This Year's Stanley Cup Finals Entertainment Value?

[Doctor King Schultz]

Worst round of the playoffs so far. Games haven't been close.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

I suppose they could just follow the Penguins fan tradition of being moderately loud when their team wins the second last game they need to win for a repeat championship.

Loud and entertaining crowds are fun. 2006 had many storylines about them between the Oilers and Hurricanes.

A loud and passionate crowd is fun, sure. But you can be loud and proud without throwing fish or any other junk.

 

[djpatm]

I love Nashville and their fans but this final has been unwatchable. I have literally not watched one game in it's entirety. They're crap blow outs. Whats the point?

Awful finals.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

A loud and passionate crowd is fun, sure. But you can be loud and proud without throwing fish or any other junk.

Of course you can. I don't condone Preds fans throwing stuff on the ice in arenas other than their own. But the Wings have been doing it forever, the Oilers did it in 2006 and so forth. Traditions are fun.

Hell, even the Pens seem to have one now in touching the Prince of Wales trophy. Storylines don't have to strictly be about what happens on the ice. Hockey is supposed to be fun, no matter how much the league tries to suck the fun out of it.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Of course you can. I don't condone Preds fans throwing stuff on the ice in arenas other than their own. But the Wings have been doing it forever, the Oilers did it in 2006 and so forth. Traditions are fun.

Hell, even the Pens seem to have one now in touching the Prince of Wales trophy. Storylines don't have to strictly be about what happens on the ice. Hockey is supposed to be fun, no matter how much the league tries to suck the fun out of it.

Hasn't Detroit really toned down on octopus throwing lately though?


Granted I haven't watched too many Detroit playoff games over the last few years but IIRC I don't really see as many octopuses being thrown when compared to years ago.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Hasn't Detroit really toned down on octopus throwing lately though?


Granted I haven't watched too many Detroit playoff games over the last few years but IIRC I don't really see as many octopuses being thrown when compared to years ago.

Maybe, they don't play as many playoff games as they used to.

For some teams that aren't the Penguins they gotta have fun while the ride lasts. Sometimes it IS actually hard to get to the SCF.

 

[ChiefWiggum]

Where I live, the broadcast starts at 8:30. So I turned it on last night to watch the game and around 10:30, the second period was over and it was 3-0 Penguins and I fell asleep. I awoke the sound of a goal horn only to see Ron Hainsey put the Penguins up by 6 goals. It was at that point that I turned it off and went to bed. So I watched 1 period and a couple mins of the first game of what is essentially a best of 3 series for the Stanley Cup. No hockey fan should be turning off game 5 of the Finals because a team has a 6-0 lead. But there is really nothing that can be done to fix the games in the foreseeable future

 

[66-30-33]

Not that exciting, but still excited about being up 3-2 in the series. I've not been a nervous wreck since the Caps series, been pretty mellow since.

 

[Drake744]

A loud and passionate crowd is fun, sure. But you can be loud and proud without throwing fish or any other junk.

I don't mean this at all in a trolling kind of way because I'm extremely neutral on the catfish stuff but it went from a little tradition that a lot of people thought was kinda cool to full blown legendary status.....when Catfish Jake was charged by the Pittsburgh PD after game 1. (He was given the nickname in large part because he's friends with guys who host a popular local sports talk show. He doesn't call himself that.)

People in Nashville (and everywhere else it seemed) thought it was so absurd that "charges" were being brought to this guy that the catfish tossing sort of turned into a screw you kind of symbol. I'd never throw one. I know a couple people who have, including one in game 4, but honestly I think the symbolism of the catfish throwing got turned up after the backlash of game 1.

If we never threw one again I wouldn't care.

 

[drwpreds]

If you aren't a fan of either team, there is no arguing that the series hasn't been great.

But I don't know why everyone keeps saying "every game" has been a blowout.

Game 1 certainly was not a blowout (game was tied with 4 minutes left and featured an almost epic comeback).

And game 4 really wasn't a blowout either- two goal game until the very end.

 

[ChiefWiggum]

If you aren't a fan of either team, there is no arguing that the series hasn't been great.

But I don't know why everyone keeps saying "every game" has been a blowout.

Game 1 certainly was not a blowout (game was tied with 4 minutes left and featured an almost epic comeback).

And game 4 really wasn't a blowout either- two goal game until the very end.

What really makes people sour about game one is that the Predators deserved to win because the Pens are currently the team everybody loves to hate (honourable mentions to the Blackhawks and the NFL'S New England Patriots).

