nfreeman

Fla wins it in OT. They advance for the 1st time since 1996! In round 2, they get the winner of game 7 in TB-Toronto. That is a potentially great series.

I like them playing "Country Road" after the Oshie goal, with the arena singing along. I wonder whether that's his goal song or the team's.

Caps have a power play with just over a minute left. Reinhart just blocked an Ovie slapper at point blank range from the top of the circle ...but the Caps tie it!

Huge swing in the Fla-Caps game (I've watched a decent chunk of this series and it's been quite good). Caps, trying to win at home to force game 7, cannot hold a 2-1 lead in the 3rd and Fla ties it with about 9 min to go. Fla starts dominating the play, then there's a busted play in the Fla zone, the Caps hit the post, Fla takes it down the other end, works it around, and Barkov gets a lucky bounce to get it on his stick down low with the Caps goalie on the other side of the crease. 3-2 Fla with 5 min to go.

Wow. 3 game sixes tonight and 3 game 7s tomorrow. High drama.

Now that would be an all-time top-5 Sabrespace schizophrenia situation.

Again -- this is simply not accurate. There is a HUGE difference between TP saying to JB, "it's up to you whether to trade ROR, but if you do so, it needs to be before the bonus deadline" and "I am instructing you to trade ROR, and to do it before the bonus deadline." I'm glad you're enjoying a good laugh, but it is important not to make stuff up when we discuss things here. I also disagree that there are lots of false representations here. There are plenty of mistakes, to be sure, but most people here are honest. As for GMs getting credit/criticism for their #1 or #2 OA picks -- I agree that they can be criticized for screwing them up, but I don't think they deserve credit when they turn out well. You may view this as unfair, but I think if you GM a team into the basement, getting the resultant pick right is the bare minimum, and you don't get credit for achieving the bare minimum. YMMV, of course.

On SabreSpace, we do not blithely make false factual assertions just because they support our arguments. As to the bolded, we'll never know for sure, but what we do know indicates that JB decided to trade ROR in order to improve the room, and TP told him to get it done before the deadline for paying the $7.5MM bonus. That is NOT him being "forced to trade ROR." JB absolutely does not get credit for drafting Dahlin, who was a runaway "generational" defenseman and the unanimous top prospect in the draft -- especially because JB was trying to ice a competitive team that year but nevertheless finished DFL. For that matter, GMTM does not get credit for Reino or Eichel, and KA does not get credit for Power. No one gets credit for icing a terrible team and then having the resultant #1 or #2 OA pick be a good player.

He liked himself a Russian cutie, IIRC. That was a great show that ran out of gas in the last 2 seasons IMHO.

Wasn’t that because Zemgus “accidentally” ran into him in training camp one year?

Has there been a year with 3? I’m not sure there’s been a year with 2 for that matter.

Briere was so great. Two French-Canadian centers, s'il vous plait.

Interesting. That’s another non-trivial injury.

Having listened to the interview with KA on WGR from yesterday, I think he thinks he’s getting Levi to sign next summer, thinks he has a good shot at Ryan Johnson (but not a lock) and is not optimistic about Portillo.

I was curious so I checked google maps. Wow. That has to be one of the most remote hockey teams in Canada, innit? I'll bet those February bus rides to Chicoutimi can get pretty hairy.

I have a hard time seeing KA leading the charge on something like this, which would be a fairly radical change in the way the NHL operates.

Reino's goal was huge -- Fla was 2 minutes away from being down 3-1 in the series. Now it's tied and going back home for game 5.

Reinhart ties it for Fla with 2 min to go! EDIT: his 1st playoff goal.

This Florida-Caps game is great.

For context, their odds are: - 64.4% chance of staying at #9 - 23.5% chance of dropping to #10 - 5.4% chance of moving to #2 - 5% chance of moving to #1 - 1.7% chance of dropping to #11 So, a 10.4% chance of moving up to #1 or #2 -- that's actually better than I was expecting and worth tuning in for.

I can appreciate this, but depending on the size of the lot, I can see someone wanting a cleared area for a backyard if there is still a wooded area surrounding the cleared area. As for spraying, do you get ticks in your neck of the woods? They are actually pretty dangerous as they carry Lyme disease.

I noticed this yesterday as well. I've also noticed that the number of writers at the Athletic covering the Buffalo teams has decreased over the years -- i.e. they used to have 2 guys regularly covering the Bills, then one of them left to cover the Patriots and he wasn't replaced. The same thing happened with the Sabres a couple of years ago. In any case, I thought Vogl was OK but not great. I think Joe Buscaglia, who covers the Bills, is better. I hope Vogl's replacement represents a step up.

I'm reminded of a great line in "Curb Your Enthusiasm" -- Jerry Seinfeld was talking about his wife with Larry, in particular about how he had to do something or other to keep her happy, and he said "you don't want to ruffle the exotic bird."

Well, Ullmark was here for a long time, left at the same time Reino did, also in departure not overflowing with good vibes, and, like Reino, played poorly in his first playoff game -- and there was no tweet from Harrington, positive or negative, detailing Ullmark's performance. I am pretty confident it was a shot by Harrington at Reino.

Paul Byron and Zack Kassian.