NHL Playoffs

[Zephyr]

They won't get past Boston.., Boston is just too strong.  I really do not know who will win this year.  It is what makes the NHL playoffs so interesting, in that there are so many contenders

[Prophet Zacharia]

1 hour ago, Square Wheels said:

  I don't think they'll make it past the Bruins, but if they do, they won't make it past their next match-up.

I don't necessarily agree. I think Toronto, TBL, Bruins or the Pens could survive the East. While I like Boston to win this round, Toronto could definitely beat Tampa if they find a way to come back. And the NJD want to have something to say about Tampa making it to round 2, anyway.

[Prophet Zacharia]

VGKs sweep the Kings. 2 shut outs for Fleury, 0.97-something save %. Nice work.

Winnipeg take commanding 3-1 series lead.

Caps survive implosion with 2OT win to claw back to 1-2.

Crosby needs 1 point to pass Peter Forsberg and tie Lemieux at 17th all time playoff points. He’s currently 14 points behind Yzerman at 10th all time in playoff scoring.

Couturier a game time decision for the Flyers.  

[Razors Edge ★]

CAPS CAPS CAPS

Working from home, so actually am not hearing any chatter today. But if someone could wrap this series up ASAP, I can go back to not caring until next season and focus on Redskins pre-season awesomeness.

Tom

[12string]

1 hour ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

Couturier a game time decision for the Flyers.

Highly doubtful he plays again this year.  And I have zero faith the coach can make the right adjustments

[Prophet Zacharia]

12 minutes ago, 12string said:

Highly doubtful he plays again this year.  And I have zero faith the coach can make the right adjustments

That was my impression from the video I saw. ?

Lots of line juggling, though. Simmonds needs to wake up. He’s been fairly invisible.

[12string]

Simmonds is publicly denying it, but he's been playing hurt all year

[jsharr ★]

 

[The_Karen_Cooper_Incident]

The Pens rule! 

 

Couch 

[Prophet Zacharia]

Greater Pennsylvania Open Leaderboard: Round 4

Gostisbehere -7
Giroux -7
Raffl -4
Manning -4 

Patrick -4

Provorov -3 

Couturier -3

Gudas -2

Laughton -2

Konecny -2
6 at -1

Crosby at +8. I guess the Flyer fans are correct when they chant he sucks.

I wondered for a moment how Andy MacDonald is a “0” for the series, but the answer is right in the question.

[Prophet Zacharia]

Sharks eliminate Ducks, will meet VGK in round 2.

TBL make the series 3-1 as does Nashville.

[Prophet Zacharia]

Toronto fails to take advantage of Bergeron’s injury absence, fall to Boston and into a 3-1 deficit, going back to Boston.

Colubus lays an egg, letting Washington back into the series, 2-2 now. Unfortunately for the Caps they have to go back home for game 5.

[The_Karen_Cooper_Incident]

23 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

Toronto fails to take advantage of Bergeron’s injury absence, fall to Boston and into a 3-1 deficit, going back to Boston.

Colubus lays an egg, letting Washington back into the series, 2-2 now. Unfortunately for the Caps they have to go back home for game 5.

You can never depend on teams from Columbus or Canada. 

The Leafs have a history of blowing it with Boston.  I don't know how thier fans put up with it.  They are the Browns of the NHL. 

Couch 

[Square Wheels]

4 hours ago, Couch_Incident said:

You can never depend on teams from Columbus or Canada. 

The Leafs have a history of blowing it with Boston.  I don't know how thier fans put up with it.  They are the Browns of the NHL. 

Couch 

I'm not much of a history person, even if this is true, the Bruins have proven to be fairly resilient this year to injury.  Almost all of their top people have been out for some period this year.  The Bruins will end it Tomorrow night in Boston.

[Prophet Zacharia]

32 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

I'm not much of a history person, even if this is true, the Bruins have proven to be fairly resilient this year to injury.  Almost all of their top people have been out for some period this year.  The Bruins will end it Tomorrow night in Boston.

Yes they have. And yes, the series probably ends tomorrow.

TML haven't won a playoff series since 2002. Since then it's been a lockout, 10 years without qualifying, and two first round losses, likely going on 3. 

[Wilbur ★]

5 hours ago, Couch_Incident said:

You can never depend on teams from Columbus or Canada. 

