Random 2021 Playoff Talk

[Portland Blues]

Islanders have one period left to do something.

[theohall]

All that offensive zone time for the Isles with 1 shot on goal over 12 minutes?? They gotta do better than that if they want to move on. They had the offensive zone possession time, but aren't getting shots through to the net.

[gaijin]

Well, that's it. Your Stanley Cup Final will be Tampa vs. Montreal.

[theohall]

Tough way to lose a Game 7... losing on a short-handed goal in a 1-0 game.

[Portland Blues]

Tough way to lose a Game 7... losing on a short-handed goal in a 1-0 game.

That is rough. Still stunned that Maroon now has a chance to be on the cup winning team 3 straight years.

[glen a richter]

Let’s go Habs

[theohall]

Kinda interesting with Lehkonen getting the Game 7 GWG vs Vegas when he was healthy scratched the last 4 games of the Toronto series and the 1st game of the Jets series. Julien's reasoning when he's done this before - Lehkonen is very good defensively, which is why he's on the "checking line" which goes out against the opponent's top line, but needs to provide more offense.

[Portland Blues]

Game 1 coming up. Guess I'll be cheering for Montreal.

[theohall]

I kinda want to see Maroon get 3 in a row.

[glen a richter]

Without digging too deep, I think the last time anyone has won the Cup three plus years in a row was during the Islanders dynasty. While it would be cool for Maroon I have to go with Montreal.

[Portland Blues]

Pretty weird to watch the Cup kick off basically in July. The fact we just set an all-time high temperature of 116 here today (average is 77) makes it feel extra odd.

[theohall]

The high in Tampa was 93....

[Portland Blues]

The high in Tampa was 93....

Before this weekend the all-time record from back in the 1890's was 107. It's like Palm Springs without the cool architecture.

[Portland Blues]

Maroon appears to be rocking the 1970s hair these days.

[Portland Blues]

Tampa Bay kind of rubbing the Habs' nose in it here at the end.

[theohall]

I think they didn't appreciate Weber deciding he could slash and cross-check his way through the roster and demonstrated what that would cost. I know, Tampa did their own crap, especially Sergachev.... but don't poke the bear of the Lightning power play.

Thought the Coleman/Gallagher nonsense was a wash, but that's going to continue through this series, because that's who they both are.

While much as been made of the Habs defense, the Lightning are just as capable of locking out an opponent when they have a lead. Ask the Islanders (from the past 2 playoffs) and the Stars. I don't feel the Habs have the offense to overcome what the Lightning can do when the Bolts have a lead. Habs are going to need to score first, IMO, to have any chance of staying even. Even with that, the Habs didn't do crap to stop the Bolts cross-ice passing which the Islanders took away. If the Habs don't take that away, it's going to be a very short series.

[theohall]

Montreal played the better game and lost. Through 2 periods, based on possession time, the Canadiens expected Goals stat was almost double that of Tampa. Too bad Montreal wasn't putting any quality shots on goal which is the massive flaw with the xG statistic. It only looks at possession time without measuring quality of shots on goal. Boucher was praising Vasilevskiy after the game, but Vasi simply didn't face that many challenging shots and he probably should've saved the only one that went in.

[gaijin]

Joel Edmundson with the sloppy turnover behind his own net that led to Tampa's insurance goal.

Thinking about Edmundson makes me wonder what the Blues' defense would look like today had they not traded Joel and acquired Faulk. I would think they would have kept Petro. Does that mean they would not have signed Krug as well? That would have made the blueline: Pietrangelo, Parayko, Scandella, Edmundson, Bortuzzo, Gunnarson, Dunn. Personally, I like that better.

[theohall]

Something kinda nuts - everyone of those d-men, except Krug and Edmundson, missed significant time this season with injuries and/or Covid.

[Portland Blues]

Habs are getting steamrolled. Down 4-1 only 4 minutes into the 2nd.