Nev

Yep. Sure feels good to see their bi-polar fanbase thrashing around hysterically. 2 months ago Kessel was better than Crosby and every single player on their roster was better than ours, and now........here we are Fire everyone. Trade everyone etc etc

Pens. But the fact of the matter is, that whichever one we get, even if we beat them, we're playing t'other in the next round.

Capitals too. Maybe he can coach Ovechkin in this thing called "back-checking"

Orpik is also fond of the knee on knee play (Helm, Franzen)

For all the fear on this board of the Bruins, Neal's elbows scare me far more than Lucic's fists.

Would it kill this team to score an empty net goal once in a while? What was the last one we got...Lashoff?

Don't think he can be bought out this season - certainly not a compliance buy out. And according to capgeek, the numbers regarding the cap hit are wayyyyyyyyy better if we buy him out after 2 seasons.

Wings win 14-3. Datsyuk with a goal and 13 assists.

Other than Andersson on the wing, there's a lot to like about that line-up. I reckon Pav will stay at wing, he has to do a lot less skating, which will be better for his knee, and help him till he gets his conditioning back. Shame he's got 2 hands-of-stone linemates though

FFS, we hear this crap before every Boston game, and yet we've beaten them home and away this season.

Yeah, we mocked them mercilessly for "the core", but thanks to good management they've come out the other side, and could easily win another 1-2 cups in the next 5 years, much as it pains me to say that.

C) both. Carlyle is a limited, old school coach who unfairly threw his goalie under the bus. But the media in general, and the Toronto media in particular, are lying , hypocritical asshats who essentially force people down the road of meaningless soundbites.

Abdelkader in for Bert?

Someone needs to tweet this to Tatar and dare him to celebrate his next goal like this.

If he was a Wing, people would only complain about how he doesn't put up 30-35 goals and 70+ points a season like a "true" power forward.

There's a reason games are played on the ice and not on paper (or internet message boards )

All these things, especially (2). But you have to include coaching too. Almost all teams are coached to play a defence first style. Stopping the opposition scoring is now considered more important than scoring yourself, hence the rise of the 2-way point-per-game star, a la Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Toews etc. The bare minimum is that you be at least average defensively. Guys like Ovechkin who don't care about defence are becoming rarer and rarer.

The irony of this thread is that most of it is mocking the Howard haters after his brilliant play last season. Constantly got bumped after every great performance with a mocking "JAverage" comment. But just like this season, the Howard haters are silent when he goes 44/45 to win us a game, as soon as we lose a game (even if we're shut out!) they're out in force calling for his head. I'm not going to pretend he's been great this season, he's been out of sorts mostly, but he's had his moments, and he's proved his worth in the past. Few players indeed are great every single season.

Then you ask them when they won their last cup

Why Babs won't play him on the PP though is bizarre. Like someone else mentioned, maybe he's trying to make Smith "earn" his PP time through strong defensive play. It makes no sense that your Dman who is 2nd in even strength scoring gets no PP time.

For a whole goal per game????

Its something like 2.4 for Howard and 3.3 for Gus. And I think they have a near identical SV%.

Would be interesting to see an overlay of success on that chart. Because for all the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth on here, no-one has won more games, got more points, been to more finals, and won more cups, than Detroit in that span. I think the Sharks might be 2nd in points in that time span. Other than that, there's no discernable pattern. The Ducks who've been average to very good in that period are top, right next to the Panthers, who've been terrible. Other perennial losers like the BJs, Coyotes and Thrashers are above average too.

Gus is made of glass....wonder if they'll re-sign him next year because of this? Whats the point in having a back-up if he can't be relied upon to be fit when you need him?