2023-2024 NHL/Hockey thread

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Bobrovsky is a Sith Lord.

This did not end up a goal.

[Cobra Mgr]

A real nail biter.

[Cobra Mgr]

I honestly don't know how a player doesn't take their stick & play Whack-a-Mole on Marchand's head.

[Amazin69]

One of the great nicknames ever for #63…"The Little Ball of Hate". Indeed.

Kings flirted with disaster last night, but got the OT win. (Now 4-1 in extra sessions against Oilers in the past 3 playoffs.)

I'm only sad that I can't find a picture of Mikey Anderson playing goalie with the two pads stacked during that scrum in the Kings' crease. That was sweet. Holy Tretiak!

[Amazin69]

So Friday night, the Kings played another poor first period, trailing 3-0.

Then they played the Oilers even in the 2nd, so it was 4-1 going to the 3rd.

A comeback seemed unlikely, but apparently the refs were scared, because we saw some of the most biased refereeing I've seen in a while.

A little over five minutes in, Physical Presence Andreas Englund made himself felt, giving Evander Kane a hard shoulder to the chest, and Kane dropped. Hard hit, but a clean hit, no penalty called.

However, Dylan Holloway of the Oilers was upset, and he put an elbow and the butt end of his stick into Englund's back, dropping Englund. Clearly a penalty, but the refs let it go, perhaps feeling it was justified retaliation.

Englund got up, and squared off with Holloway. Adrian Kempe came over and stuck his stick-butt between the two, but Brett Kulak probably thought Kempe was jumping in and he jumped on Kempe, and Byfield tried to pull Kulak off, and Vincent Desharnais (the Oilers' Physical Presence) got Byfield in a choke-hold from behind, and Kopitar tried to pull him off, and then Desharnais (who is 6'7", 226 lbs) had both QB and Kopi, an arm around each of their heads.

Then Englund and Kane got free and had a proper scrap, and Kempe and Holloway scuffled and even Desharnais and Kopitar (remember, Kopi doesn't fight, that's how he wins Lady Byngs). And eventually it all broke up.

So you have basically an even amount of action, most of the physicality initiated by the Oilers. What do you call?

05:19 Anze Kopitar Roughing against Vincent Desharnais
05:19 Anze Kopitar Unsportsmanlike conduct against Vincent Desharnais
05:19 Adrian Kempe Roughing against Dylan Holloway
05:19 Vincent Desharnais Roughing against Anze Kopitar
05:19 Andreas Englund Illegal check to head against Evander Kane
05:19 Dylan Holloway Roughing against Adrian Kempe
05:19 Andreas Englund Fighting against Evander Kane
05:19 Evander Kane Fighting against Andreas Englund

That's right. The refs conjured a two-man advantage for the Oilers, in the 3rd period of a playoff game, disadvantaging the team that needed to come back and virtually deciding the game. (Edmonton scored on the 5-on-3, going up 5-1.) Did Toronto get on the phone with them and tell them that with the Maple Laffs going down the drain again, they needed to save at least ONE Canadian side?

Because, what do you know, somehow the initial hit by Englund, which the refs did NOT call a penalty on (nor should they have) was now an "illegal check to the head", never mind the only impact made to Kane's head might have been if Kane hit Englund's shoulder with his chin as he was falling because of the shot to his sternum.

And meanwhile, somehow, Kopitar was charged with Unsportsmanlike. No idea how, since the cameras were on Englund and Kane fighting at the time, and when they got back Desharnais (despite being built like the Hulk) did seem a bit woozy, so perhaps Kopi poked him in the eye or kneed him in the junk or something. Sure, Anze has been one of the league's cleanest players for 18 years, but you never know, I suppose.

Meanwhile, Dylan Holloway got away cleanly despite hitting Englund with that elbow/butt-end in the back. He took 2 for roughing against Kempe, but Kempe had the same penalty.

A 5-on-3. FU, refs.

