April 8, 20196 yr The Stars are back in the playoffs for just the third time in the last 11 seasons. The Caps are defending champs but can anybody stop the Lightning? Let's get this party started! Edited April 8, 20196 yr by C-Man
April 8, 20196 yr Author Quote The National Hockey League's playoff format has once again yielded a postseason bounty of rivalry series, potential thrillers and odd matchups that would otherwise seem like the product of a dartboard and a blindfold. Which ones are worth your time? Trust the ESPN Hype Rankings. ADVERTISEMENT We rate each series based on several facets: star power, secondary plot lines, the hate factor, the controversy quotient (for potential violent acts or heinous actions), the arena atmosphere, the probability of a Game 7and, last but not least, the "Beardosity" of a series, in which the face shrubbery of players is weighed as heavily as the fame of that series' players. Each category is given a score of 1 to 10. Now, without further explanation of a completely subjective and arbitrary process, here are the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoff Hype Rankings: 8. Calgary Flames vs. Colorado Avalanche Star power: 7Secondary plot lines: 2Hate factor: 4Controversy quotient: 3Arena atmosphere: 8Game 7 probability: 1Beardosity: 6Overall hype ranking: 31 The Flames have Johnny Gaudreau (a potential Hart Trophy nominee) and Mark Giordano (the favorite for the Norris Trophy) going against Nathan MacKinnon and one of the best lines in the NHL. What this series lacks, at first glance, is compelling plot lines, although there have been some contentious moments between the two teams over the past two seasons. The biggest question looming over our ratings for this one: Does the existence of Ian Cole offset the lack of beard potential on the baby-faced Avs? 7. Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Columbus Blue Jackets EDITOR'S PICKS Ranking the forward groups of all 16 Stanley Cup playoff teams Which team has the best unit up front? We put them in tiers and rank them 1-16 here, led unsurprisingly by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa Bay Lightning by the numbers: How bonkers was the 2018-19 season? From 62 wins to a scorer who put up Jagr-in-his-prime points and much more. Here are 25 stats that tell the crazy story. 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs Central: Schedule, scores, highlights, analysis From the first round all the way through the Stanley Cup Final, ESPN has you covered. Check out the full picture and coverage on each team. Star power: 8Secondary plot lines: 9Hate factor: 1Controversy quotient: 2Arena atmosphere: 8Game 7 probability: 1Beardosity: 5Overall hype ranking: 34 The greatest juggernaut the NHL has seen in nearly 25 years takes on an interesting, if seemingly overmatched, opponent in Round 1: the Blue Jackets, who went all-in with trade deadline acquisitions of Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel, and are poised to lose stars Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky to free agency. The previous four series the Lightning have played outside of the conference final ended in five games. Columbus has never made it out of the first round in franchise history. This could go from "interesting setup" to "wait, it's over already?" pretty quickly. 6. Winnipeg Jets vs. St. Louis Blues Star power: 6Secondary plot lines: 3Hate factor: 4Controversy quotient: 6Arena atmosphere: 8Game 7 probability: 7Beardosity: 6Overall hype ranking: 40 Although these teams boast a good number of compelling players -- including Vladimir Tarasenko, Blake Wheeler, Patrik Laine and rookie goaltending sensation Jordan Binnington -- this series has been shuffled off on American television to a network where it will preempt "Shark Tank" reruns. The arenas will be hopping and the games could get nastier as the series goes on, but this is a series between a team that was in last place in January and a team that people had in the Stanley Cup Final before the season started (and before they tumbled into the No. 2 seed in the Central). Still, a Binnington-led upset bid could make this one interesting in a hurry. 