Everything Else

Get It Over With

By 1718

It’s startling on how the feelings can change about a Game 7 in just one round. Just a couple weeks ago, we were all eagerly anticipating the Game 7 between the Capitals and Penguins, the culmination of a Mega Powers matchup that we’d been looking forward to since about November. Now tonight we have a Game 7 of a series that we pretty much just want to die and go away forever.

The constant argument over the Senators is an excellent example of how basically all sports coverage refuses to seen any nuance in any subject. The past couple weeks, or even months, have been one side screaming how boring the Senators are to watch at times, and the other screaming back that it’s not their job to be entertaining but to win.

Both of these things can be true.

Everything Else

Attrition And Panic

By 1530

It probably isn’t the best way to watch the NHL playoffs in the context of a larger meaning. Life has no meaning, eat Arby’s. We all know this. But when the Hawks are done for this long you can’t help but let your mind wander.

Before this Penguins-Senators series, while I was wary of my prediction skills in saying that then Pens should win relatively easily, the comparison of the two teams’ rosters wouldn’t lead to any other conclusion. But the thing is this isn’t really the Penguins’ complete roster.

Everything Else

Boredom And Bullshit

By 1741

The Senators took a 1-0 lead over what looked to be a very tired Penguins team, and one that was already beat up, and all anyone could talk about was how boring the Senators are. Apparently most everyone hadn’t watched the Sens all year or in the first two rounds, and I can’t really blame you if you didn’t because the Bruins and Rangers hardly  move the interest needle either. This is what Guy Boucher does. Maybe you didn’t pay attention to what he did in Tampa, and again I don’t blame you if you didn’t because it really wasn’t worth your time.

But Guy Boucher, and the Senators as a whole, don’t owe you anything.

Everything Else

The Figure Four: The Conference Final Preview

By 1430

We’re in the business end now. The part where all four teams can have legitimate fantasies about parades in a month’s time. They’re halfway there, much like Mark Lanegan, and now all they need to do is repeat what they’ve already done. Let’s run it through.

 

Nashville v. Anaheim (Game One Tonight)

I really have no idea what to make of the Ducks at all. They swept a team that had the next best blue line to Nashville’s in Calgary, though a lot of that was due to Calgary’s own idiocy. In the underlying numbers, the Flames pretty much kicked the Ducks from pillar to post but watched their goaltending and discipline fail them.

On the surface then, it really shouldn’t have been all that hard against the Oilers, who has no blue line to speak of and even that was decimated in the last two games with Sekera not playing either and Klefbom missing one. And yet that took to a Game 7, and really would have been over sooner had the Ducks not thrown the biggest hail mary we’ve seen in a long time and Talbot finally succumbing to the workload he’d been given all season. Oh, and a little goalie interference didn’t hurt either.

Everything Else

Looks Like Fun: Weekend Wrap

By 1268

You can see just how weird hockey is with the two narratives going around right now. Let’s follow them.

This weekend, one team came out of the gate roaring in a playoff game. They first 16 shots at the opposing goalie, and only give up five. But the opposing goalie has an answer for everything, and then their own goalie suddenly forgets how his limbs work for just one period. Suddenly, they’re in crisis.

Another team comes out roaring, also at home. They outshoot their opponent 29-14 in the first 40 minutes of their game. And while the opposing goalie was good, they found a way to get one goal in their period of pure dominance, and that’s the difference.

And coming out of those games, the Capitals are doing it all again and are an utter mess, whereas the Predators are sitting in the proverbial catbird seat. And really, the only difference between the two was that Cody McLeod was able to corral a puck in the air and a bounce off the outside of the net, and the Capitals got no such bounce.

Everything Else

That Looks Like Fun: Eastern Conference Game 1s and Previewing West’s Game 2s

By 1141

As much as it’s been built up, even by just me, certainly the first round of Caps-Penguins didn’t disappoint. It was just about as fast as you could hope, close, with the biggest names stepping to the fore. And yes, I mean Nick Bonino, of course.

In truth, the Caps were pretty much all over the Penguins for most of the game, kicking them around in shots and possession, the latter to the tune of a 65% adjusted Corsi-share. The Caps can get push from all three pairings from Carlson, ShattenKevin, Orlov, and even Schmidt. The Pens aren’t short of go even without Letang with Hainsey, Schultz, and Daley but it’s just not the quality of what Washington is rolling. And you don’t want to be in a place where you really have to depend on Schultz and Daley, however good they’ve looked in black and gold.