The Pens never had a shot on goal for 37 MINUTES in game one of the SCF and still won, making every non-Pens fan pretty sour already.

I mean this series should truly be over. If not for Rinne's unacceptable play in games one and two, the Nashville Predators would have been handed the Cup after Game 4.

 

[kodoshin]

What really makes people sour about game one is that the Predators deserved to win because the Pens are currently the team everybody loves to hate (honourable mentions to the Blackhawks and the NFL'S New England Patriots).

The Pens never had a shot on goal for 37 MINUTES in game one of the SCF and still won, making every non-Pens fan pretty sour already.

I mean this series should truly be over. If not for Rinne's unacceptable play in games one and two, the Nashville Predators would have been handed the Cup after Game 4.

Not much root in reality. The very fact that Pittsburgh won those first two games certainly changes how things unfolded going forward. I.E. lineup and strategic adjustments that did or didn't happen etc.

The team that "deserves" to win also shouldn't be playing with a goaltender only marginally more effective than an empty net.

 

[ChiefWiggum]

Not much root in reality. The very fact that Pittsburgh won those first two games certainly changes how things unfolded going forward. I.E. lineup and strategic adjustments that did or didn't happen etc.

The team that "deserves" to win also shouldn't be playing with a goaltender only marginally more effective than an empty net.

Well the Kings won in 2012 against the Devils and their best player was Quick. Did they deserve to win?

Team Canada won in 2014 and their best player was Price. Did they deserve to win?

The Bruins won in 2011 and won games 3, 4 and 6 via blowout (and by blowout I mean absolute annihilation) and their best player was Tim Thomas. Did they deserve to win?

In 2013, the Blackhawks had a historic start to the season and won the Stanley Cup in 6 games. Some say that Crawford was robbed of the Conn Smythe. Did they deserve to win?

Reality is that this is a goalie dominant league. If u do not have a stellar goalie, you will lose. Period. If a team gets 30 shots a game, that means there were 30 times the puck could have went in the net. You need over 90 percent of those stopped. Thats how important the goalie position is to ANY team.

 

[Classicnamesup]

Usually I will at least watch the games. But most of the games have been over by the end of the first.

Expected much better

 

[Ugene Magic]

If you think it is awful, just to put emphasis on the fact both of these teams played some brutal battles before hand ending in teams losing guys who would otherwise make this series a tad bit more entertaining.

I think it's two teams fighting it out in spite of their downfalls.

Just a game ago the series was tied 2-2.

One team is short on top talent up front while the other is lacking on the backend.

It has been quite the equalizer.

Where there is still an advantage, the Pens goaltending is far better. That is notwithstanding, though. The Pens top stars (best in the league) have done it to every single top goaltender. They were the leading team for goals for.


If you put everything into perspective, you should know things were going to be a task for either team.

This is probably a more telling series then normal finals where both teams were limping into them no matter the break they had leading up to them.


Overall, both teams have done enough to be where they are. My hat is off for both teams. I doubt Nashville was complaining during their two day siege. Awesome showing down there.

 

[tony d]

It's been a meh, most of the games have been blowouts. Hoping Game 6 and possibly Game 7 will be better.

 

[drwpreds]

Usually I will at least watch the games. But most of the games have been over by the end of the first.

Expected much better

That is just not even close to being correct- only in game 5 was the game over at end of 1st period.

Game 1: Was 3-0 after 1, but Preds tied it in 3rd
Game 2: 1-1 after 1 (and 1-1 after 2 periods, too)
Game 3: Pitt led 1-0 after 1- went on to lose game
Game 4: 1-1 after 1

 

[HandshakeLine]

In this thread: people who read the box scores and see a few gifs complain that the games are not exciting.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

Better than last year's SCF but still pretty meh.

The Nashville fans and community are carrying this SCF.

Last year every game was basically a one goal game. How is this on better?

 

[Bleedred]

The worst thing about it (I'm sure a lot of other people have also *****ed about this as well) is all these days between games. Between both the NBA and NHL doing this, which I understand is to not compete against each other. With the NBA finals game tonight, why couldn't game 6 of the SCF be tomorrow? And then game of the NBA finals in Monday, so why couldn't game 7 be Tuesday if game 5 still had to be tomorrow?

I understand 2 full days in between games once or maybe twice in the series, but not every time in between games in the opposite city. Does there really need to be 2 whole days between a game played in Nashville and Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh is one of the westernmost cities in the Eastern Conference and Nashville is quite easily the easternmost city in the entire Western Conference. Pittsburgh might have had to commute further back and forth between Ottawa and Nashville certainly was travelling significantly further to 2 of the previous 3 opponents.

