2020 NHL Thread: Puck off!

The Islanders beat the Panthers. Onto either Boston, Washington, Tampa Bay or Philly.

 

Seriously, if Edmonton gets Lafreniere I am joining the Elon Musk Mars Suicide Mission.

 

Yes! I can still roast the Leafs in my standup set!

 

OK, I realize that in 2020, having a bad sports year is hardly a sob story in comparison to the real world, but this year has been a disaster for me:

*The Niners lose an absolute sham of a Super Bowl, reminding me why I hate the NFL.

*The Pelicans find new and interesting ways to let me down, and can't even make the playoffs.

*The Leafs give me just enough hope so they could snatch it away tonight, the same night that the Pels get eliminated from playoff contention.

*March Madness was cancelled.

*College Football might be cancelled this season.

UGH. Sorry to put all of this in the NHL thread, but the Leafs held my last shred of sporting optimism in 2020.

 

So, @Lantern Venom , how's your Columbus Day going? I've decided to hold my own parade.

 

It WAS a sham Super Bowl...

 

I got 5 out of 8

 

1st Round Playoff predictions

Vegas in 5
Colorado in 5
Tampa in 6
Flyers in 4
Calgary in 6
St Louis in 7
Islanders in 6
Carolina in 5

 

I appreciate your optimism that the Canucks can take the Blues to 7. Frankly, I saw a lot of sloppy hockey from the Canucks in the opening round, that they won thanks to Minnesota trying to play a similarly freewheeling game against them, for some confounded reason. I don't think the Blues playing disciplined hockey will give Vancouver much of a chance to take it very far, but if they do well I'll be ecstatic.

 

Quite frankly, I think the Canucks can take it in 6 IF they play well AND get stellar goaltending.
I only gave it to the Blues because they are the defending Champs, and sometimes they can pull a rabbit outta the hat when facing playoff inexperienced teams like the Canucks.

 

The Canucks have a chance to take the series if they find a degree of defensive discipline that they haven't really shown so far in the regular season or the play-in round, and if Markstrom is an all-star level goalie for at least half the games they play, and if the Blues continue the lacklustre, low-stakes hockey they played in the play-in round.

 

Rangers won the Draft Lottery. Alexis Lafreniere is supposedly the consensus number one pick.

 

Like any sports fan, I love to see bad things happen to teams in New York, but in this case, this is one of the better outcomes that would have been possible. The Rangers have been an old team going nowhere in particular for a while now. If Pittsburgh, Toronto or Edmonton got this pick, that would just suck for the game as a whole.

 

Impressive comeback by the Islanders.

 

Great disciplined hockey by the Canucks last night. They didn't need Markstrom to play like the best goalie in the NHL to get a win too.

 

For a second it looked like one of those games where Ovechkin might take over but the Isles took advantage of some sloppy Caps play to beat them and go up 2-0 in the series.

 

Nice win by the Canucks last night. Had all the elements of a legit team's win: outstanding goaltending, coming from behind against a favoured team, ugly hockey where needed and a demoralizing loss for the other side.

 

Wow..Islanders mauled the Capitals in every way

 

Ha ha, send the Capitals home beaten and broken, nice!!!

 

Called it haha

 

Ha ha, I'm so glad to be wrong this time. Who knew that the Blues would roll over like that and it would be a night when Binnington couldn't stop a volleyball.

 

It's going to be the Islanders vs Flyers in round 2.

 

The Avs are gonna win it all, y'all wait and see.

Nathan MacKinnon is the best player in the world at this moment in time.

This team is set up to be a dynasty. They're already ridiculously deep and they have at least three world class prospects ready to crack the NHL squad next year in Byram, Bowers, and Kaut.

 

With St. Louis out, they're definitely the favorites out of the West. I think dynasties (3 cups in 4 years by my definition) are virtually impossible now though because of the salary cap.