JR Ewing

If it's an upset, I think it's a minor one. They went 2-2 against each other this season, and since Tippett was fired, had the exact same number of points. People talked about this matchup like it was the '76 Habs vs the '75 Caps. As ever: there's a reason they make them actually play the games.

LOL! Now 3-3 after the Flames score immediately.

Hyman has been so good this playoff. 3-2 now.

The game was being played so conservatively, and after the Oilers first goal, business really picked up.

Ranford had a whole career just in that spring of 1990.

Yes, the skaters have better sticks, not to mention skates. And the goalies have equipment which is bigger and lighter and doesn't soak up water through the game. Particularly early in Gretzky's career, more than a few of the saves actually hurt to make, to the extent that goalies were routinely known to be weird dudes for their ability to play through it. For every advantage offered to the skaters in offense, another is taken away by huge advances in goaltending, coaching, fitness, etc, etc, etc. You're wondering why he's not scoring at Gretzky levels when Gretzky himself says tha

This many games into the regular season, he was on a 200-point pace. It's one thing to do it for awhile, but another to maintain it.

These water usage charts always crack me up:

Darryl Sutter, the head coach of the Calgary Flames, said a lot with little words as he normally does. This time it was after Game 3 of the second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers. He spoke on the use of the forwards for the Oilers and how there aren’t line matchups. "They've only played eight forwards... so I wouldn't call it line matchups." Darryl Sutter talks about matching lines against McDavid and Draisaitl. #StanleyCup https://t.co/gaVLygvaeg The Flames have used their entire forward group much more than the O

LOL... I shut the game off after 29's end-to-end goal. Figures.

The game is completely different now: imagine an NHL where practically 85% of the players are from Canada, about 10% from the US, and the rest from Sweden and Finland, and none from Russia, Czechia, Slovakia. The talent pool was much smaller. Picture a league where goaltenders were usually the smallest players on the team, wearing small equipment, and were told to stay on their feet unless absolutely necessary, and could be beaten by slappers from the boards with shocking regularity. Gretzky himself has always been very honest about the advantages his era offered him:

Washed away his sins? I dunno.... lol

No, especially not when the Flyers, at the very same time, paid the Coyotes to take Gostisbehere off their hands.

Connor McDavid is breaking hockey as we know it. That’s not hyperbole. When was the last time we’ve seen a player dominate game after game the way McDavid has this postseason? I joked last week the NBA and NHL switched roles this postseason – the NBA conference finals are ripe with team-dominated basketball, while NHL fans are watching a superstar of the highest order completely take over games. That’s the ironic part. We have seen a number of first-ballot Hall of Fame players in the NHL over the past 20 years. Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk – the list

Those players that hate a coach like John Tortorella... You don't want them anyway.