This really doesn't need to be dragged out like this. I'd actually rather a week between the end of the conference finals and start of the SCF than a all these days in between games once the SCF starts. I'm fine with game 7 of the SCF being played right around mid June, I guess I'd just rather the series have started 2 or 3 nights later than it did. Won't casual fans lose interest when they see something on Thursday and can't watch the next game until Sunday? Then can't watch the next game after that (if necessary) until Wednesday? They're gonna forget that it was even on and what the hell they watched 3 nights prior! I really hope the ratings suffer for it.

 

[PM]

Not to mention the age old problem of; it's ****ing June. If I'm getting +30 in Edmonton, I'm outside...not watching hockey. There are 9 months of the year when that's a primary entertainment option...this isn't one of them.

Couldn't agree more with this. Professional hockey should never be played in June, July or August.

 

[kodoshin]

Well the Kings won in 2012 against the Devils and their best player was Quick. Did they deserve to win?

Team Canada won in 2014 and their best player was Price. Did they deserve to win?

The Bruins won in 2011 and won games 3, 4 and 6 via blowout (and by blowout I mean absolute annihilation) and their best player was Tim Thomas. Did they deserve to win?

In 2013, the Blackhawks had a historic start to the season and won the Stanley Cup in 6 games. Some say that Crawford was robbed of the Conn Smythe. Did they deserve to win?

Reality is that this is a goalie dominant league. If u do not have a stellar goalie, you will lose. Period. If a team gets 30 shots a game, that means there were 30 times the puck could have went in the net. You need over 90 percent of those stopped. Thats how important the goalie position is to ANY team.

What the hell are you going on about? My whole point is if the Preds deserved to win they wouldn't have started a goalie allergic to pucks shot in the city of Pittsburgh. Nashville didn't deserve to win game 1 anymore than they deserved to win game 5. "Deserved" to win is a loser mantra.

 

[INDhockeyfan]

The worst thing about it (I'm sure a lot of other people have also *****ed about this as well) is all these days between games. Between both the NBA and NHL doing this, which I understand is to not compete against each other. With the NBA finals game tonight, why couldn't game 6 of the SCF be tomorrow? And then game of the NBA finals in Monday, so why couldn't game 7 be Tuesday if game 5 still had to be tomorrow?

I understand 2 full days in between games once or maybe twice in the series, but not every time in between games in the opposite city. Does there really need to be 2 whole days between a game played in Nashville and Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh is one of the westernmost cities in the Eastern Conference and Nashville is quite easily the easternmost city in the entire Western Conference. Pittsburgh might have had to commute further back and forth between Ottawa and Nashville certainly was travelling significantly further to 2 of the previous 3 opponents.

This really doesn't need to be dragged out like this. I'd actually rather a week between the end of the conference finals and start of the SCF than a all these days in between games once the SCF starts. I'm fine with game 7 of the SCF being played right around mid June, I guess I'd just rather the series have started 2 or 3 nights later than it did. Won't casual fans lose interest when they see something on Thursday and can't watch the next game until Sunday? Then can't watch the next game after that (if necessary) until Wednesday? They're gonna forget that it was even on and what the hell they watched 3 nights prior! I really hope the ratings suffer for it.

They set the SCF schedule before they knew who the final 2 teams would be. It was based on the final 4 and the fact that if the Ducks made the final it would be a cross country trip so they had 3 days between games when they were traveling. They also took into account the availability of the buildings. The final ended up being the 2 teams that were closest to each other but they needed to make plans before it was decided.

 

[Sir Karlsson]

Not a great finals. Hate the pens, hate subban more. Bad defensive hockey, Pitts can win any game soley on the talent of 5 players. No matter the outcome of the series I would rather eat lead paint than cheer for the pens or subban.

Besides Crosby the pens have a very hateable roster. Probably the most widely hated team that i can remember in the modern era.

 

[Ozz]

Not a great finals. Hate the pens, hate subban more. Bad defensive hockey, Pitts can win any game soley on the talent of 5 players. No matter the outcome of the series I would rather eat lead paint than cheer for the pens or subban.

Besides Crosby the pens have a very hateable roster. Probably the most widely hated team that i can remember in the modern era.

At least the Senators didn't make it. Even the refs would have lost interest in the series by now.



See, I can do that too.