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We Like To Watch – May 11th: One Nearly Down, Another Tonight?

By 1111

Pens defeat Caps in Game 6

Here comes the narrative… call out your name…

As I talked about yesterday, the Caps loss to the Penguins last night is going to kickstart yet another batch of soul-searching within DC and a bunch of piling on from outside of it. And I’m not sure any of it is necessary, but I’m also not sure some of it isn’t either. I wrote this in my editorial when the Caps were here in late February that I hate when we define a team by some mythical narrative which usually boils down to simply, “They can’t get it done.” For me there always has to be a tangible explanation, or we should work harder to find it. But when it’s the Caps or some team like them, one that constantly is losing in a certain fashion (blowing 3-1 leads in a series as an example) then maybe there has to be something unquantifiable there. Some gremlins playing in their minds when things turn. It’s not the end-all be-all explanation, but it has to be a factor.

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We Like To Watch – May 10th: Go The Distance

By 1215

We’re getting two Game 7s, and the gut feels like we may get rewarded with a third after tonight, based on nothing but where I feel the tides are at the moment. Let’s run through it.

Stars-Blues Game 6:

You should read Down Goes Brown’s column yesterday on Vice, because it’s something I’ve thought a lot about this past season. It does start to seem like we’re just watching for bounces and luck and hope that they all go our team’s way. Sure, there are things you can do to get yourself more chances of a puck hitting some skate and landing somewhere advantageous, like create more attempts and lessen the ones against you obviously. But in a year where so many were complaining that there were too many teams doing what they could to get more chances in the draft lottery, it feels more and more that the playoff teams are just doing what they can to get more chances in a different kind of lottery.

I couldn’t escape that feeling when watching this game last night. I’m not sure the dichotomy changed all that much. The Stars’ defense still had massive problems breaking out of their own zone. The Blues still got tons of chances. And yet for one night, the goalies reversed. I’m not even sure Brian Elliot was all that bad, he just wasn’t good. Kari Lehtonen certainly was, as most NHL goalies can at least be excellent for a game here or there. So is that the fault of either team? Did the Stars “solve” Elliot? Or were they just fortuitous in that he had an off-night timed to keep their season alive? Did the Blues not do enough to beat Lehtonen? Or were they just unlucky in that he had his best game of the playoffs, maybe season, maybe career, at the most opportune time? You can lose your mind with this stuff.

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We Like To Watch – May 9th: The Business End Of Round 2

By 1346

Getting down to it now. Let’s go through it:

Lightning v. Islanders – This series… is… OVAHHHHH!

Well we didn’t get this one right. Both Feather and I thought the absence of Stamkos and the presence of Tavares would tell the tale on this one. We kind of forgot about nuclear Victor Hedman, which we shouldn’t have given what we saw last spring. Hedman carried a 56.0 CF% for the series, without his normal partner, and essentially left the Isles scorched and limbless in his path. We saw this last year but the Hawks had Duncan Keith to counter. The Islanders don’t… have one of these, do they Jack? Hamonic is a fine player but he’s not in that class and neither are Thomas Hickey or Nick Leddy. The Isles have basically a bunch of second pairing guys.

Throw in some brilliance from Ben Bishop and the Lightning getting goals up and down the lineup, and that’s how you have something that goes this quickly. Whoops.

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We Like To Watch – May 5th

By 1504

Last night: Penguins 3 – 2 Capitals (OT)

It’s never a good sign when your goalie is bus-tossing the rest of the team, but there was Braden Holtby doing just that. I’m not sure how you don’t run over a team without Letang and Maatta at least in terms of possession, especially when the replacements are Justin Schultz and Derrick Pouliot. Trevor Daley had to skate big minutes and yet the Pens were not buried. That’s… that’s not good. I’m not sure the Caps are doing that much wrong but they’re certainly not doing enough right. They have one goal from the bottom six this series, and this was a team that spread out the scoring all year. It can’t buy a power play goal. Holtby’s been good, but he’s getting outplayed by Matt Murray who wasn’t in the league until two months ago. And it was the fill-in for Brooks Orpik who Brooks Orpik’d the Pens the winner last night, with a sweet set up from Mike Weber for Patric Hornqvist. Now we’ll see what they’re made of and if Barry Trotz can overcome his usual conservativeness and unleash the hounds. They’ve played scared of the Penguins on the counter attack, but they should be able to score enough being aggressive to overcome that. We shall see.

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We Like To Watch – May 4th

By 1345

Let’s do it again:

Lightning 5 – 4 Islanders (OT)

While there are some crusty old guys who love the fact that officials become a personification of a urine puddle late in playoff games and overtime, I’ve always thought it was dumb and contradictory to the sport. As I’ve said many times, “Letting the players decide” is a phrase that makes no sense. When one commits a penalty to stop another, the players have decided. They’ve decided that one got beat so badly or made a mistake that the other should be rewarded with a power play for his team. While the refs may say they don’t want to decide games, they are deciding them with inaction. They’re just coming out way worse on the other side.

