TropicalFruitGirl26

Another puck battle won by the Bruins which leads to the second goal.
2-0 Bears!

Now the Leafs hit a post!

People screaming about goalie pads being too big....I think someone should make those posts skinnier...  

LOL....Mitch Marner is wide open....and he's like, "wait guys....noooo, I'm the PASSER, remember? I don't shoot that crap! Give it back to Auston!" 

2nd period....Game ON!!

Leafs have the PP due to an ill advised penalty during 4 on 4 by the Bruins, so we will see if Toronto can capitalize on this 4 on 3 OT style PP

Period 1 winding down.
Boston certainly won that period, dominated in fact....but only have a 1-0 lead to show for it.

If you are Toronto, you are thanking your lucky posts for only that kind of deficit, then take advantage and come out firing in the 2nd.

And as I finish this, Max Domi taking shots at McAvoy's head in front of the Boston net.....dumb, dumb, dumb....
McAvoy retaliates leading to coincidental minors, but Toronto looks like they are losing their chit a bit.

Those boys need to calm down....again, only 1-0 deficit.
Blue n white need to do their retaliating on the scoreboard with all that firepower they have.

They will get a PP to start the 2nd period.

Toronto survives that penalty kill.
Boston comes up empty, but NOT for lack of trying!

Those posts have kept this game from being 4-0 Kodiaks right now!

And ANOTHER post by Boston.....
Talk about cap circumvention.... those posts definitely put Toronto over the limit.....  

Another careless stick by Toronto (this time by Tyler "I'm Just As Smart As My Dad" Bertuzzi) and another Boston PP.

He tried to agitate Brandon Carlo to take him with him, but Carlo wasn't buying it....hell, he wasn't even gonna RENT it...

Boston does have the right game plan so far though, gotta say..

They are hitting any and all Leaf players whenever possible (that will pay off down the series road), and they are mucking and grinding along the boards when Toronto players go to retrieve pucks....and the Bruins are WINNING those puck battles!

Now Charlie McAvoy hits a post!
But wait...it gets better...it was a clean face off win to get the puck to McAvoy....won by Charlie Coyle.
I dunno.....that ex Minnesota Wild "close but no cigar" thing might be permeating the Bruins  

Oh, and someone on Boston should REALLLLY repaint those posts from blue n white to black n gold....just sayin...
What do they pay those arena personnel for anyways, eh??

Pat Maroon goes BOOM!
Sends Lillegren into the Boston bench.

He is getting long in the tooth, but dammit, he is gonna help the Bruins with all the yapping, drawing attention, and dirty work he does!

Charlie Coyle, in TRUE former Minnesota Wild fashion, hits a post on a chance where he should have buried it to make it 2-0! 

Post was wearing blue n white that time, however, so score remains the same.

Did I say Toronto taking stupid penalties?
Careless stick by the Leafs, and Charlie Coyle sold it well...high sticking... PP Boston, already leading, looking to add.

Trent Frederic causing a bit of stir near the Toronto net.

Leafs better be careful...the Bruins would LOVE for them to take stupid penalties.
Frederic really wasn't doing anything, but the mere fact he skated towards Samsonov while he covered the puck was enough to get Toronto thinking he would try something.
Probably what Trent was looking for.

John Beecher (who???) with his first NHL playoff goal.

Oh, and some dude named Pat Maroon assisted on that goal...

Well now... Toronto gets the initial shots on goal....but then, a terrible pinch in, leads to an odd man rush for Boston, and on their first shot on net, get one past the Toronto goalie...
1-0 Kodiaks

That is NOT the way to get it done Toronto...

3 minutes ago, FD19372 said:

Carolina is going to win, but they'd better tighten up defensively. Also, Freddie Andersen has to be better.

Didn't get to watch this one due to being outdoors, but I completely forgot about Frederik Andersen.
When I thought about Carolina goaltending, I was thinking of Raanta (is he still broken?), or that young goalie whose name escapes me at the moment.
With Andersen in net, the Canes definitely have experience in goal and not at all as green or unproven as I was thinking initially.

Doesn't change my pick, still going with Canes in 6, and they just got the win which has them on their way.

I will settle in to watch Leafs at Bruins though, so you'll see my deranged posts on that thread.  

Let me start off by saying I certainly love making fun of the Leafs' decades of futility as much as the next person.
And yea, this Boston killing Toronto joke is more than just a joke....it is proven facts over the years.
Furthermore, the Leafs, as always, have the heavy weight of fan expectations on them, and the SECOND they don't perform how fans think they should, they hear about it on the ice, in the broadcast media, and on internet media.