The Leafs have a history of blowing it with Boston.  I don't know how thier fans put up with it.  They are the Browns of the NHL. 

Couch 

There were less than 100 tickets available to the public for the playoffs.  The rest were tied up by corporations.  The Leafs don't need to win in order to be a top 3 profit team.  The fans have learned to accept that.  It isn't about winning, it is about profits. 

[Prophet Zacharia]

6 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

There were less than 100 tickets available to the public for the playoffs.  The rest were tied up by corporations.  The Leafs don't need to win in order to be a top 3 profit team.  The fans have learned to accept that.  It isn't about winning, it is about profits. 

90% of their tickets are held by season ticket holders, but not all of those are corporation-held. Although the corporations do drive up the cost to the common man. I don't think this is unique to Toronto, although thier market share is probably the most stable of the league.

What is interesting is that some ticket-resale companies hold large numbers of season tickets, but when this was discovered, instead of terminating their agreements with them and redistributed the tickets for sale to the general public, the Leafs instead marked those tickets up by 30%. 

[Wilbur ★]

8 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

90% of their tickets are held by season ticket holders, but not all of those are corporation-held. Although the corporations do drive up the cost to the common man. I don't think this is unique to Toronto, although thier market share is probably the most stable of the league.

What is interesting is that some ticket-resale companies hold large numbers of season tickets, but when this was discovered, instead of terminating their agreements with them and redistributed the tickets for sale to the general public, the Leafs instead marked those tickets up by 30%. 

I can get you the percentage of seat holders if you like. I know several team owners.  The mark-up you are referring to is the discount offered to season ticket holders.  If you are a known reseller, your discount was taken away. 

[Prophet Zacharia]

7 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

I can get you the percentage of seat holders if you like. I know several team owners.  The mark-up you are referring to is the discount offered to season ticket holders.  If you are a known reseller, your discount was taken away. 

Sure. I'd be interested.

Vegas is doing the same thing, discounting season tickets that aren't resold. Their goal is to keep Vegas fans in the seats, not opponent's fans. Not sure how they are doing it on a person by person basis, though.

Pittsbugh seems to have done a good job at managing to price their tickets at such a level that the STH price is pretty consistent with the resale market. In this market, you have to win to be this expensive. But as a result, I can't really sell any of my tickets for a profit, unless it's SCF game, or a weekend game against the Leafs, where it's cheeper/easier for Leaf fans to drive down to Pittsburgh for the game than try to go to the ACC. I sell my unused tickets at face value to friends. My only real benefit as a STH is assured playoff seats.

[Wilbur ★]

4 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

Sure. I'd be interested.

Vegas is doing the same thing, discounting season tickets that aren't resold. Their goal is to keep Vegas fans in the seats, not opponent's fans. Not sure how they are doing it on a person by person basis, though.

Pittsbugh seems to have done a good job at managing to price their tickets at such a level that the STH price is pretty consistent with the resale market. In this market, you have to win to be this expensive. But as a result, I can't really sell any of my tickets for a profit, unless it's SCF game, or a weekend game against the Leafs, where it's cheeper/easier for Leaf fans to drive down to Pittsburgh for the game than try to go to the ACC. I sell my unused tickets at face value to friends. My only real benefit as a STH is assured playoff seats.

Yeah, I don't know if Vegas can pull it off.  Go to any game there and I would be surprised if 40% of the jersey's worn are from the visiting Canadian team.  Seems like a popular event for tourists now.  Much like any Florida game.  Florida doesn't get the resale prices though.  You can still buy good seats for $15 after the puck drops. 

[Prophet Zacharia]

1 minute ago, Wilbur said:

Yeah, I don't know if Vegas can pull it off.  Go to any game there and I would be surprised if 40% of the jersey's worn are from the visiting Canadian team. 

From what I understand, it's not at all limited to Canadian teams. Which makes sense with it being a tourist destination with shows being a common part of a Vegas stay. But I think they got tired of that. So I think this discount is either new for the playoffs, or next season.

Nashville does and Washington has restricted sales of tickets via ticketmaster to people with local zip codes on their credit cards (or telephone area codes). I'm sure there are other examples, too.

[Wilbur ★]

Just now, Prophet Zacharia said:

From what I understand, it's not at all limited to Canadian teams. Which makes sense with it being a tourist destination with shows being a common part of a Vegas stay. But I think they got tired of that. So I think this discount is either new for the playoffs, or next season.

