Re: The NHL Thread
 

Hey they are a little better than last year. Amazing with all that talent. What do you think they do this offseason?

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:lol:lol

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That's fair, though I'm a little less worried about the Rags than I was earlier in the season, particularly if the Pens can get home ice.

Who do you think the best first round match-up would be for them? I'm honestly not sure. They do seem to match up well against the Caps, but I don't see them falling back to the 8 seed.

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Islanders
Panthers
Capitals

they could beat all 3 of those teams in a 7 game series

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@ChuckGormleyCSN
"I am told no NHL hearing is scheduled from Mike Weber's 5-minute boarding major on Bryan Rust. #CapitalsTalk"

Surprised here. I guess no injury played into it (which is beyond fucking stupid) but he should have still gotten a couple games.

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on the other hand, Bruins and Rangers are still the 2 worst matchups for the Pens

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lololol why are you surprised?

#GarageLeague

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Bruins can keep losing too. Wings are within 3 of them. Let them fall to the wild card spot.

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I agree with this.

:lol so true. They draw either of those teams you can start booking your tee times.

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yup, so frustrating

this team is so weird. on one hand, they have their best 2 weeks of hockey of the year all without Malkin. but at the same time, the power play is ABYSMAL without Malkin, yet somehow they're killing teams (however, the refs screwed the Pens out of a PP goal yesterday with an absurdly quick whistle)

Re: The NHL Thread
 

Win the lottery and draft Auston Matthews. That's step one.

I mean, they should've. They actually had a really great first ten minutes and yet again Holtby seemed remarkably average as the Caps went down 2 quick. No big deal in the grand scheme really, in fact like I said yesterday it helps the Caps not play the Pens in round one. So that's a plus.

Seriously though, Holtby has been alarmingly average for about a month now. Not bad certainly, but nowhere close to where he was before the all star break.

Just another example of how the nhl really isn't concerned with illegal checking at all

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why do you think they should've? just because the Pens played the night before? i mean honestly, the Pens are officially the hottest team in the league and are playing much better hockey than anyone else right now

Caps just caught them on a hot streak and Holtby did not look good at all. i know it doesn't mean much in the big picture, but going out and absolutely destroying Philly and Washington in the same weekend is a welcomed sight.

and yea, it's sad to see about Weber because he's a pittsburgh guy and i love seeing more local products making it into the league. but man, the NHL continues to be an absolute joke on player safety and discipline

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The talk out of the GM meetings saying they wanted to limit #1 picks might get more steam if the Oilers somehow get it again.

To the hit...yeah I mean how do you not suspend him? Sure the 5 minutes hurt his team but guys still aren't learning. I mean he saw his numbers the whole way. This isn't one where oh the player turned back quickly and turned into the hit, I mean the only you don't see it is if your eyes were closed the whole time. Do we need the stop signs like the kids have on their jerseys? The lack of respect is amazing out there.

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Because they finally had a really good, solid 60 minute win against Nashville on Friday (first one of those in weeks) and as the best team in the league they should've been able to build on that and handle anyone, even the hottest team in the league. Especially a team that played the day before.

Again, it's not a huge deal, but the Caps haven't exactly been consistent lately. I was hoping very much that would begin to change. And after 10 minutes it looked like it was going to.

Basically, the Caps should've been ready and I was hoping they would put a seriously convincing win on the board for the second game in a row. It's like when Barry Trotz said "the best team in the league always gets the best a team has" as a reason why the Caps have started so flat lately. I don't buy that at all. As the league's best, handling any other team's best should at least be met with a fair amount of consistency. They've been anything but consistent lately.

Yes the Pens are really hot right now, but that didn't look like a team ready to win a Cup at all last night. Like I said, not a huge deal, there's time to course correct, but I have growing concerns each time I watch this team now. Hopefully it's just a dog days of the season, top seed locked up super early, not much to really play for right now syndrome. But either way, the lack of motivation and detail is not fun and happening way too often right now.

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This is the weirdest part for me. Those are your peers out there. Stop injuring them.

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can we just say the East is really fun

i want the playoffs to start now

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Just saw the Dumba hit on Kane.

Man, defenseman are like sharks that sniff blood when they get a chance to stand a guy up at the blue line with his head down. Glad Kane's OK being that his head ended up being principal point of contact, but everything else about that hit was textbook open ice check.

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home ice for the 1st round of the playoffs could be decided on Sunday

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yea it's possible

i still have a feeling the Pens will slip back into a WC spot for some reason

just a hunch

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I think the Flyers need to get 6 points on this four game road trip. It's doable. But not likely.

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nah, screw him. nothing made me happier last night than seeing him drilled by a clean hit. textbook.

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they still have a shot. With Neuvy out, Mason is the clear #1 which probably helps him out. Score could have been a lot worse Saturday if he wasn't standing on his head. The team will come out with fire tonight, no doubt about it. When they want it, the Flyers can compete with any team in the league. They're fine.

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:lol:lol:lol:lol:lol

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so then you're saying they "didn't want it" on saturday? against their arch rival, at home, who sat directly in front of them in the standings with playoff implications on the line?

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Pitt is looking good. Hard to say they are playing way better than the Kings though...

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They were out of gas. Two back to back wins against the Red Wings and Chicago, 8-1-1 in their last ten--come on. No excuse, but it happens.

However, if the Flyers don't beat the Pens twice in regulation, season is over. They won't make the playoffs unless they beat the Pens in both matchups.

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Pens have 1 more point than the Kings in their last 10 games and the Pens have done it without Malkin for the majority of the time

i'd say that's better. and that's not a knock on the Kings at all

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Also, gonna say this right now:

Pens are peaking too soon.

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i agree, it's no excuse...Pens were coming off huge wins against the Islander, Rangers and Hurricanes but still found a way to beat Philly and DC on back-to-back days

out of gas? maybe, yea i could see that...but they weren't really in the game. the Gudas goal was kind of fluky and after that they kinda just went away

Flyers are still in ok shape though. like i said last week, the Flyers v. Pens head-to-head games are huge

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you might be right

i'm really hoping Malkin can recover from his injury ahead of schedule but that's wishful thinking

a Malkin return would be a huge shot in the arm and at the perfect time