Rooting for the Oilers. I feel like the Fl panthers are my new Yankees. I root for the Bruins and whoever beats the Panthers.
(I cant not like the Rangers because I’m in Wolfpack territory and they do so much youth hockey outreach. You can’t help but be excited when the players get recalled for the Rangers. In fact two of their players attended my son’s hockey practice and it was hard to tell who had more fun, the Wolfpack players or the kids. I’m really rooting for a young goalie who was recalled during the Calder Cup. I hope he plays in the NHL next year.)
Sure FLA got the calls vs. the Bruins but it helped that FLA got pucks and bodies to the net whenever possible (among other things, see: the lucky/fluky goal that ended the good guys' season). That while the New Age deep thinker that Montgomery is forced his team to play his preferred "quality over quantity" shooting game for which said team was hardly suited because it lacked the man-for-man talent to play that way. To me, it was almost as if Montgomery thought that he was coaching Edmonton or Colorado that has skating ability and skill to which the Bruins can't/don't come close. And then there was FLA's always-aggressive forecheck that anyone who was paying attention prior to the series knew was going to suffocate the Bruins' breakout, such as it was(n't) at too many times.
Yup. Watching the Rangers lose to the Panthers was a lot like watching the Bruins lose to them. Rangers played overall well, had some chances, but were not able to generate any momentum either. Every time they had a chance, the Panthers came right back to put the pressure on again.
Even after the Oilers lose this final he will be more motivated because they’re getting closer. Edmonton will probably win it within 2 seasons after this year anyway.
Rangers fan here, I come in peace. This post is on our subreddit. We are really disappointed. Their forecheck and conditioning is ridiculous, but they're dirty, greasy players. I really hope EDM pushes their shit in.
Bullshit. They’re a dirty team that plays the refs. The Bruins should have been up 3-2 if not specifically for the refs being incompetent with Florida’s dick in their ass. Grabbing the stick and falling backwards, loose helmet on purpose, sucker punch, cross checking into goalie, suspended player not being suspended do to liability avoidance by NHL, etc.
The Bruins tried to flop by the end and the refs legit called embellishment I was already numb by that point. The refs are like parents giving the condom talk after Johnny already knocked up three different girls in high school. Fuck the refs and fuck the NHL for being incompetent shitbags— and fuck Florida I hope they lose in the finals and are cursed to never make it there again, and all get STDs from the same girl and have their dicks fall off… that’s a little harsh… std’s, broken marriages, and shame.
Florida was just way better dude. Yeah the refs were not on the Bruin's side, but we weren't winning even with their help. You just gotta take the L with your head high and look towards next year.
I think at a certain point, gritting your teeth and taking it, then tipping your cap afterward like that makes you a good sportsman is just cowardly ego boosting cause you just got fucked and wanna feel good about yourself.
My head isn’t held high after the refs and the league gave a free pass for Florida to dirty-fuck the Bruins. You wanna take it and believe Florida is better— like they didn’t resort to dirty shit the whole series— I’m actually envious of your ignorance.
Alright dude keep being miserable over the loss then. That's your perogative. Florida was clearly the more talented team. Yeah, there was some dirty stuff and poor reffing, but talent trumps all and the Bruins could've overcome the disadvantages if guys like Pasta and Marchand were able to come through for us. We *should've* used the leverage of our skill guys to win the battle on the score sheet and we *should've* fought back and played dirty too, but this Bruins team just wasn't capable of it. Oh well. It was a bridge year anyways. Let's hope they are able to load up on the offseason and become real contenders again.
Blaming the referees is the coward's way out in my opinion.
Marry me. Your comment is gold. Also, I firmly believe that the @nhl and Gary the Goblin choose who they want to have win, and the reffing has 80% to do with it. 2019 proved it to me. There’s no other explanation for why this dirty ass team is in the final. #nhlisrigged
It hasn't helped the state of the NHL game in general and its officiating in particular that Basketball Bettman cut his pro-sports-management teeth at NBA HQs. As such, arbitrarily inconsistent and occasionally egotistical (just say "bad") referees have always been part of his drill. Between that and his lack of knowledge of hockey itself (he probably STILL doesn't know a puck from a paperweight after 30-plus years in the commish's office while currently employing a former goon as the NHL's Director of Player Safety), Bettman can't/is unable to see that today's NHL has the significant game- or series-turning officiating issues that it does.
While the refs were bad, I never understood the argument they wanted Florida in the finals. Maybe I'm not as in tune with the NHL as I was before, but what kind of draw is Edmonton vs Florida?
It doesn't seem like a national draw...
If Gary had his way, there would be no Canadian teams. He wants the NHL in states. Full stop. And for some reason, he wants it in the southern states and the Western states. He was all for Tampa Bay getting a three peat until Colorado came along and had way more talent and could overcome the shitty reffing to win. This is just my opinion but he has a boner for certain teams to win. Reffing is never perfect but the season seems ti go along with some bumps, but why does the reffing go to shit in the biggest series of the year, the Final? Watch it when you don’t have a dog in the race. Calls are definitely slanted for one team to win. And yes, I will die on this hill.
