Tag Archives: Stanley Cup

Round Two – Fight!

NY Rangers

The second round is off to a roaring start. I’m surprised Colorado beat Winnipeg so easily and I thought Nashville would have given Vancouver a harder series. I, and most NHL fans, are happy that Dallas knocked Vegas out of the playoffs. Dallas does have their hands full with Colorado now…especially after they lost a 3 goal lead to lose in overtime.

Florida laid an egg in their first game against Boston (5-1) but bounced back tonight with a 6-1 win. Florida is favored in this match up and this rebound shows they aren’t going to be a pushover.

The Rangers and Carolina have had two fierce games with the Rangers winning both 4-3. In the first game, the Rangers dominated the ‘Canes with their special teams. Scoring two powerplays in 23 seconds is like watching a lion playing with their food. Rangers went 2/2 on the powerplay and were also perfect on the penalty kill. It was a hell of a start to the round.

Last night’s game was much closer with the Rangers playing what felt like a step behind the entire game despite scoring first. Carolina answered quickly and then took the lead, but the No Quit In New York squad pushed through to a double overtime win with their special teams again dominating. 2/7 on the power play and another PK shutout. Carolina is 0-10 on the powerplay. Igor stood on his with 54 saves. Trocheck was a monster all night, giving the ‘Canes fits and ending the night with the game winning goal. Lafreniere broke out as well with the first two goals for his team.

It’s been an incredibly physical series so far…Igor being taken down behind the net was the most egregious hit of the night. Rempe putting Carolina on notice on the next shift by stopping just close enough to Anderson to bump him did make me smile. They got the message.

Carolina is going to be rabid tomorrow night on their home ice. There’s no way they aren’t completely readjusting their special teams because if they don’t, it’s a wrap. At the same time, the Rangers can’t rely on their special teams to win every night. It’s not sustainable. They have to be better 5 on 5 and keep working on curbing the turnovers. Last night was terrible, mostly because Trouba was a hot mess for whatever reason. Carolina is way too good to leave such good opportunities like that to score.

2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs

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It’s the middle of September and the Finals are starting.

The West Conference Champions, the Dallas Stars versus the East Conference Champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It’s been non-stop games since the beginning of August. Dallas beat Las Vegas 4-1 in a series that they controlled pretty handily. That was a surprise to me, I thought Las Vegas was in better shape. Dallas has been an underdog in these playoffs, proving in every round that they had what it takes to win.

Tampa Bay won 4-2 over the Islanders. It could have been a sweep but the Isles managed to fight back some. I thought it would have been closer, going into this round the Isles looked strong. It was not an easy series for either team. Long, physical games were the norm.

Safe to say the best team has won so far. Dallas is going to have the immediate edge, they are healthier and played few games getting a longer break going into the finals. Tampa Bay hasn’t gotten a meaningful break in this meat grinder.

It’s been 20 years since Dallas has made it to the Cup Championship games and 5 for Tampa. Tampa has seen great success in recent seasons only to get cut short (last season was embarrassing getting shoved out of the playoffs in a first-round sweep as a first seed team). They have a ton of pressure to win on them. I’m not sure if they can sustain the play necessary to win this last grind. Right now I’m leaning toward Dallas to win and for some reason, I think it’ll be done in 5 games. 6 wouldn’t surprise me though. If Tampa Bay wins the first game tonight, that will be a big signal to their mental and physical focus. Tonight will set the standard of play.

2020 Stanley Cup Conference Finals

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And now we’re in September with the Final Four! Weird to say that as we are at the traditional point of the year when the NHL starts their training for the coming season in October.

The second round in the East ended more or less how I thought it would. Tampa vs Islanders should be excellent. NY has been on a tear, and Tampa knocked Boston out in 5 games. They’ll have about a week off when Game 1 starts and that may or may not be in their favor. A lot more rest (NY gets a day off) but they could be rusty. That may not be a factor for long. I’m not sure who will win it could go either way and I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes 7 games. I think I’d rather see NY win as the haven’t won the Cup since 1984 (the end of the dynasty team) and this is their longest Playoff run since the mid 90s. That’s a long drought!

