TropicalFruitGirl26

Whoops! Bruins let Auston break on through with speed....the result is a 3-2 Toronto lead!

yea, but.... That hit by Lucic on Miller back in 2011 not only knocked the confidence out of the Sabres organization for about a decade +, but ownership felt it, and fired Ruff on reaction!

Johnny Pajamas ties it as the game is sent into the 2nd intermission with Leaf momentum. The Toronto sky has fallen and risen back up so many times already.....

Danton Heiny almost got one through the back door (see what I did there? )

Not sure why Emily Kaplan reporting that Pat Maroon skating at the red line during warm ups is such a eyebrow raising thing....as if, "Is he looking for trouble over there"...particularly with Ryan Reaves in the same vicinity. Well, yea, Emily...had you been paying attention to Maroon the last several seasons with St. Louis and Tampa Bay (did it a short bit with the Wild too), he PURPOSELY does that during warms ups. His way to pre-irritate the other team. Whether they buy in and bite is another matter, but he does that. Now, Emily, go report on something more worthy.... like.... what does Morgan Geekie eat that he is such a large human being?

Samsonov got his bell rung on that play. Bruins trying to bank pucks off his noggin. Careful, Toronto...anything happens to Samsonov, you may be forced to put in Martin Jones then the chit will REALLY hit the fan... Speaking of which, as I finish this, with 0.000007 seconds left, Pavel Zacha gives the B's the lead. Morgan Geekie, the skating condominium, figures in that once again with the clean face off win in the offensive zone.

Oh, I get it...as a Minnesota Wild fan, I've seen my share of rotating goalie systems over the years, but Boston is up against a good Leafs team (despite all the fun I make at their expense), and I just think they shouldn't mess around and stay with got them a win. If Boston wanted to give Linus some play time, wait for the series to shift to Toronto. At that point, win or lose in Game 2, Ullmark in could be justified better. Either way, if the Bruins win Game 2, then all that is moot. Nice to have a solid tandem like the Bruins have, that is for sure. Oh, and welcome to the boards.

And just like that Max "Stop Calling Me CementHead" Domi ties it! 1-1

So far, the Bruins not missing a beat having Ullmark in net. They take the lead....that wide body Morgan Geekie gets them a 1-0 lead. What are those chips falling down from above......those blue n white chips?? Is that...is that.....sky falling???

See, I don't think the Leafs understand how this cap circumvention works....the player is out during the REGULAR season.....THEN returns for the playoffs. Not the other way around...... Leafs management should consult with Chicago, Tampa Bay, and Vegas on how do that correctly. What dumb @$$3s...

Wow. After a win, and how well Jeremy Swayman played, the Bruins are gonna switch to Linus Ullmark for Game 2?? Ballsy.....

Hooooooly Kay Rap..... What's next? Ryan Miller out of retirement to lead them in net? Matthew Barnaby for their top six? But YOU CAN'T have Dave Andreychuk....he is happy doing intermission work for the TB Lightning! Man...the power of @Buffalo Rick wishful thinking...

Nice hit by Mat Dumba on Florida's Stenlund in open ice. Shoulder to shoulder and puts the Panther player on his arse! Mat Dumba may do some stupid things on the ice here and there, and he may turn the puck over a bit more than coaches and fans would like, but when he is focused, he does help move the offense and does things like that plastering of Stenlund just now. I wanna see Dumba, Cernak, Cirelli, Paul use their size and/or tenacity to do more of that. Irritate the Panthers a bit. Not hard to get them all stirred up. Big boom hits....ya love to see it!

Classic Offense vs Defense.... Free Flowing vs Heavy Style....Flashy vs Workmanlike. On paper, and if you are a glutton for what the media feeds you, the Colorado Avalanche are favored to win this. But since the Jets aren't a paper team, and they have some real Jurassic sized players who can also produce, not to mention a guy in net who could arguably be called the 'best goaltender on the planet', I think WPG has just as good a shot to win. Let's not forget that for large stretches of the season, the Jets led the Central, and teams trying to break through their defensive schemes was akin to trying to run through a wall, head first, without a helmet. Yea, yea...when your team is led by the likes of Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, I can see why the Avs are the favored team. But I question their goaltending, I question their overall team depth, and I question the hype...again. I will go Jets in 7, home ice will play a part, in a mild 'upset' if you can call it that, that sees them shuffle off to the next round.