Having said all that, I did mention in my opening post this is one of the better teams the Leafs have iced in years, and even though they STILL have some question marks, I actually believe they have a shot here.
Boston is Boston....structured, balanced, good veterans, supreme agitators (no prize for guessing who leads THERE), solid defensively, and good goaltending.....but their record is misleading as they built up their point totals with LOTS of overtime losses.

How is that relevant? Because if the Leafs and Bruins play close games, and we go into extra frames, Toronto would have the edge due to the scary nature of their top six players.....and Boston goalies might have it in their heads that "they don't win these OT games".

Overall, I think both squads can be exploited in net.
Yes, the numbers show Swayman and Ullmark are 'better' than Samsonov and the army of generic goalies the Leafs have used throughout the season, but I've seen where BOTH Swayman and Ullmark have looked out of their element, perhaps, dare I say, propped up by the solid structure of the defense.
While Samsonov's numbers are very 'meh', even though he finished the season pretty decently.

No. If this gets to where the goalies are suspect, and it comes down to a scoring fest, then obviously, I HAVE to go with the blue n white to win higher scoring affairs....particularly if the Bruins start doing stupid things on the ice and get into penalty trouble.
If things stay low scoring, and the Bruins execute in all phases, then they manage to keep the Leafs at bay and further add to the "Toronto can't beat Boston" mystique.

But I am going Leafs in 7. Yep, you read that right.
If Toronto gets this done, it won't come easy and will need ALL SEVEN games to get it done.
If Boston were to win, I think they get it done in a shorter amount of time, because then, that means they are living rent free in the heads of Leafs players, fans, and everything that resembles a Maple Leaf.

But that won't happen here. If Boston wins, I won't be too surprised, but I think the Leafs have enough in many areas, and MORE than enough in others, to get it done and truly slay the big brown kodiak.
What the Leafs do afterwards is anyone's guess....but, one step at a time, eh? 

I almost wanted to vote Hurricanes in 5, but that feels like I am selling the Islanders a bit too short.
Do I think Carolina is the better team? Absolutely. 
Like I said before....they have been building towards a Cup run for a few years now and this could be the season they do it.
But still, at times, the Hurricanes HAVE looked a bit ordinary and the jury is still out on whether Carolina goaltending can hold up under the pressure of the playoffs.

To top that off, the Islanders do have Sorokin in net who, at his best, can frustrate the best teams in the league......and Patrick Roy (another freakin goalie!) behind the bench, who somehow has worked some kind of mojo (no, not YOU, @mojo1917  ), and has had this Islanders team playing way above their heads for quite some time now.
NY also has some nasty bit of business in Pelech, Pulock, and Romanov on the blueline....Martin, Clutterbuck, and Lee up front....all with designs on plastering Canes' players all over the boards whenever possible.

But at the end of the day, I believe the Canes have the better deeper lineup overall, have a top 10 goal producing lineup, are killer on the PP, and stingy on the PK, and in yielding goals overall, so they DO get it done.

Carolina Hurricanes in 6, giving the heavy underdog Islanders 2 games due to their physical style, Sorokin, and Patrick Roy juju.

21 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

 

So someone thinks they have the key.

 

Yep.
As some famous boxer dude once said, "Everybody's got a game plan....till they get punched in the mouth" 

Jack Eichel and his Golden Knights are looking to defend their title and go back to back as SC Champions, while the Dallas Stars, current Central Division champions, look to get that Cup they came oh-so-close to getting just 4 years ago.

Both teams throughout the year have shown versatility in their playstyles, even though Dallas still seems to be more defense oriented, while Vegas usually is more balanced overall.
Knights also ran into some severe ruts during the season, whereas the Stars, aside from some minor hiccups here and there, were pretty consistent.

But does any of that matter in this series? Well, the consistency might....but we will see.

Whose main event players show up to carry their teams forward?
Whose goaltending holds up under the bright lights of the playoffs?
Is Mark Stone miraculously healed now?? Will Dallas sign Mike Modano for this series....and pay him 9M since there is no salary cap now.....to offset Mark Stone??.. 

Vegas Golden Knights tale of the tape:
Season Record: 45-29-8, 98 pts______ Home/Road Splits: 27-12-2 / 18-17-6
Offense-Defense: 267 GF, 245 GA good for a +22 differential
Special Teams: PP 20.2% (20th), PK 79.3% (16th)

Dallas Stars tale of the tape:
Season Record: 52-21-9, 113 pts_____ Home/Road Splits: 26-11-4 / 26-10-5

Offense-Defense: 298 GF, 234 GA good for a +64 differential

Special Teams: PP 24.2% (6th), PK 82.0% (8th)

Knights and Stars....head to head....series talk, right here!

