NHL: 2014-2015 Season

[Valkyr1313]

Well, this is what I picked for my bracket. I can hope right? Honestly though, The Rangers are more than likely going to be the team from the East. In the West there is more to choose from. The Ducks will be tough, but Chicago and the Wild are probably in the best places of those from the Central. The Sens I'm picking to go on just based on the strength of the Hamburgler. It's going to be an interesting playoff season

 

[Patrick]

I expect the Ducks to lose in the first round. Their goalie situation stinks, and they are prone to choking when it counts.

 

[Sanji Himura]

Vernon Fiddler is the Dallas Stars' nominee for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, the award given to the player who displays leadership qualities on and off the ice.

 

[JohnBM01]

It is time for Lord Stanley to find out who will hoist his beautiful trophy and show to be champions of the 2014-2015 season of the National Hockey League. Playoffs, baby! Who will be champs? These first few games will go a long way in determining who will be league champions.

Congratulations to all playoff participants and good luck to all teams in this championship voyage.

 

[JohnBM01]

Half of the NHL's playoff teams for this season played last night. Tonight, the other half will get their playoff journey going. Here's a quick rundown of last night's games:

* #4 OTT at #1 MON: 4-3, MON
* #3 NYI at #2 WSH: 4-1, NYI
* #3 CHI at #2 NAS: 4-3, 2OT, CHI
* #3 CGY at #2 VAN: 2-1, CGY

Tonight...

* #4 PIT at #1 NYR
* #3 DET at #2 TB
* #4 MIN at #1 STL
* #4 WPG at #1 ANA


Good luck to all of your team(s).

 

[Brend]

What a win! Mrazek was HUGE for the Wings, 3 to go.

 

[Patrick]

No way the Wings will win the series if they keep playing like that.

 

[Valkyr1313]

Strange ending to that game. 2 empty netters(including a PPENG) and a SHG in the last minute. Wild take it 4-2, but there are for sure things that they can work on. Some sloppy puck play, and they lost their focus a few times. Not a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination, but enough to get the win and go up 1-0 in the first round of playoffs

 

[kolio]

Strange ending to that game. 2 empty netters(including a PPENG) and a SHG in the last minute. Wild take it 4-2, but there are for sure things that they can work on. Some sloppy puck play, and they lost their focus a few times. Not a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination, but enough to get the win and go up 1-0 in the first round of playoffs

Yeah.
Blues were honestly pretty sloppy all night. 3 on 1 breakout and they turn it over. Palmed my face the whole game. And very poor coverage in their own zone. I mean, 3 guys in the corner, two guys staring off into space. They could have centered and scored countless times if they popped out quick.

Also, I am pretty tired of Hitch's goalie pulling techniques..

 

[Brend]

No way the Wings will win the series if they keep playing like that.

Not a chance, so if we get our act together we might be able to use this fluke to our advantage.

 

[AnthonyD1993]

Both teams sucked in the Red Wings/ Lightning opener. While Mrazek having to stop 40+ shots is unacceptable and will result in losses in the future, Tampa Bay going 0-7 on the Power Play and then giving up a short-handed goal on top of it is pretty appalling. The Lightning should have won that game (and would have won in a blowout if Howard was in the net). The offense really needs to do better or the Lightning is going to walk away with this series.

Did anyone catch the Jets/Ducks game? That was all Ducks in the second half. Corey Perry owned that game with 2 goals and 2 assists. The Jets also committed some stupid penalties that killed their momentum, but the Ducks pretty much never looked back when they took the lead.

 

[JohnBM01]

With the fallout from P.K. Subban's slash on Mark Stone back in Game 1, tonight's OTT/MON game is going to be VERY interesting. This series is already interesting as it is; it is just even more so now. I mean, is Ottawa going to target Subban? Could Subban do some more damage? Mark Stone, by the way, reportedly has a broken right wrist after that brutal slash by P.K. Subban.


Good luck to all teams this weekend.

