2007/2008 Hockey Thread

[Gabriel]

Update:

The Atlanta Thrashers join Tampa Bay on the outside looking in. That's two teams now from the East, statistically eliminated.

Montreal, with a win tonight and a Washington loss in the Caps' next game, can secure a playoff spot.

Calgary can pull within 1 point of Minnesota for 1st in the Northwest with a regulation win over the Wild tonight... while Colorado is looking to hold onto the 8th spot in the conference. A win for Colorado puts them in a 3 way tie with Vancouver and Calgary (should the Flames fail to register a point)... whereas a loss will give the red hot Oilers some ground on them, and put Edmonton just 3 points back of the Avs.

Should be a fun night.

[NobBe Nobbs]

So are Tampa Bay the most pathetic franchise in the league? They have no clue how to build a team, after all.

[Gabriel]

So are Tampa Bay the most pathetic franchise in the league? They have no clue how to build a team, after all.

I think they really are the most pathetic.

The idea of having two or three players taking up half of your payroll is bloody ridiculous. There's no other way around it. Especially when those two or three players can't even carry the team to the playoffs.

They'll be better next year, with stable goaltending from Mike Smith... but I think for them to really turn things around, they'll have to trade Lecavalier and St. Louis, and start building a TEAM, rather than a line and a supporting cast of guys who will work for peanuts.

[Clawson]

Man I'm really loving these last few games lately. All of them have had that playoff air around them and if we manage to squeak in, I think we're gonna do some serious damage.

And I love how the Sens try to fight the Leafs 6 to 4 after the horn blows. Would have been nice if McCabe just dropped Alfreddsson with one punch.

[Cactus Drags]

Why lose to Edmonton, why?

Why not win on a road trip, putting yourselves on a four game losing streak, why?

Why try and miss the playoffs, why?

Fucking Quenneville.

[Toe]

4 points back of Boston with two games next week against them. Nice.

Of course, if Montreal didn't suck so much, it would be three points instead of four....

[The Sultan of Swank]

8 and fucking 0 against Boston this season. That's slightly less than 20% of our wins.

Toronto is making an expected push for the playoffs. I think they're doing the same thing Montreal did for the first half of the season. Everyone picked Montreal to be even lower than the Leafs right now and there was almost this nearly unspoken need to prove everyone wrong. After the first 20-25 games, people went, oh it's still early, they'll fail. After Christmas people started to go, well they do have a pretty good team, and after a span in Jan and Feb where we took something like 19 of 26 possible points in a month, people went, ok, these guys are for real.

Everyone, including myself had counted Toronto out, because, not to bash any teams or anything. They played like shit for about 65 games... no question. Now, Toronto is still in a very tight spot. They're gaining ground on 8th (you're welcome by the way), but so are the other 3 teams ahead of them. They've got to get past the Caps, Sabres and Panthers, all of whom are in the same situation as Toronto. To say that Toronto wants it more than any of those teams is sort of ridiculous, so it's going to be interesting to see which of those teams can build enough momentum and maintain it longer than any of the other 7-12 teams to sucessfully make that mad dash for the playoffs. Toronto to me, is pretty much in the wildcard slot for that. They're close enough in points, but have the most teams to get through.

Once the playoffs hit, it certainly is a sort of 'anything can happen' second season, but out of the teams seeded 7-12 the only ones I personally feel have what it takes to do any sort of damage isare Washington and maybe the Flyers.

[Clawson]

If you're in first (you're welcome by the way) and we're in eight, that shit is going to seven.

[The Sultan of Swank]

No question.

Honestly the teams I fear playing in the series most are Jersey, Rangers, Ottawa and Toronto. The first 3 make sense. The last, I've said it before, it doesn't matter who's in first and who's in eighth. Montreal and Toronto always, always put on the most intense hockey ever seen. A playoff series would honestly be a coin toss either way in 7 games... 5 or 6 of em probably in OT.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Fuck. I've been to games in Toronto, Washington, Kitchener, Hershey, Binghamton, Wilkes-Barre, and Rochester - and never seen a crowd like last night. Habs fans are awesome. Hell, Montrealers period are awesome.

Good game, too.

[Toe]

Andrew Raycroft's inconsistent play cost us the playoffs last season, and thinking about it, his awful play may be the reason we are in this position now. Raycroft put up a 2-8-4 record this season. We are currently four points back. I know some of those starts came when Toskala was hurt, but some came at the start of the year too. What if Toskala had been given the reigns earlier? Its more then possible that we would be closer to, tied, or even ahead of Boston right now.

So, in closing, screw you Andrew Raycroft. You broke my heart.

[The Sultan of Swank]

MPH... I think the closest thing to a Habs game as far as atmosphere goes is a game in Edmonton.

Did you get into the ole chants?

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Of course I did

Although my favourite part was the Ole chants coming from one end, dueling with 'Thomas...Thomas...' from the other.

[The Sultan of Swank]

April 5th I'm going to be heading to the Habs/Leafs game. If the Leafs can hold on long enough, maybe we can try to spoil their season.

I might be up in the press box for most of the remaining home games. I'm getting an internship with the Habs radio broadcast and apparently I'm going to have to be a good little errand boy during the games... I'm kinda excited.

[Clawson]

God, Ottawa is so shite. 7-1 after 2, Basha must have the boner to end all boners.

Bwahahahaha, that 3rd would have been a boner killer. Now I'm gonna go eat crow.

Edited March 25, 2008 by Clawson

[Plubby]

OK, now while MOST of the Canadian teams MAY be in action today. Clearly nobody gives a shit as it's not the news to be discussed.

Attaboy, Jonathan Roy. Attaboy.

[The Sultan of Swank]

oh man. I guess if you give up 7 goals in 40 minutes, you've gotta show something for it. Ottawa made a hell of an effort to make up for 40 minutes of complete ineptitude. Honestly, through the first two they sucked. In the third, Montreal sucked. Obviously Ottawa was going to push hard to at least make it respectable in the third, and Montreal has such a young team, it's gotta be hard to stay focused when you're beating Ottawa of all teams by 6 after 2. I think that the game was a good confidence boost for the team but Ottawa came close enough for everyone to know that like the Rangers learned earlier this year when they blew a 5-0 lead in the second to us... no lead is safe and no team is unbeatable.

[Clawson]

Honestly I would have drop kicked him in the face, skates and all. Has to be the biggest cunt in hockey's history not named Sean Avery.

[The Sultan of Swank]

Oh man the way he went after the other goalie who clearly didn't want to fight. What a fucking jackass.

I just realized that Montreal is the first team in the East to clinch.

[Cactus Drags]

What are you talking about, goalie fight?