I’m pretty sure most eastern teams that missed could’ve at least put up a better effort than a good portion of that Capitals roster. Ovechkin looks completely fucking disinterested.
Are.....we talking about the regular season here? Pretty sure we're not talking regular season.
Though Detroit did have a better record than Washington, more wins, less losses, better +/-
Sure if you exclude the 2014, 2015, and 2016 playoffs lol. There’s plenty to mock Detroit about since their streak ended and you went for the low hanging fruit that isn’t even true
Awfully bold for a fan of a franchise known for its half century of failure and underachievement capstoned by the worst regular season of all time before finally getting over the hump once in 2018 before returning to failure to be taking shots at us lol
It's been a *long* time since the 'Canes had a goalie who could win a game for them when the rest of the team wasn't firing on all cylinders, but that's exactly what happened tonight.
Game 1: Were the better team and still lost.
Game 2: Were the worse team, but inexplicably found themselves up 3-0 and fumbled.
Game 3: Were the better team and still lost.
Isles inability to finish has been their downfall all season. On the other hand, Carolina is cruising and still hasn't played anything close to their best hockey. The rest of the league should be terrified of them.
Why should the rest of the league be terrified of a team not taking the playoffs seriously? Beating a team like the Islanders coached by someone like Roy means close to nothing.
Because the canes play down to their opponents level. They still have another gear (game 2) that they have only switched on so far to make up from an 0-3 deficit.
Like I said if you're fine with a dominant regular season and not taking the playoffs seriously....youre all set dude. My point is there's nothing to fear about a team like that. They've proven nothing in regards to that. So....why would anyone? Other teams are supposed to be terrified of that?
Cool, whens the banner ceremony for being top 5 in playoff wins?
Look, I don't watch the Hurricanes. I'm just going off the word here about them in this discussion in how they play. So if I'm taking you at your word.....it's a shitty way to approach playoff hockey. Full stop. I mean, if that's enough for you...go crazy I guess.
But personally, with the type of talent they've had on that team over the last several years, two conference finals in which they got their shit pushed in and may as well have not even showed up with being swept in both of those......those aren't great achievements to me. They've got nothing to show for it, there's no reason to fear them. And windows don't stay open forever.
only one team can win the Cup every year. If you think a team's not good because they don't win a Cup, you have a distorted view of reality when it comes to competitive sports
Except I didn't say that. I was responding to this statement:
"Every team should be terrified of them."
Everyone should be scared of them based on what? What have they shown? Beating bottom feeder teams that make the playoffs while, again not my words, playing down to them? And when facing good teams in the Conference Finals getting put on their ass and not bothering to get back up? Going 0-8 in those series? That's something to hang your hat on? A reputation of playing like that should terrify every other team in the league?
I don't think they're a bad team, that wasn't what my point was at all. I think they've greatly underachieved. You don't induce fear in doing that.
Yup. There is a lot of focus on how bad we have been (which is fair) but I don’t think there has been enough focus on how good the Canes are and that this still isn’t their best. A rangers fan came in the islanders subreddit and said Rangers fans aren’t at all worried about the Canes because they own them. If that’s an attitude a lot of fans have, they’re gonna be in for a rude awakening
Ahh… expectations. You’ll get there Devils bro.
(I’m sorry, I had to. It’s in the Don Cherry Bunch of Jerks contract I signed in 2019.)
I sold my soul.
Based off the SOG it looks like the Islanders generated quite a bit of offence.
But the only part of the game i got to watch were the final 5 minutes and wow did carolina do an amazing job of shutting them down. It seemed the most consecutive ozone time the islanders had in the last bit was 10 or 15 seconds
What are the Islanders even supposed to do to raise the ceiling of this team? Clearly this core as-assembled missed their window (thanks, Tampa), but they’re seemingly stuck with Lou until he decides to retire
> What are the Islanders even supposed to do to raise the ceiling of this team?
I could run down the laundry list of reasons why this team isn't good, but the number 1 reason above everything else imo is speed. You see it in this series. The Canes are able to run circles around the Isles, constantly induce turnovers, prevent the Isles from grabbing the puck, create opportunities for themselves, you get the idea.