 

[Patrick]

Did anyone catch the Jets/Ducks game? That was all Ducks in the second half. Corey Perry owned that game with 2 goals and 2 assists. The Jets also committed some stupid penalties that killed their momentum, but the Ducks pretty much never looked back when they took the lead.

I've been watching the Ducks most of the year, and it is ridiculous how good they are in the 3rd period. You just know they will tie it up if they are down in the 3rd.

Corey Crawford stinks.

 

[Valkyr1313]

Calgary and Vancouver had an interesting game, which ended with a bit of an interesting 3rd period... Fists were thrown, and penalties were handed out each way

 

[Patrick]

Oilers get the #1 pick yet again. 👎

 

[kolio]

After watching the Caps Vs. Islanders game today, I expect Blues Vs. Wild to be just as physical. Capitals and Islanders game was pretty tense the throughout the whole game today.

 

[Patrick]

Hopefully the Rangers and Isles win. That would set them up for a round 2 matchup!!

 

[Sanji Himura]

The 2015 NHL Entry Level Draft Lottery results are in! Here is who is selecting in the first 14 picks of the draft:

1. Edmonton Oilers (Won the Draft Lottery) (11.5% chance)
2. Buffalo Sabers (Worse record in the NHL) (20% chance)
3. Arizona Coyotes (second worse record in the NHL) (13.5% chance)
4. Toronto Maple Leafs (9.5% chance)
5. Carolina Hurricanes (8.5% chance)
6. New Jersey Devils (7.5% chance)
7. Philadelphia Flyers (6.5% chance)
8. Columbus Blue Jackets (6% chance)
9. San Jose Sharks (5% chance)
10. Colorado Avalanche (3.5% chance)
11. Florida Panthers (3% chance)
12. Dallas Stars (2.5% chance)
13. Los Angeles Kings (2% chance)
14. Boston Bruins (1% chance)

 

[Valkyr1313]

The X will be rocking tonight as the Minnesota Wild take on the St. Louis Blues in game 3 of the series. After a hard-fought victory in game 1 and a very disappointing overall game in game 2, expect a big bounce back, especially with 18,000+ of the most rabid fans in all of the NHL behind them. I'm really looking forward to this. Hopefully, the Wild can get the 3 victories they need in the next 3 games and finish this up...

🤬 You Steve Ott. Classless move jumping our smallest players. Better get suspended for that... In more positive news, the Wild win 3-0 and lead the series! Let's go Wild!

 

[JohnBM01]

Want some playoff hockey? You got it! Tonight's games are as follows:

* TB Lightning at DET Red Wings
* WSH Capitals at NYI Islanders
* NAS Predators at CHI Blackhawks
* VAN Canucks at CGY Flames

Enjoy some hockey tonight, and good luck to all of your teams.

 

[Brend]

Oh baby. Petr Mrazek comes up huge, 3-0 win. Lead restored; 2-1 DET.

 

[JohnBM01]

That Tampa Bay at Detroit game was pretty crazy. There was one point where one of TB player tripped up the DET goalie as one of the Red Wings went after that guy. Heck- I don't blame him. I'm like, "you don't trip up my goalie like that!" But yeah- that was crazy. Congrats to the Red Wings serving up some Midwestern hospitality to the Lightning at good old Joe Louis Arena.


Congratulations to all other winners from Tuesday.

 

[Valkyr1313]

That is all

 

[JohnBM01]

Results from Wednesday:

* Anaheim at Winnipeg: 5-2; ANA
* St. Louis at Minnesota: 6-1, STL
* Montreal at Ottawa: 1-0, OTT
* New York Rangers at Pittsburgh: 2-1, OT, NYR


And so, we have our first elimination...

*cue WipEout*

Winnipeg: "CONTENDER ELIMINATED!"


Musings now...

* The Winnipeg Jets have been 86ed from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in a 4-0 series sweep by Anaheim. They handled one Canadian team, and they'll take on another in the 2nd Round once the winner of the VAN/CGY series concludes. Calgary currently leads that series 3-1.

