kipwinger

This was an absolutely killer series. Very very good. I watched most of it, and was really impressed with it. It had everything you want in a playoff series. Great goaltending, overtime, game 7, lots of chippiness/hitting, stars shining, etc. I watched game 7 last night, and you just knew that Washington was taking this one home. Also, Evgeny Kuztensov is pretty awesome. Guy's finally becoming what he was drafted to be.

He was acquired to do EXACTLY what you just described. Not to be a stalwart defender. I really haven't been too upset with the defense in this series. Sure, some have played better than others, and not surprisingly the guys higher in the depth chart have tended to be better than the ones lower in the depth chart. But overall, it's about what I expected. Tampa has an insanely high powered offense. They're going to score goals. Mostly against our more mistake prone/weaker defensemen. This series won't be won or lost on the back of Marek Zidlicky's play.

Funny thing is, if he scores a goal next game everybody here will immediately change their tune. Such is the nature of LGW hate. Zidlicky isn't great, but he's not as bad as must of you are making him out to be either. Look at the scores in this series. It's not like ANY of our players are getting absolutely exposed out there. Did people think that we were going to win every game via a shutout? Tampa Bay has the best offense in the league, in part, by having the depth to score against third line defenders. It happens.

What do you gotta be such a girl about it?

Not surprised. I often get the feeling that SOME New Yorkers feel like they live in their own separate country.

I heard Brian McGrattan lost the rubber match in a best two of three Greco Roman wrestling contest. His opponent? The U.S.S. Enterprise. Rumor has it, "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart interfered in the third match to secure the Enterprise final victory.

Brain McGrattan uses his own thigh as an anvil.

I'm really confused right now. Are you screwing with me? You're not seriously upset about us making fun of him are you?

I thought you were all about glorifying Brian McGrattan beyond all sense of proportion? He's like the Keyser Soze of the NHL. A boogie man. So what's wrong with treating him that way? And don't you dare pretend like you want to have a serious discussion about the role of fighting in hockey. That ship has long since sailed.

C'mon, you know you love it.

After 10 months and 140,000,000 miles, NASA's Mars rover, The Curiosity, landed in the Gale Crater of Mars and began sending back pictures. The first images? The end of Brian McGrattan's erection...of course.

I once watched Brian McGrattan stuff Marshawn Lynch on a fourth and inches.

I once saw the Grim Reaper riding a Harley Davidson at Daytona Bike Week. He had a tattoo of Brian McGrattan.

I once saw Brian McGrattan eat a wheel of aged cheddar cheese, before dancing vigorously to the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow". He dared me to laugh.

Smelling salts sniff Brian McGrattan when they get knocked out.

McGrattan can fart the complete unabridged works of Maya Angelou.

McGrattan once scissor kicked Angela Lansbury.

I think "janitor" would be appropriate.

Brian McGrattan once date raped Karl Malone on a dare.

He's like 1,000 years old. He'll never be 100% again.

McGrattan has become the Bill Brasky of LGW. And in that mythic space, I actually really like his presence. "Brian McGrattan taught me how to love a woman...and scold a child". "Did I ever tell you about the time I went horseback riding with McGrattan, but there weren't any horses around? Well, McGrattan throws a saddle on my back and rides me around Wyoming for three days. Well, wouldn't you know it, my stamina increases with each day and I develop tremendous leg muscles. So anyway, McGrattan decides to enter me in the Breeders' Cup, right, under the name Turkish Delight. And I'm running in second place, and I'm running and I break my ankle! They’re about to shoot me. Then someone from the crowd yells out, God bless him, 'Don't shoot him, he's a human."

Aaaaand Keven Lowe fired as President of Hockey Operations... But retained "on the business side" of the organization. They just don't know how to quit each other.

I testify that there is no hockey God except the one true hockey God, and Katie Strang is his prophet.

I mean, obviously Tigers' tickets would be better, but it'll have to do. Scherzer is pitching for the Nats, so it's a little like watching the Tigers. Except that I now think Max Scherzer is a douchebag.

Just got free tickets to the Nats and Cardinals at 4 p.m. Gives me just enough time to get to the bar afterward for the Wings. Today is going to rule.