Man, I like an upset as much as the next guy, but with Tampa dropping out too I fear the road for the Oilers is getting some fresh tarmac laid down.
My hopes now lie with Dallas and the Leafs.
There are still some really strong teams left. Teams like the Leafs or the Panthers would eat them alive IMO, especially with the way those teams are currently playing.
Dallas has the goaltending to beat anyone right now, and even the Knights have a solid chance of knocking them out. I wouldn't worry too much.
really stings seeing chuck a big part of this win. He complained about ice time hear, well after johnny left he could have been the number 1. Nice upset.
I have a hard time calling this series a fluke. I thought Florida looked like the better team throughout the series from what I saw. Playoffs are a different animal and there was no elevation from the Bruins side.
A little similar to what we saw when the Flames got rolled by the Avs in round 1 but not quite as catastrophic.
Winning the league let alone conference so early looks like it can certainly damage a team
wouldn't say a fluke but bruins losing 3 in a row at home, monumental choke of epic proportions
Total side note, but am I the only one who thought CBJ's upset over Tampa a few years ago was more impressive? I would take that Lightning team over this Bruins team in a seven game series.
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I believe the Panthers are just a really good team that massively underachieved in the regular season. Before the season began, I think most people thought they would contend for the President's Trophy again and for the Stanley Cup.
Of course, it's still an upset when an 8th seed beats the #1 team in the league from the regular season, but I don't think the regular season results tell the whole story of what the Panthers are.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
Total side note, but am I the only one who thought CBJ's upset over Tampa a few years ago was more impressive? I would take that Lightning team over this Bruins team in a seven game series.
If it was just Presidents Trophy winning team maybe, but the Bruins were supposedly the greatest team in NHL history. They lost the last 3 games, two of them at home, to lose the series. That CBJ team had some really good players too: Panarin, Duchene, Atkinson, Seth Jones, Foligno and Bob.
Total side note, but am I the only one who thought CBJ's upset over Tampa a few years ago was more impressive? I would take that Lightning team over this Bruins team in a seven game series.
I agree the Tampa team was better but the Bruins had 3 chances to close the series out including 2 on home ice while being the most winning team in history. I do think that plays a factor into the choke.
This for me was a bigger "choke" than the Tampa series. It is close though. Would love to see a poll tbh.
Honestly I'm not sure anyone was scoring 100 points in Calgary this season with the style of play and ice time of top players...or lack thereof
But changing gears, how do you feel about Tkachuck now given your prior thoughts on him? Obviously a superstar and now a budding playoff performer to go with it?
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Huberdeau's game relies on a group of skaters attacking the net at once. Different from what the flames did this year.
This last point is key. Huberdeau usually needs space to work, but he doesn't typically create it himself. When he played with Bennett and Duclair, those 2 could create enough of a distraction that Huberdeau could take his time a little more and find open areas. With the Flames, he was almost always the guy getting all the attention by defending players and he didn't seem to be able to beat a lot of players in one-on-one battles.
I will admit, a part of that is Sutter's deployment. When you have Huberdeau on a line with really average players, defenders could fixate on him and pretty much ignore the other players. But I think a bigger issue is the roster in general. Huberdeau couldn't find chemistry with the top guys, and the team lacks the kind of players that would compliment him. It kind of sucks that the $10.5 million man needs very specific players to compliment him and that he isn't the guy to compliment others, but that was the contract he was offered, so not really his fault.
But Huberdeau deserves a lot of the blame himself. He was all kinds of frustrating to watch this season. His effort seemed pretty poor a lot of the time. There were so many times he would just throw the puck when challenged, or he would barely move his feet on the powerplay. I really don't think his heart was in it this season until about the last 20 games or so.
So I think there is plenty of blame to go around here. Coach, GM, and player all contributed to the massive face plant with him.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
From Montgomery when asked about on balance across the series what it was that made the difference:
"I thought that Bennett line was pretty dominant, you know. Tkachuk's an outstanding hockey player, and we didn't contain him, you know. I thought they always changed the momentum back to them every time they were on the ice pretty much. I thought, if I'm looking at the series, that was the biggest difference. Cause, Statistically, our powerplay was better, that means our penalty kill was better than theirs, you know, there's a lot of things but in the end, that line kept making plays, and they're on the ice again, winning the battle behind the net. They score."
One second round pick, one boat anchor, one first round pick (traded away to clear cap space in order to sign a second boat anchor), and Weager.
There's so much parity that any team can lose a 7 game series if they aren't on top of their game. Defensive play and goaltending were strengths that elevated the Bruins to a Presidents Trophy but both were suspect in this series as they had a lot of key defensive breakdowns and goaltending was very pedestrian. Credit to the Panthers for not quitting and coming back in the series and game 7 but I feel the Bruins choked this one away.
