LindG1000

You know, usually, you get the tip before you get the Kak, but the Rangers reinvent the game.

Chris Kreider. King of the deflection. Big tipper.

hahaha brendan smith's a hooker

I don't believe you. Sam, can you chime in?

Don't look now but our Kakko has a 5 game point streak.

Trouba invisible tonight. Baby steps.

The only way to lure a wild Panarin up close is to use his favorite beverage.

Just tuning in. Refs chucked my feed.

To be fair, flying to the moon has gotten far cheaper in recent years.

Time for an exorcism, Rempe style.

At least Sam thinks it's still 2-0

Congrats to Jacob Trouba for a -2 and a drawn penalty?

I don't think it's even that stacked. I think the Rangers, Panthers, and Canes are a step above. The Bruins are 15+ loser points in the hole here, and I'm not going to call a team that lost 32 games on the same level as a team that lost 24 because they got a bonanza of loser points. The west is going to be a far more interesting playoff if only because Vancouver is a paper tiger, 2-6 aren't separating, and the wildcards are legitimately threatening teams.

Kotkaniemi stinks. Lafreniere...doesn't.

Trouba's fault. Also, Trouba has the 19,000 Jagr Bobbleheads and was the reason Jagr left Pittsburgh in the first place.

Because the Canadian media is endlessly obsessed with putting every French Canadian player in Montreal. It's stupid. I'm all for a moderate overpay on Lafreniere to get term - but it's more than we don't know what the cap will look like in three years when the real bill comes due. I'd rather slightly overpay for years 1-2 of a longer deal that meaningfully extends the current window than be pigeonholed into buying 7 years of UFA in a 100M+ cap market to open a new one.

Now this, I can get behind. Don't pick the opponent. Scare em all.

I don't think we need to overthink this, though. We also have a lot at stake - though, we can freely admit it is a lot of bragging rights and pride more than it is anything else. This team can break the franchise wins record if we win 4 of 8. We can break the franchise points record if we get 10 points from the remaining 16. Those are a big deal! Then, individual accomplishments. Panarin can get 50 goals. Kreider can get 40. Trocheck gunning down his first point-per-game season. Lafreniere going for 30. I'd also go down the other path - we are a GREAT team. Not good. Not scraping in on a technicality like 2020. Not coming in like a dark horse in 2022. We're great. We have everything we need to win a cup. Why are we concerning ourselves with the team thirty+ points behind us that we're going to face in round 1?

Jacob Trouba knows where Elvis, Tupac, and JFK have been hanging out, too.

Whatever happens tonight, win, loss, blowout, catastrophe, injury, shenanigans, skulduggery, theatrics, meteor impacts the Penguins bench....it's Trouba's fault per Penguins fans.

I think the easiest way to understand our current situation is this: it doesn't matter who we play in the first round, but the single most dangerous matchup for us is Tampa. We are literally a 4-1 favorite on ANY of the possible matchups aside from Tampa (who is oddly favored against Boston as things stand). So, just go win games. Carolina has 7 games left and is 3 points back. Boston has 7 games left and is three points back. With two wins and a little assist from Nashville, we could go into Thursday with BOTH of those teams 7 points behind us - and they're facing each other.

Hooo boy, there is no wit like that of a scorned hobbit.

Man, Goodrow must feel so glad to be done with the cold showers.

Trivia is Mike Richter and John Vanbiesbrouck

Panarin's unfortunate that the guys with him in the conversation for MVP are having equally - if not more - amazing seasons. You got McDavid punching up to 100 assists, which probably hasn't been done since Lemieux or Gretzky. You have Kucherov almost singlehandedly (no disrespect to Brayden Point here) keeping the Lightning relevant. We just saw Mackinnon last night - he's been incredible and has basically the same boxcars as Kucherov. You have Matthews pushing for the post-lockout single-season goals mark. Hell, he could go off and get 70- he's got 10 games to get 11 goals to do it. You have Pastrnak right there with Panarin on a Bruins team that...frankly, isn't as good as its record. I get the tier 2 talk. It just sucks because he really does deserve true consideration.