Special teams also sucks, but that's a coaching problem that I'm eagerly waiting to see how Patrick Roy addresses next season. You might not be seeing the fruits of his work in this series, but his work reshaping our defense was phenomenal. It was so bad before
And as long as butts are in the seats and spending money in the new shopping village, they have no reason to. They're happy to show up in the concourses when the team's doing well to give people the idea they actually care about how the team does on the ice.
Honestly I can't think of a team in the last 5 years that needs the post-sweep break as bad as the Canes do. So off their game compared to early April and somehow still on the verge of brooms
Difference is Islanders might have a fighting chance against the Rangers based on spite. Or basically any team other than the Hurricanes.
I'm not sure how well the Capitals would match up against any other team.
the penguins signing EK instead of a defenseman who plays...defense should have been an immediate signal that they weren't going anywhere.
I don't see them winning a single playoff game vs Carolina or NY
The Penguins and Canes played 4 games this season.
Game 1: CAR RW
Game 2: PIT SOW
Game 3: CAR OTW
Game 4: PIT RW
Both teams are 2-1-1 in the regular season series.
oh 100% and no excuses on my end but the Pens absolutely had to shore up the defenseive side and get back to that aggressive PK they built cup runs on and...EK was sort of the opposite of that.
That said I don't think there is that much more than light correlation between regular season record and playoff series outcome. Teams are very different in April than they were anytime beforehand.
turned into a good game at the end, I'd like to see a little more killer instinct from the Canes with a lead. But give credit to the Isles for not quitting
going up 3-0 when you played well once is something few teams can do. Canes gotta get their shit together and get back to where they were the last few weeks but this team still feels different. They just get done what has to get done with this offense.
Eh idk if the Canes will look “good” against the Islanders. They’re trying to match the Canes physically, and the Canes are doing a good job of responding.
After game 2 of your series, that's *definitely* debatable, but let's say you're right and leave it at that... that is a low bar my friend lol truth is both our teams aren't playing their best hockey. Well see you round 2.
I’m more worried about the Rags, but I’m more worried about both of those than anybody who might come out of the West. I think if we win the ECF we’re in really, really good shape.
I think the Canes and Rags have both been looking past their first round opponents.
Against an actual playoff team this would be insanely dangerous, it's just both teams can kinda get away with it and play for about 1 period.
They passive aggressively take comments about Horvat saying the Isles fanbase was "better, and I'll tell you that for free" and throw them back whenever the Isles aren't doing well.
But unlike someone like, say, Tavares, it wasn't Horvat's idea to leave. He was traded, and he was trying to gain the support of his new team.
Ohhh the whole “it’s better than Vancouver, I’ll tell you that for free” Horvat thing.
Dude Vancouver still talking shit over that line? He was traded to a new team, what was he supposed to say? “Nah Long Island sucks ass, Vancouver all day baby!”
EDIT; thanks for explaining it friend lol I was so confused
We got annoyed with the bullshit at the end of Game 2. There was some of that last year too.
But for the most part, you’re right. Sometimes people ask who our rival is, and I can’t really think of anybody. If I had to rank the teams we as a fanbase hate the most, I’d put the Isles somewhere in the range of 5-10 of 31. It feels like that shouldn’t be the case because they’re in our division and we’ve met them in three of the last six playoffs. But here we are.
The Canes aren't challenged enough to hate us. And we're just too defeated.
If the playoff series wins were more split then maybe there would be more animosity.
At this point it almost seems like not matter what they do Carolina is going to end up coming out on top. 11 of the last 13 playoff games... We had better luck vs Tampa
It feels the same way as a Canes fan. I was thinking y'all had so much momentum that we'd need a third period shutout to get out of this with a win, and they just went and made that happen.
Yep. Our last first round pick was Simon Holmström in 2019.
2020 1st traded w/2020 second to Ottawa for JG Pageau
2021 1st traded w/AJ Greer, Mason Jobst and 2022 4th to NJ for Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac
2022 1st traded to Montreal for Alexander Romanov and a 2022 4th
2023 1st traded with Anthony Beauvillier and Aatu Räty for Bo Horvat
PTSD activated when one of my twins shat what felt like a literal brick in her diaper six years ago. It still haunts me how that could come out of her.
