Two potential elimination games tonight
Lightning (0)- Blue Jackets (3), 7 pm start, TV-CNBC
Islanders (3)- Penguins (0), 7:30 pm start, TV-NBCSN
Jets (1)- Blues (2), 9:30 pm start, TV-CNBC
Sharks (1)- Golden Knights (2), 10:30 pm start, TV-NBCSN
Two potential elimination games tonight
Lightning (0)- Blue Jackets (3), 7 pm start, TV-CNBC
Islanders (3)- Penguins (0), 7:30 pm start, TV-NBCSN
Jets (1)- Blues (2), 9:30 pm start, TV-CNBC
Sharks (1)- Golden Knights (2), 10:30 pm start, TV-NBCSN
324 responses to “It’s Go Time!”
‘I guess fatman there just forgot to shake my hand…” Said who?
With Callahan, the ROI within 2 years of signing that deal was at the level that usually gets you packaged with a high pick just so someone will take the player off your hands. If you look at the trade with that in mind, we made out great!
Cally was our heart and soul. He began to age, ailed and got a tad greedy. Give the devil his due.
David Backes said the Cally offer was legit. So did Kyle Okposo and DAvid Clarkson.
I have a sense that deep inside, somewhere, BDL really doesn’t like Callahan.
I mean, Sather didn’t want to give Brian Leetch a no-trade clause either. Moral of the story= Sather does what he wants.
My take on the Hartford situation: They just haven’t been the same team since they trade McILrath…
No, seriously, I think a big part of the plan for this past season was to have Howden and Chytil playing a lot of minutes along with Andersson. When those two guys made the big squad there were two big holes in their top six that had to be filled with career minor leaguers which there were already too many of in key roles there.
You can’t blame the GM of an AHL team when the organization as a whole hasn’t done much to stock the cabinets with quality draft picks over the last few years. And the ones they have had are coming up to the NHL instead of playing there.
As far as firing the coach, you had one guy running the show for 10 years and then you make a swap- I think it’s safe to say there’s a culture shock when that happens. That coupled with a complete 180 in regards to the style of hockey that needs to be played (AV to Quinn’s) there’s probably more than we realize going into that decision behind the scenes.
And as far as Cally is concerned, look at the bright side: given his decline in play Rangers fans would have wanted him run out of town 3 years ago regardless of whether he was making 5 million or 7 million. At the end of the day aside from the leadership and the captaincy he’s just one more third liner that was forced into a top six role far too often.
Same as Dubinsky who actually got his contract and was traded a season later.
The Cally went down to Tampa he was looking for a team to rob. Tampa said no need to rob you’ve got the job and they got destroyed by a mac truck that had Torts behind the wheel.
Firin’ of Cooper Run, boys, run!
The Rangers lost the pick of the rising sun
Cally’s in the hot tub counting out dough
Tampa fans does your team have balls? No, James, no!
What I love about wicky is that if a team loses a series, it’s because they lacked the size and toughness and if a team wins a series, it’s because they had more size and toughness.
No wonder they fired all the bosses in Hartford. They were mandated into ‘building’ a team for AV who was summarily replaced by his polar opposite in Q. Garden Management should fire itself.
YOU GUYS! I made a cameo on the Howard Stern Show this morning for something I said on air! Bucket list item….check!
I love how Torts got his revenge against the Tax Free Mutineers!
Remember when eminger blasted byfuglien with a huge hit…I do.
Unless I’m 23 years old and eager to improve, I don’t want any part of playing for Torts. That said, I love the man’s energy.
Gorgeous – Wick is not far off in terms of Playoff hockey.
Kucherov is one of the biggest punks in the league…more video proof.
D bag
I don’t disagree, coos, that it plays an important role in the playoffs. But sometimes, it’s strategy. As RR2 noted, Cooper couldn’t adjust to the 1-2-2 neutral zone trap. That was the difference in the series.
Just stating facts, sorry if facts bother you.
There are a couple of folks that have problems with facts here I’ve noticed.
wicky, I’m your friend. I said that’s what I love about you. I remember you saying the same thing about size and toughness 10 years ago 🙂
Wicky, 10 years ago, was talking about them needing a crease clearing, hard hitting defenseman. They didn’t have any then, and still don’t. So he’s right 10 years ago, and still is.
Ahh yes, I remember calls for a crease clearing D man! Those were good times. 🙂
And it still rings true.
The regular season has changed since the lost season there is no doubt.
It’s changed to a point where there are 3 iterations…the first couple of months that are just an extended preseason free for all on the ice as systems get implemented and adjusted and it’s tough to gauge anything.
