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Studio 46 - Non-TPiR Discussion => Out In Left Field => Topic started by: mellongraig on April 07, 2019, 08:25:41 AM
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Well, the regular season has concluded and we are now going into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And is this the year where a Canadian team will finally end its Stanley Cup drought? We shall see, but here is the first round matchup:
Eastern:
(A1) Tampa Bay vs. Columbus (WC2)
(A2) Boston vs. Toronto (A3)
(M1) Washington vs. Carolina (WC1)
(M2) NY Islanders vs. Pittsburgh (M3)
Western:
(C1) Nashville vs. Dallas (WC1)
(C2) Winnipeg vs. St. Louis (C3)
(P1) Calgary vs. Colorado (WC2)
(P2) San Jose vs. Vegas (P3)
I also do think the playoff system has been broken given that Montreal had 96 points and didn't make it, yet three teams below (Vegas, Dallas, and Colorado) had fewer points and made it. While they will use the current format again for another year, it's prediction time to determine which teams should move on to round 2 (and in how many).
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Here are my first round & Stanley Cup Final predictions:
Tampa Bay over Columbus in 5
Carolina over Washington in 7
Boston over Toronto in 6
NY Islanders over Pittsburgh in 6
Calgary over Colorado in 6
Dallas over Nashville in 7
Vegas over San Jose in 6
St. Louis over Winnipeg in 6
Stanley Cup Final: Boston over St. Louis
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Columbus stuns the Tampa Bay Lightning by coming back from a 3-0 first period deficit to win 4-3.
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I didn't expect that coming and I do think it will be Tampa Bay's wake up call for game 2 to rebound.
Meanwhile, NY Islanders, St. Louis, Dallas, and San Jose also take game 1 last night.
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I didn't expect that coming and I do think it will be Tampa Bay's wake up call for game 2 to rebound.
We'll see. Columbus has never won a playoff series since hockey has been created. This is the same team that more or less gave up last year to the eventual champions, while being happy doing so. They didn't want to face the Pens, thinking that Washington would struggle against Pittsburgh. Too bad they didn't.
Tampa Bay should be okay, but I think if they survive, they'll have their hands full against Boston. Doesn't help that the President's Cup jinx is live and well
Still surprising that Columbus won. Not a shocker since they took 2 from the Caps last year on the road and had control only to lose out
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Leafs take game 1 of their playoff series against Boston 4-1. Mitch Marner had 2 goals including one on a penalty shot
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Washington and Calgary also won their game 1 series last night as well. All Game 2 series matchups goes tonight and tomorrow.
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Wow, what a big win by the Leafs tonight with a 3-2 score and a 2-1 series lead against Boston, and Mitch Marner does it again with two blocked shots in the final seconds.
They did lose Nazem Kadri for the rest of this series due to cross-checking (with an attempt to injure).
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Tampa Bay Lightning, Presidents Trophy winners and tied for most wins ever, are swept by the Blue Jackets! Who knew!!
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Wow, I really have no words to describe this... it is probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest upset in modern NHL post-season history. With a 62-16-4 record and out in round 1 like this? Wow! I'll bet there will be tons of brackets busted after this...
And the Islanders also move on to round 2 with a sweep of their own, knocking out the Pittsburgh Penguins (although this one wasn't as shocking compared to the Columbus one).
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With Colmbus winning a playoff series for the first time in their 19 year history, all 31 teams have now won a playoff series.
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YEAH! Leafs beat the Bruins 2-1 and can close it out at home on Sunday!
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Weird that Game 6 will be in the afternoon at 3:00 pm Eastern when it could have easily had been on a Sunday night, unless if NBC wants the ratings when they usually have Sunday NHL regular season games.
Unfortunately the Flames are the first Canadian team to head for the exits (and shocking too), as the Avalanche move on to round 2 by winning 5-1 and the series 4-1. The Jets may go too tomorrow night unless they win Game 6 on the road to send it back to Winnipeg for Game 7 (which in their series all games have been won that way).
Both conference champions are out in Round 1 - who would have thought this? 8-O
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The Jets fall to the Blues, leaving the Maple Leafs as the last surviving Canadian team.
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Slow start and not getting enough shots on goal cost them, in fact I thought the series was more even or a slight advantage on the Blues.
I'm hoping that the home crowd will help the Leafs cruise to round 2 for the first time since the 2003-04 season, but they have to win Game 6 first.
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They didn't get the job done earlier today, so it's back to Boston for game 7 Tuesday. And history has shown that the Leafs have not had their game 7's go their way in 2013 and 2018 (especially the collapse in 2013). Hopefully this year will be different, otherwise the drought continues not only for them, but a Canadian team in general to hoist the cup.
