What I want to see is some stanley cup caliber hockey which I have yet to see, although some of they earlier series conferences did display that.
Its been pretty lame hockey thus far, little hitting, no hate, even the Oilers/Flames series was disappointing...... fast skating, high scoring is what they wanted when they changed the game for the viewers they wanted to attract. The iffy penalties really bring down the compete in many of the players because they are afraid to take a penalty for basically FA.
I hope Tampa comes out tonight, I don't care who wins at this point, I just want to see playoff Hockey.
Some people, like Bettman screw up everything they are involved with.
I've been telling my HOCKEY buddy over on the coast the same thing, too many run and gun "playoff" games this postseason. I did like most of the NYR games, at least they kept scores relatively low and played some D. Rangers let that EC series get away from them. They had Vasilevsky figured out, shoot high blocker A LOT, and then seems in their last couple of losses they forgot that.
I'm surprised with TBL and their inability to play D in this series so far. They had some good games, but even with Vasilevsky, a team can't keep giving up odd man rushes and breakaway. I'm also amazed Cooper hasn't tried his top line much against the McKinnon group. I look for some changes once they get back to Tampa, but I'm no longer holding out for a 7 game series.
The weenie penalties are such a drag for this old time NHL fan. And, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but it looked like a whole lot of missed calls last night against the Avs. Starting with the first missed call in which an Avs forechecker hooked and spun a TBL guy trying to get out of the corner which led to the McDonaugh penalty and the first goal after the Avs kept the puck in the zone.
When, probably not "if", the Avs win, look for your favorite team to try to add "skilled, offensive minded" D men through trades and draft picks, so they have 4 or so like Colorado does. The winning theory will switch to keep the puck in the O zone at all costs and we don't have to worry about defense as much.
As much as he helped the Lightning the past few years, somehow I think getting Point back might not have been the best thing for the team. He hasn't accomplished much since he came back. He better step up tonight.
