March NHL Game Thread

cshea

cshea

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There's actually a compelling wild card race in the East this season.

1. New York Islanders 72 points; 17 games remaining
2. Pittsburgh 71 points; 20 games remaining
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1. Buffalo 68 points; 20 games remaining
2. Ottawa 68 points; 19 games remaining
3. Florida 68 points; 18 games remaining
4. Washington 68 points; 17 games remaining

Should be a fun race to follow, especially with some new blood in the mix with Buffalo and Ottawa. Ottawa blew a layup game last night, losing 5-0 to Chicago.

Buffalo is at NYI tonight in a big head-to-head matchup.
 
D

durandal1707

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Apr 18, 2007
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Going to be very curious to see how this all shakes out. In terms of 5v5 xGF, it goes:


TEAM xGF%
FLA 54.16% (5th)
PIT 51.94% (11th)
OTT 51.49% (14th)
WSH 50.86% (16th)
NYI 49.27% (21st)
BUF 48.51% (23rd)


The team I least want to see in WC2 are the Isles. They're punching way above their weight by virtue of the 2nd overall PDO (101.3), driven largely by Sorokin having a great year and raising their overall SV% to 0.933. They have all the ingredients to be a first round spoiler.

Florida's an interesting case study. Their goaltending is surprisingly competent (0.923 SV%, 14th overall) but their shooting percentage fell off a cliff since last year (7.7%, 21st).
 
cshea

cshea

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TSC said:
View: https://twitter.com/russohockey/status/1633263508719583232?s=46&t=OkYc4B97cAcDPw09PEJj_w
Click to expand...
This stems from Ivan Provorov skipping warmups on Flyers Pride night because he did not want to wear the Pride uniform due to religious beliefs. Since then, a handful of teams have dropped wearing the warmup uniforms. I believe the Rangers and Islanders both did the same thing as the Wild, scrap the warmup uniforms. They are essentially protecting a player or players that are refusing to wear it.
 
Fred in Lynn

Fred in Lynn

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It’s too bad someone couldn’t have speared Chuck Fletcher and the entire management group above him. It would have been difficult for an outside organization to run that organization more into the ground than the Flyers have done to themselves.

For one bit of calculus, to be in a position where the unlikeable offense-only defenseman on their roster speared Perry (and to be fair, he deserves a few points for that) as opposed to the extremely likable offense-only defenseman on their roster cost them two 2nds, one 3rd, one 4th, and one 7th to acquire. That’s some real high-end GM-ing right there. I don’t think the site could handle a full accounting of the awesome-less-ness of that organization right now.
 
Red Right Ankle

Red Right Ankle

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cshea said:
This stems from Ivan Provorov skipping warmups on Flyers Pride night because he did not want to wear the Pride uniform due to religious beliefs. Since then, a handful of teams have dropped wearing the warmup uniforms. I believe the Rangers and Islanders both did the same thing as the Wild, scrap the warmup uniforms. They are essentially protecting a player or players that are refusing to wear it.
Click to expand...
Fucking cowardly organizations.
 
Sandwich Pick

Sandwich Pick

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Fred in Lynn said:
It’s too bad someone couldn’t have speared Chuck Fletcher and the entire management group above him. It would have been difficult for an outside organization to run that organization more into the ground than the Flyers have done to themselves.

For one bit of calculus, to be in a position where the unlikeable offense-only defenseman on their roster speared Perry (and to be fair, he deserves a few points for that) as opposed to the extremely likable offense-only defenseman on their roster cost them two 2nds, one 3rd, one 4th, and one 7th to acquire. That’s some real high-end GM-ing right there. I don’t think the site could handle a full accounting of the awesome-less-ness of that organization right now.
Click to expand...
Even with the injuries to Couturier and Atkinson, I am completely blown away by how bad Fletcher has been. I admittedly complained about Hextall before, but this is a mess.

Fletcher is a Frankenstein of everything you don't want in an NHL GM. He can find decent talent, but he can't acquire or keep it without paying a premium in assets or dollars. Overpaid mediocrity is the best way to get your team stuck in the mud.

At least Holmgren paid high prices for elite talent (Pronger, Briere, Weber offer sheet)
 
Green (Tongued) Monster

Green (Tongued) Monster

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cshea said:
There's actually a compelling wild card race in the East this season.

1. New York Islanders 72 points; 17 games remaining
2. Pittsburgh 71 points; 20 games remaining
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Buffalo 68 points; 20 games remaining
2. Ottawa 68 points; 19 games remaining
3. Florida 68 points; 18 games remaining
4. Washington 68 points; 17 games remaining

Should be a fun race to follow, especially with some new blood in the mix with Buffalo and Ottawa. Ottawa blew a layup game last night, losing 5-0 to Chicago.

Buffalo is at NYI tonight in a big head-to-head matchup.
Click to expand...
Buffalo gave up 10(!) goals last night at home to Dallas, have lost 5 of 6, and have gone from the last wildcard spot to 12th in the conference. Youngest team in the league and they may be wearing down. Was hoping for a playoff series to get some experience, because I always thought 2024 would be a contending year, but they will have to turn things around quick for that to happen.
 