Revitalized Kings, still running on the vintage core of Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, and Trevor Lewis (the remaining players from the last Kings' Cup in 2014), will look to get in the way of McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins, Nurse, and the rest of the Edmonton Oilers, in search of their first.

To that end, over the course of the last year and a half, the Oilers have gotten some hard nosed players, some former Cup champions to add to the ever increasing experience of their own developed talent.

Will it be enough?

Both teams have question marks.... which Kings team shows up?
The one that looked every bit the contender with guys like Fiala leading the way...... or the lethargic one lead by Pierre Luc Dubois?

How about the Oilers.....does the one that went on a tear to beat out every team except Vancouver in the Pacific?
Or the one that bled scoring chances and ended up on the short end on nights when they probably should have won?

That is what these two will decide on the ice in Round 1!

Los Angeles Kings tale of the tape:
Season Record: 44-27-11, 99 pts______ Home/Road Splits: 22-12-7 / 22-15-4

Offense-Defense: 256 GF, 215 GA good for a +41 differential

Special Teams: PP 22.6% (12th), PK 84.6% (2nd)

Edmonton Oilers tale of the tape:
Season Record: 49-27-6, 104 pts______ Home/Road Splits: 28-9-4 / 21-18-2

Offense-Defense: 294 GF, 237 GA good for a +57 differential 
Special Teams: PP 26.3% (4th), PK 79.5% (15th)

Get your Kings and Oilers on, right here!          

Two teams that surprised the holy heck out of many people this season meet in the opening round of Lord Stanley's playoffs.
The Preds were supposed to be transitioning, retooling on the fly, as it were, heck, there was even talk of trading away Juuse Saros in order to speed that up.
The Canucks, pretty bad (and ultra Downey soft) last year, unloaded some soft weight, added in some good pieces, got Thatcher Demko back to his old self (errrr, even though he is currently on IR), and not only played well enough to make the playoffs, but won the freakin Pacific division!

But...are any of these teams 'for real'?
There are doubters out there, and I can see why.
Canucks ran roughshod through most of the year, until showing some cracks as the season wore on late......and they really do seem to be a different team without Demko bailing them out in net.
Predators started out like the so-so team they were expected to be, then just took off like a rocket and finished about as strong as one could hope for....but did they peak too soon?

Nashville Predators tale of the tape:
Season Record: 47-30-5, 99 pts_______ Home/Road Splits: 23-16-2 / 24-14-3
Offense-Defense: 269 GF, 248 GA good for +21 differential
Special Teams: PP 21.6% (16th), PK 76.9% (22nd)

Vancouver Canucks tale of the tape:
Season Record: 50-23-9, 109 pts_____ Home/Road Splits: 27-9-5 / 24-14-3
Offense-Defense: 279 GF, 223 GA good for a +56 differential
Special Teams: PP 22.7% (11th), PK 79.1 (17th)

Whether people believe in either of these teams or not, one of them gets to move on to Round 2.
Preds, 'Nucks....series talk here!

In what was a pretty intense race for the Central Division crown all season long had come down to this..... both the Avs and Jets lost out to the Dallas Stars.
And now here they are, facing each other in what could be one of the more intriguing matchups in the first round due to the very distinct contrasting styles of the teams, yet both can be considered viable to make it out of the Western Conference.

The Avalanche are the classic north south, super fast, super talented team with goal scoring coming from just about every position on the squad.
Meanwhile, the Jets play the tried and true "heavy" playoff style game, win games much lower scoring, and have the defense and goaltending to back that up.

Who dictates their style? Or maybe we get a plot twist here.... The Avs flip the switch and play that heavy playoff style, while Winnipeg decides to open it up? Or maybe both teams constantly switch from game to game...or even shift to shift. 
Like I said....intriguing matchup.

Colorado Avalanche tale of the tape:
Season Record: 50-25-7, 107 pts________ Home/Road splits: 31-9-1 / 19-16-6

Offense-Defense: 304 GF, 254 GA good for a +50 differential
Special Teams: PP 24.5% (5th), PK 79.9% (12th)

Winnipeg Jets tale of the tape:
Season Record: 52-24-6, 110 pts_______ Home/Road Splits: 27-11-3 / 25-13-3

Offense-Defense: 259 GF, 199 GA good for a +60 differential

Special Teams: PP 18.8% (22nd), PK 77.1% (21st)

All Avalanche-Jets series talk...right here!

13 minutes ago, FD19372 said:

The Salt Lake Salty Mormons

And I'll bet they will have many different fanbases too