Around the League 34 - 1 round down, 3 to go

[surfzone365]

They weren’t a good team to start with. Their defense and goalies have been porous all year. Had the easiest first round matchup and then somehow rattled Calgary’s cage.

Yeah the jury was still out for me on Edmonton. Good team with potential, but maybe not quite there yet. Regardless, Colorado just looks destined.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Yeah the jury was still out for me on Edmonton. Good team with potential, but maybe not quite there yet. Regardless, Colorado just looks destined.

Edmonton has spent the entire McDavid years trying to correct prior cap atrocities, making new ones, drafting poorly, and unable to get a good goalie.

 

[surfzone365]

Edmonton has spent the entire McDavid years trying to correct prior cap atrocities, making new ones, drafting poorly, and unable to get a good goalie.

All that being said, they look like they have their together compared to Toronto....

 

[chaz4hockey]

Kane hit on Kadri, suspension worthy?
Smith gives up an awful goal at the wrong time.

Series over.

Rags or Tampa will benefit from Kadri out.

 

[Negan4Coach]

Tampa would have lit up kochetkov in at least one game before andersen was ready to go, and a rusty andersen probably takes a game to get back up to speed. Our goalie situation would have been like spotting the other team a 2 game lead

Yeah good point. I guess a takeaway from this season should be “well, we weren’t going to win the cup with a 36 year old backup anyway soooo…at least we made it out of the first round”

 

[bleedgreen]

Kane hit on Kadri, suspension worthy?
Smith gives up an awful goal at the wrong time.

Series over.

Rags or Tampa will benefit from Kadri out.

Even with Kadri “out for the series” I’m not convinced it was that hard a hit or the hit specifically hurt him. I think he was already banged up and it maybe aggravated it. Or it’s all gamesmanship to get the top goal scorer out for a game or two to make sure they can’t come back, the Avs don’t need Kadri right now and they have the perfect reason to rest him up and get healthy for the finals. If it for some reason went seven games I’d be more than a little surprised if Kadri didn’t miraculously make a comeback. If he misses time in the finals I’m more inclined to believe he’s seriously hurt but would still suspect he was already pretty banged up before this hit.

And Im an Avs fan that generally likes Kadri.

 

[chaz4hockey]

Tampa doing Tampa stuff taking shots at rags goalie. They are definitely getting frustrated.

Another one-time PP for Zibs.

We sure need one.

 

[CanesUltimate11]

Tampa doing Tampa stuff taking shots at rags goalie. They are definitely getting frustrated.

Another one-time PP for Zibs.

We sure need one.

Rangers benefiting again from the refs refuses to call a dive. That was a hell of a sell job by Shesterkin.

 

[AD Skinner]

Pretty pp from Tampa. They're not going to go quietly

 

[chaz4hockey]

Rangers benefiting again from the refs refuses to call a dive. That was a hell of a sell job by Shesterkin.

Don’t agree. He was hit up high for the first and for the second bolt guy ran into the goalie. Ferraro said he’s seen that a thousand times with forwards “accidentally” hitting the goalie.

Canes would never run goalies but it’s always been part of the Tampa playbook.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

Both of these teams flop a lot.

 

[CanesUltimate11]

Don’t agree. He was hit up high for the first and for the second bolt guy ran into the goalie. Ferraro said he’s seen that a thousand times with forwards “accidentally” hitting the goalie.

Canes would never run goalies but it’s always been part of the Tampa playbook.

Oh no doubt it was a penalty on Perry but Igor sold the hell out of it. He damn near threw his stick out of the rink going backwards.

 

[chaz4hockey]

Oh no doubt it was a penalty on Perry but Igor sold the hell out of it. He damn near threw his stick out of the rink going backwards.

Bolts have slashed Igor 4 other times that if they were doing it to Freddie I’d be yelling.

Not a fan of either team but feel of the two Tampa is dirtier (Trouba aside)….it’s now tied.

 

[chaz4hockey]

Lol rangers bleed easily.

 

[LostInaLostWorld]

Palat gives Bolts life..

 

[Wolfpuck]

Oh yes…

 

[MinJaBen]

Palat gives Bolts life..

That goal is something the Canes need to work on replicating. Too many times a good passing play ends up in the opposing goalie’s chest because our guys catch and shoot instead of executing a one-timer. Another half second and Igor gets that save.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

That’s the type of win that changes an entire series. If Rags can’t take game 4 they’re done IMO. Regardless of who wins this series I think Avs win it all in 5 or 6

 

[ndp]

Does COL have to goaltending to beat either of the east teams? Are they that much stronger in every other part of their game that the goaltending matchups aren't as important?

 

[HisIceness]

I'm just glad the NYR won't sweep their way to the Finals. Hoping TB ties the series going back to MSG.

But all in all, go Colorado Avalanche. Hoping they sweep tomorrow and get some good rest ahead of the Finals that I hope they win.

 

[MinJaBen]

Does COL have to goaltending to beat either of the east teams? Are they that much stronger in every other part of their game that the goaltending matchups aren't as important?

No and no.

 

[Svechhammer]

The more the ECF plays out the more it becomes clear that we choked away a prime opportunity to get to the Finals

Our problems are fixable, but we have to be willing to fix them.

 

[Daeavorn]

The more the ECF plays out the more it becomes clear that we choked away a prime opportunity to get to the Finals

Our problems are fixable, but we have to be willing to fix them.

This is partly why I hope we move on from trocheck and nino. I am not sure the roster as constructed is capable of pushing past their flaws.

We have stumbled for 3 years in a row I really hope we try something a little different

 

[AD Skinner]

The more the ECF plays out the more it becomes clear that we choked away a prime opportunity to get to the Finals

I feel the exact opposite. We weren't going to score enough to keep up with Tampa and we'd be looking at riding Kochetkov for at least a few games which would mean we'd need to score even more. To me it seems like the issue is what it has been the last few years: scoring, especially on the power play. We aren't doing enough of it and even if we'd squeaked by the rangers i don't think that was going to turn around

 

[Svechhammer]

I feel the exact opposite. We weren't going to score enough to keep up with Tampa and we'd be looking at riding Kochetkov for at least a few games which would mean we'd need to score even more. To me it seems like the issue is what it has been the last few years: scoring, especially on the power play. We aren't doing enough of it and even if we'd squeaked by the rangers i don't think that was going to turn around

Will absolutely not disagree here. We had been playing with fire all postseason, and likely would have gotten our asses handed to us by Colorado. But Tampa is proving to have been ripe for the picking this year, and we could have knocked them off. And when I say we choked away a great opportunity, I am also saying we should have closed out NY in less than 7 and we would have still had Jarvis and Raanta ready to go in this series. We would have taken them.

I hope this kicks our front office into action. These kind of opportunities don't come around every year and we should absolutely be kicking our own asses in the front office for not being able to capitalize on this golden opportunity that we had. Our lack of scoring is unacceptable, and its been a recurring theme for 4 years now in the postseason. Its time to f***ing fix it. No more little improvements on the margins here and there, they aren't enough to get us over the hump in the playoffs. We need someone capable of taking over a game with a proven track record of being able to do so in the past. We must make serious runs at Gaudreau, Forsberg and Malkin and we need to get at least one. We need to be heavily involved in trade talks for big stars elsewhere and we need to finally land one. Even if we have to pay a huge price, its time.

I swear to God, if this offseason sees our biggest acquisitions be a few defensive depth pieces again I'll f***ing scream.