Putting my homerism aside for a minute (just a small minute! ), I'd say your pick is pretty viable for the reasons you mentioned. And the so-called experts are probably the same people who thought Florida's run to the Finals was a 'fluke' or a Cinderella run LAST season. It was not. Panthers underperformed last year during the season, and put it together finally in the playoffs. They deserved to be in there against the Knights, and this season, they are simply continuing what they started during those playoffs. Ok...the minute is over, and Homer TFG is back. Bolts hold their own destinies in their hands (or sticks). They look jittery out there, almost as if they are over anticipating the Panthers hitting them, pushing their offense, the whole nine yards. Once the Lightning realize they can hang with them in those same areas, as they showed late in the first, this series is anything but decided Florida's way.

Caps were the winner of the "Flawed Teams" sweepstakes that cluttered the bottom of the Eastern wildcard standings (DET, PIT, PHI), and while they certainly did well to make it in, their reward for their efforts is the highest point total team in the league. Ovechkin turning into a playoff beast, secondary scoring supporting him accordingly, Caps containing the NY offense, Tom Wilson being his usual rugged and/or cheap self, and President's Trophy curses....all of those things have to go right in order for Washington to have a chance here. I believe the Rangers can be considered a viable Cup team....however, I also believe they are a tad overrated, and aren't as good as the media hype would have you believe. I've been saying this for awhile now for the last couple seasons, and have been right so far, as the Rangers have failed when they needed to take "that next step" in the playoffs. Maybe this is the year that I will be wrong about them, and they get it done? I believe NY can be exploited in areas of transition offense, battles along the boards, and overworking and overflowing the zone to make Shesterkin's job harder than it needs to be. But I do not believe Washington is the team to exploit the Rangers, UNLESS, the aforementioned Capitals key points are met and executed to perfection. Rangers in 5.

There ya go, Bolts! See that? Pressure them back, get to pucks just as quickly as Florida has been...pepper Bobrovsky... goal. 1-1 game

Just over 6 minutes left in the 1st, and ZERO shots on goal for the Lightning. Inexcusable. They are buying right into what the Panthers are selling, and they ARE better than that! They need to look at video and see they do have more time than they think they do to make plays, and push back on Florida, at least make them play in their own end for awhile.

I already don't like the way the Bolts have started. Florida is, correctly, pressuring them on puck retrievals, and the Lightning are biting on the "I better hurry or else" type mentality. And it leads to a Panther opening goal.

I wasn't going to vote on this one due to my heavy, heavy bias with this particular match up, but, will throw something on here with regards to a pick (and try not to sound TOO homerish in the process ) TB obviously isn't the same level team as when they won those Cups in recent seasons. Salary cap and the shedding of players the team didn't want to shed will do that. However, their core is still viable, albeit, older, and overall, the team can still score with the best of them and still have Andrei Vasilevskiy in net (such as he is in his recovery year) and still have plenty of guys that know what it takes to win under pressure. Oh, but the defensive schemes this team now employs....yikes.... Panthers I give much credit and respect for what they are building, continue to build, and in fact, may have already built: and that is a legit Cup contender. And the combo of Bobrovsky and Stolarz in net is simply awesome. That all said, and here is where my homer nature comes into play, as long as the Lightning aren't a ridiculous "lucky to be there team" (they are NOT), I can feel safe picking them to win. As good as the Panthers are, and they MAY be better than the Lightning at this point, Florida has yet to prove they can actually beat the Lightning under playoff scenarios. And if the Bolts find some way to defend better, then this series is all but cinched! Could be a surprisingly short series. But, I won't sell Florida short like that, also, the Bolts haven't proven they can defend at a championship level on a consistent basis. So homer pick is, and taking nothing away from the considerable capabilities of the Florida Panthers, Bolts in 7, as they make things harder on themselves than they probably needed to be en route to series win.

B's gonna take the opener. Great all around game by Boston. Toronto had their moments here and there, with LOTS of help from posts too...but overall, their stars seemed to disappear here, and they didn't play the smartest game they could. I picked the Leafs to win the series though, but I picked them in 7, so that just means Toronto will need to lose 3. They just burnt one. Kudos to the Bruins....they just came ready to play, and executed about as well as they could have....man, I almost vomited a bit saying that

Yes, but...the way the Bruins are wearing them out physically this late in the game, it might be their ONLY one today!

That dinosaur Morgan Geekie just crunched someone in the corner. Great bottom six to have in the playoffs and damned nice get from Seattle for the Bruins. Geekie won't light up the scoreboard a bunch (although he has streaked on goals here and there before in his career), but he and his suit of armor body will light a guy up physically. He is listed as 6'3 200....I'm sorry, I may buy the 6'3 part, but he looks WAY heavier than 200!

Former Minnesota Wild Connor Dewar finds David Kampf....and whaddya know, Toronto is on the board! 4-1 Bruins now.

Tavaras in clean on Swayman....but he took the most straight up basic shot that Jeremy easily stopped. Gonna need more than that, Johnny Pajamas... maybe some shake n bake next time...