Nashville does and Washington has restricted sales of tickets via ticketmaster to people with local zip codes on their credit cards (or telephone area codes). I'm sure there are other examples, too.

If I have to buy, I buy in the parking lot!   

[Prophet Zacharia]

5 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

If I have to buy, I buy in the parking lot!   

That's fine for home games, or if you're already in a town. But sometimes I use an away Pens game as an excute for a weekend trip, so having tickets in hand in advance has advantages. 

Nashville was fun, but I wouldn't have gone for a weekend if I wasn't assured entry to the game at face value.

[Wilbur ★]

Just now, Prophet Zacharia said:

That's fine for home games, or if you're already in a town. But sometimes I use an away Pens game as an excute for a weekend trip, so having tickets in hand in advance has advantages. 

Nashville was fun, but I wouldn't have gone for a weekend if I wasn't assured entry to the game at face value.

Yeah, I travel for a living so the last thing I want to do is travel some more.  Having worked for an NHL team owner, I don't have an immense desire to pay for a game.  If I do, it is just a game that is taking place in a town I happen to be in.  

[jsharr ★]

I wonder if the Flyers practice today consists of practicing shaking hands with each other and working on their golf swings?

[Prophet Zacharia]

41 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Yeah, I travel for a living so the last thing I want to do is travel some more.  Having worked for an NHL team owner, I don't have an immense desire to pay for a game.  If I do, it is just a game that is taking place in a town I happen to be in.  

That does make it seem more like business than pleasure. 

[Prophet Zacharia]

12 minutes ago, jsharr said:

I wonder if the Flyers practice today consists of practicing shaking hands with each other and working on their golf swings?

Just watch your knees around Gudas.

[jsharr ★]

7 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

Just watch your knees around Gudas.

Hockey Quiz:  Find Gudas' favorite guitar player in this picture

[12string]

working too hard for that one.... or whoever you copied it from worked too hard

[Prophet Zacharia]

4 hours ago, jsharr said:

Hockey Quiz:  Find Gudas' favorite guitar player in this picture

I don’t know who the guitarists are on either end. So I have to guess slash even though it doesn’t really make sense at all to me. I don’t think illegal stick work when I think of Gudas. 

[Prophet Zacharia]

Let’s Go Pens! We want hand shakes.

[Prophet Zacharia]

Pens fall to Flyers, 4-2. You can’t give up a shortie and win if your PP also goes 0-5. Some nice glove work by Neuvirth. Guess Sid will get to have another multipoint afternoon at Wells Fargo.

Jets take care of business and close out the Wild in 5, I think it was a 5-0 final.

Col and NSH on now.

[Prophet Zacharia]

Andrew Hammond has a 44 save night to keep the Avs alive, beating the Preds 2-1. Series moves back to Colorado with Nashville leading 3 games to 2.

[Prophet Zacharia]

Greater Pennsylvania Open Leaderboard: Round 5

Gostisbehere -8
Giroux -7
Raffl -4
Patrick-4

Manning -3

Provorov -2 

Konecny -2

10 at -1

[Prophet Zacharia]

So Toronto decides to make things interesting. They try to give up their 4-1 lead in Game 5, but gold on to win 4-3, making the series 3-2 and forcing game 6 in Toronto.  

Washington of course plays another OT game, but this time wins at home. Series moves back to Columbus for game 6 with Caps leading 3-2.

[Square Wheels]

4 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

So Toronto decides to make things interesting. They try to give up their 4-1 lead in Game 5, but gold on to win 4-3, making the series 3-2 and forcing game 6 in Toronto.  

They came to win, and did so.

[The_Karen_Cooper_Incident]

I see one of my friends in 15 minutes. 

He's a Flyers fan.  I'll obviously offer him my condolences.

Couch

[Prophet Zacharia]

Pens win game 6 by the score of 8-5, win series 4-2.  Best game of the series with duAling hat tricks, Couturier with three, Guentzel 4 goals on the night. Giroux (and the rest of the Flyers) suspended for the rest of the playoffs.

[jsharr ★]

[Square Wheels]

Just now, jsharr said:

I like those.  Can you order some for the Maple Leafs?