* I saw most of St. Louis at Minnesota, and that was just ugly. Earth Day was all about being green, and Minnesota rocked their very nice vintage-style uniforms and everything... but this game was all about blue and gold, especially the beautiful blue and gold of the St. Louis Blues. Three goals in each of the first two periods was all they needed to silence the Wild. The Wild did score only once in the 2nd Period, but STL was just too much.

* One more day for Ottawa with their 1-0 victory at home over Montreal. A Canadian team will be in the 2nd Round with this match, just that Montreal has to make sure they don't blow their current 3-1 series lead.

* The New York Rangers put down the Penguins in Pittsburgh with a 2-1 victory in Overtime.


That's all. We're now down to 15 teams who still have a shot at Lord Stanley's Cup and the chance to be crowned champions.


[UPDATE] Accidentally called Montreal the winner in the brief score report. Made the changes.

 

[Valkyr1313]

Yeah, the Wild game was as ugly as a Pontiac Aztek. From the start passes weren't clicking, the D was sloppy, and Duuuubs was out of the game. It didn't get any prettier from then on out, and we are very lucky it wasn't worse. On the bright side, Kuemper had his first stint in the playoffs and was solid, stopping every shot he faced. Friday is an important game. The Wild will have had time to go over their mistakes and will come out with a vengeance, you can be sure of that.

 

[Sanji Himura]

Made a huge error there. Ottawa won that game yesterday, not the Habs. The series is 3-1 in favor of Montreal. You wrote it incorrectly first...

Ralph Strangis has resigned as the Dallas Stars' TV play by play man after 22+ seasons with the team. He came to Dallas when the North Stars came from Minnesota in 1993, and has since worked the local coverage with the team ever since.

Ralph, and his partner Razor, cemented themselves as the best broadcast duo in the NHL and one of the best in the history of the Metroplex. The pair earned numerous awards during their tenure with the Stars including six Lone Star Emmys, a Dallas Press Club Katie, and four Associated Press Awards

 

[JohnBM01]

Thanks for pointing out the typo, @Sanji Himura . I changed what needed to be changed.


Current scores as of this post:
* Tampa Bay at Detroit: 2-0, 2nd Int., DET
* New York Islanders at Washington: 2-1, 2nd Int., WSH

 

[AnthonyD1993]

I had a gut feeling at the end that the Red Wings were going to choke away that game. I just knew it since they stopped playing with a sense of urgency and decided to play lax and carefree at the end instead.

 

[JohnBM01]

So the Red Wings LOST that game? All I know is that if the Red Wings want to advance, they'd better take down the Lightning in Game 5 in Tampa Bay. You don't want that psychological disadvantage of possibly being eliminated from postseason play by losing Game 5. Losing Game 5 in a series tied 2-2 won't kill you, but it puts extra pressure on you to win Games 6 and 7 to advance to the next round.

Meanwhile, it was easy money for the Washington Capitals- a 5-1 whacking of the New York Islanders in Washington, D.C. Washington is ahead 3-2 in this series. The impression I got from a video is that the Islanders scored first... then the Capitals score five unanswered goals for the blowout victory. It's a bit sad A. Ovechkin didn't bang in a goal for WSH. Still, Ovie's boys managed to take down the Islanders at home.

In Nashville (or "Smashville"), the Predators devoured the Blackhawks 5-2. With Chicago now leading this series 3-2, Nashville's playoff journey lives one more day. They'll need to win out if they want to advance and send Chicago packing. Filip Forsberg had himself a Hat Trick for the Predators.

The only Canada vs. Canada game on the night was in Vancouver. And in Vancouver, it was a 2-1 victory for the Vancouver Canucks over the visiting Calgary Flames. Despite Vancouver's win, the Calgary Flames lead the series 3-2. So Vancouver will need to win Game 6 to make this series go the seven-game distance.


NHL hockey. Got to love it.

 

[JohnBM01]

NBC Sports Network is to show a doubleheader tonight- Penguins at Rangers (on right now as of this post) followed by Wild at Blues. Enjoy some NHL Playoff hockey tonight and good luck to all playoff teams.