MiracleOfO2704

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Bringing these two over from the Bruins game thread today:


Ed Hillel said:
Woulda been a goal, but I understand…
Click to expand...
durandal1707 said:
Just as long as the Bruins get the same whistle. Which is the issue with this league
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In this case, Moritz Seider was hit by a puck to the chin. The officials immediately blew play dead even with the Bruins possessing.

A couple of minutes ago, Owen Tippett gets hit in the face with a puck while killing a penalty, no whistle, Penguins end up scoring.
 
D

durandal1707

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Looking pretty good for the Bs right now. Caps just went up 4-1 on the Isles with 7:30 left in the third.
 
D

durandal1707

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The Sens max out at 106 points, so if they lose in regulation tonight the Bruins would be guaranteed one of the Atlantic seeds.
 
D

durandal1707

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Sabres fighting for their playoff life with the last four goals against the Leafs. 4-2 Buffalo with 8 minutes left.
 
Green (Tongued) Monster

Green (Tongued) Monster

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View: https://twitter.com/ESPNPlus/status/1635665563274944512?s=20


Not sure how many saw this, but I thought it was excellent. The WAS-NYR game was shown entirely in the cartoon world with the most popular characters replacing players in the game (both goalies, Trocheck, Kuznetsov). As a father of young children who regularly watch the show, this is a great way to get kids into the game. The announcers, and even Bettman, had a fun time with it. We have DVR'd the game and my kids have already watched it multiple times.
 
LogansDad

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Tonight I learned that the thing I need most in hockey is to have Marc-Andre Fleury beat the ever loving shit out of Jordan Binnington in a fight.

I also learned that the refs prevented it from happening tonight.
 
D

durandal1707

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LogansDad said:
Tonight I learned that the thing I need most in hockey is to have Marc-Andre Fleury beat the ever loving shit out of Jordan Binnington in a fight.

I also learned that the refs prevented it from happening tonight.
Click to expand...
Binnington of course started the whole thing by sticking his leg out, then getting upset the guy "bumped into him" and suckerpunching him while he's celebrating.

It's real great that the league handed a Cup to this loser. Really epitomizes everything a champion should be.

View: https://twitter.com/timandfriends/status/1636205481428393985?s=20
 
D

durandal1707

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Canes just tied it up with 0.3 seconds left to force overtime and Aho scores a circus goal right away.
 
D

durandal1707

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If you need some entertaining late night hockey, Stars-Flames is delivering. These two teams had 20 goals between them in their previous games and we're at 4-4 going into the 2nd intermission.
 
cshea

cshea

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The Penguins lost 2-1 to Ottawa last night. It's the Penguins 4th straight regulation loss and pushed them of the playoff structure. They are a tire fire and it is awesome.

The WC in the East has really settled into a 3 team race between NYI, Florida and Pittsburgh.
 
Lose Remerswaal

Lose Remerswaal

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cshea said:
The Penguins lost 2-1 to Ottawa last night. It's the Penguins 4th straight regulation loss and pushed them of the playoff structure. They are a tire fire and it is awesome.

The WC in the East has really settled into a 3 team race between NYI, Florida and Pittsburgh.
Click to expand...
But if the Penguins don’t make the playoffs and FSG doesn’t make money then ownership will cheap out on the Red Sox.

Did I do that right?
 
jcaz

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The mighty Pens had 48 SOG last night but were stoned by this guy. Dylan Ferguson making his second NHL start and picking up his first NHL win.
 
D

durandal1707

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cshea said:
The Penguins lost 2-1 to Ottawa last night. It's the Penguins 4th straight regulation loss and pushed them of the playoff structure. They are a tire fire and it is awesome.

The WC in the East has really settled into a 3 team race between NYI, Florida and Pittsburgh.
Click to expand...
Of the three, Pittsburgh seems to be the ideal opponent for the Bs. Florida's 6-0-1 since the trade deadline and I don't think that's a fluke—they've had an excellent xGF% all year (currently ahead of the Bruins in 5v5) but have underperformed until recently. The Islanders are the worst possession team of the three, but they have Sorokin who can certainly stand on his head for a couple games and steal a series. The Pens are 8th in 5v5 xGF but just seem to be middling in practically every category and remind me a lot of last year's Caps team that got bounced in the first round.
 
G

Gammon_Clark

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Sabers have given up on life… currently down 1-5 in the 2nd to Nashville, two nights ago lost to Boston 0-7 and two nights prior to that lost to the Flyers 2-5!
 
D

durandal1707

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durandal1707 said:
Of the three, Pittsburgh seems to be the ideal opponent for the Bs. Florida's 6-0-1 since the trade deadline and I don't think that's a fluke—they've had an excellent xGF% all year (currently ahead of the Bruins in 5v5) but have underperformed until recently. The Islanders are the worst possession team of the three, but they have Sorokin who can certainly stand on his head for a couple games and steal a series. The Pens are 8th in 5v5 xGF but just seem to be middling in practically every category and remind me a lot of last year's Caps team that got bounced in the first round.
Click to expand...
Speaking of...
View: https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1638331269669896193?s=20


44.59% 5v5 expected goals for the Isles, but they beat Toronto 7-2.

Meanwhile the Panthers squandered their chance to pull away from the struggling Pens, losing to Philly 6-3.
 
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