6/7 Isles @ Boston
- Thread starter Over Guapo Grande
- Start date
My tinfoil-hat take on this is that the NHL probably considers the Bruins to have thoroughly saturated their market at this point, while many of their postseason opponents have not. The Bs have been competitive for over a decade now (aside from a few off-years in there) and are in a great sports town. Ergo, they're probably not going to draw in many new fans than what they already have. I think it's very easy for NHL execs to look at Tampa, D.C., St. Louis, and now this Islanders franchise (which hasn't seen much success since the early 80s) as places to "grow the game." The Bruins constantly being competitive makes them an easy Goliath for the league to try to manufacture their would-be Davids against, especially factoring in Boston's success in the MLB and NFL.
This. It's the same reason the Jacob family could do the bare minimum for decades. The fan base is baked in and suckers for punishment
I wouldn’t point to St. Louis as a new and sexy market. Given the NHLers they’ve been producing, they’ve had an established fan base in place for a while.
But they had never won the Cup, and the 2019 team had a worst-to-first Cinderella narrative built up by that point. Meanwhile, the Bruins had "just" won in 2011 and were also the franchise that had beat the Blues in the Cup finals from long ago. Which team winning is going to net you more new fans?
None of that matters.
It was a one goal game. There can be multiple differences. There objectively were multiple differences. The Bruins showed that you very well can be in a position to win a game like that, even with poor goaltending.
There’s no grand conspiracy. It’s nothing more than in Toronto, The Bruins are the dirtiest team ever, and the guys that work for the league are inundated with that constantly in the media up there. I truly believe that the refs don’t consciously give a shit who wins. However, they are always looking for stuff that the Bruins are doing because “they’re dirty, and we’re a clean team” which every opponent points out in these series. It has an effect.
Honestly, you’re making it too complicated.
The Bruins don’t dive, their owner isn’t in the boys club, the league hates Marchand and dozens of emails about Campbell’s kid playing got leaked.
Officials (league and on-ice) are human. There doesn’t have to be a broad conspiracy and concerted effort for them to be influenced by these things.
They literally had to shitcan a ref for saying on a hot mike what anyone who watches the league knows: that the officials regularly call the game based on things other than the rulebook and on-ice play.
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Managed to hit the front page on ESPN. At least the message is out there.
https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/31586769/boston-bruins-bruce-cassidy-calls-officials-saying-new-york-islanders-commit-many-infractions-do
https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/31586769/boston-bruins-bruce-cassidy-calls-officials-saying-new-york-islanders-commit-many-infractions-do
And amazingly despite all this toronto still has managed to lose 3 game 7s against them, that's how fucking inept that organization is
It is inconceivable that one team can be so thoroughly dominated at 5v5 and yet only commit two penalties, and I don't think it's malice as much as the refs have been conditioned over the year to not call penalities on the Isles.
Anyways, we can all pull our hair out but in the playoffs, it all comes down to luck and so far the Isles have had all of it. Get Carlo and maybe Miller back, hope for a bounce, and win in 7.
Anyways, we can all pull our hair out but in the playoffs, it all comes down to luck and so far the Isles have had all of it. Get Carlo and maybe Miller back, hope for a bounce, and win in 7.
I had to shut it off after the 2nd Islanders goal. I haven't done that in years, but I was way too angry after Game 4 and the first period that I just couldn't justify watching anymore.
There's no point to this post other than venting, but I had to do it somewhere.
There's no point to this post other than venting, but I had to do it somewhere.
How many goals did the Islanders get on the power play? Do you think that made any kind of a difference?
edit: also your first point is that the bruins outshot the Islanders 44-19.. but they also were on the wrong side of the officiating... even by your own logic that shouldn't add up.
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I was 1 goal later after the third but I was so angry because I wasn't watching hockey. I was watching something pretending to be hockey.
At 4-2, I started cleaning the kitchen like a stressed-out mom in a poorly-written sitcom.
Need Carlo. He's not Ray Bourque, but he's smart and won't try blind passes during a PK. That alone would be a huge help.
Need Carlo. He's not Ray Bourque, but he's smart and won't try blind passes during a PK. That alone would be a huge help.
Woke up today wishing Dafoomie would make a compilation of calls made against the Bruins juxtaposed by calls not made against their opponent - within the same game or series. Between TB, Montreal (pick any year/series) and 2019 StL, he’d have a rich vein of ore to mine. Then have scrolling year over year stats regarding B’s PP/PK ranking. Then it gets sent to league offices.
Unpopular opinion alert: You have got to hand it to the Islanders. They come in to a packed house, withstand a withering attack from a pumped up Bruins team, get all of the calls going their way, expose the Bruins penalty kill, and generally have their way with us.
I do hate them for this. It happens every year though. Speed and skill during the regular season turns into a gladiator match in the playoffs. I can't take much more of this.
