2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round

[TrueBlueGED]

On 4/12/2019 at 9:53 PM, TrueBlueGED said:

Bold prediction: Tampa wins the next 4 in a row. 

*Kramer voice*

Starting NOW! ?

11 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

So what star is Tampa trading this Summer? Time to raid!!!!

I don't know, but if Stamkos had a different nationality he'd be getting skewered for his playoff performances. 

[Hoss]

9 minutes ago, Indabuff said:

I'm going with Columbus.  Didn't they basically sell their soul for this team, make or break?

They did. So hopefully if they win it'll inspire other GMs to be more aggressive.

 

LOL who am I kidding.

[WildCard]

Good start for SJ lol

[Winston]

57 minutes ago, Hoss said:

Who is everyone rooting for in the playoffs? Not only in the series but overall.

This is the order of my rooting interests this playoffs:

 

It's been a fun week watching in Columbus! I catch quite a few Jackets games on TV, go to a handful of games each year, and I have some good friends/coworkers that are passionate fans. My expectations were low heading into this series and therefore I was feeling pretty dismal about the upcoming offseason. I even tried to temper expectation to a few folks at work that passively follow the NHL and were overlooking Tampa's historic season. But wow, they've been out-hustled, out-coached, out-played, you name it.. Check your milk cartons tomorrow for Steven Stamkos' face.

Here's my rooting order, if I had to whip one up:

Columbus

Colorado

Nashville

Calgary

San Jose

Tampa Bay

Washington

Winnipeg

St. Louis

Carolina

NY Islanders

Dallas

Pittsburgh

Boston

Vegas

2020 lock out commences early, no Cup awarded

Toronto

[...]

2 hours ago, CallawaySabres said:

My God, Buffalo is going to have to build their team compleeeeeeetelyyyy different. 

Loving Boston, Columbus,  and Islanders

I've been saying all season the Sabres need some people who are big and can hit. The likes of Sheary, Thompson, Mitts, Pilut, Montour, Scandella, Sobotka, Gigensons and Angry Larry aren't going to cut it in a series.  I hate to say it, but KO will not last through a series and I worry about Skinner.

[WildCard]

1 minute ago, ... said:

I've been saying all season the Sabres need some people who are big and can hit. The likes of Sheary, Thompson, Mitts, Pilut, Montour, Scandella, Sobotka, Gigensons and Angry Larry aren't going to cut it in a series.  I hate to say it, but KO will not last through a series and I worry about Skinner.

Skinner has fight in him, I think he'd thrive in the playoffs. He's actually one of the tougher guys we have IMO

[...]

Just now, WildCard said:

Skinner has fight in him, I think he'd thrive in the playoffs. He's actually one of the tougher guys we have IMO

He wasn't really hit over the regular season.  Obviously, that's because he was able to avoid them, but, again, the intensity and speed is up a level in the playoffs.  He'd get hit.

[...]

Columbus and Torts.  Islanders and Trotz.  Turning the NHL upside down.  I'm really interested in digging into the CBJ's GM and seeing if he has talked about what he's doing.  If they make it past this round, it doesn't matter what happens next, he's already made a huge point.

[...]

The microphones at the T-Mobile Arena are ultra sensitive.  They must have shotgun mics pointed at the nets.  You can hear the pucks hit the sticks in a lot of the areas of the ice, although I think it's the mics on the boards picking that up.  Funny thing is you don't catch a lot of the on-ice conversations.

[Gatorman0519]

Winnipeg came out swinging.  Tampa did not.  These playoffs are off to a fantastic start.  I will tell you this... JBot better pay attention. 

[Hoss]

Kane and Reaves just tossin fists out there

[Zamboni]

Just now, Hoss said:

Kane and Reaves just tossin fists out there

And 99% of them missing doing no damage ?

[Kruppstahl]

5 hours ago, Indabuff said:

Maybe it's me but I don't think the Sabres could handle the playoffs as they currently are.  These games are cutthroat fierce.

