The Official National Hockey League Appreciation Thread

[KarateKen]

We are down to the final few days of the regular season.  The Kings and Oilers will meet in the first round for the fourth consecutive year.  That is become an annual event.  The Oilers have won all three of the previous matchups, maybe this year the Kings will advance. The Kings have had five consecutive first round exits and have not won a playoff series since the won the Cup back in 2014. The teams are actually facing each other right now in Edmonton with the Kings up 4-0 in the second period. 

Canadians lost 4/3 in a shootout, getting one standings point but missing a chance to clinch.  One more point and the Canadians are in. The Blue Jackets slim playoff hopes could be extended if they win Tuesday against the Flyers. 

All three teams still in the hunt for the final spot out west are in action on Tuesday, and all of them are at home.  St. Louis against Utah, Calgary against Vegas, and Minnesota against Anaheim. 

Austin Matthews and Leon Draisaitl are both at 399 goals, tied for the most goals by any active player under 30, though Matthews is two years younger.  Will we see one of them hit 400 before the end of the season? 

Hockey mood tonight: Cautiously optimistic. 

[sensei8]

If I read what I read is accurate, the it appears that my Knights will first battle on the ice with the Wild first when the playoffs start.

I don’t think that my Knights take their opponents lightly, and certainly the Wild. That would be foolish of my Knights to do so.

The Wild has had a promising season and the playoffs between Wild and my Knights shall prove to be an interesting one.

GO KNIGHTS!!

[KarateKen]

12 hours ago, sensei8 said:

If I read what I read is accurate, the it appears that my Knights will first battle on the ice with the Wild first when the playoffs start.

I don’t think that my Knights take their opponents lightly, and certainly the Wild. That would be foolish of my Knights to do so.

The Wild has had a promising season and the playoffs between Wild and my Knights shall prove to be an interesting one.

GO KNIGHTS!!

The Wild and Blues both won on Tuesday, and both clinched.  Vegas will play Minnesota in the first round. I am not sure how much playing time Fleury will get, but he could be facing his former team in Vegas for his final game in the NHL.  It is believed that Fleury will retire after the season.  Vegas and Minnesota have developed a little bit of a rivalry over the years. These teams met in the opening round in 2021 where Vegas won in 7 games.  I think Vegas should win this series, but the NHL playoffs are possibly the toughest to predict of any major pro sport.  I am not going to make any predictions right now.  

The Blues will play against the Winnipeg Jets, Oilers will play the Kings, and Stars will face the Avalanche.  

Blue Jackets win again and that seemingly comfortable lead for the Canadians to get the eight spot is now down to only two points.  Whoever gets it will play Washington.  Maple Leafs won the Atlantic and are the two seed in the east.  

[aurik]

I watched the Blues play their final regular season game last night with the playoffs on the line -- they did not disappoint.  After 3 tough losses, the Blues came out firing on all cylinders.  Their newly promoted rookie, Jimmy Snuggerud got his first NHL goal AND an assist AND was named third star of the game.  The kid is making his presence felt, and is already a staple in their top 2 lines.

I'm feeling really good about the Blues chances of making a deep playoff run this year.  So far they're undefeated on home ice since February (12 games).  Of course, being the 8th seed, they'll need to win at least one game on away ice in every round.  LetsGoBlues!

[KarateKen]

Canadians win on Wednesday and are now in the playoffs.  They will play Washington in the opening round.  All the playoff teams are set.  The schedule has not been released yet, but we know the first games are on Saturday.

See ya then! 

[KarateKen]

A few of the playoff games that will interest some members here have been scheduled.  The Jets and Blue series will start on Saturday, game 1 will be played at 6pm eastern and air on TNT, TruTV, and MAX.  Following that the Stars and Avalanche play game one on the same networks.  Listed start is 8:30 eastern.  

Knights and Wild will start Sunday at 10pm eastern and air on ESPN.

Devils Hurricanes and Senators Maple Leafs also play on Sunday.  

Kings and Oilers play game 1 on Monday, at 10pm eastern, on ESPN 2. 