Then it goes until after the all star break with a bit of normalcy and you can actually get a feel for the team.
After the break, it’s about moving players in and out and getting ready to make the playoffs or get young guys in to the lineup to see what you have before the offseason because you don’t make the playoffs.
The playoffs haven’t really changed, refs “swallow their whistles” more, teams that can play in the regular season and take advantage of more penalties called etc will run into issues if they can’t possess the puck down low in the o zone for longer time periods and wear down their opponent.
It usually takes size/grit and will to do that over long series.
It’s why you see 4th liners or “grinders” score Important goals in the post season.
Any team that can play 2 styles of hockey will always have an advantage come playoffs.
Lol if the leafs and fishies meet in the playoffs
That’s what I’m thinking cccp. Like I’m thinking they ain’t offering him a great contract and he’s kinda bummed by the leagues perception of him and just takes a discount to come play where he wants. Short term deal and see if he can build his body and game back to where it was or where he feels like whatever his new 100% is
Islanders/Trotz revenge tour: Pens-Caps-Leafs-Preds
I agree with everything you said, especially that a team which can adapt and effectively play in multiple ways will have more success in the playoffs. I just happen to think that that the difference in the Jackets-Lightning series was more about the Lightning’s inability to adjust to the Jackets neutral zone trap.
And like you said, the refs swallowed their whistles. The Lightning were dominant on the pp during the season, the Jackets weren’t a highly penalized team during the season, and TB only got 6 power plays the whole series.
BDL,
The one thing I don’t think you ever take into consideration with how the Callahan deal went down. And I get it, if you didn’t see the season from the lense I did, I get why you might not have.
I watched AV that season put his stamp on the fact he was the new boss and I think he made a lot of the old guard who had a lot of success with torts in the last 2 years and were drivers for a team that was a point away from a president trophy’s in 11-12. And AV was saying he thought these guys were only 3rd and 4th liner and slotting guys ahead of them. So just like boyle’s emotions took him right out of town regardless of the rangers interest, mid-season, all this stuff looming, he might have just been raw and feeling slightly, amidst a growing ego that comes along with being the guy or one of the guys for a team like the rangers for awhile, and he hardballed the negotiation and by the time he blinked it was too late
Now I don’t doubt you might have some inside info about it and know for sure. Maybe via one of eric’s old pre-game watering hole buds perhaps.
But the way i just described it, the way I felt it actually went down
I think cooper is and has been overrated. He’s AV v2.0 imho.
If Tampa wasn’t one and done a lot in the o zone (their style) and had too 6 guys that could grind it out and possess the puck, the trap wouldn’t be an issue for them.
The trap is effective because it slows the game down (that’s what all the speed only people whine about) and neutralizes transition games.
Possess the puck and spend time in the o zone and the “neutral” zone trap is rendered moot.
You need size skill and grit to possess the puck along the wall down low.
You have to be able to play 2 styles at the end of the day and Tampa couldn’t. You have to have those 3 characteristics on all 4 lines in the nhl (not every player on those lines has to have the same characteristics).
Tampa tried to beef up their roster last offseason but couldn’t get it done for their top 6. Not being able to use their first or second round pick this trade deadline did them zero favours to address that.
At the end of the day, one of the most important things to remember is while skating speed is nice, it is not the most important asset of a player. Nhl rinks are not the size of a soccer pitch or football field, it’s far more confined and skating speed can be neutralized.
Wick, your analysis of why Tampa couldn’t beat the trap is incorrect. It had nothing to do with their ability to retain possession in the offensive zone and everything to do with the fact that they could not even gain entry to the offensive zone and would frequently turn the puck over just trying to exit their own zone. That is an issue of bad coaching. There were countless times when the puck carrying Lightning player would just skate back into his own zone (with his back to the CBJ goal) with F1 following him, and the other Lightning members would not move to create outlets within his own zone, resulting in a turnover to F1. A 1-2-2 is not that hard to cut through now that the red line has been removed and yet the Lightning frequently could not even get the puck past their own blue line in order to gain entry to the offensive zone.
Once in the zone, Tampa actually was pretty good, forcing Bobrovsky to make many tremendous saves. Going into game 4, his GSAA (goals saved above average, basically save percentage factoring in scoring chance quality) was over 3, which is a really high number for only 3 games. I can’t imagine his awesome display in game 4 lowered that number.
In fact, the removal of the red line is why the 1-3-1 trap became fashionable for a little while. One of the key ways to beat the 1-2-2 is to two line pass through the neutral zone.
