Dabura

You sadist!

The Devils are more in it than I'd thought. Their remaining schedule is a friggin' cakewalk.

http://www.coppernblue.com/2014/3/30/5565196/edmonton-0ilers-new-york-ranger5-post-game

Oh man. I check Copper & Blue at least once a week. It's become like a national disaster kind of thing where I really feel for these people and want very badly for things to work out for them. What I've learned is that it isn't any one thing, it's many things. Maybe even everything. But if I had to put my finger on just one thing...Kevin Lowe. But, see, even then, he's inextricably intertwined with what disgruntled Oilers fans call The Boys on the Bus - the owner and his cronies. The local media won't call any of them out, so there's a problem even there.

I've always viewed him as an alternate reality Fedorov. What if Feds hadn't been drafted by the Wings, hadn't played under Bowman, hadn't played alongside a slew of future Hall of Famers across a slew of very deep Wings teams funded by Mike Ilitch and his whatever-it-takes mandate? Would he have become an Alex Ovechkin? Or, to flip it around, What if Ovechkin had been drafted (or, more realistically, somehow acquired via trade) by the Wings? Would he be what he is?

Well, I certainly wouldn't want a longish deal. Something on the short side. And his current cap hit is, like, $1M. So the thought was he might be one of those ultra-bargain types, like Sammy way back when.

It's weird. If this were pretty much any other season except this one, I'd want the Flyers or Rangers like whoa. But this season? They both scare me. (Not counting my chickens, just saying.)

Thinking back on it, this was a helluva win. One of those big "character wins." I was gonna make a bullet point list of all the good things I saw in this game, but I realized it'd take too much time. Which is a good thing.

Ovie looks like he needs to poop. lolz Washington Craps lolz

Hilary Rhoda deserves better.

Gudas has the dirty part down. Now he just has to become one of the very best defensemen in the league.

I lost internet and TV halfway through the third. It happened on a Bolts shot from the point on one of their 37 power plays. It looked to me like it went in, and I was stressed the f*** out. Fortunately I was able to get a signal on a tablet and follow along with NHL.com's boxscore thing. Then the Bolts scored and I had a heart attack. Then the time tracker stopped with 16 seconds left and it stayed there for about 90 years. OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG, heart doing the Alien chest-burster thing, sweating bullets. Then, "3-2 FINAL." And there was much rejoicing. What's in your wallet?

Quincey penalty.

Was Gudas's "high sticking" as dirty as I think? I was kinda distracted and I didn't get a good look at the replay, but it looked like a head-shot to me.

Brad Boyes scored a slick bar-down goal on Carey Price last night. Maybe it's because we've been without Z and D for so long, but I feel like we could use a sniper like him - at the right price, of course. Sure, we've been scoring at a pretty good clip - but let's be honest: were it not for Nyquist's meteoric tear (probably not sustainable, long-term), our, um, goose would be cooked. But then, I dunno who I'd swap out for him. I'm in the minority in wanting Alfie back. And if Jurco doesn't make the cut out of training camp, I will riot. So, whatever. Screw you, Boyes.

If a week from now Dats is kinda borderline and we're in a really tough spot, maybe he can play in the bottom six. Datsyuk @ 40% > Andersson @ 100%.

To be fair, Nyquist and Tatar showed much more promise in terms of scoring-line potential. Leading scorers for the Griffins, and Nyquist had a great postseason performance with us against the Ducks and 'hawks.

And let's not forget Callahan, who's on fire right now. Flip's speed, Stamkos's shot, Callahan's net-front presence...I hope our D got a lot of rest last night. I think the big thing is to stay out of the box. We do not want to be giving Stamkos great looks all night long. On a related note: What is this five-man PK thing we're so fond of? We back off the point men, collapse in front of our net, basically look like we have zero faith in Howard...that has to change.

Definitely not counting the Leafs out. Just wanted to know what we'd be looking forward to should our dreams come true. Personally, I'd want the Pens, but I'm interested to see how we do against the Bruins this week. If we play them well, maybe we do legitimately match up well against them and our winning record against them isn't a fluke.

Probably not a consideration, but Howard has really struggled with mid-to-high-zone slappers. And now we're facing Stamkos.

Not to get ahead of things, but how do the wild cards seed in the playoffs? I keep forgetting. Does the second face the Bruins and the first face the Pens? That's what I've been telling you! lol.

We do, but they're a much better team than they were. That one's almost certainly gonna be a loss. Tiebreakers tho.

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuge win.

Helm scoring four goals would rip a hole in the universe.

Oh God, Helm's hurting.