5. Nashville Predators vs. Dallas Stars Star power: 8Secondary plot lines: 2Hate factor: 6Controversy quotient: 4Arena atmosphere: 8Game 7 probability: 6Beardosity: 7Overall hype ranking: 41 In The Crease Postgame analysis and highlight show airing each night throughout the season from Barry Melrose and Linda Cohn. Watch on ESPN+ The Central Division's wacky final days produced this Winter Classic 2020 preview, as the Predators and Stars have a hoedown, er, showdown in the first round. Obviously, there are big names to watch on both teams, especially in goal, as Pekka Rinne and Ben Bishop could determine who advances (for better or worse). Ryan Ellis alone elevates the Beardosity here. On the downside, there aren't a ton of compelling narratives heading into this series, outside of revisiting the fecal-based criticisms of Stars players by their team president. Given some antagonistic games between these two in recent years, this one could get a little rough, however. 4. Washington Capitals vs. Carolina Hurricanes Star power: 7Secondary plot lines: 8Hate factor: 3Controversy quotient: 9Arena atmosphere: 7Game 7 probability: 2Beardosity: 6Overall hype ranking: 42 With due respect to all the other lower-seeded teams, this is your Cinderella series. The "bunch of jerks" from Raleigh take on the reigning Stanley Cup champions, who dominated them 4-0-0 in the regular season. While there isn't much hate between these two yet, the existence of Tom Wilson in any series nearly maxes out the controversy quotient (as does the presence of outspoken Carolina owner Tom Dundon in a playoff series). It's been a minute since we had a postseason game at the Hurricanes' home rink, so we might have underestimated the arena atmosphere. This could be a fun one. Or a short one. In either case, viva la Southeast Division, and let's watch Alex Ovechkin score more goals. 3. New York Islanders vs. Pittsburgh Penguins Star power: 7Secondary plot lines: 9Hate factor: 5Controversy quotient: 6Arena atmosphere: 8Game 7 probability: 7Beardosity: 6Overall hype ranking: 48 Do the Penguins have another Stanley Cup run in them? Their bid for a three-peat was thwarted by the Capitals in the conference semifinals last season, and the coach behind the elimination is now behind the Islanders' bench to step up a classic confrontation: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel against the NHL's best defensive team in the regular season. Two franchises that have some distinct playoff history, with some players who can bring a little nastiness. Playoff hockey returning to Nassau Coliseum ... if the fans there care one-tenth as much about the Penguins as they did about John Tavares' return to Long Island, it'll be intense. 2. San Jose Sharks vs. Vegas Golden Knights Star power: 8Secondary plot lines: 8Hate factor: 8Controversy quotient: 7Arena atmosphere: 9Game 7 probability: 8Beardosity: 9Overall hype ranking: 57 2019 NHL Draft The 2019 NHL draft is June 21-22 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Get ready with the latest prospect rankings and our mock draft. • Mock Draft 1.0 • Top 50 draft prospects » More coverage of the NHL draft The Golden Knights eliminated the Sharks in six delightfully physical and contentious games last season, and there's no reason to expect anything less in this rematch. There are stars on both sides, two deafening arenas and (of course) some choice playoff beards. But the underlying plot lines here are just terrific: the Sharks having gone all-in over the past two seasons vs. a Knights team that's significantly upgraded since last season's expansion shocker. Plus, San Jose's league-worst goaltending -- it had the lowest team save percentage in the NHL -- and second-best offense against Golden Knights star Marc-Andre Fleury. This could be the best series of the first round and perhaps the entire playoffs. 1. Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs Star power: 9Secondary plot lines: 8Hate factor: 9Controversy quotient: 9Arena atmosphere: 9Game 7 probability: 10Beardosity: 8Overall hype ranking: 62 There's no logical reason that the second- and fifth-best teams in the NHL should face each other in the first round (and even less logic to have either of them advance to face the No. 1-seeded Lightning in Round 2). With that established ... how fun is this going to be? Last year's first-round battle gave us a three-game suspension to Leafs forward Nazem Kadri for boarding in Game 1. It gave us Bruins pest Brad Marchandlicking the face of a Toronto player. It gave us a seven-game series of wild momentum swings between the oldest of old-school rivals. This year, we get John Tavares added to this feud that's produced two straight seven-game series. Let's go!
April 8, 20196 yr Might be cooler if we could watch all the games without recording, but I'll take it.