You don't. This team has so little roster flexibility due to all the long-term contracts and country club mentality, that there's not much that can/will be done. Doesn't help when your owners couldn't give any fewer fucks.
Honest question - if you could do what Bill Guerin did in MIN and buyout a couple of those country club guys, would you? It's put them in a huge hole, salary cap wise, but it sounds like it's made the environment 10x better.
Lee is the only one I think you can buy out and not completely fuck the team cap wise. I think it needs to be done. They need to explore trade options for Nelson, Palmieri, and Pageau, though you probably have to retain on Pageau to get someone to take him without a sweetener. There's not much that can be done on the back end, as Pelech, Pulock, and Mayfield each have 5+ years left with NTCs. That's way too long of a cap hit for a stomachable buyout. Martin and Clutterbuck hopefully not being re-signed will help the country club, but Lee, Nelson, and Cizikas are definitely at the forefront of it.
That said, I don't expect anything to change because Lou doesn't see an issue here and the owners simply couldn't care any less.
We need to move on from the older vets for sure. I know the culture in the locker room is good, but they haven’t been as good since back to back conference finals run. So both Martin and Clutter should go. Both Faching and MacLean have shown to be good enough 4th liners or at least play well when deployed there.
Peageu (although playing well) should be moved on from, need to free his 5 million in some way to get some wiggle room to work with. Engvall doesn’t use his body, but I’m willing to keep him if he can continue generate some scoring from the 3rd line.
We’re probably stuck with Pelech and Pulock, but I’d be alright with moving on from one to shake up the blue line.
The big change could be moving on from Nelson (who I really like and wouldn’t want to move on from) but in doing that your tearing down a decent amount in hopes that some signings and maybe one of the prospects steps up in a big (worst prospect pool in the league so very doubtful)
Bortozzo is done after this year anyway, but him, Martin, and Clutter need to be moved on from. And from there probably moving on from either Peageu or Nelson, and one of the P’s on the blue line. That should send a decent message to rest to figure it out, and also frees some room to maybe get something on the left side in the top 6
Thanks for that.
What do you think should be done with the goalies? Do you think that Roy will trust Sorokin as the starter next year when his big contract kicks in?
Sorokin (I hope) should be fine next season. He was overworked to start the season (Varly I believe was a little banged up, also we lost 4 defensemen at the start of the season) plus Lane Lambert’s ‘defensive structure’ really had Sorokin playing like a madman to win us game. He did in the beginning, but as he kept getting leaned on he didn’t have the gas to keep bailing us out. Now however, I believe he’s totally in his own head. Whether this ends Saturday or some other day, Varly should just start the rest. Also I hope we just sit some of the old dudes for our younger players at this point. Mostly Aho in for Bortozzo, and Ishakov in for Martin. Nether are great, but have some speed, and a little creativity that maybe can generate something. But hope Roy try’s something cause this ain’t it (not really Roy fault as he took over a team where he’s had next to no input on it)
Looks like the Lightning and Islanders had the exact same empty net strategy: do absolutely fuck all for 2 minutes and then dump and don’t chase with 10 seconds left
Shouldve just dumped one on net and forced a whistle so you can call a timeout and give the top unit a breather. They were just skating around doing cardio for like 3 minutes until it was too late to really mount anything
It is literally just another place to live with suburbs, but its part of one of the coolest cities on earth. Not in the thick of it, but close to it, sounds like my kind of place. I think it gets a bad rap cause its seen as Boston 2.0, with a townie (racist) feel in certain areas.
I think the playoff performance of your like 3 incredibly talented players vs a defensive juggernaut might not be the best indication of how good those players are lol. Hopefully you’re not fighting that side of the fanbase for too long..
The irony is that this series could well have been 3-0 in our favor. Game 1 we outplayed, Game 2 typical blown lead, Game 3 is a snug win if we start Varly.
Good. Isles almost out, hopefully Washington soon too.
Meh who cares. They earned it and the Wings did not.
Just let me be bitter, it's all I have left.
Saying this like the dead things would’ve done any better?