The betting odds are in Las Vegas’ favor. Strong year (which isn’t that relevant with the COVID shut down of 4 months, the playoffs are basically a new season) and strong playoff games. Dallas is the underdog and have been proving their worth over the last month of play. Vegas is on their third playoff run in three years of existence which is nuts. Last year ended in a Round 1 controversial loss and it feels like they are on the cusp of making history again, they are that good. I think Dallas has their work cut out for them, but they can do it.

Prediction: Vegas vs Tampa for the Stanley Cup.

Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 2

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Vancouver knocking out the defending champions, St. Louis Blues, is probably the most surprising result of the first round. The remaining series should all be close contests and it may come down to a war of attrition with such an aggressive playing schedule. The biggest break is if you finish a series in 5 or less games, then you could get 4 days off in a row. Round two starts today with Colorado and Dallas. Dallas beat Calgary on Thursday (2 days ago) and Colorado 3 days ago. Vancouver is only getting a day off, like Dallas whereas Vegas got 4 days (beat Chicago in 5 games). Now everyone remaining will play a game every other day. That is a grind.

I thought Philly would beat Montreal easily but they put up a major fight and the Islanders are now firing on all cylinders (which is amazing because when the season stopped in March they were a train wreck). This should be a battle. I’m leaning towards Philly still but the Isles could easily take it if Philly lets too many turnovers happen.

I had no idea how Vancouver was this year, I never see their games. Vegas has been my West coast favorite so if Vancouver can keep their roll going (tremendous Game 6 win against the Blues) Vegas is not going to skate through.

I think Colorado is long overdue to get to the Championship so I think they’ll best Dallas.

Tampa Bay is playing with venom in their veins from last season (and many other recent failed cup runs) so they are my favorite over Boston. Boston has seemed a little listless until recently so they’re going to have to come correct at minute one or they’re going to be digging themselves out of a hole the entire season.

Stanley Cup 2020 Brackets

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Here are our potential champions.

My favorites are Vegas in the West and Philadelphia in the East. The East is stacked though, there are a lot of monsters sitting right there. I think Montreal and Carolina have the most odds against them. There is no way Chicago is beating Vegas. It’s been a long time since Arizona has been in the Playoffs and I have no idea how good they are (Dallas too). It’d be fun to see Calgary go far, and hey Vancouver has a chance too. It’s been ages since a Canadian team has won the Cup. I haven’t seen a single Vancouver game so I don’t know how they stack up against the defending Champions.

The tournament is off to the races already with Tampa’s 5 OT (!) win against Columbus.

Carolina 3 Rangers 0

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Oh the crushing feeling of disappointment. Just a glaze of malaise that seeps into ever pore. A sweep in the first round. It doesn’t really get any worse than than that. I had a weird feeling this was going to happen in the week leading up to the tournament. The NY Rangers historically beat Carolina, the win/loss ratio is far in the Ranger’s favor. Lundqvist has an amazing record against them. In the regular season the Rangers swept Carolina 4-0. Goals against was something like 17-9. Here? 11-4 for Carolina.

The first period was great. The second period started with a blast, Chris Kreider scoring, putting the Rangers in the lead for the first time in the series. Then, nothing went the Rangers way.

I had no confidence that the Rangers were going to make it to the finals this year. Getting to the first round, absolutely. If the Rangers ran into the Flyers, there’s no way they would win. Clearly the better team won in this contest and whoever plays them next has a major challenge in front of them (Carolina went really far last season).

It is what it is. There are still 2 months of Stanley Cup playoffs to go. The 2020-2021 season could start in November. That’s not too far away for the Rangers to be back on the ice and there’s only going to be like 2 months of no hockey from the end off the playoffs to the start of the season (if all goes well).

