Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

This is the first game I’ve felt you guys were significantly better than us for an extended period of time. We were rattled as fuck for the first two periods.

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

I feel like the Caps are one head game away from making a serious run to the Finals. Like, if they could just prove to themselves for one game that they can get out of their own brains and steal a game, they wouldn't look back. It feels very mental at this point.

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

they need to do it for a series, unless youre just talking about a game 7 or something.

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Agreed.

I think if they got the sticks our their asses & just said 'Yolo' and/or 'Fuck It' & didn't care about the past they would run away.

I have also been saying this for like 4-5 years now

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

I fully recognize this example is nowhere close to the same stakes and such, but we're in a similar situation with my men's league team right now. We've been playing in this tournament for the past week and we really shat the bed for the first two games. Just SUCKED, when we're normally a decent team. Finally, down 4-0 a couple games ago, we called our timeout (it was about the middle of the 2nd), came together, and just basically said, "OK, this tournament just isn't working out for us. If we're gonna lose, let's not lose frustrated or hating hockey. Let's just have fun playing the game we love."

You guessed the next part. We came back and won that game, and have won every game since. We play for the championship tomorrow night. It was like once we just relaxed and stole that game back, our confidence and momentum went to another level. Seriously, half a game was all it took. That's kinda where I feel the Caps are. The talent is certainly there.

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

I think the Caps lack of overall team defense is being very vividly exposed. The bottom six is much weaker than in years past. Playing Grubauer turned out to be a mistake. This team is much further than one mental gymnastic hurdle away, in my opinion. In the past I would have agreed and I think it’s mental to an extent for sure, but quite simply I don’t think this version of the team is good enough.

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

You've certainly payed closer attention to them than I have so I'll defer to you there. Although I know their roster pretty well, that was just my observation after last game, which is admittedly the first Caps game I've paid some attention to in quite a while.

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Caps kinda did this. Down 3-1 - beat the snot out of the Pens in Game 5 & 6. Didn't show up for Game 7 at all

Caps only challenge is themselves at this point

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

I just don’t think they’re deep enough. I do definitely think there’s a mental angle for many of the core players, and there’s no denying they played fairly well for large stretches of both games, especially the second one. But I think once you get past the handful of superstars the team is very average. The d pairings are suspect. The bottom six is weak. I think if you take away the power play and shut down the two top lines, the Caps are a very easy team to handle. Maybe Holtby will come in and shut it down, but I think at this point the hole is too deep.

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Again I think in the past two years especially, I think you’re very much right. And while I’ll admit that they probably shouldn’t be blowing all the leads to Columbus, I don’t think this iteration of the team is good enough or fast enough to even hang with the Penguins. Especially when we’ve got a coach who values veteran status over speed and skill.

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

This team currently constructed, yes more than mental hurdle.

Teams of years past, no.

Grubby is getting beat glove side for majority of the goals. Think CBJ prepared for that

It's not like the Caps got out played by any stretch in either game

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Agreed. But I would say Caps are faster this year than years past by a significant margin

I knew this year wasn't the year - but I also didn't think they would blow 2 goal leads & outplay their competition for majority of the games

Re-sign Carlson. Buyout Orpik.

The one move that is continuing to haunt the Caps is retaining Wilson over Schmidt.

I firmly still believe this team would be significantly different/better with Schmidt playing 20-22 minutes a night

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

I would agree, your window is wide open - you might lose some guys to FA due to the cap but retaining Nieto, Yakupov, Barberio and Siemens would seem like priorities to get locked up - Varly is signed for next year but adding someone to back him up if you lose Bernier would be smart. Kerfoot is certainly a keeper in my mind but he will need a pay day given his age. You guys have over 8 mil in cap space so I would say it is doable and your window to make a deep run is going to last a few years before the cap becomes a serious issue and the team will have to make some tough decisions.

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

I was talking about the Caps, not the Avs. But sure, if you're gonna yank my chain I'll talk about my team. :lol

Yakupov was a nice experiment, but not enough consistency for the Avs to keep him. Would be mildly surprised if they keep Barberio - he's played a lot but seems to be a bit of a placeholder for some of the young guys coming up. He's a great skater, but woefully mistake-prone. Nieto is part of a fantastic 3rd line that I hope stays together past this season and Siemens is a bit of a late-bloomer but looking ok as a bottom-pair option. Our others coming up on FA - Comeau and Bourque - have been great depth players who I hope stay with the team.

It's nice to be having these types of conversations about non-star players, knowing that a foundation is there at both forward and defense, with guys coming up the pipeline. Sakic is looking good right now.

I worry about goaltending. Varlamov is simply too injury-prone and I think it's time to cut the cord if they can. Perhaps package Barrie up to make a play for a hot 'keeper. I love the year that Barrie has had, but with Makar and Timmins both coming up - not to mention Sam effin' Girard - the writing is on the wall for him. He's a great bargaining chip, at least.

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Low hanging fruit

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Bruins just got fucking hosed and now their down 1-0


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Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Omg that was bullshit

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

:lol these refs.

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Bruins doing everything but score tonight. They deserve this loss


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Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Upset night I guess. Marchand proving just what a dick he is when he pulled the baseball swing on the Toronto guy. Not sure how NJ ended up winning that one. Avs are crushing the Preds so far, playing damn solid. Not sure what MacKinnon did to earn a penalty after subban punched him in the back of the head, looked like he was just trying to get back on his feet - is there a history there because that CO crowd seems to hate him. Wow, again another stupid penalty by the Preds, hopefully CO can cash on this one, maybe get MacKinnon a hat trick and seal this one up good!

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

I am just busting your chops a bit. I was not aware Varly was injury prone - I am sympathetic to that one given that Crawford has missed almost a whole season in the past two years. Sucks when that happens to anyone - forgot to mention, I hope (since we are speaking about goalies) that Schneider is OK for NJ, that landing looked bad!

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Colorado absolutely lit up Rinne tonight. Four goals on 15 shots. :lol

Still like five minutes to go when I'm posting this. Hopefully they don't eff it up.

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Oooh! Avs win! Woohoo!

Iced it basically every time they touched the puck in the final five minutes. lol

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Happy for them and you guys man. Good game - have to credit the goalie who replaced Rinne though, he played very well and kept the Preds in that game until Landeskog got the empty netter to seal it up! Congrats!

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Fun games tonight! Good outcomes! Yay!

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Close one in San Jose I see huh?

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Pk should get suspended right?

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Toronto looked good. Very lucky with the (only?) Powerplay they had all night. Absolutely hit the glass on the way out.

Plekanec came out and played a beauty of a game. Guy has been a bum since the Leafs acquired him. They gave him some responsibility and he played so well.

Marchand is an absolute scum bag. The takedown on Johanssen (sp?) when he would have been off to the races was a penalty every day of the week. The gutless slash after his post-whistle shot on Freddy has no place in the game.

Boston outplayed Toronto. Toronto was opportune with their goals and Freddy made some gigantic saves. Maybe they can steal a win on Thursday at home but I don't know if they have it in them to do win 3 more times.

Re: The NHL Thread (Avs are in the playoffs! 3elieve!)
 

Yeah, they were barely hanging in there at the end. :lol

But man, they are getting better and better every game, eh?

Not bad when you chase the likely Vezina winner with 4 goals on 15 shots (wish we could've scored on Saros as well, but I'll keep focusing on the positive!).