April 9, 20196 yr Round 1 Flames over Avs Knights over Sharks Preds over Stars Jets over Blues Lightning over Blue Jackets Leafs over Bruins Caps over Canes Pens over Islanders Round 2 Calgary over Knights Jets over Preds Lightning over leafs Caps over Pens Semis Jets over Flames Lightning over Caps Final Lightning over Jets 4-1
April 9, 20196 yr Author 4 hours ago, Ogie Ogilthorpe said: Round 1 Flames over Avs Knights over Sharks Preds over Stars Jets over Blues Lightning over Blue Jackets Leafs over Bruins Caps over Canes Pens over Islanders Round 2 Calgary over Knights Jets over Preds Lightning over leafs Caps over Pens Semis Jets over Flames Lightning over Caps Final Lightning over Jets 4-1 I don't think the Jets are playing all that great right now. WEST Round 1 Calgary over Colorado Vegas over San Jose Nashville over Dallas St Louis over Winnipeg Round 2 Calgary over Vegas St Louis over Nashville Round 3 Calgary over St Louis EAST Round 1 Tampa Bay over Columbus Boston over Toronto Washington over Carolina Pittsburgh over NY Islanders Round 2 Tampa Bay over Boston Pittsburgh over Washington Round 3 Tampa Bay over Pittsburgh STANLEY CUP FINALS Tampa Bay over Calgary
April 9, 20196 yr Barring injuries to Kucherov, Hedman or Vasilevskiy I don't see anyone stopping Tampa Bay this year. That team is both loaded and motivated.
April 9, 20196 yr Author 21 minutes ago, EMAWesome said: Barring injuries to Kucherov, Hedman or Vasilevskiy I don't see anyone stopping Tampa Bay this year. That team is both loaded and motivated. Read today that it's the largest gap between the overall points leader and #2 since 1977's Montreal Canadiens. EDIT: Looks like that note is wrong. 77 MTL had a 20-point lead over #2; 19 TBY had a 21-point lead over #2 Edited April 9, 20196 yr by C-Man
April 9, 20196 yr 3 hours ago, C-Man said: I don't think the Jets are playing all that great right now. WEST Round 1 Calgary over Colorado Vegas over San Jose Nashville over Dallas St Louis over Winnipeg Round 2 Calgary over Vegas St Louis over Nashville Round 3 Calgary over St Louis EAST Round 1 Tampa Bay over Columbus Boston over Toronto Washington over Carolina Pittsburgh over NY Islanders Round 2 Tampa Bay over Boston Pittsburgh over Washington Round 3 Tampa Bay over Pittsburgh STANLEY CUP FINALS Tampa Bay over Calgary Full disclosure, I grew up in Winnipeg so a bit of a homer bias, but Byfuglien is back and healthy and they also get Morrisey back. Both key parts of their defense (and powerplay in Buff's case) that have been missing down the stretch. 1 hour ago, EMAWesome said: Barring injuries to Kucherov, Hedman or Vasilevskiy I don't see anyone stopping Tampa Bay this year. That team is both loaded and motivated. Agreed the Bolts are definitely the team to beat I don't see anyone taking a best of 7 series from them.
April 9, 20196 yr Author 31 minutes ago, Ogie Ogilthorpe said: Full disclosure, I grew up in Winnipeg so a bit of a homer bias, but Byfuglien is back and healthy and they also get Morrisey back. Both key parts of their defense (and powerplay in Buff's case) that have been missing down the stretch. Agreed the Bolts are definitely the team to beat I don't see anyone taking a best of 7 series from them. I *almost* picked the Stars to upset the Predators. I could see us winning that series or getting beat 4-0 or 4-1.
April 10, 20196 yr Round 1 West Stars over Predators Flames over Avs Blues over Jets Sharks over Vegas Round 1 East Bruins over Leafs Pens over Isles Wash over Car Lightning over CBJ Round 2 West Blues over Stars (I'm a homer, but really) Flames over SJ Round 2 East TB over Bos Wash over Pens Conference finals Cal v. StL, Flames win TB v. Wash, TB wins TB wins it all and breaks the hearts of Canadians
April 10, 20196 yr That draft lottery didn't look rigged at all, no sirreee, no way. NJ, NYR, and Chicago is something that David Stern wouldn't even have had the cajones to rig up.