There is a ton of action for the Rangers in the off season. How is the goalie situation going to play out? Shesterkin is without a doubt the future. Does Hank hang on to end his contract leaving Georgiev to be traded? Or will Hank move on? Cap space is a major concern. With losing so much revenue this season, no team is getting more money to work with. There are a few guys the Rangers probably won’t be able to afford to keep (DeAngelo, Strome). There are a few rookies that should be able to play…the players they don’t keep could be replaced with this new talent. Plus, with losing in this play-in round, the Rangers get put into an advantageous place in the draft.

There are a lot of ice shavings that are going to settle in the next few months.

Carolina 2 Rangers 0

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Now it’s time to panic. Very little changed from the first game.

Lundqvist allows another first, early goal which forces the emotional deficet of trying to catch up. The first period was actually good/decent other wise. Fewer penalties and mistakes but Carolina largely remained in control.

Going into the second period it’s tied and then a stupid offensive zone penalty gives Carolina a power play and right off the face off, they score. Another mistake off losing control trying to clear the puck gives Carolina another chance right in front of the net and they score. Less than 2 minutes after the PP goal. This puts the Rangers into a 3-1 pit the never get out of.

The rest of the game isn’t worth talking about. The Rangers lose 4-1 in a game where it looks like Carolina has the Rangers completely scouted. Superior defense in every way, breaking up passes, better passing, double-teaming Panarin, all-star goaltending (at least 3 robberies) never letting up the entire 60 minutes of play. Sebastian Aho made a smart play every shift he was on the ice. The only Ranger player I saw stand out was Tony DeAngelo. He made moves.

The only time the Rangers scored was on a 5-3 advantage. You better score with that massive advantage. They were able to have space to set up and execute a play. The rest of the game they were smothered and struggled to get any long offensive push going. Forget trying a long across the center ice pass with Carolina, they are all over it.

Big coaching changes need to be done for the Rangers tonight. Their approach has been figured out and stuffed 2 games in a row. The veteran players need to show up and lead the charge or it’s a wrap.

Let’s Go Hockey!

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I haven’t written a word about the NHL since the season was stopped in march for COVID-19 because it was impossible to say anything concrete about what was going to happen with the conclusion of the 2019-2020 season. There’s been a lot of behind the scenes action in the last two weeks or so that’s become official. The run for the Stanley Cup is scheduled to start on August 1st. That’s only 2 weeks away.

The pandemic has borked every sport on Earth. Everyone is trying to get the ball running and the NHL is on the cusp of starting play. Training Camps opened on Monday. As for the Rangers, the entire team has been coming back to New York over the last two weeks or so. Because of their standings at the cutoff, they have enough points to enter the Cup Qualifiers with the other 5 bubble teams. August 1st will be the pop off date for the best of 5 series against Carolina. The non-bubble teams that had enough points to make it into the playoffs at the halt of the regular season will play a few round-robin games to establish seeding.

The two hub cities for all games are up North in Toronto and Edmonton. One for the East and West conferences. The Cup Finals will be played in Edmonton.

So now the goal is to keep everyone healthy into the travel date to the Hub City for everyone. Once there, the bubble is made. Players and staff won’t be able to go out much besides the rink and hotel. Family won’t be allowed in until well into the playoffs to keep outside contact to a minimum.

This also means the pressure is on. No one has played a hockey game in more than 4 months. In two months, it’s hit the ice hard or GTFO. This is for the Cup! The teams that can come together the fastest will have a huge advantage. With a best of 5 series to start, the bubble teams have no room for error. Lundqvist has to hit his apex in camp to earn his spot to play over Georgiev (Shesterkin is a shoo-in (skate-in?) to be back up goalie at the very least). The Rangers beat Carolina every game this season but with that momentum gone, it’s anyone’s game. Take a team for granted and you’re going to get beat.

This whole ordeal has spun the finances of the NHL into a black hole. A ton of money has been lost and that makes the payroll cap for every team a huge question mark for the next few years. Right now, the 2020-2021 season is scheduled to start in December. That’s if everything goes well. The NHL is going to be reorganizing things for the next few years so any kind of “normal season” is way down the line. The foreseeable future is going to be an effort in keeping the lights on (many teams make very little profit or operate in the red). Right now we can only hold tight and see what happens. I am so excited for hockey to come back.