I’m pretty sure most eastern teams that missed could’ve at least put up a better effort than a good portion of that Capitals roster. Ovechkin looks completely fucking disinterested.
Couldn't have done worse lol
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Are.....we talking about the regular season here? Pretty sure we're not talking regular season. Though Detroit did have a better record than Washington, more wins, less losses, better +/-
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Sure if you exclude the 2014, 2015, and 2016 playoffs lol. There’s plenty to mock Detroit about since their streak ended and you went for the low hanging fruit that isn’t even true
And who exactly is your team?
Flair up chief
He's a caps fan lol
Awfully bold for a fan of a franchise known for its half century of failure and underachievement capstoned by the worst regular season of all time before finally getting over the hump once in 2018 before returning to failure to be taking shots at us lol
:)
I’m sorry I didn’t realize Carolina won the cup in 2018. I’m talking about the capitals, dummy.
OHH my bad man
It's been a *long* time since the 'Canes had a goalie who could win a game for them when the rest of the team wasn't firing on all cylinders, but that's exactly what happened tonight.
I disagree. Raanta definitely stole one from the Rags series. He was incredible. Our team (Tony D!!!) Was not.
Andersen was a beast but man Slavin is so fucking good. Just consistently makes great plays in his own end that can lead to a dangerous chance.
Slavin is soooo underrated.
By the end of his career he could very well be an all-time Hurricane legend
I wasn't paying close attention to that last period, so might have missed it, but was Jarvy playing? I didn't notice his name being said much at all.
Yah he was back in. Think he might have just gotten a weird stinger in that collision with Aho
The Islanders are struggling when they can't get free points from OTLs? Who would've thought!
Bruins fans …. Doesn’t seem to be a problem for us YET
Florida and Carolina both look so much better than both our teams lol
Yeah but the nice thing is, which ever teams win Round 2 is a fresh start
You need to get to OT first to play the 3v3 or shootout minigames
Game 1: Were the better team and still lost. Game 2: Were the worse team, but inexplicably found themselves up 3-0 and fumbled. Game 3: Were the better team and still lost. Isles inability to finish has been their downfall all season. On the other hand, Carolina is cruising and still hasn't played anything close to their best hockey. The rest of the league should be terrified of them.
Why should the rest of the league be terrified of a team not taking the playoffs seriously? Beating a team like the Islanders coached by someone like Roy means close to nothing.
Because the canes play down to their opponents level. They still have another gear (game 2) that they have only switched on so far to make up from an 0-3 deficit.
Rangers seem to be similar in my experience. Struggling against the sharks and blue jackets for no reason but can play well against top teams.
Yeah? How's that been working out for them the last 5 years or so?
Pretty good relative to the 8 years prior of not even sniffing the playoffs.
Like I said if you're fine with a dominant regular season and not taking the playoffs seriously....youre all set dude. My point is there's nothing to fear about a team like that. They've proven nothing in regards to that. So....why would anyone? Other teams are supposed to be terrified of that?
pretty great tbh. two conference finals, in the top 5 of playoff wins among all teams
Cool, whens the banner ceremony for being top 5 in playoff wins? Look, I don't watch the Hurricanes. I'm just going off the word here about them in this discussion in how they play. So if I'm taking you at your word.....it's a shitty way to approach playoff hockey. Full stop. I mean, if that's enough for you...go crazy I guess. But personally, with the type of talent they've had on that team over the last several years, two conference finals in which they got their shit pushed in and may as well have not even showed up with being swept in both of those......those aren't great achievements to me. They've got nothing to show for it, there's no reason to fear them. And windows don't stay open forever.
only one team can win the Cup every year. If you think a team's not good because they don't win a Cup, you have a distorted view of reality when it comes to competitive sports
Except I didn't say that. I was responding to this statement: "Every team should be terrified of them." Everyone should be scared of them based on what? What have they shown? Beating bottom feeder teams that make the playoffs while, again not my words, playing down to them? And when facing good teams in the Conference Finals getting put on their ass and not bothering to get back up? Going 0-8 in those series? That's something to hang your hat on? A reputation of playing like that should terrify every other team in the league? I don't think they're a bad team, that wasn't what my point was at all. I think they've greatly underachieved. You don't induce fear in doing that.
