Aethernum

Go. Wear the jersey of their GM and say it's all you had. Cheer for Detroit. Throw an octopus on the ice when they win. All of it.

Which, of course, means Pittsburgh fans are booing him. He tried to stay in and Pittsburgh scored. I've been saying all season long that Richards could be our best player come playoff time. He knows how to step up his game when it counts.

They're letting the guys pound on each other between plays, but tap somebody's stick during play and boy, oh, boy, are they gonna get you. Edit - Just hit the net. Honestly, if it goes into the giant's pads, then that's fine. They need to stop trying to thread the needle and just put it on net.

This is going to be a loooong series if Detroit keeps up the "outplay the opponent but give up goals on every decent chance" routine. This team, more than any other in the playoffs, seems really prone to turning routine plays into top-tier scoring chances with stupid mental errors. Can't have that in the postseason. It's time for big boy hockey.

Thought it would be good for us to have a thread discussing our thoughts on lines for the playoff series. Along those lines (hah, get it?), it appears Mantha staying with the Detroit squad "long term" was a load of hooey. It's probably better than he is playing somewhere, as opposed to sitting in Detroit, but it's nevertheless disappointing that we're not trying to give playoff experience to a future core player. With Mantha out and Andersson playing a fourth line role, here are the lines I would prefer to see: Abby - Z - Larkin AA - Datsyuk - Tatar Helm - Sheahan - Nyquist Andersson - Glendening - Richards Alternatively, I would love to see Larkin play on a line with the Eurotwins. Give him as much time as we have left with those two to really learn how to play with vision and savvy. In reality, I expect AA to be on the bottom line where Richards is, with Helm and Richards each moved up one line. Edit - Mods, can you merge this post into the topic that has already been started on Mantha? Would appreciate it.

I...actually really like those lines. Clearly Blashill knows that Tampa is stripped bare on defense due to injuries, so he wants to roll four lines that can score. So while ordinarily I would say Larkin and AA should be in your Top 6, these lines make perfect sense to me.

Can't have your best faceoff man not playing center. And I keep Richards in over Jurco during the playoffs.

Yeesh. I largely agree with his assessment of Andersson's use on the PK, but calling Mantha a "spare part" is really harsh language for a guy who, basically everyone agrees, stepped up to the plate at the NHL level on his first go. It feels like there has to be more to it than that. When it comes down to it, Holland is right that if he's playing 6-8 minutes a night, it's not worth it. The difference between my opinion and his is that the solution is to play him MORE than 6-8 minutes a night, not give up on him completely.

Oh, whoops. I just started a topic on this, too. I'll get mods to delete mine.

I definitely agree that AA is a defensive liability, but I'm not sure I think Andersson or Jurco is any better.

Yes, but they were also leading their division before they lost three of their last four. They had, overall, a strong regular season that year. Would have been great to beat Boston earlier this week, so that Mrazek could have a chance today to get some confidence back. I don't see how you can risk starting him without knowing what he'll do. --- On a side note, does somebody usually start a playoff predictions type thread? Would love to get some discussion going on who we think will win. Maybe a little score prediction contest?

The biggest problem we're having right now, in my opinion, is that we're not playing to our team's strengths. The strength of this team is its speed - we're one of the fastest teams in the NHL - and yet, towards the end of the season, the coaching staff leaned harder and harder on the slowest players because of an intangible that never materialized. I would be ecstatic if Blashill just said "screw it" and played the kids all postseason. Not only would it be better for our long term development, but I think it would give us a better chance of winning. All that said, I think Blashill has done a good enough job in his first season. We barely made it last year with one of the better coaches in the entire NHL; for him to repeat that job is no small feat. I just hope he learns a lot from the mess that was this season.

I know this isn't the thread for this, but Boston just pulled their goalie with nine minutes left to play. Wow. Serious question - do the hockey gods hate us, or what? I can't believe the number of good chances we've had this game.

The only good chance for the Rangers this period, and they bury it. Suddenly all that effort doesn't mean anything; we HAVE to start capitalizing on our scoring opportunities. We have looked absolutely fantastic all period, but we have nothing to show for it. That bug has been biting us all season long, and it's immensely frustrating.

The entire second half of this period it felt like only a matter of time before Detroit scored. Hopefully they connect with one of their chances next period. If they play like that again for 20 minutes, they're in no matter what.

YES! Now open the floodgates! Edit - AND Ottawa scores! Everything just changed.

Senators score. Will their goal be disallowed, too? Looks like it... Edit - NOPE, it counts! Boston no longer winning.

I actually get the opposite impression - it feels to me like their confidence is shot. Can't play with heart and desperation if you don't believe in yourself.

In the last half of the game - the final 30 minutes - we had two shots on goal. Talk about a stat of the night.

Alright, so the final game of the season. Here are the possible scenarios: Regulation/OT Win - We're in. SO Win - Boston jumps us if they win in regulation/OT. Philly jumps us if they win BOTH of their remaining games. SO/OT Loss - Boston jumps us if they win. Philly jumps us if they get three points in their remaining two games. Regulation Loss - Boston jumps us with a point in their final game. Philly jumps us with two points in their remaining games. Obviously, in each case both Boston and Philly would have to jump us in the standings for us to miss the playoffs. If just Boston jumps us, we're the second wild card, and we play Washington. If just Philly jumps us, we're third in the division and play Tampa. Still basically comes down to this: If we lose, we're probably out. If we win, we're in.

Win and we're in. It's that simple. After tonight, we can't let ourselves be trapped into thinking Boston or Philly will lose for us. Everything is still in our hands, but which team will show up for the last, biggest game of the season? That will decide this season.

Have to win against NYR to be sure of anything at this point. Sure, if Boston loses to Ottawa, we're in. If Philly loses its next two games, we're in. But the only way to be sure is to beat NYR - it all comes down to that at this point.

Just to be clear, if the Philly score holds, then both Boston AND Philly need to win out for us to miss the playoffs. That's true even if we lose tonight AND to the Rangers. We are still in great shape to make the post-season. Just better hope we don't play Washington.

I will never understand what about this team makes them so awful in the first minute of periods, but pulling Howard is the last thing we wanted to have happen tonight. Leaves us uncertain going into Saturday.

In that case, a win against NYR clinches (this is true even if Philly wins or gets a point). Loss against NYR means Philly and Boston could knock us out if they both won out. If Philly wins tonight, they would only need to win one of their remaining two to knock us out.