Running 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs thread

It really does suck to be a fan of the Capitals.

I agree that home ice doesn't seem to mean much. I keep hearing these hockey guys talk about not being in trouble in a series until you lose at home. I never bought into that. If you are a lower seed, you can win all of your home games and lose the series. I'd say being eliminated counts as trouble.

Also, take the Penguins-Flyers series. The Penguins lost Game 2 at home, but I'm not sure they were really in trouble. They controlled play much of that game and that showed in the shot advantage. They just missed a bunch of opportunities. Crosby had three great chances that he didn't convert. They hit three posts and a crossbar.

The Flyers actually played their best period of the series in the first yesterday, but they couldn't beat Murray and Crosby gave the Penguins control by scoring the game's first goal.

 

That didn't stop people in Pittsburgh from focusing on Crosby missing three great chances in Game 2 against the Flyers, though he has been great overall in the series. You are right, of course, but it is just hard to miss when the star player comes up short in a loss.

 

Seeing it live at the game, my first reaction was, the puck was frozen on the boards, two Sharks and one Duck were trying to dig it out. Perry came in to even the numbers and drilled Karlsson. The ref called interference, which was ridiculous. I thought Karlsson was there trying to play the puck, so that negates interference. What I didn't know was if you could get a penalty for something like being the fourth man in in a situation like that. The thought that maybe a charging call is warranted.
Then I saw the replays at the game and in videos and I didn't think it was any sort of illegal hit, hard but legal.
Randy Carlyle has tried to diffuse any referee controversies that usually plague the Ducks by siding with them in all of his postgame comments. What he said about this was that Perry could have been less violent. He is taking the high road. The hit looked worse than it was because Karlsson's helmet flew off. In live action, I understand the refs calling a penalty. They just called the wrong penalty.
That brings us to the discussion of a suspension. If they suspend Perry for that, there are dozens of other hits that need similar punishment.

 

I also realize I am not being fully rational here. So keep that in mind.

 

I was at the game too and legal or not, it was a stupid move by Perry. Ducks were losing by one goal late, getting ready to pull the goalie for a late attack and Perry took a dumb and unnecessary penalty.

 

It’s cheap as hell. It’s not sunspendable but Perry knew what he was doing, just typical Perry.

 

That's why I suggested there was an argument for charging to be had. Karlsson was playing the puck, so it isn't interference. It was probably the first thing the refs thought of because they saw the violence of the hit and it was what they went with. Given that Perry came from out of the zone (the camera didn't show where he started from), came skating in hard and went straight for a hit that Karlsson essentially didn't see coming, the penalty was probably charging (noting that charging doesn't require you to leave your feet to commit). But all that was required was a minor penalty. There was no head shot, no extra curriculars and didn't attempt to injure Karlsson, just knock him off the puck, no suspension was necessary. Besides, Perry doing something stupid to eliminate a scoring opportunity for his own team was punishment enough.

 

I hardly live in a hockey hotbed, so I'm gratified when I go to the gym and see multiple hockey games being watched. You even see non-fans suddenly get into games and look away from the home design shows.

 

I'm shocked, shocked that when this became a 3-goal game the shenanigans erupted.

 

I turned in on just in time to see Perry two hand Jones on the glove hand. What a piece of shit.

 

Yeah, that was a bad one. Even the Ducks announcers said so. I honestly hate it when they goon it up after they get their ass kicked on the ice. "We can't beat you so you we'll beat you up." Hate it. The old Flyers method. The Ducks have done that before. It makes them look worse than they were in the game. There's nothing worse than seeing your captain heading for the locker room with a game misconduct. I heard the national announcers pointed out that Getzlaf, Perry and Kesler were all serving penalties at the same time. Embarrassing.