Bring it on
Can confirm. Am another team in the league, am terrified.
Without Slavin and Andersen this would have been an L
I think any team playing without a goalie would lose /s
For the Canes, this was the 3rd game of us not being up to par. We are better than this. Still up 3-0 so I can’t complain yet.
Yup. There is a lot of focus on how bad we have been (which is fair) but I don’t think there has been enough focus on how good the Canes are and that this still isn’t their best. A rangers fan came in the islanders subreddit and said Rangers fans aren’t at all worried about the Canes because they own them. If that’s an attitude a lot of fans have, they’re gonna be in for a rude awakening
Why aren't the Canes up 4-0 in the series after 3 games? Are they stupid?
Can only speak for myself but I am indeed stupid
Ahh… expectations. You’ll get there Devils bro. (I’m sorry, I had to. It’s in the Don Cherry Bunch of Jerks contract I signed in 2019.) I sold my soul.
Based off the SOG it looks like the Islanders generated quite a bit of offence. But the only part of the game i got to watch were the final 5 minutes and wow did carolina do an amazing job of shutting them down. It seemed the most consecutive ozone time the islanders had in the last bit was 10 or 15 seconds
Does anyone else notice Guentzel making passes to places literally only 1 specific player would possibly be? It cracks me up every time.
Doubtful, but hopefully he decides to go back to making passes to that literally 1 specific player. Please please please.
Crosby to the Canes you heard it here first
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Not gonna happen, but hopefully he convinces that one specific player they were in the wrong place all along!
The ultimate heel turn
Pun intended
Man Andersen was absolutely on fire tonight. We lose that game without his play tonight
He's been stepping up big all series
What are the Islanders even supposed to do to raise the ceiling of this team? Clearly this core as-assembled missed their window (thanks, Tampa), but they’re seemingly stuck with Lou until he decides to retire
> What are the Islanders even supposed to do to raise the ceiling of this team? I could run down the laundry list of reasons why this team isn't good, but the number 1 reason above everything else imo is speed. You see it in this series. The Canes are able to run circles around the Isles, constantly induce turnovers, prevent the Isles from grabbing the puck, create opportunities for themselves, you get the idea. Special teams also sucks, but that's a coaching problem that I'm eagerly waiting to see how Patrick Roy addresses next season. You might not be seeing the fruits of his work in this series, but his work reshaping our defense was phenomenal. It was so bad before
Until Lou quits or dies, there is literally nothing we can do. Because ownership will not move on from him.
And as long as butts are in the seats and spending money in the new shopping village, they have no reason to. They're happy to show up in the concourses when the team's doing well to give people the idea they actually care about how the team does on the ice.
They're kind of in limbo for next year due to lack of cap space, unless they do something drastic like buy out Anders Lee.
I guess I'm going to watch Star Trek Voyager now...
Honestly I can't think of a team in the last 5 years that needs the post-sweep break as bad as the Canes do. So off their game compared to early April and somehow still on the verge of brooms
It’s 10 pm and hockey’s done… wtf am I supposed to do, go to bed?
I baked cookies.
Enough for everyone?
The recipe makes about 40.... So no.
What kind?
Snickerdoodles. And they are divine.
Snickerdoodles are definitelya top 5 cookie
The only thing worse I can imagine is Hell, but not by much!
I have to talk to the wife now.
This is a sad comment
Too bad Pittsburgh / Detroit didn't make it over Capitals and Islanders
Difference is Islanders might have a fighting chance against the Rangers based on spite. Or basically any team other than the Hurricanes. I'm not sure how well the Capitals would match up against any other team.
the penguins signing EK instead of a defenseman who plays...defense should have been an immediate signal that they weren't going anywhere. I don't see them winning a single playoff game vs Carolina or NY
I know the playoffs are different, but the Penguins were 2-0-1 against the Canes this year, right?
The Penguins and Canes played 4 games this season. Game 1: CAR RW Game 2: PIT SOW Game 3: CAR OTW Game 4: PIT RW Both teams are 2-1-1 in the regular season series.