April 10, 20196 yr Author ESPN.com expert picks: http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/26480101/2019-nhl-playoffs-first-round-stanley-cup-conn-smythe-picks Quote Eastern Conference TB-CBJ BOS-TOR WSH-CAR NYI-PIT Allen TB in 4 TOR in 7 WSH in 6 NYI in 6 Arledge TB in 5 BOS in 7 CAR in 6 PIT in 6 Becquey TB in 5 TOR in 6 WSH in 5 PIT in 7 Buccigross TB in 6 TOR in 7 WSH in 7 PIT in 7 Chandan TB in 5 BOS in 6 CAR in 6 NYI in 5 Cohn TB in 5 TOR in 7 WSH in 6 PIT in 6 Coller TB in 6 BOS in 7 WSH in 6 PIT in 5 Crawford TB in 4 TOR in 7 WSH in 6 NYI in 7 Filipovic TB in 5 BOS in 7 WSH in 6 PIT in 7 Kaplan TB in 6 BOS in 7 WSH in 5 PIT in 6 Kavanagh TB in 5 BOS in 5 CAR in 7 NYI in 7 La Greca TB in 5 BOS in 6 WSH in 5 NYI in 7 Levy TB in 5 BOS in 7 WSH in 5 NYI in 7 Masi TB in 5 BOS in 7 CAR in 7 PIT in 7 Matiash TB in 6 BOS in 7 WSH in 5 NYI in 7 Melrose TB in 6 BOS in 5 WSH in 7 PIT in 7 Peters TB in 5 TOR in 6 WSH in 6 PIT in 6 Wyshynski TB in 5 TOR in 7 WSH in 5 PIT in 6 Western Conference NSH-DAL WPG-STL CGY-COL SJ-VGS Allen DAL in 7 WPG in 5 COL in 7 SJ in 6 Arledge NSH in 7 WPG in 6 CGY in 5 SJ in 7 Becquey NSH in 6 STL in 7 CGY in 4 SJ in 7 Buccigross DAL in 7 STL in 7 COL in 7 SJ in 7 Chandan NSH in 4 STL in 5 CGY in 4 VGS in 7 Cohn NSH in 6 STL in 6 CGY in 5 VGS in 6 Coller DAL in 7 STL in 6 CGY in 7 VGS in 7 Crawford NSH in 5 WPG in 6 CGY in 5 SJ in 6 Filipovic NSH in 6 STL in 7 CGY in 5 SJ in 6 Kaplan NSH in 6 WPG in 7 CGY in 6 VGS in 7 Kavanagh NSH in 6 STL in 6 CGY in 5 SJ in 6 La Greca DAL in 7 WPG in 6 CGY in 5 VGS in 5 Levy NSH in 6 STL in 7 CGY in 7 VGS in 7 Masi NSH in 5 STL in 6 CGY in 5 VGS in 7 Matiash NSH in 6 STL in 7 CGY in 6 VGS in 7 Melrose DAL in 7 STL in 6 COL in 7 VGS in 6 Peters NSH in 5 WPG in 7 CGY in 5 VGS in 6 Wyshynski NSH in 6 STL in 6 CGY in 6 VGS in 7 Stanley Cup Final EAST WEST CUP CONN SMYTHE Allen TB SJ TB Steven Stamkos Arledge TB NSH TB Nikita Kucherov Becquey TB NSH TB Steven Stamkos Buccigross TB SJ TB Nikita Kucherov Chandan BOS VGS VGS Marc-Andre Fleury Coller BOS STL BOS Patrice Bergeron Crawford TB CGY TB Steven Stamkos Filipovic TB SJ TB Nikita Kucherov Kaplan TB VGS TB Nikita Kucherov Kavanagh BOS SJ SJ Brent Burns La Greca TB CGY TB Andrei Vasilevskiy Levy TB VGS VGS Mark Stone Masi CAR VGS CAR Petr Mrazek Matiash TB NSH TB Andrei Vasilevskiy Melrose TB VGS TB Victor Hedman Peters TB NSH TB Brayden Point Wyshynski TB STL TB Brayden Point
April 11, 20196 yr Author TB lost?Unreal. Blew 3-0 lead. Let C-bus tie on a shortie. Couches on fire in Buckeye country.
