Oh well. 2 west coast teams just means I get a little less sleep this series.
Cripes, stop it with this “late games” bullshit. They move game that normally would start at 7:30 to 5:00 and 6:00 just for people like you. I have to miss half the games now.
Been a great postseason for my schadenfreude so far!
Unfortunately, I’m not sure who to root for now. There’s at least one player on each remaining team that I’d really rather didn’t get their name on the Cup.
Pros of Vancouver winning: hard working and under-appreciated guys like Kesler get their due. Conspiracy theorists can shut up already about the NHL’s alleged bias against Canadian teams.
Cons of Vancouver winning: Vancouver fans are already pretty insufferable. That greaseball in net will forever be known as “Stanley Cup Winning Goaltender Roberto Luongo.”
Pros of San Jose winning: they just may shake that largely unfair Playoff Choker tag. Watching the envy in the eyes of Kings fans.
Cons of San Jose winning: Stanley Cup Champion, Dany Heatley. :gag:
Pros of Boston winning: Tim Thomas, Zdeno Chara deservedly reach the pinnacle of their sport.
Cons of Boston winning: Other teams will see that dirty = success and might emulate them. Years of arguing over how much of an influence Colin Campbell had.
Pros of Tampa Bay winning: Underdog stories are always fun. Another Cup for one of the classiest guys in the League, Martin St. Louis.
Cons of Tampa Bay winning: The media love fest with the genius of Steve Yzerman will grow exponentially. More Stamkos hype.
Regardless, looks like they’ll be better series than those in the 2nd round were (Det/SJS series the lone exception).
I am not entertained when 2 players on the same team crash and are out of the game.
Neither was I, gonzo. It’s just that I would go from “Wow, can’t believe he did that!” :eek: to “Wow, I can’t believe he did that…” 
like 6 times in one period. Entertaining yet exasperating at the same time.
You didn’t mention the con of the Cup being won, again, in a place where people don’t care.
Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard passes away at age 28
Whoa, what happened?
What the hell do people have against Luongo? He’s a talented player, by most accounts a nice guy, an Olympic gold medalist, etc. Yeah, he wears too much hair gel, so what?
I’m going with TB in 6. Out west, I’ll go Vancouver in 7. This is the series I want to see.
Not a good start to the series for Boston. TBs special teams were solid again.
How, exactly, do you define “caring”? FWIW, the Lightning outdraw the Rays in per game attendance and outdraw the Bucs in per season attendance. They outdraw both in terms of percentage attendance. I’m having difficulty finding numbers for post-season attendance, but as far as I know they’ve sold out all post season games.
Granted, there won’t be riots or mobs burning cars in downtown Tampa if they win the Cup, but everyone I know is paying some attention to this. Would you be happier if only the Bruins, Black Hawks, Canadiens, Leafs, Rangers or Red Wings would be allowed to win the Cup?
No. I’d be happy if just Detroit won the cup. We love hockey more than anyone else. 
My picks: Vancouver in five. I think the Sharks will get in penalty trouble and go down. The coin has San Jose sweeping.
Boston in six. Tampa is a good young team, but I’m not convinced they’ve got it to go all the way. Again the coin disagrees with me and has Tampa winning in five.
As a Montrealer, I beg to differ. We riot out of love!
I’m actually beginning to suspect that there are currently more bandwagon Lightning fans in Quebec than there are in Florida. We love Vinny and St Louis up here, there’s the ex-Hab love for Moore and Bergeron, and the organizational link to Guy Boucher and Julien BriseBois…Tampa is Montreal-South and the anti-Bruins sentiment is still very strong from what I’ve seen!
If you like Montreal, it is against the law to also like Boston. You cannot be a fan of both, and anyone who tells you they are is a fan of neither.
Now for a while, you could sort of cheer for both Montreal and Toronto, as the Leafs were in the other conference and were anywhere from sort of good to simply awful. When I first came to hockey in the mid-late 80s, the Habs and Leafs only played each other three times a season, and other than head-to-head, one team’s success had little bearing on the other.
Anyone who doesn’t at least like Martin St Louis doesn’t have a soul.
If the Sharks are going to beat Vancouver, it will be because Douglas Murray keeps Ryan Kessler down. (Preferably literally.:))
So say we all.
It looks like Jaromir Jagr might want to return to play in the NHL. And going by his words, it looks like the prospect of playing in Montreal might appeal to him.
I’d like to see it.
Pittsburgh may be a football town first, but we’re definitely crazy for our Pens here. Mario Lemieux is practically a god in this city.
Wow. Marleau got into a fight, in a playoff game.
He lost, but wow.