Funny, I mentioned that the playoffs would be a war several weeks ago in the "fighting" thread and some people didn't seem to get it.

Regular season hockey has nothing whatsoever to do with playoff hockey; it's a different sport.

I was laughing on Saturday night watching a couple of games as I saw 4 players go off the ice with bloody faces in the span of an hour.  And not because they unluckily caught a high stick!  I'm talking getting crunched into the boards face first and stuff like that, and the blood was flowing.

I've been greatly enjoying this first round and each night continue to ask myself why I bother watching in the regular season. 

Watching Pitt and TB collapse has been fantastic.

The Vegas/SJ series in particular is a real gem as well.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Gatorman0519 said:

Winnipeg came out swinging.  Tampa did not.  These playoffs are off to a fantastic start.  I will tell you this... JBot better pay attention. 

He likes his soft, Pittsburgh style hockey, so we're pretty much screwed until he is fired himself.  That comes next year I think.

 

[Kruppstahl]

3 hours ago, ... said:

Columbus and Torts.  Islanders and Trotz.  Turning the NHL upside down.  I'm really interested in digging into the CBJ's GM and seeing if he has talked about what he's doing.  If they make it past this round, it doesn't matter what happens next, he's already made a huge point.

Hustle, discipline, and grit will always overcome unmotivated raw talent.  Always.  

If a hustling/gritty team runs into a straight up more talented team that is playing just as hungry, they're toast.

But for some reason TB and to a slightly lesser extent Pittsburgh have both been strangely out of it in these playoffs.  They are not playing anywhere close to their best hockey.

It's always a joy watching a President's Trophy team go down in flames.  

 

[Kruppstahl]

The Kane v. Reaves scrap for those who missed it:

 

 

[TrueBlueGED]

4 hours ago, Kruppstahl said:

Funny, I mentioned that the playoffs would be a war several weeks ago in the "fighting" thread and some people didn't seem to get it.

Regular season hockey has nothing whatsoever to do with playoff hockey; it's a different sport.

I was laughing on Saturday night watching a couple of games as I saw 4 players go off the ice with bloody faces in the span of an hour.  And not because they unluckily caught a high stick!  I'm talking getting crunched into the boards face first and stuff like that, and the blood was flowing.

I've been greatly enjoying this first round and each night continue to ask myself why I bother watching in the regular season. 

Watching Pitt and TB collapse has been fantastic.

The Vegas/SJ series in particular is a real gem as well.

 

 

 

He likes his soft, Pittsburgh style hockey, so we're pretty much screwed until he is fired himself.  That comes next year I think.

 

What? They won 2 Cups in the last 3 years. 

The overreaction right now really is something. 

[Andrew Amerk]

I wonder if Vegas will let Gusev play in the playoffs. 

 

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, TrueBlueGED said:

What? They won 2 Cups in the last 3 years. 

The overreaction right now really is something. 

I could have predicted the second TB started losing. The posters coming out of the woodwork to tell me all about how we need to get some grit, not talent but grit. Oh joy. 

[...]

1 hour ago, TrueBlueGED said:

What? They won 2 Cups in the last 3 years. 

The overreaction right now really is something. 

Depends on how you look at it:

The Cup-winning Penguins were, by no means, a soft team. I'm not a fan of their style of play, but it obviously suits them and that's the way it should be.

However, Botterill brought us Housley, who from the get-go was accused of being soft and timid due to his pressers and Phil never did anything to counter that.

Botterill brought us Sheary, the poster-boy of the hyper-extended poke-check.

Botterill got rid of three of some of the grittiest guys we've had in a while in Kane, ROR and Lehner (and I'm sure some lesser names that were pretty gritty, too).

Botterill got Montour, who I like, but is not a big, nasty D-man.

Botterill brought in Thompson for ROR and kept him up on the big team.  Do you really need this one to be qualified?

 

So, if you can lift your eyes from your palantír for a moment to consider the viewpoint of the plebians consuming the output from Harbour Centre, the reaction isn't quite the over-reaction you think it is.

