ARE YOU IN GTG?

The Leafs made it ... tough series first up vs Washington though GTG.  I've picked the Capitals but you may surprise.

Still, it's playoff hockey where anything can happen and often does ... here are the 8 matchups with (for what it's worth) my picks in dark italics.

East

Montreal vs NY Rangers

Ottawa vs Boston

Pittsburgh vs Columbus

Washington vs Toronto

West

Minnesota vs St Louis

Edmonton vs San Jose

Chicago vs Nashville

Anaheim vs Calgary

On 2017-04-03 at 3:43 PM, 3Dee said:

ARE YOU IN GTG?

Apologies...haven't been overly active on Demonland for some time. 

What an exciting final week, and what an achievement by Matthews to hit 40 goals in his rookie season! I'd never have predicted the Leafs would be able to scrape into the playoffs at the start of the season. The wheel is turning and the season will be a success, regardless of how the first round goes.

On 2017-04-10 at 8:56 PM, Macca said:

The Leafs made it ... tough series first up vs Washington though GTG.  I've picked the Capitals but you may surprise.

Still, it's playoff hockey where anything can happen and often does ... here are the 8 matchups with (for what it's worth) my picks in dark italics.

East

Montreal vs NY Rangers

Ottawa vs Boston

Pittsburgh vs Columbus

Washington vs Toronto

West

Minnesota vs St Louis

Edmonton vs San Jose

Chicago vs Nashville

Anaheim vs Calgary

Unfortunately I'll be picking the Capitals as well, but that won't stop me watching all the games and praying for the best!

My picks:

East

Montreal vs NY Rangers

Ottawa vs Boston

Pittsburgh vs Columbus

Washington vs Toronto

West

Minnesota vs St Louis

Edmonton vs San Jose (McDavid is just too good).

Chicago vs Nashville

Anaheim vs Calgary

The last week they certainly played within themselves without their usual high-speed razzle dazzle - not to mention 5 games in 7 days was a brutal schedule.

Yeah they've exceeded expectations but (hope) they can play dangerous and have nothing left to lose, plus Washington are notorious chokers. 

The comeback in the Pens game on Sunday morning was glorious!

Would've been good to have the battle of Ontario though v Sens, if Zaitsev is out (concussion last game) that's a massive loss he has been solid all year down back.

Just get the feeling play-off Matthews will be something extra special. GLG!

Tough loss this morning, but showed plenty of good signs. Andersen was solid and the Capitals didn't look invincible. We only need to win one game there...

Great win by the Leafs, but the real story is in the Nashville-Chicago series. Rinne has been dominant! Two shutouts and two assists in enemy territory. 

On 4/16/2017 at 4:37 PM, Good Times Grimes said:

Great win by the Leafs, but the real story is in the Nashville-Chicago series. Rinne has been dominant! Two shutouts and two assists in enemy territory. 

Leafs take series lead 2 - 1 back to back OT wins!

Matthews first goal came off the back of some momentum swinging hits by Kadri & Komarov.. great stuff!

https://streamable.com/6zq32

On 16/4/2017 at 4:37 PM, Good Times Grimes said:

Great win by the Leafs, but the real story is in the Nashville-Chicago series. Rinne has been dominant! Two shutouts and two assists in enemy territory. 

GAME SIX! LET'S GO THE DEMON- LEAF DOUBLE!

Can't say I'm too disappointed with the result as the Leafs far exceeded everyone's expectations this season. Next year is when this start to get really exciting.

4/8 tips isn't a great success rate! I'll have to do a bit more research before round 2!

1 hour ago, Good Times Grimes said:

Can't say I'm too disappointed with the result as the Leafs far exceeded everyone's expectations this season. Next year is when this start to get really exciting.

4/8 tips isn't a great success rate! I'll have to do a bit more research before round 2!

Went 3/8 myself so you win again (is that every time?)

And yeah, with a bit of luck your Leaf's could have won that series ... all 4 losses were close and 3 of the losses went to O/T.

I'll do the next lot of tips later on but the Pens/Caps series should be a beauty.  Nashville could be tough to beat too - very impressive over the Blackhawks.

On 2017-04-25 at 1:47 AM, Macca said:

Went 3/8 myself so you win again (is that every time?)

And yeah, with a bit of luck your Leaf's could have won that series ... all 4 losses were close and 3 of the losses went to O/T.

I'll do the next lot of tips later on but the Pens/Caps series should be a beauty.  Nashville could be tough to beat too - very impressive over the Blackhawks.

I'm not keeping score, but I think any limited success that I've had in the tips has been a combination of luck and living in an NHL obsessed country for years and being exposed to more media/analysis around playoff time than those in Australia. Still, a 4/8 first round score indicates that I need to pay a bit more attention!