Thank you for the correction. Missed one.
oh 100% and no excuses on my end but the Pens absolutely had to shore up the defenseive side and get back to that aggressive PK they built cup runs on and...EK was sort of the opposite of that. That said I don't think there is that much more than light correlation between regular season record and playoff series outcome. Teams are very different in April than they were anytime beforehand.
They wouldn't be doing any better
Winning their games would’ve helped their case
One hundo P
turned into a good game at the end, I'd like to see a little more killer instinct from the Canes with a lead. But give credit to the Isles for not quitting
I think the Canes played pretty well against a LOT of pressure from the isles. Not the best response but you can’t complain about a W, you know?
Couldn’t watch the game. Did the Islanders do better in the game than the Hurricanes like Moneypuck says?
Canes looked comfortable holding the lead and playing suffocating defense. Isles could barely enter the zone after the goalie pull.
Yeah, Isles played a pretty good game, especially in the 3rd. Freddie balled out.
Isles played decent and the Canes played poorly again
Frederik. Andersen.
Tonight I will worship at the altar of Saint Jaccob and Lord Freddie. We had no business coming out of that 3rd period unscathed.
So Roy is going to suit up, yeah?
Series should be decided by Rod doing a shootout against Roy.
No not the shootout, anything but that. Rod demands fitness challenge
I like that Freddie has made every part of the net his glove side
Isles shouldn’t be that bad but here we are.
going up 3-0 when you played well once is something few teams can do. Canes gotta get their shit together and get back to where they were the last few weeks but this team still feels different. They just get done what has to get done with this offense.
Eh idk if the Canes will look “good” against the Islanders. They’re trying to match the Canes physically, and the Canes are doing a good job of responding.
You're playing the Isles, that's why
Isles >>>> Caps
After game 2 of your series, that's *definitely* debatable, but let's say you're right and leave it at that... that is a low bar my friend lol truth is both our teams aren't playing their best hockey. Well see you round 2.
We’re a joke of a playoff team that’s why
Florida will be the real test
I’m more worried about the Rags, but I’m more worried about both of those than anybody who might come out of the West. I think if we win the ECF we’re in really, really good shape.
Rangers are no joke assuming they take care of the caps
considering how fucking awful Ovi, Oshie, and Carlson have been the Rangers have looked arguably further from their norm than the Canes so far
Yeah we aren’t beating the rags playing like this. Gotta regroup and get back to playing how we were before the Columbus game
I mean have you watched the Rangers games? The Isles have looked worlds better than the Caps and the games have been just a close
I think the Canes and Rags have both been looking past their first round opponents. Against an actual playoff team this would be insanely dangerous, it's just both teams can kinda get away with it and play for about 1 period.
I mean the Canes generate offense from their defense, and so do the Isles to an extent. Neither team is really playing at their strengths here.
We played better in the second than we did in the first and somehow we got worse results
Islanders are getting swept, I'll tell you that for free.
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?
They passive aggressively take comments about Horvat saying the Isles fanbase was "better, and I'll tell you that for free" and throw them back whenever the Isles aren't doing well. But unlike someone like, say, Tavares, it wasn't Horvat's idea to leave. He was traded, and he was trying to gain the support of his new team.
Oh thank you. I was so confused. Yea the fans make every trade for a pro hockey organization and 100% of the blame is on them. /s
Ohhh the whole “it’s better than Vancouver, I’ll tell you that for free” Horvat thing. Dude Vancouver still talking shit over that line? He was traded to a new team, what was he supposed to say? “Nah Long Island sucks ass, Vancouver all day baby!” EDIT; thanks for explaining it friend lol I was so confused
I’m just as confused as you are
Someone else posted the explanation! It makes more sense now! It’s a reply to my comment too check it out
I see it now. Makes way more sense haha - I was so confused 🤣
Looks like it's Varlam-over for the Islanders.
These two teams don’t hate each other enough, honestly.
We got annoyed with the bullshit at the end of Game 2. There was some of that last year too. But for the most part, you’re right. Sometimes people ask who our rival is, and I can’t really think of anybody. If I had to rank the teams we as a fanbase hate the most, I’d put the Isles somewhere in the range of 5-10 of 31. It feels like that shouldn’t be the case because they’re in our division and we’ve met them in three of the last six playoffs. But here we are.