Everything Else

Life Goes On: Eastern Conference 2nd Round Preview

By 2255

The West kicks off tonight, so let’s get the previews done before we settle in for what really is shaping up as a pretty intriguing second round (except for Sens-Rangers, and that has Erik Karlsson).

HOLY FUCKING SHIT CAPITALS-PENGUINS!!!

Look, any hockey fan worth his or her salt has known this was going to happen in the second round and that it’s essentially the Stanley Cup Final. Barring some injury weirdness or Henrik Lundqvist going Fantastic Four in net or something equally unpredictable, either of these teams is going to annihilate the Rangers or Senators. These are the two best teams in the NHL by some distance. This is the Steamboat-Macho Man to the Final’s Hogan-Andre The Giant. I doubt we’ll remember the Final as much as we’ll remember what might happen here. Instead of rolling our eyes at the same matchup for the second year in a row and our exhaustion of the NHL trying to force this down our throats for years before both teams were ready to provide classic series years in a row, we should just be anxious to watch the best the sport is going to offer.

Everything Else

I’m A Lincoln Monologue, I’m Livin’ Like A God: Hawks 2 – Sens 1

By 1216

Box Score

Natural Stat Trick

“Some guys look at this glass and say it’s half full. Some guys would say it’s half empty. I’m bettin’ you’re one of the half-empty guys.”

“Well what would you, if every day was exactly the same, and nothing you did mattered?”

“That about sums it up for me.”

The last bit of life ennui is brought to you by Guy Boucher, who in high school was voted most likely to take lemons and make it a Chekhov play. Some coaches would look at a roster of 12, fast, and at least decently skilled forwards and think, “Hey, I can make some things happen offensively here!” Guy Boucher looks at a roster of 12 fast, decently skilled forwards and thinks, “Hey, I can use this speed to make sure they all get back to the neutral zone to trap in plenty of time and make every fan question the meaning of existence!”

Everything Else

Sens Spotlight: Erik Karlsson

By 1375

From today’s program.

It’s a pretty chalky choice to select Karlsson to spotlight when the Senators visit. But there’s hardly any point in talking about anyone else. In pretty much every sense, Erik Karlsson is the Senators.

The surface numbers are silly enough. Karlsson is the Eastern Conference’s leading scorer. As a d-man, that’s ridiculous. He’s averaging over a point-per-game, and if he continues on this pace he’ll break 70 points for the third time in his career (he amounted 66 last year as well). Should he stay at this pace he’ll have three of the top five scoring seasons by a d-man since the Great Bettman Lockout II, the one that canceled out a whole season. If he can better 80 points, he’ll also have the highest, which currently is held by Nicklas Lidstrom and that was from 50 power play points. Karlsson only has about a third of his points on the man-advantage right now.

When you dig a little deeper, it becomes more apparent just how Atlas-ian Karlsson has been for the Senators this year. Only two d-men in the league have higher Corsi marks relative to their team, that’s Aaron Ekblad and Victor Hedman. In Ekblad’s case, he gets far cushier zone starts than Karlsson does, starting over 60% of his shifts there while Karlsson starts only about 55%. Karlsson also faces harder competition than the other two, taking on the toughest the Sens face pretty much every night.

When looking at his teammates, almost every one of them see their possession numbers drop anywhere from seven to 12 percentage points from when they’re on the ice with Karlsson to when they’re not. His partner Marc Methot goes from a 48% Corsi player with Karlsson to 39.7% without him. Kyle Turris drops 9 points. Mark Stone drops six points. Mike Hoffman drops 11 points. It continues down the lineup in that fashion.

What’s more startling is how the scoring rates change. When Turris and Karlsson are out there together, the Sens score 3.55 goals per 60 minutes at even-strength. When Turris is on the ice without Karlsson it’s 1.67. Stone is 3.37 with Karlsson to 1.57 without him. Hoffman? 4.14 to 2.95. Every single player drops down at least a goal per 60 miuts without Karlsson behind them.

There’s been a lot of digruntled voices over Karlsson’s two Norris Trophies, because he doesn’t kill penalties. None of these saggy-balled codgers can tell us what d-man has ever won the Norris simply on his penalty killing though. It’s like complaining about a DH getting into the baeball Hall of Fame. How many players are there simply due to their glove? Like three? Patrick Kane has gobbled up most of the Hart talk, and rightly so because the Hawks wouldn’t be a playoff team without him. What he hasn’t Jamie Been probably has. But Karlsson should be right there with them, because without him the Senators are probably in Auston Matthews territory come the end of the season.

Does he also have to be so good-looking too, though? Seems a bit unfair.