The 2018/19 NHL Thread!

[Ruki]

For the first time all season, the Leafs have lost when leading after 2. Still haven't gone to the shootout. 

[Gabriel]

So, the Flames are going to be fine, and I'm not here to say that they would have won the recent games if the officiating was better, because at the end of the day, they've gotta score to win, and they haven't been doing that the past few games.

BUT... there has been some very suspect, inconsistent officiating in the last three games. Calls made in the first periods against Calgary have been allowed in the third periods for both teams in the past couple of games. Calls are getting missed, leading to the Flames getting frustrated and committing their own fouls because of it.

Again, they'll be fine, and it's on them to find ways to win regardless of what's happening out there, but friends of mine who are fans of other teams have been equally frustrated with the officiating since the All-Star Break. It's almost like there's a consistency slider that is set to random for each period, and teams don't know what's going to be called and what isn't. It's a league-wide issue that needs to be addressed.

Then there's the whole goaltender interference thing. Last night, Marc-Andre Fleury positioned himself in such a way that his stick got caught on Matthew Tkachuk as he tried to make a save, Gaudreau scored and it was called back for interference. Tonight, a Coyotes player shoved Noah Hanifin into Mike Smith, forcing him out of position and allowing Arizona to score a goal, and it was allowed.

So, is it okay to push a defenseman into his goalie to take them out of the play? Even the announcers seem to be completely shocked by a lot of the goaltender interference challenges this year. They'll say something like "There's no way that this should be called back... by the letter of the law, the play is totally okay and the team who got scored on just wasted their challenge" ... and then they'll call it no-goal and cite goaltender interference. Similarly, they'll talk about how a goal should be called back because the goalie was given no chance to get into position because of something an opposing player did, the officials will go look at it and talk to the war room, and then announce that the goal is fine.

I feel like there's a whole lot of confusion in regards to what is what when it comes to goalie interference, and that a lot of officials are just too afraid that a situation is going to escalate and get whistle happy calling penalties for things they previously let go in the same game... or put their whistles away for plays they called earlier if they feel like they're affecting the game too much.

If it's a penalty in the first period, it should be a penalty in the third period. Game to game, with different officials, yeah, things are going to be called differently... but in the SAME GAME?

[gunnar hendershow]

Montreal's 20 year inability to win in San Jose is one the weirder things in sports. Like you'd figure just based on the law of averages they'd have won once in that span.

[Lowerdeck]

It's a slight concern the Bruins might be peaking early, but they're showing they can compete against anyone.  18 games straight where they got at least a point.  Last night they scored two goals in the last 40 seconds to beat Florida.  And Pastrnak's coming back at some point too.

If they can get past Tampa in the playoffs, can be a deep run from the B's 

[gunnar hendershow]

It's a damn shame 2 of Tampa Bay, Boston, and Toronto will be eliminated before the Conf Finals. Arguably the 3 best teams in the NHL this year.

[Gabriel]

Bah! Head to Head scoring in our fantasy league screwed me over. I finished with the most points out of any of us, but didn't make the playoffs.

[The Red Reuben]

I think I might be finally be getting on board with the Zombie Whalers. This Storm Surge thing the Carolina Hurricanes are doing is brilliant.

[Ruki]

It was always going to end this way.

 

Also Carolina are having fun, so they are the best. Screw anyone giving them sour looks 

[gunnar hendershow]

Storm Surges, (likely) first playoff berth in a decade, fun young team. All this stuff is great and especially in a market like Carolina that really needed a shot in the arm.

[Ruki]

I won the league

 

was closer than I thought at the end.

[Draevyn]

So last night was Bob Cole's last game. This makes me very sad. I just don't know how you replace a man like Bob in the booth.

[gunnar hendershow]

So in the States the Jets-Blues series that I'm actually reasonably excited about is being exiled to CNBC. Cue, Binnington means Business jokes. Overall I guess any reasonable playoff predictions comes down to saying who besides Tampa Bay has a shot. Needless to say Washington, Pittsburgh,  Toronto, and Boston out of the east. St. Louis, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Nashville out of the west. I can't trust San Jose and Vegas with how they ended their seasons. On paper they both could make deep runs but I can't reconcile that with the reality of the last few weeks.

And a neat thing they're doing is making the draft lottery early this year, I think it's on Tuesday. So we'll know very shortly who gets Hughes/Kakko and who doesn't.

[Draevyn]

6 minutes ago, damsher hatfield said:

So in the States the Jets-Blues series that I'm actually reasonably excited about is being exiled to CNBC. Cue, Binnington means Business jokes. Overall I guess any reasonable playoff predictions comes down to saying who besides Tampa Bay has a shot. Needless to say Washington, Pittsburgh,  Toronto, and Boston out of the east. St. Louis, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Nashville out of the west. I can't trust San Jose and Vegas with how they ended their seasons. On paper they both could make deep runs but I can't reconcile that with the reality of the last few weeks.

And a neat thing they're doing is making the draft lottery early this year, I think it's on Tuesday. So we'll know very shortly who gets Hughes/Kakko and who doesn't.