When F1 pursues in the Tampa defensive zone, F2 and F3 are supposed to be covering the outlets along the wall from the blueline to the red line, with D1 and D2 essentially doing the same between the red line and the Tampa offensive blueline. Before they took out the red line, this literally meant trying to trudge through a crowded neutral zone either by skating, by making two passes, or by dumping the second you were over the red line (which is why Brodeur was so important to the Devils because he made it just about impossible to dump and chase past their trap).
With the removal of the redline, you could do a two line pass to bypass Fs1-3. But to do that, it requires movement of the puck within the defensive zone, which Tampa refused to do. They were too committed to carrying the puck out of the zone rather than passing out of it. Again, bad coaching. 1-3-1 eliminated that because you ain’t passing across the red line with 3 players defending it.
Another way to try and beat the trap, especially with the collapsing way that CBJ were playing it, is by using a drop pass in the neutral zone. Because Fs 2 and 3 and the D would collapse back if Tampa progressed the puck forward, a trailer could build speed from the defensive zone and then collect a drop pass in a different lane than the forwards had chosen to stop the puck carrier and catch them and the D flatfooted, allowing them to gain entry (or at least the red line for a dump). As an aside, you see this type of play a lot for entries on the power play when teams are playing very hard at their own blue line. Again, no attempts by Tampa.
Bottom line, nobody does strict 1-2-2 anymore because any coach worth his salt can coach around it. Cooper sucks.
AV version 2.0
Worse than AV. Much worse.
Their lack of ability to maintain possession and wear down Columbus led to more attempts at zone entry, so not incorrect you and I are just focusing on different aspects of it.
But I agree on cooper and said it long before it was a hot take.
Wicky, but you missed my point that when they had possession, they were very good with it. They couldn’t even get past their own blue line.
“Wear down Columbus”- They couldn’t beat F1! No amount of zone time in the world would ever wear out F1.
I didn’t miss what you said, they were unable to grind Columbus down and have dominant possessions in the o zone that led to goals.
I appreciate your lawyerly attempt at things, but with their massive amount of zone time they managed when they somehow could never get into the zone, they could not out muscle the jackets into a position to score and they were unable to wear out the jackets despite somehow doing well with all their zone time.
So, we can agree to disagree about talking about the same thing just different aspects of it.
But they did put themselves into positions to score, pretty much every single time they had possession in the offensive zone. The scoring chances were 78-66 in favor of Tampa, despite the long stretches in which they could not gain entry into the CBJ zone.
at 5 v 5.
Wicky 12:58pm grand slam home run with a full count and 2 outs in the 9th.
Thought I’d work in some baseball references for any Lightning fans that are reading to help them transition.
Doodie where the hell were you the last two days while I’ve been saying Tampa’s issues were because of Cooper’s inability to prepare the team and make adjustments?
Allegedly I was wrong and it’s all about the players.
^ that’s how you agree with two people who are having a disagreement 🤪🤪🤪
I love the fact that some are not putting any of this on the players and it’s all about coaching. I don’t like cooper and as I’ve stayed I think he’s overrated.
It’s on the players to produce and it that supposedly “loaded with skill” can’t figure it out on the ice, well then hockey IQ and “will” and being undervalued in a catastrophic way.
Tampa’s top guys didn’t come with any will, didn’t come with a grinding mentality, didn’t do what it needed to take to win.
Yeah, cooper sucks, but Tampa list because of their players on the ice and the lack of grit/will/ size in the top 6 to push through mentally and physically.
Agree to disagree about the same end result just different aspects that led to said result.
I think at the end of the day Tampa is in fact built for the regular season.
Same with Toronto. The difference with Toronto is their coach is making them adjust to Boston’s style of play and thus they are holding their own.
TRavis Jost.
Hahaha 6 years later. How long become GMs realize it. I had a post go in to moderation that touched on the very subject his tweet does.
Bunch of technies and corporate financial thinking their numbers and codes are trumpet the human element of the hockey.
This ain’t baseball. Throw pitch here at this speed. Hitter: pitcher throws here at this speed I need to look for this and that.
If every team is going the numbers route, and if that is calculateable, to the extent everyone will come to the general same answer and do the same things. Well then the only thing distinguishing factor will be characteristic and heart and all stuff that sector doesn’t like to quantify, cuz you can’t, it pulses, it changes and flunctates and numbers and institutions don’t like that.