[KarateKen]

The following teams got a W in the final night of the 2024-25 regular season.  Sabers, Leafs, Penguins, Senators, Rangers, Blue Jackets. and Flames.  

The playoff matchups are set.  In the east its Washington vs Montreal, Tampa Bay vs Florida, Toronto vs Ottawa, and New Jersey vs Carolina. 

In the west: Winnipeg vs St. Louis, Vegas vs Minnesota, LA vs Edmonton, and Dallas vs Colorado. 

Fun facts: Every team to win the cup since 2018 is in the playoffs.  Washington 2018, St. Louis 2019, Tampa Bay 2020 and 21, Colorado 2022, Vegas 2023, Florida 2024

There are three teams in this year's playoffs that have never won the Cup. Minnesota, Winnipeg, and Ottawa. 

Will we see a team win the Cup for their first time like we did the previous two seasons? We shall see.  

They Stanley Cup playoffs are no longer approaching, they are here! PLAYOFF HOCKEY IS BACK AND I AM HERE FOR IT AND SO ARE YOU!!!!!!!!

 

[KarateKen]

My preseason pick was Dallas over Carolina, and since that is still possible, I will stick with it.  Though if I were to update my picks, I would change it.  Here are my guesses as to who will win the opening round. 

East: Washington, Carolina, Toronto, Tampa Bay

West: Winnipeg, Vegas, Dallas, Los Angeles 

They are worth the same what you paid for it, or less, which is nothing.  I feel most confident about Vegas winning, and least confident about Toronto, because of their history of messing things up.  The Leafs are really good though and played well late in the season.  I think they will beat the Senators, though I did almost pick Ottawa.  I also picked LA to beat Edmonton.  Imo LA has been to most underrated team in the league this year.  They have a tough defense and goaltending and can stifle their opponents.  It is not the most exciting type of hockey, but it works. 

There are several series in this round that are very interesting.  The battle of Florida between the Panthers and Lightning, and who will win between the struggling Hurricanes and equally struggling Devils? Will the Blues late season surge continue against a Jets team that has yet to prove itself in the playoffs? Don't overlook Dallas vs Colorado, two division rivals and both are excellent teams.  

Just a few hours until the puck drops for the playoffs.  LET'S GO!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[KarateKen]

The first day of the 2025 playoffs are in the books.  Jets beat the Blues 5-3 but don't stress yet @aurik the Blues played tough and were ahead for more of the game than they were behind.  Plus, the last two seasons the Jets won the first game then lost the next four.  Long way to go, we are just getting started. 

The Avalanche beat the Stars 5-1 and are the first road team to get a playoff win this season.  Colorado looked good and never trailed in the game.  They got up 2-0, Dallas scored, then three more goals for the Avs including an empty netter.  These teams meet for game two on Monday, same for Blues/Jets. 

Three more game one's to be played on Easter Sunday, Devils at Hurricanes 3pm EST on ESPN, Senators at Leafs 7pm EST on ESPN 2, and Wild at Knights 10pm EST on ESPN.

In other news the NY Rangers fired head coach Peter Laviolette this afternoon.  The Rangers won the President's Trophy last year and had high expectations going into the year, many considered them to be a serious Cup contender.  Instead they had an embarrassing season where they did not make the playoffs.  Cost the coach his job.

 

 

[KarateKen]

Winners on Sunday were the Leafs, Hurricanes, and Golden Knights.  All teams are up 1-0 in the series.  A little bit of a strange ending to the Minnesota Vegas game, with 0.1 seconds left in the game it looked like Vegas had scored and empty net goal, then it looked like it did not count, then it did count and there was still 0.1 left on the clock, but Minnesota had already gone into the locker room so instead of playing it final one tenth of a second, the game was over.  Vegas won 4-2. 

Four games on Monday: game one of the Canadians/Capitals and Oilers/King game two of Blues/Jets and Avalanche/Stars.  All games can be seen on ESPN or ESPN 2 depending on the game.

Two more head coaches fired.  Detroit has moved on from Derek Lalonde and Philly has fired John Tortorella after two seasons.  

 

Hit the Ice!!