I was hoping to avoid most of the BLM crap, but whatever. At least the focus has been on hockey and I’ve definitely been enjoying that. I can get used to all day hockey, kinda reminds me of the Olympics
Yeah, then just skip the anthems and turn on the TV 5 minutes after the start time. Easy peasy.
So, I guess the Rangers are out now? That was quick.
Is there any way to see who the Islanders would play in the first round of the actual playoffs, or do I have to wait until the round robin contest is done? Assuming they get past the Panthers, of course.
I could not really give two shits about this year’s NHL “playoffs”. And I say this as a fan and regular watcher of games for 50 years. I literally just remembered that something was happening and looked for this thread; and I could not even be bothered to read most of the replies here.
I doubt that the TV ratings will amount to much.
Thanks for your helpful and insightful addition to this thread!
I’ve enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. It’s nice having hockey for most of the waking hours. The lack of fans isn’t as noticeable with the tight camera angles.
The Carolina Hurricanes have definitely been fun to watch and they’re a team that’s been off my radar
Well I’m glad you could take time out of your busy day to let us know how little you care about this. I shall stop watching forthwith.
In Canada at least, TV viewership is setting records.
Say what you want about the Leafs, they have been very consistent over the past few years with their playoff suckage.
If a team is eliminated in the qualifiers is it fair to say they didn’t make the playoffs? The qualifiers are housekeeping for a truncated regular season. The playoffs start with the conference quarter-finals.
I think that’s right (he says smugly, now that the Islanders are in). I think those series were called the Play-Ins, and included teams that were not in a playoff spot when the season was cut short.
How about those Blackhawks! Knocking out the Oilers!
Can’t believe my teams are actually doing something - Canucks dispose of the Wild and face the Habs, which is probably the best opponent (in terms of being the least strongest) for them to face. I’ll be quite unimpressed if the Canucks don’t continue to previal on that one. Markstrom is still more or less keeping Van in games, as he has all season, facing the second-most amount of scoring chances in the NHL this (albeit severely truncated) year. Most games a goalie will make at least one stand-on-head save - every game I’ve seen Markstrom in he’s made at least four or sometimes five. This - heh - reMARKable transforamtion started half-way through previous season, with many attributing it to death of his father. Almost a Vezina contender.
And then Philly getting by the Bolts - huh. Wouldn’t’a put money on that. Again it was about the goaltending - I can only pray the Flyers have something called a starting goalie after - what - 35 years? Been saddening ever since.
I think you got it backwards. The Habs (who somehow managed to beat the penguins), are playing the Flyers, who took first in the east. The Canucks are playing either the Stars or the Blues.
UGH you’re right about Flyers/Habs, and it looks like just very recently St. Louis beat Dallas, so, Van’ll have their hands full.
WHOOO FLYERS! That makes our current steak 12 out of 13! Also haven’t lost in… 150 days! 
Carter Hart has been fearless. So was Leighton. Our goal scoring and defense is nail biting, but working. COVID CUP!
I am worried about Montreal. Price is incredible. I don’t see us scoring four goals a game against him.
The Stars finally win a game, and the NHL’s site has the score backwards. How does that even happen? Well, at least the standings reflect the actual result.
Stars hung in there. And Blue Jackets’ goaltender was way in the zone. 33 saves, no goals. And the Columbus defense is up there, too.
Didn’t Columbus trade away all their talent? And, the Leafs look like an all star team with some of their lines. Amazing that Columbus took them out!
I guess Tavares should have stuck around in NY.
I don’t like the reseeding. The idea of seeding is that the team with the top seed gets a theoretically easier path as a reward for earning the top seed. A team that is able to pull off an upset should be rewarded with the defeated teams easier path. Reseeding rewards an upset winner by giving them the toughest remaining team.
it’s so rare to see Tortorella in a good mood after a game.
A couple of thoughts after watching the games -
The EA crowd noise is ignorable, but it would be better with just the game sounds. I would pay for this option. Sometimes i might listen to the commentary, but usually not.
Five games is plenty for any series, except maybe the Finals.
Tis nice to have hockey to watch, so i will tell myself to stop complaining…