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Wow, San Jose stays alive by scoring a shorthanded goal in double overtime and I think that is the first time in NHL playoff history this has happened. Game 7 also goes Tuesday.
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Also the first time in San Jose Sharks playoff history for them to tie the series at 3 after being down 3-1 in a playoff round.
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Classless Ovechkin. Nothing would thrill me more greatly than to see the Capitals lose Game 7.
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Alas, once again we have to wait another year (26 years and counting) in the hopes to get the Stanley Cup back to Canada. I now have to wonder if Mike Babcock may lose his job for the Leafs after this Game 7 loss...
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Canada will indeed go the entire 2010s without a Stanley Cup.
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Let's face it, Bettman hates Canada. Chara got away with murder, my mom said the fix was in from the start
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No wonder why he gets booed everywhere he goes and yet he stays on as commissioner of the NHL. At least he does one good thing by announcing the Kraft Hockeyville winners to smaller communities to host NHL pre-season games within the area (both Canada and the US) every year.
I also find a problem that the national Canadian announcers seem to be too biased this series, and they could have at least had Bob Cole on there but he said farewell earlier this month. Or even have a regional announcer like Joe Bowen who only calls radio games for the Leafs and not on TV.
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Let's face it, Bettman hates Canada. Chara got away with murder, my mom said the fix was in from the start
This is ridiculous. I hate the Bruins as much as anybody not from Boston, but if the Leafs had played better hockey, they wouldn't have lost.
/might still be mad that we haven't made the playoffs in three years, thanks Leafs for stealing our coach... so forgive me if I don't shed a tear over the Leafs' elimination
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If there's a conspiracy against Canadian teams, why did the team that finished first overall (Tampa) get swept?
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Knights choking. Four goals on a five-minute major. If I'm that ref, I wouldn't show my face in Vegas.
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And now he shouldn't. Sharks advance in overtime.
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Vegas shouldn't have blown a 3-1.
Bettman's crying tonight.
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Every hockey expert picked Vegas to beat the Sharks. Apparently more brackets broken in this round. This first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is INSANELY CRAZY!!!!
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The Leafs have been awful for decades. Why would this year be different?
If Bettman completely hated Canada, Winnipeg would not have received a team again. He would have had Atlanta move to Houston or Seattle.
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In recent years, four Canadian teams have made it to the finals, so it can't be said that they didn't have thier chance. They just didn't get the job done.
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Goodbye, Caps. Bring on the Canes!
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What a first round this has been. All four division winners are eliminated.
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As a Caps fan, this hurts.
As long as Dallas or Boston doesn’t win, I’m fine.
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As a Caps fan, this hurts.
As long as Dallas or Boston doesn’t win, I’m fine.
I'm definitely pulling for the Blues from now on. I'm going there the week of June 9, which lends the possibility of a victory parade if they can pull it off. The last time I visited the Midwest was in 2013 when I visited Chicago just days before their Cup title, so perhaps that's a good omen for them. But HELL NO to the Bruins, as I don't want Beantown to monopolize on pro sports championships, as the Celtics are also in the second round of the NBA playoffs. I'm glad that I went to bed early (after the first overtime), since I'd rather take an R.E.M. nightmare over a real-world one. But at least we got last year, and even though it doesn't look likely, time for baseball.
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Here are my second round predictions:
Boston over Columbus in 7
Carolina over NY Islanders in 7
San Jose over Colorado in 7
St. Louis over Dallas in 6
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At least a disallowed goal won’t be the difference.
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Carolina sweeps the Islanders and await the winner of the Boston/Columbus series.
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I think the NY Islanders just had too long of a rest and it ended up costing them. Now I think Carolina could be a favorite to win the whole thing but we'll have to wait and see how the other teams fare first.
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Mike Babcock will stay on as head coach for the Maple Leafs next season. I just hope though that if they do return to the playoffs they get through past the first round, or else after that it may be game over for him there.
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Well looks like John Tortorella's guarantee of a game 7 did not pan out, as Boston won it 3-0 and took the series 4-2 to face Carolina in the Eastern Conference finals (I hope Carolina wins). I do have to admit, the calls were really bad that night and some of them looked questionable.
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Forgot to mention this, but last night Dallas was eliminated by St. Louis.
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Sharks beat the Avs and win the series in 7 games. The Conference Finals matchups are set. Bruins vs. Hurricanes in the East and Blues vs. Sharks in the West.
My predictions:
Bruins in 5
Sharks in 7
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Well the Boston Slam is officially dead thanks to the Celtics being eliminated but they can still get 3 out of 4 this season if the Bruins win all the way. We do know that one of the teams in the West will look for its first Stanley Cup victory.
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Here are my Conference Finals predictions:
Boston over Carolina in 6
St. Louis over San Jose in 6
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I am hoping Carolina. The West is interesting because both franchises have a long history of failure.