Brian Boyle’s hit on Thomas Hickey was late and it was to the head. The ref was about as close to it as I am to my coffee table right now which I have my feet up on at the moment (thug life). And he couldn’t locate his spine to make the right call. The Bolts get a 2-on-1 because one of the Isles’ defenders who would be defending was trying to pop his nose back out of his brain. Boyle scores from the exact spot Hickey would have prevented him from getting to. Sure, you could argue it’s karma from what the Isles got away with in Game 6 against the Panthers. But I doubt that went through anyone’s head at the time.

Anyway, this game was awesome and it sucks it was decided on this. The Isles seem to be discovering that you need more than a top line and a good 4th line to win.

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Playoff Weekend Wrap And May 2nd Preview: It’s Shaping Up

By 1316

As we will do through the rest of the playoffs, just wrapping up the other action and previewing what comes tonight.

Islanders 1 – 1 Lightning

The East’s stepchild series, as no one seems to be paying any attention. And yet it has the potential to be as good as the other one. Game 2 was seemingly the only one that John Tavares didn’t simply grab in his hand and wield it however he saw fit. That’s been the most exciting thing about the Isles’ run so far, obvious as it is. There’s something about watching a player simply transcend all those around him, and Tavares has done that through his team’s first eight games.

There’s also something pretty satisfying about watching a coach have to eat it over previous treatment of a player, like Jon Cooper and Jonathan Drouin. The latter has been crushing it when finally given a scorer’s role, which you might think would come pretty naturally to a #3 overall pick. But in a league that looks to stifle creativity it took this long. But don’t worry, Cooper is still a genius who will get all the plaudits for making Drouin “earn it.” Though considering Tyler Johnson was broken last year and Stamkos misfiring, might Drouin made a bigger difference last spring?

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The “Irreplaceable Shaw,” Pens-Caps, Boudreau, And Other Argle Bargle

By 1708

Lotta strands floating in Ol’ Duder’s head today. Let’s see if we can’t get through it all.

-So it took me a day or two to get around to commenting on Joel Quenneville’s assertion that Andrew Shaw is “irreplaceable.” We know that Q has a loose grip on what a salary cap actually is, considering the way he spent the first month or two of the season in a strop (not Pedro, #HatToTheLeft) that Brandon Saad wasn’t around even though there was no way the Hawks could sign him for what he got. That’s unfortunate, given how much sway we’re pretty sure Q gets over personnel decisions. Or maybe he doesn’t get enough say and that’s why he shits on the ones Stan makes. But that’s not why you called.

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A Touch Too Much

By 1951

Looking back at the night and series before, it isn’t just bewildering that the Hawks’ season came to a conclusion on the back of not one but two shots hitting both posts in this series (Andrew Ladd managed it in Game 3 as well). It’s bewildering that this sort of margin hasn’t come to bite the Hawks before. Of all the things that have been impressive about the last seven or eight seasons, it’s that the tiny, tiny margins that playoff games and series are decided on have rarely if ever bitten the Hawks until now.

Seriously, the Hawks are Zdeno Chara hitting a post and and whichever multiple OT game against Nashville or Anaheim swinging the other way from having just one Cup and essentially being Penguins West. It is that thin for an organization that has constantly rolled out some of the best and deepest teams in the league.

But then, you notice the luck more when your team is flawed in the ways the Hawks were this season.

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A Spider Monkey Is A Good Lie: Hawks at Blues Game 7 Preview/Purge

By 1441

Hawk Wrestler vs. old_school_blue_l

PUCK DROP: 7:30pm

TV: NBCSN, CSN, CBC In Da Great What Nort’ 

PALLBEARERS: St. Louis Gametime

Well now we’re gonna see if #ThisTimeWillBeDifferent, aren’t we?

There’s so much riding on this game tonight for St. Louis I kind of want to hurl in delight. If they lose, their coach will assuredly be fired, playing staff will be changed. We can look for CAPTAIN! to have a new address next year (probably going to happen anyway). Kirk ShattenKevin will almost assuredly go on the trade block again. The great goalie search of St. Louis could kick up into hyper drive again, or they’ll try for the 87th time to give the job to Jay Gallon and he’ll watch it go right by him.

If they win, then they’ll have slain their biggest demon, overcome a major mental hurdle, and be looking at a matchup with a Dallas team that probably won’t have its top center and is trying to play with no goalies and a defense that uses the youth soccer tactic of just chasing the puck in packs. There might be some validation for this Blues core with a win tonight. With a loss, it gets broken up.

For the Hawks… eh, if they don’t win they’ll have been a flawed, tired team that still has three banners in seven years with a core intact that is always in position to make a run for more. Win tonight, and they’ll have broken a main rival for nearly just the sheer joy of it. Who’s got more pressure y’think?

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Beard Of The Day – April 25th: The Undertaker

By 1549

undertaker

We’re sticking with the wrestler theme and going away from our normal drummer post on a possible clincher. It is not just a season the Hawks look to bury tonight. It is an entire era of an organization. So we summon The Phenom, The Dead Man, The Best There Ever Was. St. Louis, the Creatures Of The Night request your demise.