Let's see how round two goes:

St Louis v Nashville
Anaheim v Edmonton

Washington v Pittsburgh
Ottawa v New York Rangers

1 hour ago, Good Times Grimes said:

I'm not keeping score, but I think any limited success that I've had in the tips has been a combination of luck and living in an NHL obsessed country for years and being exposed to more media/analysis around playoff time than those in Australia. Still, a 4/8 first round score indicates that I need to pay a bit more attention!

Let's see how round two goes:

St Louis v Nashville
Anaheim v Edmonton

Washington v Pittsburgh
Ottawa v New York Rangers

Well I'm just a terrible tipster ... all the info in the world won't change that! 

St Louis v Nashville
Anaheim v Edmonton

Washington v Pittsburgh
Ottawa v New York Rangers

Edited April 26, 20177 yr by Macca

On 2017-04-26 at 6:58 PM, Macca said:

Well I'm just a terrible tipster ... all the info in the world won't change that! 

St Louis v Nashville
Anaheim v Edmonton

Washington v Pittsburgh
Ottawa v New York Rangers

You won that round, Macca! Very surprised to see Ottawa get up...I sure hope that they can't go all the way.

Getting closer to the business end of things:

Anaheim v Nashville

Ottawa v Pittsburgh

I'm sure I've said it before on here but NHL playoff hockey is some of the best sport you will ever see. It is extraordinary the skill level of the players these days (some of the goals are ridiculous, ie the backhanded goal from the Pens yesterday) let alone the ability of teams to be playing 7 game series after such a long regular season. I absolutely love watching, when I do get 5 mins to myself.

Was great to see the Oils back in the playoffs, in fact I've enjoyed seeing Canadian teams back in and playing well. Adds some wonderful crowds and noise in the viewing.

Nashville have an outstanding chance to win it all this year, would be an unbelievable result if Subban led them to the cup in his first year out of the Habs and will look like an absolute disaster of a move (it already does). I'm off to Adelaide tonight to go see the Dees Saturday and will be taking my ipad to watch the game on Sat and hopefully some of Sundays game.

21 hours ago, Good Times Grimes said:

You won that round, Macca! Very surprised to see Ottawa get up...I sure hope that they can't go all the way.

Getting closer to the business end of things:

Anaheim v Nashville

Ottawa v Pittsburgh

Gotta go with Pittsburgh this time GTG ... and would it be Nashville's first appearance in the final if they get through over Anaheim?  It might be their first conference final appearance.  Anyway, I'll be tuning in.

Anaheim v Nashville

Ottawa v Pittsburgh

3 hours ago, Macca said:

Gotta go with Pittsburgh this time GTG ... and would it be Nashville's first appearance in the final if they get through over Anaheim?  It might be their first conference final appearance.  Anyway, I'll be tuning in.

Anaheim v Nashville

Ottawa v Pittsburgh

It would definitely be their first final appearance, but I'm not sure about conference finals. Hoping to see Nashville get through, but I think Anaheim's offence is too powerful.

Sens demolishing the Pens in game 3.

Meanwhile in the IIHF Marner & Nylander are goin' a bit alright

I'm backing Smashville for the Cup! 

Come on, Ducks. You robbed yourselves on Wednesday. Make sure you get the win tomorrow.

It's been a fascinating Stanley Cup playoff series so far. Loving it.

20 hours ago, A F said:

Come on, Ducks. You robbed yourselves on Wednesday. Make sure you get the win tomorrow.

It's been a fascinating Stanley Cup playoff series so far. Loving it.

Corey Perry again. Oooh baby!

Since Murray has been in net Pens have been on fire, hard to see Fluoride coming back in.

C'mon Preds,, throw some more duck on the ice!

 

5 hours ago, 3Dee said:

Since Murray has been in net Pens have been on fire, hard to see Fluoride coming back in.

C'mon Preds,, throw some more duck on the ice!

 

It's an interesting goaltending situation in Pittsburgh, and by the looks of it they'll lose Murray to Las Vegas in the offseason.

Teams are allowed to protect a certain number of players, and only allowed to protect one goalie from being signed by Vegas. Fleury has a no movement clause in his contract, meaning that Pittsburgh has to protect him which leaves Murray vulnerable. The only way that Murray will be able to stay with the Penguins is if they're able to find a team that Fleury is willing to be traded to before the expansion draft in late June. 

Nice bounceback by the Preds to tie the series, Pekka Rinne has been outstanding!

Go Preds!

9 hours ago, 3Dee said:

Nice bounceback by the Preds to tie the series, Pekka Rinne has been outstanding!

Go Preds!

Hopefully he can continue his form from the past two games...he was terrible in the first two! I'm going for the Preds as well...hope they can grab the win in game 5 and then head home for the win.

It seems that Rinne is incapable of putting in a decent performance in Pittsburgh. I'll back the Preds to force game 7, but can't see them winning the series unless Rinne can overcome his road struggles.

That non-call goal, ouch. Kessel wins 2 cups!