27 YEARS SINCE A CANADIAN TEAM WON THE CUP WILL THIS BE THE YEAR (no): THE NHL 2019-2020 THREAD (INCLUDING BLUES HANGOVER AND OFFSEASON SHENANIGANS. HOCKEY IS THE BEST)

it is my nature

sorry-ish

Going to prolong my anguish regardless.

see! i am innocent

I was pretty sure Couturier wasn't going to play (and he is not), so I wasn't to positive about this game, but Oscar Lindblom is playing in his first game since Dec. 7 and two months since his last cancer treatment and I am hyped as fuck.

Of course I've got Flyers-Devils Gm.7 ECF 2000 Lindros vibes and the ghost of Scott Stevens.

I've really liked AV as a coach but his challenges in this series have been suicidal.

gotta take some shots, so to speak, when you're being outshot 2-1

He's 0-3 on challenges and none of them have even been close.

gotta be aware of the long change in the odd-numbered overtimes

good luck

Pure agony

o no

bzzzzt

GAME SEVEN

27 years since an (Islander) team got to the ECF, really thought they were going to get it tonight.

Yeah.

Flyers have won all their games this series in OT. I'm pretty much good regardless of the outcome of Game 7 because they've shown me some fight in Games 5 and 6.

xp fuck you for even hinting at the existence of david volek

Islanders radio guys are terrific though, pure adrenaline and emotion.

Hahaha I remember being on the couch with my father during the Volek goal, one of the favorite sports moments. Almost made up for the Dale hunter hit. It’s been 27 years of nothing close since.

*my favorite

ffffyyyyy

:)

Did not expect to have three game sevens after they all went 3-1.

rip canadia

prop(p)s to the flyers for coming back from 3-1, but that was bad

Let's go Isles! Dominated the game tonight. Really glad to have the 27 year itch scratched.

Chris King (on the right) may be an acquired taste, but he's been pretty much like this every night on the radio for decades, even during meaningless games when the Isles are getting blown out. Love it. (Greg Picker is also great).

The final minute of regulation from the studio as the #Isles advance to the conference finals for the first time in 27 years! pic.twitter.com/HZZoA4qxnH

— Greg Picker (@GregPickerHere) September 6, 2020

so now my options are the isles or a bunch of bullshit sunbelt cities that don't deserve hockey. and maf isn't even playing for vegas

One of my best friends is beside himself with glee, as it was half his lifetime ago the last time the Isles were in the Conf Finals.

That warms my heart

i have decided the isles are my rooting interest bc i hate dallas (holdover late 90's red wings fan hatred + im from south texas so i reflexively hate all things dallas sports) and the cup being in tampa again or vegas sounds like the pits

Let's go Islanders, win it for Pat Lafontaine

okay then

Yikes

we should probably just be grateful that they shit the bed last year

19:51

rick bowness leading a team to the stanley cup finals is really trashing the idea that having a smart coach matters

Happy for the Stars, if only because absolutely no one gave them a chance to win the last two series.

puck-over-the-glass PPG in overtime, naturally

they should really only call that when the player is conceivably delaying the game

Isles got some fight left. Going to be really tough to win 2 more, but enjoying this tonight.

one of my besties couldn't even bring himself to watch it on his big tv, would only watch on the corner of his phone. msged me every 5 minutes shitting.

he is jubilant rn. hope they pull off the miracle.

weird that we don't have any lightning fans on this here board

Varly's victory slide already classic

SLIDING INTO GAME 6 LIKE… pic.twitter.com/iUSsC2UC3Y

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) September 16, 2020

I'm rooting for the Isles. Fuck all sunbelt expansion teams.

they should really only call that when the player is conceivably delaying the game

refs gathering around the ipad, zooming in to get a good look at the player's eyes to suss out intent while the cheeky soundguy plays "anticipation" over the pa.

i'm not necessarily against puck-over-the-glass being a penalty. i just object to the fact that the refs can and will choose to let more egregious things slide depending on the game situation, but this silly thing is called because it's black-and-white.

(tbf, both these last two games had penalties called with under six to go in the third, and i'm surprised beauvillier got a double minor, so good for them)

if you think Whitecloud intended to hit that puck into the stands, I don't know what to tell ya xp

https://grantland.com/the-triangle/is-the-puck-over-glass-rule-the-dumbest-regulation-in-sports/

Like most dumb problems, the solution for this one is easy: Treat any puck shot into the stands the same as icing — which, it should be pointed out, usually involves shooting the puck out of your own zone to relieve the pressure and is therefore essentially the exact same thing. You have a faceoff in the defensive zone, the defending team doesn’t get to change lines, and off we go. No worrying about whether the puck clipped the glass, no trying to triangulate whether it might have crossed into neutral airspace over the bench, and no trying to explain to new fans why shooting the puck over there is treated differently from shooting it over there.

And if you’re really worried about an outbreak of players shooting pucks into the stands (which, again, has never been a significant issue before), then you can let the referees hand out penalties for really obvious cases. They could make the call using their own judgment. There’s even a precedent for that: Virtually every other penalty in the rulebook.

I've been living in Canada for 8 years and I didn't understand this rule till just now

we should be handing out pamphlets at the airport

it wouldn't break my heart if they treated it like icing.

where the main punishment is you stay on the ice tired.

I guess I always assumed part of the penalty was for endangering spectators by putting the puck over the glass

if defenders have time to wind up a slapshot, they're probably not going to use/miss the glass -- it's weaker stuff. plus there are nets now.

pretty sure the whole thing was a chickenshit way to get more power plays/increase scoring without the refs having to bear the burden of making judgment calls