 

 

 

6 hours ago, Kruppstahl said:

Hustle, discipline, and grit will always overcome unmotivated raw talent.  Always.  

If a hustling/gritty team runs into a straight up more talented team that is playing just as hungry, they're toast.

But for some reason TB and to a slightly lesser extent Pittsburgh have both been strangely out of it in these playoffs.  They are not playing anywhere close to their best hockey.

It's always a joy watching a President's Trophy team go down in flames.  

I know of this coach, Ted Nolan or something...?  Anyway, he always said the same thing.

[LGR4GM]

7 minutes ago, ... said:

Depends on how you look at it:

The Cup-winning Penguins were, by no means, a soft team. I'm not a fan of their style of play, but it obviously suits them and that's the way it should be.

However, Botterill brought us Housley, who from the get-go was accused of being soft and timid due to his pressers and Phil never did anything to counter that.

Botterill brought us Sheary, the poster-boy of the hyper-extended poke-check.

Botterill got rid of three of some of the grittiest guys we've had in a while in Kane, ROR and Lehner (and I'm sure some lesser names that were pretty gritty, too).

Botterill got Montour, who I like, but is not a big, nasty D-man.

Botterill brought in Thompson for ROR and kept him up on the big team.  Do you really need this one to be qualified?

 

So, if you can lift your eyes from your palantír for a moment to consider the viewpoint of the plebians consuming the output from Harbour Centre, the reaction isn't quite the over-reaction you think it is.

 

 

 

I know of this coach, Ted Nolan or something...?  Anyway, he always said the same thing.

Wait Blue has one of the lost seeing stones? He must be careful, they haven't all been accounted for. 

 

I think ROR and his grit is missed. Lehner was a goalie, him being gritty is basically a non issue. Kane is bigger but I saw plenty of grit from Skinner. It all comes down to a team that wasn't deep enough and couldn't play with consistency. 

[...]

8 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I think ROR and his grit is missed. Lehner was a goalie, him being gritty is basically a non issue. Kane is bigger but I saw plenty of grit from Skinner. It all comes down to a team that wasn't deep enough and couldn't play with consistency. 

I think "grit" is too broad a term when we're talking about the characteristics that make the difference between a player that can succeed in a playoff environment versus one who can not.  However, it is easier to throw out the word in a general context.

I mentioned those three specifically because they're not cowardly players...they give as good as they get and their intensity seems to suck up the game environment.  None of them, except Kane, are going to go out and hit any more than usual perhaps, but that's not the "grit" I'm talking about.

I don't disagree on Skinner.  He definitely has some of this magical grit.  He would be a huge target in a playoff series, though.

[SABRES 0311]

5 hours ago, Kruppstahl said:

The Kane v. Reaves scrap for those who missed it:

 

 

Funny how they played the baby shark song. 

[SABRES 0311]

9 minutes ago, ... said:

I think "grit" is too broad a term when we're talking about the characteristics that make the difference between a player that can succeed in a playoff environment versus one who can not.  However, it is easier to throw out the word in a general context.

I mentioned those three specifically because they're not cowardly players...they give as good as they get and their intensity seems to suck up the game environment.  None of them, except Kane, are going to go out and hit any more than usual perhaps, but that's not the "grit" I'm talking about.

I don't disagree on Skinner.  He definitely has some of this magical grit.  He would be a huge target in a playoff series, though.

“Its not about how hard you can hit but about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.”

-Rocky Balboa 

[Gatorman0519]

I think we can all agree the Sabres are light years from being able to compete with any of these teams.  

[Hoss]

17 minutes ago, Gatorman0519 said:

I think we can all agree the Sabres are light years from being able to compete with any of these teams.  

Everyone thought Tampa would wipe the floor with Columbus. Not many people believed in the Isles. Dallas wasn’t expected to make much noise vs Nashville. Colorado has made it hard on Calgary.

The Sabres first task is to be good enough to get in. Once you’re in anything can happen.