lynxrattle

"Anybody can play hockey", Guerin would say. "You are not being paid for playing hockey. You're being paid to win". And then he would blow up the locker room to break up the country club.

The better team won. I think Grubauer's bad play (compared to Fleury) demoralised the Avs a bit. They are a young team - under pressure they start to break, lose cohesion and stop playing as a unit anyways - they really don't need a bad goal let in, as they would have problems keeping their act together anyways. Kadri missing didn't help team play for the reasons stated (having Kadri would have helped the team with the players in new roles problem). However Kadri has been such a hothead that I am not sure if he would have managed to help the Avs with the cohesion problem. He has lots of individual skills and nastiness needed, but can he keep playing for the team, when he gets steaming? If he had played, would he have taken a dumb penalty at the wrong time, or started playing as an individual instead of a team member, or mouthing off in the wrong way in the locker room? I think the Avs might have to dump him. He still seems to be too much of a question mark. If the Avs get a bit better goal tending, one solid, big reliable defenseman, that's all they need. They might win a cup in the next few years. Can they risk a center getting a suspension every series?

That's it for the Habs. No hope. The Northern Division was a joke, and that will be proven in this series. I'm sure of it. I'm certain of it. There's no doubt in my mind. I could bet on in it. Nothing could be more inevitable. This is a series they could leave unplayed. There will be no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow. It's a series that starts not with an anthem, but an opera tune sung by a fat lady. And they've proven me wrong game after game...

The depth of the Bolts is too much. The Saints lose in six, maybe in five.

I only now realised that Girard was a plus/minus -4. The games would have been a lot different if they had had Ian Cole, who the Wild got from them earlier this season.

Larsen is a no-name coach outside of Columbus. I wonder will that make it more difficult to get anybody signing in Columbus. On the other maybe right now they just need a coach who the players still left in CBJ like.

How on Earth did the Avs lose Varlamov?!? I had forgotten they had him in goal. Did he want out, or did they not recognize what they had? That is odd.

Nice to hear and see that, especially after all this Covid isolating

That's a scary thought for the Leafs. Imagine having those players and never get anywhere but close.

Fantastic game. To me the high points and the decisive moments were not goals but hits. McNabb on Nichuskin and Tuch on MacKinnon were something that the Avs couldn't do.

6 million for Marchand... If only we didn't need a center. Marchand would be perfect for the Wild.

Lee missing... dang it. Bolts in 6. They seem unstoppable.

Price has been priceless again. If the opposing team is VGK, perhaps a top goalie can counter Fleury's effect and during the regular season VGK had problems with secondary scoring. VGK against the Bolts could be fun to watch, though.

Rask was quite bad. Two goals from badly handled rebounds. Looks like they need to start relying on Swayman and find some secondary scoring for next season.

Isn't Kadri back for game 7 if there is one, that is? If the Avs lose the series I think it's about not playing hard enough, and having a bit worse goal tending and coaching. (I think it was a big mistake to split the MacKinnon line in a home game.) Definitely more is needed from their top line, though. They have been able to shut down MacKinnon, which I thought would be impossible for any team on a consistent basis. Let's hope for them to rise to the occasion and we'll be treated with some marvelous hockey.

Bring back the tie.

So it would be not just a triple, but a quadruple gold club membership for him. Quite possible for him.

Speaking about Kuemper I was pretty sure he would never win anything, as I suspected his nerves would fail him at the crucial moment. Well, he did won the gold for Canada in the IIHF Championships. Not that the teams there were much this year, but he played fine. Let's hope Kahkonen is able to get his act together too.

This It does not get much better than that!

That's why you have to get rid of Fletcher. He's too nice a guy to be a GM. Some players have talked about needing to have a nasty side to one's game in the playoffs. The "nasty" is a must for the GM as well. He shows some tough love and the players have no other route to vent it all out, but the opposing team.

I'm stunned. I have totally forgot about one stat in the good old game NHL '94: checking. VGK is a 10 in checking. The Habs are an 8 in checking. The Avs are 9. The Jets were 8 with Scheifele and Statsny, without them 7. You can't get to the Holy Grail if you're not excellent at checking. There's a gatekeeper to the Cup that says "None shall pass" to everyone and the only way of getting through is to check him out of the way.

Good for Lundell and the Finnish National Team. The Cats get a good prospect. I'd say at maximum he could even become a 2C, and at the minimum he should become at least a decent checking line center.

We'll find out what the Habs are about very soon. I'd expect them to be crushed by the Avs/VGK with no problems at all. Maybe I'm right the third time, but I don't want to be right. I like the Habs keeping on proving everybody wrong

I was suspecting that Kuemper might not have the mind to keep calm in deciding games, but at least there he had no problems whatsoever.

"Our chief weapon is surprise, fear and surprise; two chief weapons, fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency!"