The situation seems fair to me. I don’t like seeing Letang suspended, but if they did it for Orpik, they had to do it for Tangers. And as you said, Maatta was seriously injured (he’s out), whereas Johansson wasn’t.
I’m guessing Trotz is going to be whining about favoritism, but that’s only natural. It happens with every team.
How many times has the trophy been given to the highest scoring defenceman?
I thought Orpik deserved one game more than Letang, not two more.
One of the problems with considering the injury is that shots to the head might not immediately manifest their seriousness. Johansson came back to the game but missed practice the next day with whiplash symptoms. He could be fine for today’s game or could be affected for a while.
My prognostication skills are not great but I predict the winner of Caps-Pens game four will win the series. That is not going out on a limb there if the Pens win tonight.
Ugh! Triple overtime, but Sharks lose. Burns with two more goals.
Yep, he’s the only player I’d trade John Klingberg for, and I’d still have to think long and hard about that trade. He’s the best all-round defenseman in the game right now. It seems his head is perfectly aligned with his skills, and he’s always thinking about the game in the right perspective. Until he plays for Dallas or doesn’t play like he does, I’ll have a secret hate and envy of him. If Dallas makes it past the Blues, I’d rather not face San Jose, and to be honest, it’s mostly because of him.
The Stars/Blues matchup is down to a 3 game series now, and it’s been a hell of a series so far. I honestly can’t think of a tougher team for the Stars to face than the Blues. Hitch seems to build teams that focus on plugging up the middle and their defensive end, and that’s the hardest thing for a fast team to play against. The two-headed goalie monster has performed sometimes spectacularly, sometimes not so much. They’re both good goalies, if inconsistent.
And I have to shout out for Eakin’s skill and work ethic last night. He might have fallen and given the puck to Tarasenko last night, but he was back for the scrum that ensued, and that was quite a shot to close overtime. He may not be Bob Gainey, but he’s a hell of a two-way center.
God I hope you’re right. 
knocks on wood They’re already comparing Murray to Ken Dryden. He’s fucking fantastic.
Jesus, if you had told me back in December that we’d be where we are right now, I’d have told you to have your head examined. I think Mike Sullivan was snubbed for the Jack Adams. The only thing I can think of is that he wasn’t elligible since he was only coaching for half a year. Otherwise, he’s been robbed.
Did anyone see the [footage](YouTube? v=uJEakf96reI) of Gerrit Cole heckling the Caps bench? An usher later came over and asked him to tone it down a little. Heh. (Cole is the starting pitcher for the Pirates. I love seeing our three teams supporting each other. Brett Keisel who used to play for the Steelers was at the game cheering too.)
Burns isn’t sniffing the Norris this year. The media has decided that the relevant criteria this season is the number of Stanley Cup rings and Olympic gold medals.
The dream is dead. Still, it’s the Islanders best finish in 23 years.
No strong interest in the Islanders but I was hoping they’d extend the series since the others in this round are all going at least six.
I sold my tickets to the Pens-Caps game 5. I hope a Pens fan bought them and had to think about that loss on his/her drive back to PA.
We may be down (although we’re still ahead), but not out. Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.
The two series in the west are going to a game seven.
Pittsburgh hasn’t lost three in a row since December. The Caps hadn’t lost in regulation in consecutive games all season but lost two in a row to Philadelphia and three in a row to Pittsburgh. Three of the first five could have gone either way and you could argue that the team that dominated in those games lost (Pens in game 1, Caps in 3 & 4). The only thing that would surprise me would be a game that is not close.
I can’t believe we lost in overtime…in Nashville…again. So far this series, each team has won on it’s home ice. Hoping that holds true for game 7.
Stars don’t seem to win two in a row often but here’s hoping they can do it. Can Kari Lehtonen actually play like he’s worth his salary two games in a row? If not I guess Stars management will have the summer to figure out what to do.
I’ll be nice and try not to rub it in (THIS time), but suffice to say, I’m jumping up and down around my room. Bring on the Lightning!
The third period in the Caps-Pens illustrated why I hate the delay of game penalty (as I’ve said before in this forum). When the refs “put the whistles away”, the non-judgement penalties have disproportionate impact.
In this case it helped the team that I am for but I still don’t like it. That is probably more of an issue with the not making calls than with the delay itself. The cliche is “let the player’s decide the outcome” which I want to amend to “let the player’s decide the outcome of a hockey game - not an MMA event”.
Rejecting the “curse of the President’s Trophy”, this series was pretty much what you’d expect when the team with the best regular season record plays the team with the strongest second half of the regular season.
Thank you to Guinastasia for being nice. I almost would have like to have heard the other side. Would it have been “Ha, ha - you were right.” 
The over the glass delay of game penalty sucks when it’s called on your team, but it has to be called consistently like that, or guess what starts happening again?
Yeah, I think that people really forgot how often the defence would shoot the puck out of play before the rule came in. They would basically just aim for the very top of the glass, and if they missed high, no big deal.
The problem that the NHL needs to actually solve is that their referees are total cowards.
I understand about the need for the rule. I object to rules like that where it gets called always because there is no place for the officials to make a judgement call. That is only a problem in the context of the playoffs where that call and high sticks that draw blood have to be called and almost everything else is allowed.
In this case, there were three overlapping delay of game penalties that actually helped the team I was for so this is not sour-grapes.
In the winter classic a few years ago, a puck fired straight down the ice caught the wind and went over the glass behind the opposing goalie. Again, that helped my team but I really don’t think that is the problem being solved.
IF - and that IF is crucial - the refs are going to not call stuff in the playoffs, they should be allowed to not call a delay of game unless it meets some threshold of seeming intentional, sort of like waving off icing.
What happens now is that the players test the limits for each round and official pairing to see what they can get away with. You can’t blame them.
I think Lehtonen and Neimi both have shown moments of brilliance. I’m more inclined to view their GAA/SV% in light of some serious defensive breakdowns on the rest of the team’s part. The aggressive style of the team kind of lends itself to it, but they’ve scored enough this year to make it less of an issue. That’s a systemic risk, and I think it should taken in account when viewing the goalie’s performance.
OTOH, the whole team seems to make a pastime of passing the puck within a foot of an opposing team’s player’s reach in front of an empty net, including the goalies. I do not know how you fix that kind of risky behavior.
Either way, here’s to game seven! It’ll be hard to say which team is the better team, whoever wins. It’s a cliché, but it’s true. The Stanley Cup playoffs are the best title series in sports.
Reasonably frequently, including Erik Karlsson himself. PK Subban tried for most points by a defenceman the year he won. Nicklas Lidstrom did it several times.