Ilb
Your post with Panarin and Kucherov handshake. I see it differently. I see Panarin being a total gloating d*ck about it. I mean that’s a sh*t eating grin you save for your teammates after the hand shake line.
https://twitter.com/jtarbett/status/1118330106211004416?s=19
Weird, through a 62 win regular that this 1-2-2 wasn’t an issue for their coach or players when they faced it…oh wait it was the regular season when physicality and grit aren’t as important and you don’t have to be able to dominate the o zone physically nearly as much.
And on cue, Brooks becomes an Islander fan:
https://nypost.com/2019/04/17/what-rangers-can-learn-from-the-islanders-small-scale-youth-movement/
Akbar
It’s a trap
Brooks became an Islander fan when Lou took over. Isles look solid but Pens are old and slow …Washington will be a much tougher test
Let’s just hope Washington gets through the Sugar Canes with no real injury.
not sad that Tampa lost but Hedman injury did not help …plus that was a pretty lousy match up for a team that cruised most of season. No reason to get swept though with that much talent
The Islanders are currently so well managed from top to bottom. Such a bright future for a great organization with a classy and zealous fanbase.
I didn’t know the Fishtanks are one of the oldest teams in the NHL, Pittsburgh is actually the second oldest.
Classy fans, lol. I wonder what Tavares thinks about them.
Class C fans
Classy….
Not only Tavares, but I wonder what the current Islanders think about their own fans.
And I wonder what the Isles players from 1995-2010 think about their fans who stayed away from the Colliseum like it was an albatross.
Cccp.
Breadman looks like a guy who won a bet right there.
Did you guys see the size of that chicken?
Also I don’t know if we’re gonna see many if any of these old school 2OT/3OT games much anymore. So many chances all game every game and I haven’t since a single OT yet where teams play any differently and games are ending like immediately. It’s wide. It’s like the 3on3 effect. OT has had a dogged wing it to win it quick element to it and 5 mins in.
Last night at like 12ish, I’m camping out, its all warm and muggy where I was and I checked the weather and I see the forecast changed and a lot of rain and clouds coming, so blues/jets are in the 3rd and schefiele ties it and the sharks/knights are 2-0 in the 1st.
And I’m lik efff I’m gonna drive home right now, and maybe I get to zone in to some playoff hockey for most of my ride. Well yeah. Didn’t happen. Boom boom OT. Turned on music at 4-0 knights.
Give us some old school OT hockey
Don’t feed the trolls, kids.
Scottsdale, if you’re reading this I purchased you an Ovechkin road jersey. Please send me your address to fed ex it out to you : D
Future would be brighter for Isles if they moved Taveres prior to letting him walk. Lou would have more to work with before this year’s trade deadline
Goes without saying
Jpp
Most likely you’re right. I know those two are close friends outside the game. Still, tho…
3C, who are you picking to come out of the East? I think the Bruins will but would be ecstatic if the Leafs knocked them out.
I mostly root for Catholics, but I’m not sure who’s Catholic.
I want Caps to come outta the East. Leaves would be fine, too. Hate the Bruins 🙂
I want Carolina out of the East. They’re the only team I don’t actively dislike.
Ovechkin got his Cup. That’s enough winning for the Caps for the rest of my lifetime
That would be pretty cool to see Ovechkin lift another. Carolina would also be fun too because of Blogmama.
Wait…are we at the point in the program where Wicky starts quoting Young Guns? Tell me when we get to that part
I’m going all Canada with Toronto Calgary
Here’s a stat for you, every cup winning team from the 94 Rangers until now has had a previous cup winning player on it…only one of the 16 teams in the playoffs this season doesn’t, want to guess who?
Calgary?
Maybe Sharks?
Tell us, wick.
Ovi was so much fun to watch with the cup that I want him to win one every year! Plus, I’ve been a fan of his since the day one.
I’m gonna guess, Tampa?
Isles, have the two D who won elsewhere. The Caps, and Pens are obvious. CBJ has McQuaid. Carolina has Williams. Toronto has the Dman who has one, and the Bs have a bunch.
Great guess, bdl! I think you’re right!
Calgary has Neal. Vegas has MAF.
Peg has Buff.
Did Perron win somewhere?
Forgot about Neal. Gotta be Tampa! Chockers lol
Martin Jones the backup in LA in 2014?
Cole with the Lanche.
Perron won with Pens in 14-15
Yes, it’s tampa
Fugg Tampa… and Boston.
Didn’t engelland also win with Pitt?
Nashville was a tough one for me to think of
Who Preds got?
Bonino
New post btw
The elitist pig running the place decided not to let us serfs know.