Opening new thread for February.
Still quite a few “bubble teams.”
Pffft. What is that? Please fix mods.
I kinda like that title. Februaryary: the month is short so you gave it a longer name!
One hell of an echo in here.
I predict the Blue Jackets will keep on winning, as long as they keep the regulars out of the lineup and continue to rely on call-ups from the Cleveland Monsters.
I predict the Stars will win every game that Jamie Benn stays awake for.
I continue to believe that Holtby will regain form and that Samsonov will cool down, but it is February now. And, that’ll really make the decision about keeping Holtby to be difficult
And tonight is the battle of Ontariario
Lousy Smarch weather!
Lol, it reminds me of that Garth Brooks song.
‘We’ll put some country music on the radio ay oh’
Cut it out Alberta, you redneck fucks.
I fixed the title.
Not sure if the Canucks are being a cruel tease by going 12-3-0 in their last 15 and sitting strangely on the top of the Pacific division. What - they’re intimating that they actually might qualify for a wild card?! BAH! Do not toy with me like this!!!
Really pleased on how wrong my specualtion was that JT Miller would doubtfully live up to being traded for a first rounder. In many ways he’s become their gritty team leader, already only three goals shy of his season’s best, pushing teammates to play more of a 200-foot game, and a perfect linemate for young superstar Elias Pettersson, who’s playing kinda lukewarm presently. And speaking of young superstars - defenseman Quinn Hughes is currently leading all rookies in scoring, and continuously coming up with fancy deking and shooting plays like this. oooooo high glove! That would be so rad to see Van get two Calders in a row.
In their win against the Islanders yesterday (in that very strange-looking Brooklyn rink they have) I was pleased to be able to watch NYI’s Mathew Barzal again. He must have had at least 30 possessions - not once an errant pass or mistake of any kind - quite mesmerizing to watch. Barring injuries, he should have an absolutely fanstastic career. His speed, puck-handling, passing, shooting - every single aspect of his game - {{{SCARY.}}}
Thank you.
Fun to see Joel Kiviranta score his first NHL goal last night! I’ve been watching him down in Cedar Park this year, the kid can play.
Ditto. But whenever they say his name I keep thinking they’re saying Ante Ranta and get confused. Duh. Anyway the Stars proved they can win a game even when Jamie Benn keeps on sleepskating. Kind of.
Yeah, I just wish he’d shoot more (and score more).
Regarding the rink, if you look at it from the outside, you can see where a road goes by and cuts off any chance of expanding in that one direction. The result is that the seating goes straight up and a chunk of the ice is obstructed from those seats. The arena was designed for basketball, I guess.
Looks like the Battle of Alberta is a thing again.
Took 30 years, but what the hey. 
I remember the Blackhawks.
Ovechkin had another hat trick, this one in just under five minutes of game play. He now has 698 career goals. Maybe I should go to his next game - Saturday versus the Flyers.
Can I take a moment to complain about the Metro division? It’s so freakin’ tight that one game gets you from top three to second wild card. The Caps are running away with first place, and the Penguins are fairly far ahead. Then, in third place, there’s Blue Jackets at 67, then Isles at 66, the Flyers at 65. If the Jackets lose and the Flyers win (depending on tie breakers, I guess), the Jackets could be almost out of the playoffs.
Right behind the Flyers are the 'Canes and Leafs at 63. There’s no room for error and the Isles do make some error from time to time.
At least the Isles play the lowly Kings tonight – kinds of a should win/must win, I guess.
How about those Blue Jackets? They traded away all of their talent and are still contenders.