seeing this level of animosity between non-division playoff opponents since...

...Never mind.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

Lol this actually happened IMG_20210616_092226.jpeg

[slickdtc]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

Lucky he didn’t draw blood. That’s a double Steven.

[mestevo]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

[Kobalt]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

I believe NHL fines the ref if they call a penalty on Vegas

[rdnk]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

I believe NHL fines the ref if they call a penalty on Vegas

Vegas could not capitalize. This feels like a carbon copy of their series with Dallas last year; Vegas felt like the better team but could not get it done. Heck game three had the exact same score. On the other side, it's a rematch of last year's conference finals with TBL up 2-1 just like last year.

Tampa over Montreal in 6?

[mestevo]

Re: The Official NHL 2020-2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Thread

VGK GM now positive.

@kaitlyn_olvera

JUST IN:
@GoldenKnights general manager Kelly McCrimmon is in self-isolation after testing positive for #COVID19 — @AP

He traveled with the team to Montreal and is the second person involved in the series to test positive (@CanadiensMTL coach had 2 positive tests) #VegasBorn