[Wilbur ★]

20 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

I like those.  Can you order some for the Maple Leafs?

The Flyers were one of the best Canadian teams ever!

[Square Wheels]

Yay, I found them!

[Wilbur ★]

30 minutes ago, Square Wheels said:

Yay, I found them!

There is a lot to be said for a long golf season. 

[Prophet Zacharia]

So the West is set for Round 2, as the Preds close out the Avs, 5-0.

Preds/Jets. Nashville is an exciting team, but I took Winnipeg to go to the SCF, so I think the Jets surprise some people and get the series win.

Sharks/Vegas Golden Knights. I’ll say the Sharks finally trip up the VGK with their speed equalizing that of Vegas, thus neutralizing it’s advantage. Although I would mind the Knights moving on.

[Razors Edge ★]

On 4/18/2018 at 12:00 PM, Razors Edge said:

CAPS CAPS CAPS

Working from home, so actually am not hearing any chatter today. But if someone could wrap this series up ASAP, I can go back to not caring until next season and focus on Redskins pre-season awesomeness.

Tom

CRAP.  I'm back in the office, and am hearing about the Caps again! 

Tom

[Prophet Zacharia]

37 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

CRAP.  I'm back in the office, and am hearing about the Caps again! 

Tom

Maybe they will lose tonight and make everyone too tense to talk again until Thursday morning.

[The_Karen_Cooper_Incident]

17 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

Maybe they will lose tonight and make everyone too tense to talk again until Thursday morning.

Yea.  I really want the BJs to win. 

Couch 

[Prophet Zacharia]

Greater Pennsylvania Open Leaderboard: Final Round

Giroux -10

Gostisbehere -8

Provorov -6

Manning -5

Raffl - 5

Patrick-5

Weise -3

Konecny -3

Voracek -3

Filpula -3

8 at -1

Maybe the old Coot should be Captain, he sure came to play this series.

[Zephyr]

I think there are signs starting to show that this is the Caps year.  Even the years they won the Presidents cup, they sailed through without adversity.  This year, with goaltender issues they have not faced in recent years, they carried on and finished well.  Normally in the playoffs, when facing adversity they crumble like a house of cards.  This year, down 2 games to none, and come back three straight, including some OT.  They are in a different mindset this year, and with Pitts having the Flyers scored 5 on them...., it could be Ovi's year to finally get past Crosby.

You read it here first, sports fans

[Prophet Zacharia]

19 minutes ago, Zephyr said:

I think there are signs starting to show that this is the Caps year.  Even the years they won the Presidents cup, they sailed through without adversity.  This year, with goaltender issues they have not faced in recent years, they carried on and finished well.  Normally in the playoffs, when facing adversity they crumble like a house of cards.  This year, down 2 games to none, and come back three straight, including some OT.  They are in a different mindset this year, and with Pitts having the Flyers scored 5 on them...., it could be Ovi's year to finally get past Crosby.

You read it here first, sports fans

Oh, no doubt the Capitals could beat the Penguins in Round 2. Even just by playing the odds, the Penguins 9-1 playoff record against the Caps has to allow another Caps win, eventually. And 9 straight playoff series wins has to end at some point. And Murray's let a few soft ones through. But I'd say this: 1) Washington isn't through to the second round yet, so don't count chickens yet, 2) the Flyers socored just 7 fewer goals in the regular season than did the Caps, so their ability to score wasn't much of a question, 3) Murray did have 2 shutouts and one 1 goal against game, too 4) I think the Flyers would have been just as competative against the Capitals as the CBJ have been, 5) The Caps have overcome adversity in early rounds before, too, just to lose to the Pens in a later round.

It was a mistake for us to have traded away Ian Cole, he gave our defense something we don't have without him. But he's a #5 D, so his loss shouldn't undo our defense corps altogether. I'd say we're similar in defense to last year. Letang's not playing his best, makes bad plays and turnovers at times, other times plays well. But the Capitals defense is also a bit more suspect than last season. And Holtby hasn't been solid, and is often torched by the Pens. I see a bunch of 6-5 and 5-3 and 4-3 scores if this series happens. While I don't realistically think this is the Pens year, (I think they have a better shot of 3 in 4 years than the threepeat, just due to emotional fatigue), I'll still take Sid, Malkin and Kessel over Ovie, Backstrom and Oshie until they prove me wrong.