I do hate them for this. It happens every year though. Speed and skill during the regular season turns into a gladiator match in the playoffs. I can't take much more of this.
So Butch fined 25k for telling the truth. Instead, how about a response that says the NHL takes him seriously and will review the tapes? Instead of going forward, they repress and the status quo not only remains but is perpetuated (see SCF game 5). The problem is that there is no mechanism in place to hold the refs accountable. The danger is that some fans detach further from the game and no longer think it to be on the level. Do they care? No, unless revenue is compromised (i.e., rules are subject to the market).
Presumably the refs are graded after every game and the good ones get assignments later in the playoffs. More games reffed means more money for the referees. Incentives to ref a good game that doesn't always work in reality for a variety of reasons. Any discipline is also not going to be made public largely because nobody cares about the day to day of referees. Do you have a better method for doing so?
You said "presumably" and so I would vote for making whatever process they have in place transparent and, as a result, inviting suggestions for improvement from interested and intelligent parties. When there is good cause for review in the playoffs, as I think there was in game 5, then rather than a fine with subsequent repression I would vote for developing a process in which there is an impartial review of game tapes and, if necessary, making adjustments. If I recall correctly, the NBA has moved to admitting when the refs made mistakes after games. I would like to think such a model or another workable substitute would help the cause of the NHL if only to show they are trying. As it is, it looks like repression and the status quo remains. If you or anybody else on this board has other suggestions, then please offer them. We all love the game, and it needs to get better.
I've spoken to several of my customers today from around the country who are hockey fans and fans of various teams; Black Hawks, Blues, Rangers, Sharks, Golden Knights and Stars............to a man they all are disgusted with that shitshow that passed as NHL referee performance last night.
If they are going to make certain calls, then fine; but call it both ways. And that "slash" which resulted in Barzal walking in all alone and firing one over Rask on the PP was a horrendous call, it did not impact the skaters ability to shoot the puck, should have been no call there.
I almost gave up on the sport after game five of the SCF in 2019 after that cementhead Berube moaned about the calls in game three, which resulted in a slew foot right in front of the referee, no call and bang, a goal resulted from it, but I hung in there and this is my reward, this shitshow passing as competent referees in the playoffs.
I give the Islanders credit in that they manage to survive the onslaught like they did in the first period last night, never allowed themselves to go down two scores, then they chip away and tie the game up, would love to see how they react to being down 2 or 3 goals.
And I hate to go down this road, but man oh man, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good; on one of their power plays, the defenseman shatters his stick as he's about to clear the puck, so it goes to a 5 on 3, a shot/pass deflects off of one skate, hits the other PERFECTLY and the puck slides over to a Islander on the doorstep and he hammers it home.
Skill is one thing; outrageous puck luck is another; then on the opposite spectrum, Marchand fans on a rolling puck, gathers it in, has a wide open net and shoots it right through the crease.
One of my friends who I was watching the game with last night said it best during the first period, "All of these missed opportunities are going to bite them in the ass"..............it seems like the Islanders bang home most of their high level chances and the Bruins are just snakebitten.
It's just infuriating to watch; as much as I love the sport and more to the point, playoff hockey, sometimes the game can be soul crushing from a fans perspective.
Win tomorrow night and have it come down to a game 7 at home is all.
If they are going to make certain calls, then fine; but call it both ways. And that "slash" which resulted in Barzal walking in all alone and firing one over Rask on the PP was a horrendous call, it did not impact the skaters ability to shoot the puck, should have been no call there.
I almost gave up on the sport after game five of the SCF in 2019 after that cementhead Berube moaned about the calls in game three, which resulted in a slew foot right in front of the referee, no call and bang, a goal resulted from it, but I hung in there and this is my reward, this shitshow passing as competent referees in the playoffs.
I give the Islanders credit in that they manage to survive the onslaught like they did in the first period last night, never allowed themselves to go down two scores, then they chip away and tie the game up, would love to see how they react to being down 2 or 3 goals.
And I hate to go down this road, but man oh man, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good; on one of their power plays, the defenseman shatters his stick as he's about to clear the puck, so it goes to a 5 on 3, a shot/pass deflects off of one skate, hits the other PERFECTLY and the puck slides over to a Islander on the doorstep and he hammers it home.
Skill is one thing; outrageous puck luck is another; then on the opposite spectrum, Marchand fans on a rolling puck, gathers it in, has a wide open net and shoots it right through the crease.
One of my friends who I was watching the game with last night said it best during the first period, "All of these missed opportunities are going to bite them in the ass"..............it seems like the Islanders bang home most of their high level chances and the Bruins are just snakebitten.
It's just infuriating to watch; as much as I love the sport and more to the point, playoff hockey, sometimes the game can be soul crushing from a fans perspective.
Win tomorrow night and have it come down to a game 7 at home is all.