Of course, not to be outdone, the refs did it again later in the period. Byfield hit McDavid from behind, which I thought might have gotten a call, but didn't, but was of course the signal for four Oilers to go after QB. (Can't touch the STAR, y'know.) In the mix, the refs decided it was best give P-L D an extra two minutes to go with his game misconduct for fighting Evan Bouchard, thus creating another Oilers power play.

“I don’t know how they had so many power plays, to be honest. The calls were ...” Kings forward Kevin Fiala said before he was cut off by a team employee.

As the Kings were killing that power play, Mikey Anderson checked Kane into the boards. (Good hard clean play. No reason for a call.) The Kings cleared the puck the length of the ice, and as Kane started back up ice, he gave Mikey a small shove, so Mikey whacked Kane's stick with his own and…whammo! Kane drops his stick and that's two minutes for "slashing". Never mind that slashing is supposed to be against the man, not the stick, never mind the circumstances, never mind that the puck was 200' away.

BRET HEDICAN (TNT analyst): I don’t like that call. A player’s not holding onto his stick hard enough there. Just a stick coming over the top of the other stick and he drops it. Now if it’s a scoring chance and a slash comes across and breaks the stick, different story.

Yeah, that. It was at this point that the fans started chanting "Refs, you suck!" and throwing (not enough) garbage on the ice.

Oilers converted this 5-on-3 as well, final score 6-1. Garbage refereeing all around. They better not assign the same refs tonight. I grant you that I was having a **** night already (you don't need to know), but this was infuriating.

(ETA: Good news! Chris Rooney is working Jets-Avalanche today! We're safe!)

[Cobra Mgr]

Canes close out Islanders 6-3. Canes built up an early 3-1 lead in the 1st, only to lose it in the 2nd as NY tied it up. Carolina got 2 goals 7 seconds apart & then an empty netter to end the series 4-1.

Really freaky game. "Turbo" scored just 90 secs on a shot at a weird angle. Svech followed w/a goal that actually went of a defender's stick. Then the Canes 3rd core came from a Kuznetzov penalty shot. Islanders tied it when Anderssen somehow lost his balance, leaving an empty net.

The weirdest though came after the Canes retook the lead off Drury's 1st of the series. On the onsuing face off, Canes won the puck & dumped it in deep, I have watched maybe 4-500 games @ PNC arena. I don't ever remember the puck ricocheting like it did tonight. Instead of travelling along the boards like you would expect (and as the NY GT Variamov also expected) the puck bounced off the glass 90 degrees almost exactly parallel to the goal line. Though it looked like it hit more towards the back of the goal post (which you would think would cause the puck to go behind the goal) the puck bounced in front of the goal. W/the goalie caught behind the net, Noesen hustled in & tapped it across to retake a 2 goal lead.

Really fluky.

So Canes have the Daddy, scuse me, the Rangers next.

[Cobra Mgr]

Bruins' twitter is all atwitter over this sequence. Boston fans can't honestly be shocked at the lack of empathy towards Marchand.

[Cobra Mgr]

@reds1

What kind of person is Nikolaj Ehlers? I saw this vid for the 1st time today & I was super impressed w/his concern for his opponent.

[Amazin69]

removed

[Cobra Mgr]

Like father, like daughter. Didn't know if I should put this in the NFL or NHL thread.

[reds1]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

@reds1

What kind of person is Nikolaj Ehlers? I saw this vid for the 1st time today & I was super impressed w/his concern for his opponent.

Yeah, that wasn't one of Mark Scheifele's finest hours. But something like happens quite frequently in the NHL.

I don't know much about Ehlers off the ice, but he is an incredibly speedy winger who at times is a free spirit on the ice (There is a rumor that Mark Scheifele prefers Vilardi on his wing as he is a little more predictable than Ehlers). I really like him as he is entertaining as heck and is a hockey-first player. But that doesn't mean he'll back down from a fight.

