2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs

[Chuck Norris]

550 Nurses in the arena and none of them could save the Leafs from choking!!!!

AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHA

[Da_Hawks]

Gold.

[kyuss]

lol I checked in for this, good to see the non-Leafs part of the league is alive and on top of things

[Fraser]

Wow

[Shoalzie]

I want to see the young stars of the league play deep in the playoffs. I wanted to see Leafs-Oilers in the second round but both teams are out. You wonder about roster construction or if there's something wrong with the young stars on those teams when it comes to playoff hockey.

You see Colorado skating circles around Vegas on Sunday and you see MacKinnon continue to dominate in the playoffs. Are we going to see a dominating run in the playoffs out of either McDavid and Draisaitl or Matthews and Marner? Maybe I've softened up in my older age but I don't get any pleasure out of seeing teams fail. In recent years, I've had to watch some of the Wings recent rivals have runs of success after having a run of success of their own. I had my fun with the Wings but then I've had to see the Penguins and Blackhawks rip off a few championships.

I still point to early 90s Wings and watching them fail repeatedly before they figured it out. Do all teams finally figure it out? It took forever for the Sharks to get to the finals but they run into Crosby and the Penguins. I have to laugh at the state of the Wings right now. They've not won a playoff series since my wife and I got married...we just celebrated our 8th anniversary. When we got married, it right as the Wings started to blow a 3-1 lead to Chicago.

I'm sure the Leafs would've looked different with Tavares in the lineup but they also had the Canadiens down 3-1 without him. It's cruel to go through a regular season and get your hopes up and then you see your team look like they're putting it together and then...the wheels comes off. It's the best playoffs to watch but it can be most painful as a fan.

[dave1959]

IT FEELS LIKE CHRISTMAS MORNING!

Poor Auston... NOT!

[Sensfanjosh]

^^^^

[Shoalzie]

What a difference a year made for the Lightning after they picked up Coleman and Goodrow. They built one of the best checking lines and that team found another level after they got knocked out by the Blue Jackets. They didn't become more talented, they just covered up one of their obvious flaws. You can be skilled but you can out-toughed or out-worked.

I saw it for years with the Wings. It wasn't until they added Shanahan and they figured out how to use the Grind Line to become a tougher matchup. They won titles with Mike Vernon and Chris Osgood...competent goaltending but a lot of the heavy lifting was done in front of them.

Are the Leafs completely flawed? I think they get exposed in the playoffs for what they don't have at the bottom of their lineup. Losing Muzzin for Game 7 had to really hurt them also.

Would the Leafs had won this series if they had Carey Price instead of Jack Campbell? Probably. But they almost won it with Campbell...just couldn't get the last win. Price has shown for some time that he can be one of those clutch goalies when you need to count on him.

At the end of the day, I don't think the team that would've won the North bracket was going to make the Finals. Boston or Colorado or Vegas or Carolina or Tampa would've chewed them up. If the Leafs weren't going to be upset early on...they were going to get beat eventually. This wasn't going to be their year.

[KapG]

550 Nurses in the arena and none of them could save the Leafs from choking!!!!

AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHA

Blocked

[KapG]

IT FEELS LIKE CHRISTMAS MORNING!

You’re blocked too

[DApolloS]

:'(

[Shoalzie]

The Canadiens have won 11 of their last 13 games. I don't necessarily dislike the style they're playing...teams have found success playing a defensive style but they're also getting clutch performances from different guys each night and obviously they've got a hot goalie. They've got a bigger defense similar to how Tampa constructed theirs during this current run of success.

Vegas depend on their top 6 offensively and those guys were shut down in their series. If you told me Roy and Pietrangelo would be their offensive leaders...I would've said they're doomed.

Anyone can throw around the word "fluke" but you just have to get hot at the right time and you can find success. The funny thing is...this team could win a cup but go into next year and struggle to make the playoffs in a very competitive Atlantic Division.

[Bruyns]

Tampa better win tonight, I don't think I can deal with Toronto media/fans if the final is Montreal against Lou and the Tavares-less Isles.

[kyuss]

problem for the Isles if they reach the finals: among MTL forwards who does their Mayfield target with his free crosschecks? not that easy to identify the top players to try to injure there

[Matthew]

problem for the Isles if they reach the finals: among MTL forwards who does their Mayfield target with his free crosschecks? not that easy to identify the top players to try to injure there

He just needs to look for the euros since they are the softest.

[Matthew]

Has fantrax been not working for other people the past few days?

[Bruyns]

works for me

[CasperX22]

Clearly you've been banned

[dave1959]

Has fantrax been not working for other people the past few days?

been fine for me

[KapG]

Has fantrax been not working for other people the past few days?

Seems fine for me