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And the Bruins took Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, with a score of 2 to 1 over the Hurricanes. This extends their lead in the series to 3-0. One more win, they'll be headed to the Stanley Cup Finals against St. Louis or San Jose.
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Sharks can't win without help from the officials.
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We've seen this happen a lot in the history of playoff hockey (and other sports) when the result doesn't go well as expected. I know how the fans feel when they chant against the referees calling the game when bad calls happen...
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The Bruins swept the Eastern Conference Finals, with a 4-0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes (both the in-game score and the series score, oddly enough). They'll kick off the Stanley Cup Finals in Boston for the first time since 1990.
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Now the Leafs fans are wondering if we had won game 6 or game 7 of the 1st round, that they could have had a shot to win it all... no one knows for sure.
I have to wonder though if the other series ends early, maybe they can start the Stanley Cup Finals a little earlier than usual. On the other hand, sweeps by NY Islanders and Carolina have come back to haunt them in subsequent rounds, so maybe that might be the same thing too for Boston if the series in the west goes long.
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The longer the Western Conference finals goes, the better chance the winner has at winning against Boston as we've seen from teams who have swept so far this postseason. If I'm from Boston, I'm hoping San Jose wins the next two games.
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If it is Sharks and Bruins, I won’t be watching. Never liked either. The Blues have always been just there. Sure, they had a long playoff streak but never did anything during that time.
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There you have it, St. Louis is going back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in nearly five decades. As it stands, the Stanley Cup Final will be like 1970 in terms of teams playing for the title. From 1968-1970, they were swept every time. Hopefully it will not be the case this time and maybe they might win it all.
I wished with the series ending now they should start the finals earlier, but currently the finals are scheduled for May 27th. I would have went for a weekend start (maybe the 25th)...
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I hope the Blues win but I'm picking Bruins in 6.
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I think it's going to be Boston in 5.
Boston is the super team of the east. Rask is a menace at goal
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I am pulling hard for St. Louis.
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Here is my Stanley Cup Final prediction:
Boston over St. Louis in 6
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The Bruins overcame a two-point deficit to beat the Blues with a score of 4-2, taking the first game in the Stanley Cup Finals.
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St. Louis wins their first ever Stanley Cup Finals game in their 52 year history with a 3-2 overtime win over Boston. Series is tied 1-1 heading to St. Louis
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In the first 2019 Stanley Cup Finals game in St. Louis, the Bruins won, scoring 7-2 over the Blues. With that win, the Bruins retake the lead in the series, 2-1. The next game will be Monday, June 3rd, also in St. Louis.
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Apparently Boston had a great response from losing game 2 in OT: punish St. Louis on the scoreboard. Boy did they. AND also chase Binnington from the nets too!
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Who exactly do you think will win? I’m from Boston so of course I kind of have to be for the Bruins, but I do know the Blues want this very badly, and I thought they were going to win on Saturday night. Everyone was chanting “Let’s Go Blues!” And a local radio station in St. Louis had a sing-along of “Gloria,” hoping that would help them.
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St. Louis rebounds to win game 4 and now the series is tied at 2-2. Even playing Gloria tonight helped them make this a best of 3 series as game 5 goes Thursday in Boston.
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This may very well be the turning point of this series, St. Louis got away with this game 2-1 after an obvious missed call by the refs that should have been a penalty which would have forced overtime but instead St. Louis leads 3-2 heading to Game 6. I know the NHL playoffs including the Stanley Cup Finals have had bad calls but this one ranks up the worst.
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Well I think that game 5 non-call helped the Bruins in game 6 as they win 5-1 and tie the series at 3-3. Now it comes down to this: Game 7 Wednesday night, winner take all in Boston to decide this year's Stanley Cup.
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I had a feeling it was going to the max in this series. That suspension affected the Blues...big time.
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Barring an epic collapse it looks like the Blues will hoist the Stanley Cup.
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Barring an epic collapse it looks like the Blues will hoist the Stanley Cup.
It’s a beautiful sight!
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It's official! And we probably didn't think this was going to happen when they were in last place to start 2019. But they did it!
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Congratulations St. Louis.
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The legacy of failure is finally over for the Blues. They win their first Stanley Cup in their 52 year existence.
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I wonder how many stations and people will play Gloria on repeat after the Stanley Cup win, because that song could re-enter the charts after it became a #2 hit in 1982.
The parade looks like it will be Saturday, although nothing has been officially announced. Hopefully the weather will hold off for that day...
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The legacy of failure is finally over for the Blues. They win their first Stanley Cup in their 52 year existence.
You saw that video too? Love that guy!
Hopefully none outside of St Louis. That song is horrible.
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You saw that video too? Love that guy
UrinatingTree is awesome!