I feel like this is going to be another one of those times where Tampa dominates the regular season and then falls short once more in the playoffs. I'm, of course, going to cheer for the Penguins to win it this year but I'd also be okay with a Winnipeg win as well. Definitely not Calgary. Never Calgary.

[Liam]

Always Calgary.

[gunnar hendershow]

5 minutes ago, The Fork Horsemen said:

I feel like this is going to be another one of those times where Tampa dominates the regular season and then falls short once more in the playoffs. I'm, of course, going to cheer for the Penguins to win it this year but I'd also be okay with a Winnipeg win as well. Definitely not Calgary. Never Calgary.

I think the assumption is that Calgary will be let down by their goaltending in the playoffs, but we had this exact same discussion this time a year ago about Washington when Holtby was playing awful and Grubauer was trusted with starting the first few playoff games. And we definitely had it seemingly for 2 years with regards to Matt Murray I feel, though I might be wrong.

I would definitely be happy with a Winnipeg win, likable guys on that team and it's a city that has never tasted that glory. Plus we're so overdue for a Canadian team to win the Cup.

[Liam]

1 minute ago, damsher hatfield said:

I think the assumption is that Calgary will be let down by their goaltending in the playoffs

Yeah, all too often they have to outscore their opponents in a shoot out style of affair - you know they'll let in goals, so you have to hope that the offense delivers. That, as was seen at times this season, isn't always a guarantee.

[Gabriel]

1 hour ago, Liam said:

Yeah, all too often they have to outscore their opponents in a shoot out style of affair - you know they'll let in goals, so you have to hope that the offense delivers. That, as was seen at times this season, isn't always a guarantee.

Having watched all 82 games, I think it's important to mention that the statistics for our goalies are misleading. I'm comfortable with them starting Smith on Thursday because he's really seemed to pick his game back up. Last night against Edmonton wasn't great, but they weren't playing for anything, so we'll let that slide. Rittich's numbers since the all-star break look worse than Smith's, but the numbers are deceiving.

The team plays a much tighter defensive game when Smith is in net, most likely to protect him and help him get his game back. He struggled heavily early in the season, and they adjusted their game when he was in net. Since then, he's done much better. That does mean though, that they tend to play looser defensively with Rittich manning the pipes, and that run and gun style has left him hanging too many times. If the Flames can stay tight defensively, and the offense is being generated, they have a chance to go all the way with either guy in net.

So basically... Smith struggled early in the year, the team adjusted how they played, and he managed to get back into form in the last half. He's still nowhere near as consistent as he was with Arizona, but provided the offense actually shows up (and don't fool yourselves. The Flames are not a one or two line team. 4th liner Derek Ryan put up 40 points this season) they should be able to rely on Smitty to steal one or two games if necessary... and if Smith falters, but they maintain a strong defensive game, David Rittich is more than capable of stepping in and taking over.

Our round 1 match up against Colorado is super favorable, and it should be a good gauge as to how Smith is going to look in the post-season. My biggest concern going into the playoffs for the Flames is that Bill Peters may give Smith too long of a rope before making the switch to Ritters.

I also think that Mike Smith knows this is his last bit in Calgary, and I feel like he's going to be pushing himself harder than he ever has in an attempt to capture the Stanley Cup. Rittich is a guy they must re-sign in the off-season, but the team would be insane not to be looking to upgrade in net during the off-season, when it's clearly the only part of their game that hasn't been able to consistently steal points for them. The offense and defense at different points have stolen games, but aside from Rittich's early dominance, the goaltending hasn't been able to do that. At 25 or 26, even if Smith wins them a Cup, Rittich is the guy who gets re-signed, and Smith is headed for free agency... and at his age, with the consistency issues that he's had, I don't think Mike Smith tends the net for a Cup contender next season if he continues playing. So he has a lot to play for in the playoffs, and he's always been at his best with a chip on his shoulder.

Peters is also going to have to do a good job of recognizing when guys aren't going offensively. He's not against line-juggling, and has done it a lot this year... but he's also been guilty of keeping top guys together when they're struggling but there's still a line or two securing consistent scoring chances. He can't be doing that in the playoffs, because if two lines aren't going, you've got two other lines holding the team up, but what happens if they go cold? He'll need to be more pro-active in that sense for the post-season. If he's got two lines that really just aren't clicking in a game, even if they're up, he should be doing some juggling with the ultimate goal being that all four lines should be active offensively at all times. They absolutely need to avoid having all four lines go cold at the same time, because every game matters in the post-season, and one loss could be all it takes to domino into an early exit.

[The Buscher]

Ugh, Islanders have blown three leads including just now with 90 seconds left.

Can’t say I feel optimistic about this series at all given the history between the teams.

[Gabriel]

The Blue Jackets came back from a three goal deficit to defeat Tampa Bay in game one. I figured they would win one, but I didn't think it would be the first game. Will be interesting to see how the Lightning bounce back from that in game two.

[Meacon Keaton]

Watch Tampa get swept.