April 11, 20196 yr 7 minutes ago, C-Man said: Unreal. Blew 3-0 lead. Let C-bus tie on a shortie. Couches on fire in Buckeye country. I saw that during intermission. Gonna have to watch the condensed version. Horking up a 3 goal lead can't set well
April 11, 20196 yr Author 21 minutes ago, cactusflinthead said: I saw that during intermission. Gonna have to watch the condensed version. Horking up a 3 goal lead can't set well Crazy that you don't play a game that matters for a month or more and now you're down 0-1.
April 11, 20196 yr And Columbus has been in must win mode for a while. 7-1 in their last 8 games before the playoffs with a 37-14 GD.
April 11, 20196 yr Author Accidentally posted this in the Stars thread -- more appropriate here: Quote Four of five games are decided by one goal and one goes to OT. An empty-netter skewed the 5-2 game. The #1 overall seed is shocked in the East, we get Leafs-Bruins tonight -- off to a great start!!!!!
April 11, 20196 yr Accidentally posted this in the Stars thread -- more appropriate here: Four of five games are decided by one goal and one goes to OT. An empty-netter skewed the 5-2 game. The #1 overall seed is shocked in the East, we get Leafs-Bruins tonight -- off to a great start!!!!! It was a couple years ago when almost every game was overtime or a one goal difference. Then the finals between the pens and preds was just a bunch of blowouts.
April 12, 20196 yr PP Ovie ... Caps 3-0 ... first intermission. Edited April 12, 20196 yr by VirginiaLonghorn
April 12, 20196 yr On 4/9/2019 at 3:50 AM, Ogie Ogilthorpe said: Jets over Blues Fuck you. On 4/9/2019 at 8:42 AM, C-Man said: Calgary over St Louis Fuck you. On 4/9/2019 at 6:35 PM, cactusflinthead said: Cal v. StL, Flames win Fuck you. Let’s go, Blues!!!
April 12, 20196 yr Author Nice win for the Leafs. I pegged them as my Eastern Conference team many, many years ago in the Doug Gilmour-then-Mats Sundin years (late 90's/early 00's) as the storied franchise that hasn't won in a long time. Toronto's blues are the best uniforms in sports IMO.
April 13, 20196 yr The lightning seem like 2000s Ottawa. Dominate the regular season, fold in the playoffs.
April 13, 20196 yr 34 minutes ago, vtaenz said: The lightning seem like 2000s Ottawa. Dominate the regular season, fold in the playoffs. Down 3-0 now in the 2nd. What year was it that the Mariners won 122 games in the regular season, only to lose in the ALDS? Yeah--feels like that.
April 13, 20196 yr This CBJ-TB is a little too random to be enjoyable. Some unpredictability is good. This is excessive.
April 13, 20196 yr 7 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said: Down 3-0 now in the 2nd. What year was it that the Mariners won 122 games in the regular season, only to lose in the ALDS? Yeah--feels like that. They lost in the ALCS to the Yankees. They won the first round. And 116 -- I know that because they hung a banner for that, and I give my friend shit about it when we go to games in Seattle.
April 13, 20196 yr Was it the early 90s when Detroit has like 120 points, before there were 3 point games, then they couldn’t beat arturs irbe and got bounced in round 1?
April 13, 20196 yr On 4/10/2019 at 11:23 PM, C-Man said: Crazy that you don't play a game that matters for a month or more and now you're down I started to reply to this and let it go. But, two of these in TB's barn pressed me into some looking. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidents'_Trophy 8 times since 86 has someone won both.
April 13, 20196 yr The NHL is gonna have to suspend Kucherov multiple games for that hit, too. Tampa is in trouble.
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