Pete

Rempe should play the home games, unless he's ridiculously out over his skis in game one.

Because fuck the Canes.

He still had a year on his deal, according to Elliot, so this gives him another year. At the end of this contract he will have been the Lightning's coach for close to 14 years. I think this makes sense. One of the reasons why he was so successful when he came in is because he coached a lot of the Tampa players in the AHL. That's not the case anymore, and his message may start to lose its impact as the veterans go out and the young players come in. There's not really a reason to sign him longer than that. They can always extend him again.

Report is they expect Pesce to play games in the series, but they're not sure at what point. And how good will he be when he comes back from an ankle injury? Good enough to get away from Rempe? We'll see!

So are the Rangers.

I think you're underestimating the Rangers. They're a great team, well-coached, and can play any kind of game the opponent throws at them. Going to be a battle and the Canes need to be sharp defensively because they're missing 2 NHL D-men, one of their best defensive forwards, and their goalie can get injured or lose confidence at any point based on how his career has went so far.

He was also playing against...The Islanders.

Not the vibe I've gotten all season long, despite what's in this thread.

That doesn't really apply to what I said. Of course Ranger fans are going to pick the Rangers. But read the comments. Too many shook folks in the chat.

Agreed. Too many people here think Carolina is good on purpose and the Rangers are good by accident. These teams are quite close with the Rangers having an obvious edge in goaltending. Do the Rangers need to play their best hockey to win? Yes. Does Carolina also need to play their best hockey to win? Yes. Did either team play their best hockey through 100% of the previous series? No. But only one team swept their opponent...

It's almost like anything can happen in the playoffs.

Just more proof playoffs are a wildcard. People here are complaining about the Rangers even though they just swept the Capitals yet Carolina just is talked about here as head and shoulders above the Rangers... yet they can't even close out the Islanders properly? It's like people just want to look for any little nitpick to show the team is bad because that's what fits their narrative.

This game was over 7 minutes in, forget about going seven games.

#QueefsForever

He's gonna need a MetroCard to exit the chat.