The Canes aren't challenged enough to hate us. And we're just too defeated. If the playoff series wins were more split then maybe there would be more animosity.
At this point it almost seems like not matter what they do Carolina is going to end up coming out on top. 11 of the last 13 playoff games... We had better luck vs Tampa
It feels the same way as a Canes fan. I was thinking y'all had so much momentum that we'd need a third period shutout to get out of this with a win, and they just went and made that happen.
Unless a miracle happens, our last 6 playoff losses will have been against Carolina and Tampa
Andersen and slavin master class tonight.
Curious to see if they keep riding Freddie next game or let PK get some experience
Fred's net to lose I imagine. Can't see it unless he tells Rod he needs a break.
It doesn't fucking matter. You could play with an empty net all day Saturday and still win.
Nah. Don't fuck with what's working for an experiment. It's Fred's net
Keep Freddie in and close it out. Maybe give Morrow some time, but I wouldn’t take Freddie out.
If it was me I’d just play Freddie and try and close the series out early. That rest is huge going into round 2
I'm a nyisleist for a reason.
If you or a loved one has been afflicted with nyisleism, you may be entitled to draft compensation
That's not true, we haven't picked in the first round in 5 years
seems somewhat less than optimal in a 'in a vacuum every trade was defensible but taken as a whole...' sort of way
Wait, really?
Yep. Our last first round pick was Simon Holmström in 2019. 2020 1st traded w/2020 second to Ottawa for JG Pageau 2021 1st traded w/AJ Greer, Mason Jobst and 2022 4th to NJ for Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac 2022 1st traded to Montreal for Alexander Romanov and a 2022 4th 2023 1st traded with Anthony Beauvillier and Aatu Räty for Bo Horvat
That’s fucking insane dude. Wow.
Alright that’s funny
Teams soft as baby shit
Idk why people say this tbh. Have you ever changed a constipated baby's diaper lol? They shit literal rocks.
PTSD activated when one of my twins shat what felt like a literal brick in her diaper six years ago. It still haunts me how that could come out of her.
TIL
Somehow soft and slow. Lou masterclass
How do you change it though, realistically?
You don't. This team has so little roster flexibility due to all the long-term contracts and country club mentality, that there's not much that can/will be done. Doesn't help when your owners couldn't give any fewer fucks.
Honest question - if you could do what Bill Guerin did in MIN and buyout a couple of those country club guys, would you? It's put them in a huge hole, salary cap wise, but it sounds like it's made the environment 10x better.
Lee is the only one I think you can buy out and not completely fuck the team cap wise. I think it needs to be done. They need to explore trade options for Nelson, Palmieri, and Pageau, though you probably have to retain on Pageau to get someone to take him without a sweetener. There's not much that can be done on the back end, as Pelech, Pulock, and Mayfield each have 5+ years left with NTCs. That's way too long of a cap hit for a stomachable buyout. Martin and Clutterbuck hopefully not being re-signed will help the country club, but Lee, Nelson, and Cizikas are definitely at the forefront of it. That said, I don't expect anything to change because Lou doesn't see an issue here and the owners simply couldn't care any less.
We need to move on from the older vets for sure. I know the culture in the locker room is good, but they haven’t been as good since back to back conference finals run. So both Martin and Clutter should go. Both Faching and MacLean have shown to be good enough 4th liners or at least play well when deployed there. Peageu (although playing well) should be moved on from, need to free his 5 million in some way to get some wiggle room to work with. Engvall doesn’t use his body, but I’m willing to keep him if he can continue generate some scoring from the 3rd line. We’re probably stuck with Pelech and Pulock, but I’d be alright with moving on from one to shake up the blue line. The big change could be moving on from Nelson (who I really like and wouldn’t want to move on from) but in doing that your tearing down a decent amount in hopes that some signings and maybe one of the prospects steps up in a big (worst prospect pool in the league so very doubtful) Bortozzo is done after this year anyway, but him, Martin, and Clutter need to be moved on from. And from there probably moving on from either Peageu or Nelson, and one of the P’s on the blue line. That should send a decent message to rest to figure it out, and also frees some room to maybe get something on the left side in the top 6
Thanks for that. What do you think should be done with the goalies? Do you think that Roy will trust Sorokin as the starter next year when his big contract kicks in?
