Around the NHL: Part XXXIII

[NYSPORTS]

So I guess not then

why would i? You’re not even on topic.

 

[egelband]

Predicting 40 and 42 highs the next two days here. Barf.

Celsius?

 

[Thirty One]

Celsius?

No, Fahrenheit. My igloo is going to melt.

 

[HFsNumber1Heel]

This is why I think we overrate Lundqvist in the playoffs. Every time he was in the playoffs he'd have a series like that where he just forgot how to play hockey for at least 2 games. I guess maybe with the exception of 2014 but even there, game 5 (I believe) against Montreal he got absolutely embarrassed. He was not a great playoff performer unless it was a complete do or die game. He was amazing in game 7s, no two ways about that.

I get what you're saying. He'd run out of gas at a certain point every year.

He carried the team for twelve years. Without him instead of going to the playoffs 11/12 times, they end up maybe six times.

It's similar to other Rangers netminders like JD/Beezer where they'd have two or three gear series and an ok series, and the next year one good series. If they could have only had a run like Binnington or Holtby.

 

[egelband]

I’ll give the isles credit for one thing: of the three series they played, they played by far their best against Tampa. The Islanders who showed up against Pitt or Boston gets swept or bounced in 5.

Montreal needs to take it to another level or it’s going to go that way for them. Tampa is basically Toronto with experience, diversity and a goalie. Okay they aren’t Toronto at all, but they’ve got that speed and the depth of a Toronto with the diversity and intangibles that they lacked.

Actually I think you’re on to something with the Toronto comparison. The difference is Tampa got great complementary players and the leafs got really bad ones like ‘check me out’ joe Thornton. Surround your talented kids with winners and you get the Lightning. Surround them with career…well, they’re not ‘losers’ as they’ve done very well for themselves. But the players they surrounded their talented kids with are not leading the way to a Cup.

 

[egelband]

I lived in the Netherlands as a kid growing up and my team's biggest rival winning the championship didn't bug me as much as the Islanders winning seems to bug some Ranger fans. And that biggest rival played in the city where I grew up.

Sports isn't life.

I wish people understood this. Sports is a blast but it’s a movie with an unwritten ending. (We hope it’s unwritten!)

 

[egelband]

No, Fahrenheit. My igloo is going to melt.

Oh no. I wish summer on you. Assuming you’re in the northern hemisphere.

 

[Thirty One]

Oh no. I wish summer on you. Assuming you’re in the northern hemisphere.

Nah, it’s Celsius. I am feeling all of summer.

 

[egelband]

Nah, it’s Celsius. I am feeling all of summer.

40 sucks in C or F. I live in a C country and I hate winter so I was like ‘beer weather’. But I appreciate that’s not for everyone.

 

[NYSPORTS]

I wish people understood this. Sports is a blast but it’s a movie with an unwritten ending. (We hope it’s unwritten!)

Idk, seems to have changed into a fantasy sports gambling obsession for too many.

 

[egelband]

Bingo. I had the "pleasure" of going to the Coliseum with my brother as a kid in the 90's and trust me if you witnessed what I witnessed you would never root for the Islanders and my brother is a big Islander fan.
The atmosphere in that building was nuts and dangerous those days. Would put it up there with wearing my Ranger gear at Flyers games in Philly.

Gotta figure the garden used to be pretty inhospitable to isles fans though. NYC has its share or badasses and they’re not LI badasses. They were dropping clowns at the PA.

 

[egelband]

Gary Thorne / Bill Clement was by far my favorite duo.

For National, yep. Pros.

 

[egelband]

I remember I took my wife and 8 and 5 yo girls to that dump coliseum in 1995 to see a Rangers-Piles game because we were already on the Island because of a family party. We all had Ranger jerseys on and were cheering on the Rangers but not being obnoxious. These assholes behind us kept kicking our chairs, including my kids. I was nice about it a first but they didn't stop and there would have been a brawl if my wife didn't diffuse the situation. Their fanbase is full of assholes and Neanderthals. Just look at what those idiots did when the Isles won in OT the other night. I despise that team and that fanbase and always will. BTW the Rangers won that game 5-2 and Messier scored a hattrick.

I would hate the isles if that happened to me and my family.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

If Lundqvist wasn't a great playoff performer, this team would have gotten embarrassed year in and year out. No cup finals, maybe not even an ECF.