He has his detractors and is prone to mental mistakes that can lead to costly turnovers. And he hasn't been very successful when the playoffs come around. But he is hardly alone in that department. Even Connor Hellebuyck was sub-par but the Jets forgot how to play defense and didn't play each shift with urgency the way the Avalanche did. The better team won, that's for sure.

Here is a blurb on Ehlers from the Winnipeg Sun on his playoff performance:

Nikolaj Ehlers

Two points in five games. He wasn’t effective and continued a trend of poor playoff performances. He’s played 37 postseason games now, with just four goals and 14 points. The Jets needed much more from their second line, and Ehlers, an analytical darling, didn’t drive much offence. His zone entry in Game 5, which led to Tyler Toffoli’s game-tying goal, was an exception to the rule. Winnipeg needed more of that.

Player grade: D

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by reds1

Yeah, that wasn't one of Mark Scheifele's finest hours. But something like happens quite frequently in the NHL.

I don't know much about Ehlers off the ice, but he is an incredibly speedy winger who at times is a free spirit on the ice (There is a rumor that Mark Scheifele prefers Vilardi on his wing as he is a little more predictable than Ehlers). I really like him as he is entertaining as heck and is a hockey-first player. But that doesn't mean he'll back down from a fight.

He has his detractors and is prone to mental mistakes that can lead to costly turnovers. And he hasn't been very successful when the playoffs come around. But he is hardly alone in that department. Even Connor Hellebuyck was sub-par but the Jets forgot how to play defense and didn't play each shift with urgency the way the Avalanche did. The better team won, that's for sure.

Here is a blurb on Ehlers from the Winnipeg Sun on his playoff performance:

Well, he may not be a favorite player. But watching him act as a shield from the scrum for his opponent while he laid on the ice showed a lot of character to me. He can be my neighbor any day.

[Cobra Mgr]

Rangers took game 1 4-3. ST's was all the difference. I think the Canes miss Jesper Fast more than we realized. The kill & PP have both dropped in quality since he got hurt. Carolina is going to have to stay out of the box. That means Svech & D'Angelo particularly need to grow up & play disciplined. And Andersen needs to match the opposing goalie. In the past when the Canes met up w/a stingy netminder in the playoffs, Andersen would give up one goal he shouldn't & that would be the diff. Yesterday was no different. From this point forward he needs to be 100% on saves he can make. There is no margin of error.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Rangers took game 1 4-3. ST's was all the difference. I think the Canes miss Jesper Fast more than we realized. The kill & PP have both dropped in quality since he got hurt. Carolina is going to have to stay out of the box. That means Svech & D'Angelo particularly need to grow up & play disciplined. And Andersen needs to match the opposing goalie. In the past when the Canes met up w/a stingy netminder in the playoffs, Andersen would give up one goal he shouldn't & that would be the diff. Yesterday was no different. From this point forward he needs to be 100% on saves he can make. There is no margin of error.

Sign the Canes don't pay attention to me. I said Andersen needs to sharpen it up & Svech needs to mature & stop w/the silly penalties. So what do they do to open things up? Andersen gives up a bad angle goal cause he isn't protecting the post (Doesn't matter he can't see the puck. You know the area it is in so you play the odds.), and Svech for some reason thinks the goalie can be hit like any other skater.

Despite not listening to me, the Canes get up 2-1 thanks to 2 deflected pucks into the net.

[Cobra Mgr]

Explain to me why only Guentzel got sent to the box?

[Cobra Mgr]

3-3 2OT...............I was so hoping to hit the mattress early....................

[Cobra Mgr]

crap.,,,,,,.......................................

[Cobra Mgr]

Should you get penalized for clear intent even though you executed your illegal play badly?

[Cobra Mgr]

Leafs fire Sheldon Keefe

[Cobra Mgr]

I need my NHL fans to help me out.

Canes last 8 playoff losses: All by one goal. In 10 OT's. One other w/5 secs remaining.

WHY CAN THEY NOT WIN THESE GAMES? WHAT ARE THEY DOING WRONG? WHAT ARE THEY LACKING?