ECR1: Florida Panthers (A3) vs Tampa Bay Lightning (A2) - PANTHERS WIN 4-1

[Erick Estrada]

I wonder if Hagel gets one or two games? Should be at least two IMO as Barkov didn't even have the puck and he blindsided him.

[Saqe]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I wonder if Hagel gets one or two games? Should be at least two IMO as Barkov didn't even have the puck and he blindsided him.

I would imagine he gets one. The league tones down the penalties a lot in the playoffs.

[FanIn80]

https://www.nhl.com/news/brandon-hag...ksander-barkov

DOPS Hearing

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by saqe

https://twitter.com/user/status/1915588575095095775


looks like bennett had to bite his tongue for a couple of seconds when asked about the barkov hit lol. He's going to look to line up guys now for sure.

fyp

[CroFlames]

Bolts are bolts - eternal enemy.

Panteros are eternal heroes, like the Canes.

I didn't like how Tkachuk cozied up to Trump, but I love Bennett.

I'm a bit torn, but yeah, go Panthers.

[Sylvanfan]

It will be interesting to see if the Bolts start a bit of a teardown. Given the ages of their top guys...their cup winning days are over, and their state rivals have clearly passed them. Do they hold on longer and become like Pittsburgh...or do they get in front of it and start the rebuild.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

It will be interesting to see if the Bolts start a bit of a teardown. Given the ages of their top guys...their cup winning days are over, and their state rivals have clearly passed them. Do they hold on longer and become like Pittsburgh...or do they get in front of it and start the rebuild.

Series isn't over yet and the Lightning had a really good regular season so hard to justify tearing it down. They are simply a victim of a terrible playoff format as they should have been facing Ottawa instead of the Panthers in the first round and the Panthers should be facing the Hurricanes. Lightning would have easily dispatched Ottawa and awaited the winner of the Panthers vs Hurricanes which would be a grind for whatever team came out. All this format has accomplished is ensuring that at least one of the top teams in each conference is guaranteed to be eliminated in the first round.

[CalgaryFan1988]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Series isn't over yet and the Lightning had a really good regular season so hard to justify tearing it down. They are simply a victim of a terrible playoff format as they should have been facing Ottawa instead of the Panthers in the first round and the Panthers should be facing the Hurricanes. Lightning would have easily dispatched Ottawa and awaited the winner of the Panthers vs Hurricanes which would be a grind for whatever team came out. All this format has accomplished is ensuring that at least one of the top teams in each conference is guaranteed to be eliminated in the first round.

Whoever thought up the "new" playoff format needs to be fired into the sun.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Series isn't over yet and the Lightning had a really good regular season so hard to justify tearing it down. They are simply a victim of a terrible playoff format as they should have been facing Ottawa instead of the Panthers in the first round and the Panthers should be facing the Hurricanes. Lightning would have easily dispatched Ottawa and awaited the winner of the Panthers vs Hurricanes which would be a grind for whatever team came out. All this format has accomplished is ensuring that at least one of the top teams in each conference is guaranteed to be eliminated in the first round.

This thing is done. 5 games at the most.

Blame the format...but if, if, if this and that...maybe teams play it a bit differently.

It's 3 straight years of round one losses for Tampa. They are very similar to what the Penguins were but like 4 years younger. The Pens won 2 cups, lost that round 2 series to the Caps the following year in OT of game 7 which pretty much was the series to determine the cup winner that year.. Than stopped winning playoff rounds.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

It will be interesting to see if the Bolts start a bit of a teardown. Given the ages of their top guys...their cup winning days are over, and their state rivals have clearly passed them. Do they hold on longer and become like Pittsburgh...or do they get in front of it and start the rebuild.

They just went all in with letting Stamoks walk and signing Guntzel, and trading away 1st round picks saying they don't need em.

Can't see them changing course, maybe a retool on the fly.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

This thing is done. 5 games at the most.

Blame the format...but if, if, if this and that...maybe teams play it a bit differently.

It's 3 straight years of round one losses for Tampa. They are very similar to what the Penguins were but like 4 years younger. The Pens won 2 cups, lost that round 2 series to the Caps the following year in OT of game 7 which pretty much was the series to determine the cup winner that year.. Than stopped winning playoff rounds.

At least with the old format, the top teams had the first round to get into playoff mode against a beatable opponent. Now it's like conference final calibre in round one and the team that's more quickly dialed into playoff mode wins.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

At least with the old format, the top teams had the first round to get into playoff mode against a beatable opponent. Now it's like conference final calibre in round one and the team that's more quickly dialed into playoff mode wins.

The top teams still draw the wild cards. If there are any beatable opponents in the playoffs, they're the wild-card seeds.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

The a good chunk of the year, the Lightning were a closer to a wild card team than a top team. They went on a crazy run from February on to get into the 2 seed.

The Panthers were neck and neck with the Leafs for the division lead all year long, mostly ahead of the Leafs. They had some significant injuries and a suspension that had them playing .500 hockey down the stretch. They're fully healthy now. Oh yeah, and they're the defending Stanley Cup Champions who went to the finals the year before that.

Why is everyone so surprised that they're outplaying Tampa?

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by OminousFlames

We need the Panthers to move on. They have the best chance of knocking out the Leafs.


It's kind of funny how American fans mock the lack of Stanley Cups in Canada in recent history, when it's mostly Canadian fans that want the Canadian teams to lose, except the one they cheer for.

Yeah this is really dumb...like do they cheer for the other teams in their state? no they are their biggest rivals and they hate them obviously.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Why is everyone so surprised that they're outplaying Tampa?

Who has said they're surprised?

I want Tampa to win because of the pick. I thought Tampa would at least compete with Florida....but looks like I completely overrated them...they're not.

[MissTeeks]

One game for Hagel.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1915946268855042546

[Cali Panthers Fan]

^Seems fair.

I don't know how you would implement this, but I'm still of the mind that if you have a predatory/intentionally dangerous hit that injures a player leading to a suspension, you should sit out until that player is able to return.

[FanIn80]

He's probably thanking his lucky stars that he's been suspended.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

He's probably thanking his lucky stars that he's been suspended.

Bennett is like an elephant. He doesn't forget.

[dino7c]

So this game is going on and almost over...holy early start

3-1 Tampa in the third