toby91_ca

That's just annoying to me, especially if they start on Saturday. Not only will there be no hockey tomorrow or Friday, there would be nothing on Sunday either as both series will start on Saturday.

FYI, for those that don't understand the rules, it is not offside if the defending team puts in back in their zone

Wasn't this exact impossibility already discussed?

I can understand the idea of penalizing a team for that for delay of game, but if you think about it, the delay probably hurts the Wings (these normally get thrown on the ice when something great happens for the team.....delay could kill some of the momentum). An opposing team isn't going to argue the delay hurst them though, they'll simply argue it is a delay of game.....by the home team, there should be a penalty. Has there been any hint at pontential penalties for this? I don't remember. I've certainly seen it at other arenas for similar things (normally there is an annoucement warning fans if they do it again, there will be a penalty). Perhaps it is let go due to tradition (similar to hats thrown on a hattrick)

I thought about this same thing the other day. Fleury is obviously skilled (1st overall draft pick....who wasn't a flop). He's shown brilliance, but he's also shown crazy bad stuff regularly that you'd only expect to see in a blue moon with NHL goalies. - 47th all-time win list with 249 (regular season) - 20th all-time win list with 45 (playoffs) - He's only 28 - Back to back Cup finals...winning one of them Hard to believe they give up on that. With his problems being clearly mental, perhaps they think it could be an easy fix....then again, something like that may never be shaken has to be a consideration as well. Edit: then again....maybe all the wins, etc. are due to team and not so much him? For me, that makes some sense for regular season, but not so much playoffs. No matter how good your roster is, it's tough to go very far in the playoffs without goaltending. How much of a difference was there in the Pens from 2009 to 2012 playoffs for example?

Did anyone catch what Conacher (sp?) just did?

Only started watching half way through the 1st period and haven't seen a replay of that goal yet, so can't comment, but the call on Crosby, it was pretty awful. How often do you see a hooking call on a player with one hand on his stick who doesn't lift it above knee level?

I guess Lidstrom was the problem the last few years

I heard that as well, but even if he thought they would come back and win.....if they don't....he would never get the chance again to get the puck from his last game played on home ice. And that would have been the boring, stock, cliche response. Would definitely have been less controversial though. Not trying to defend him though, I'm by no stretch of the imagination an Alfie fan.

Heard that quote this morning as well and my first reaction was "wow", especially having it come from the team captain. However, the more I thought about it, I'm not sure how to feel about it. Firstly, I may be taking it out of context. What I heard was something like this: reporter asks "do you think the Sens can win the series", he responds by saying "probably not"...followed by something else. So, yeah, it looks like he's sort of giving up, not really a good way to lead, etc. Or is it simple honesty? Too often all we hear are stupid cliches, rather than honest answers. Does anyone think the Sens can pull off a series win? "Probably not" is likely the correct, honest answer. Doesn't mean they can't do it. I heard the suggestion that maybe he said that as a tactic, gets into the Pens heads to think that the Sens are done...going to roll over. I think that is very far fetched though, don't think he put that much though into, simply answered the question honestly. Got a lot talk this morning on the radio though (in Toronto)....have no idea what they are saying in Ottawa.

Franzen as well?

I don't know about it being funny, there looked to be some pretty vicious stuff going on, looked like some of them could have been hurt bad. The most disgusting thing I saw in that video though was the person in the stands clapping, what the hell is that? Edit: forgot to mention, I noticed at the beginning of the video, #4 looked pretty pissed that he didn't get the pass near the front of the net.

Sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with high standard of playing ability......I think Mr. Filppula was missing the last piece. I think the voters are simply looking at stats here and see that Kane has low penalty minutes.....but that doesn't always tell the whole story. I was shocked when I saw his name as well.

That's what I'm worried about.....long term, high cap hit to which he likely won't be worth. A contract like that wouldn't look too good in a few years (going by the law of averages, decline will begin to set in). Such a contract would bring him to the age of 43 I think. It worked well with Lidstrom where he started signing shorter term deals once he got to a certain age, but not sure what happens here. Not sure why Babcock would be so confident though, he's not the one negotiating contracts.

I heard these comments this morning on the radio and I think I was speechless at first. Unbelievable comments, especially coming from the team captain.

The days of having huge differences between #1 and #8 are over as well. Back in the 80s, the top seed would have 100+ points and they'd be going up a team that had about 50 points. big difference these days. Also, consider that the 8th seed teams are usually coming in pretty hot because they had to play so well to squeak in at the end. Not surprising at all that there would be challenges for top seeds. The NYI were coming into the playoffs pretty hot. To the comment that 60pts in the playoffs wouldn't be that big of a deal.....where the hell is that coming from? If it was done, it would be about 30% better than any other player in the history of the game has been able to do. 30% is a lot (to put in perspective, if you look at Gretzky's 215 point season, it would be like putting up 280 points).

Wonder if some of the writers want their Hart trophy votes back...

I can't find a single reason to think Subban should win

You must be a huge Ovechkin fan with out sense of objectivity here....even then, I have no idea how anyone could possibly avoid criticising him here. No one is saying is was his fault, the other 4 players might not have done a good job, but they were trying. The complaining here isn't because Ovechkin screwed up, it is because he showed a complete and utter lack of effort....it was disgusting.

I think it was pretty clear that he was covering nobody.

Well...like I said, +/- means nothing to me. Letang has the best amongst the 3, but that doesn't make him the best defensively. If he was, I think he wins the Norris easily.

My guess...if they get by NYI, they probably go back to Fleury in game 1 of round 2. Edit....shorter leash though

Heard a discussion today on these 3 where it was suggested that Letang's production be discounted because he gets so much from playing the powerplay with Malkin and Crosby and I thought to myself that Subban probably gets most of his points on the PP....turns out I was correct. There is no comparison between these 3 when it comes to even strength points. Letang had 25, Suter had 17 and Subban had 12 (26 of his 38 pts on the PP).

+/- means absolutely nothing at all to me....that's a team stat more than anything. The only time it would mean something to me is if you had a stat that was far in excess of anyone else on the team. You can be the best defensive player in the world and never get a + if your team isn't able to score.

There wasn't checking when I played pee wee many years ago, I think it started in Bantam.