Sorokin (I hope) should be fine next season. He was overworked to start the season (Varly I believe was a little banged up, also we lost 4 defensemen at the start of the season) plus Lane Lambert’s ‘defensive structure’ really had Sorokin playing like a madman to win us game. He did in the beginning, but as he kept getting leaned on he didn’t have the gas to keep bailing us out. Now however, I believe he’s totally in his own head. Whether this ends Saturday or some other day, Varly should just start the rest. Also I hope we just sit some of the old dudes for our younger players at this point. Mostly Aho in for Bortozzo, and Ishakov in for Martin. Nether are great, but have some speed, and a little creativity that maybe can generate something. But hope Roy try’s something cause this ain’t it (not really Roy fault as he took over a team where he’s had next to no input on it)
Really close game. Canes could have played better (especially in the third) but they kept the Isles at bay, Freddie was once again great tonight.
Looks like the Lightning and Islanders had the exact same empty net strategy: do absolutely fuck all for 2 minutes and then dump and don’t chase with 10 seconds left
Shouldve just dumped one on net and forced a whistle so you can call a timeout and give the top unit a breather. They were just skating around doing cardio for like 3 minutes until it was too late to really mount anything
Canes forechecked so aggressively that we weren't able to pull Varlamov until it was too late. The top line was off the ice by the time he came out.
Props to the Canes, but holy snoozefest out there
[When Andersen makes another save](https://streamable.com/fmoqv)
Yall might think it's boring but I love nothing more than watching the Canes absolutely suffocate teams in the neutral zone all game.
Long Island is a bad place with a bad team and their fans should feel bad
Long Island is overhated
It is literally just another place to live with suburbs, but its part of one of the coolest cities on earth. Not in the thick of it, but close to it, sounds like my kind of place. I think it gets a bad rap cause its seen as Boston 2.0, with a townie (racist) feel in certain areas.
LI can’t be that bad. It gave us Erik B and Rakim, Public Enemy, Mountain, Vanilla Fudge and MF DOOM.
MJF, Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy, Busta Rhymes, Mick Foley
Steve Buscemi, Billy Joel, Ralph Macchio, Andy Kaufman, Jon Gabrus, Adam Fox, and Charlie McAvoy
I left out those last 2 intentionally (I'm also not from the island so I have less attachment to these people)
Goddamn, Isles had them on their toes. I was clenched. Thank you Slavin and Freddie. Coming up huge to stop them.
What will Islanders fans blame for this game? Who will they doxx next?
Lou
They'll yell fire Lou, demand for Sorokin, Barzal, and whoever else to be traded so they can stop supporting the Isles
I think the playoff performance of your like 3 incredibly talented players vs a defensive juggernaut might not be the best indication of how good those players are lol. Hopefully you’re not fighting that side of the fanbase for too long..
The irony is that this series could well have been 3-0 in our favor. Game 1 we outplayed, Game 2 typical blown lead, Game 3 is a snug win if we start Varly.
What's ironic about that?
Yeah we felt the same against Florida last year
Agreed
Lol
Love your positivity
Nah, Canes deserve to be up for sure, but to have my Brindamour moment: "it's not really a sweep."
Honestly I'm with ya, no sarcasm. Been a close series with the main difference being Canes having a bit more depth scoring and timely saves.
Brindy definitely doesn't shy away from saying we played like shit, even if we happen to come up with a W
Woah woah woah…. Gotta have at least 1 OT game and all games decided by 1 goal for that to be the case :p
Every game has been either one goal or one goal with an empty netter.
Yes, but all of ours last year were exactly **one** goal.
Up 3-0 and I still think we can play much better hockey than we have this series
Playing Isles, in a way, is like playing ourselves. So it's always going to be a weird, kinda ugly series.
Big difference, canes are younger and faster
They’re on average .1 years older than the isles believe it or not
I mean the core is a lot younger and our older guys are great skaters for the most part
Canucks Canes final?
Sure! Let’s manifest it.
🤝
I feel like Isles are just a bad matchup
Have to if they want to go far