From 2011 to 2017, he had:

.931% in 20 games
.934% in 12 games
.927 in 25 games
.928 in 19 games
.867 in 5 games, and
.927 in 12 games.

What more do you expect?

He was inconsistent. Aggregating his stats don't tell the whole story. I know overall his numbers were good but almost every he'd have a series where he would just have a game or two games that he would self destruct. Hard to win that way. It really puts the team behind the 8 ball when you have a series in which you give up these stinkers. The series that is a perfect example of this was 2009 against the Caps. Game 1 he was solid, game 2 he was very good, game 4 was one of the best of his career, meanwhile three of the other four games were stinkers, particularly games 5 and 6. Then game 7 he was great but they scored two, and we scored one. One of the two that they scored was a fluke tooo. I remember game 4 he had one of the best games of his career and then game 5 looked like he never played hockey before. As much as he gave us a chance that series, he also took it away in the games he lost.

Edit: He did get better at this though.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I get what you're saying. He'd run out of gas at a certain point every year.

He carried the team for twelve years. Without him instead of going to the playoffs 11/12 times, they end up maybe six times.

It's similar to other Rangers netminders like JD/Beezer where they'd have two or three gear series and an ok series, and the next year one good series. If they could have only had a run like Binnington or Holtby.

Exactly, the only year I can't say he had one bad series was 2014 though that Montreal series did have that one stinker.

 

[DaBadGuy7]

He was inconsistent. Aggregating his stats don't tell the whole story. I know overall his numbers were good but almost every he'd have a series where he would just have a game or two games that he would self destruct. Hard to win that way. It really puts the team behind the 8 ball when you have a series in which you give up these stinkers. The series that is a perfect example of this was 2009 against the Caps. Game 1 he was solid, game 2 he was very good, game 4 was one of the best of his career, meanwhile three of the other four games were stinkers, particularly games 5 and 6. Then game 7 he was great but they scored two, and we scored one. One of the two that they scored was a fluke tooo. I remember game 4 he had one of the best games of his career and then game 5 looked like he never played hockey before. As much as he gave us a chance that series, he also took it away in the games he lost.

Edit: He did get better at this though.

Honestly, the fact that you expect Lundqvist to be great every game speaks to how good he was and why Rangers never could win. They over relied on him because they never built a team that could win games when he wasn’t at his best.

 

[Machinehead]

why would i? You’re not even on topic.

We're talking about the Chicago Blackhawks in the Around the NHL Thread. Tell us how their dynasty of midgets and manlets fits your paradigm. I'm asking you to do something easy.

 

[Tob]

Nah, it’s Celsius. I am feeling all of summer.

my portable A/C broke when I busted it out today. What a nightmare. That's the last time I'll ever buy anything from Futureshop ever again.

 

[NYSPORTS]

We're talking about the Chicago Blackhawks in the Around the NHL Thread. Tell us how their dynasty of midgets and manlets fits your paradigm. I'm asking you to do something easy.

wrong

 

[Machinehead]

wrong

He won't do it, folks.

 

[NYRFANMANI]

Never forget that the Isles fans booed their own legend Potvin. lol

 

[Doctyl]

He won't do it, folks.

Are we really debating that how tall the players are matters more than if they’re actually good at hockey? What troglodyte bullshit is this

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Are we really debating that how tall the players are matters more than if they’re actually good at hockey? What troglodyte bullshit is this

What it comes down to is basically this: Would you prefer Jared Spurgeon or Dylan McIlrath?

If size mattered as much as some people make it out to be, McIlrath would have played 600 NHL games by now. That's not to say that size is irrelevant, but for me it's more a tiebreaker than a defining characteristic.

 

[Synergy27]

I wish people understood this. Sports is a blast but it’s a movie with an unwritten ending. (We hope it’s unwritten!)

Yeah, but even if you’re not a crazy fan (which is what I consider myself), the rivalries with other teams are a huge component of what makes the sport fun. It’s part of the story.

I’d hope that there are very few people here who would actually let an Islanders Cup win negatively impact their real life, but rooting against them is, and should be, part of the fun.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Honestly, the fact that you expect Lundqvist to be great every game speaks to how good he was and why Rangers never could win. They over relied on him because they never built a team that could win games when he wasn’t at his best.

There's a difference between expecting him to be great every game and expecting him not to shit them bed a few times in a series.