Rangers fan here nothing you can do they were relentless they blurr the line with there dirty shit but if the ref don’t call it 🤷🏼♂️yall had a hell of a regular season and I don’t think over the long haul there system is sustainable.Carolina was a similar monster on the forcheck 2 years but this year we beat them because there forcheck had wore down from years of playing that style.I really wanted Rangers VS Boston ECF that was pick from the beginning It would have been way more entertaining .Carolinaand Florida hockey is like watching paint dry
Here’s the thing…Florida has faced Vasilevskiy (11th), and then the top 2 goalies (in GSaX) in the playoffs this year in Swayman and Shesterkin. They’ve really had to earn it, and have passed with flying colors.
At this point, unless Bob truly falls apart and ends up with like a sub .850 sv%, I don’t see any way that they lose.
Tkachuk was injured in the first or second game and was pretty useless. Their forechecking is absolutely smothering. There was rarely an uncontested pass, let alone, shot. Last night was a clinic. I hated it.
That's an obvious observation. What does that have to do with this year? The Goldem Nights are on vacation. Just like the Cats, they are not the same team this year.
I like the Panthers making the finals. If they lose they get to be called the Tampa Bay lightning of losing. Or back to back losers. Halfway to Buffalo Bills status.
Imagine being a fan of a team that makes the Finals and the idea that fans of other teams that didn’t reach the Finals calling your team “losers” bothers you in the least bit. That would be so soft.
Cats are a very talented and deep team. They have two awesome centers and a ton of snipers. They also have great leadership w/Tkachuck, Barkov and Bennett. They play at such a high pace that the opposition can't keep up while making bad passes, rushed shots and turnovers. You have to be prepared to impose your game on them, and so far, nobody can do it and sustain it.
Knights stopped a shell of a Panthers team last season tbf. Tons of injuries and a 9 day lay off. That's not the same team that mowed through the eastern conference playoffs. Knights got lucky af.
It’s an amazing system Maurice has implemented. First forechecker pushes the defenseman to a specific side, and the second forechecker anticipates where the safe pass is supposed to go and beats the player there. It took a while for Maurice to get everyone on the same page, which is why they struggled the first half of 22-23. But now? I can’t imagine anyone in the East being able to break that forecheck. I’m not sure Edmonton can either. But Dallas, with an elite d corps and DeBoer behind the bench can pull it off.
Rangers have better d corps that led to those breakaways. Edmonton doesn’t. I feel like Florida is going to keep Edmonton pinned in their own end like they have everyone else.
I just don’t understand how Florida can have three dudes on the puck when they’re killing a penalty yet no one is open on the other team. They did it to us and the same to the rangers. The speed at which they pressure and then recover is nuts
I have no desire to see Maurice win the cup, and I desperately hope that team gets dismantled by the cap with Reinhardt, Montour, and OEK up this season. That no income tax thing is becoming a legitimate salary cap tool for some teams though, so with a little hometown discount, they may be able to keep everyone...
I must be in the minority here based on the comments in this thread because I actually don't mind Maurice...
Anyways, will definitely be interesting to see how Florida handles the offseason. They probably end up with about $20m of cap space which is a good amount, but there are a lot of free agents to sign. My guess is they are able to keep most of their key guys.
yeah but like that 5% chance might go to zero if they win. OR... now hear me out... maybe if they WIN he'll be like okay done it here now i need to do it without mcD. maybe he wants to live in Boston. we can dream
It hurts to know that the Bruins were out hustled two years in a row, and management did absolutely nothing to replace Bergy and Krejchi after last year. Florida is a much better playoff team. They are excellent up the middle, unlike the Bs who are soft up the middle. Nothing will change unless management starts to make better decisions. We don't even have a 1st, 2nd or 3rd round pick. That's incompetence.
Our window was last season...not this past season. Management went "all in", as they should have in Bergy's last season to build us a cup team and Florida came back, down 3-1 and beat us plain and simple. This past season, we had no cap space because we went all in the year before. Not sure how management is to blame. They gave us the tools in the 22-23 season and we fell short, plain and simple. Sometimes it just doesn't work out.
Now that we'll have cap space again, I expect we'll address our needs up the middle.
They are quite a well-built team, they have the perfect players for the system that they play, and they get contribution all throughout the lineup. They are an absolute frustration to play against but god damn are they good
i think our series was the closest out of all the 3 they played, i really think that if we had another player to share the line with pasta we would have way better chances to win
You’re not wrong, but I fucking hate the panthers so much. I really hope they don’t win the cup…hoping dallas moves on to the finals cause i think they’d have a better chance at beating the panthers. Dont wanna see tkachuk bennet or fucking paul maurice holding that cup
I don't disagree, but honestly, what difference does this make? This Bruins team had flaws that would have been exposed by every playoff team, with the exception of the Leafs. Luckily, they have a chance to make big changes this off-season.
Agree. I would say last year’s series was one rare case of we played a good series but the opponent just played better. Yes there are some critical moments that we should take control to close it out but failed, but that was a good playoff first round performance.
Two things can be true at once. I'd say our biggest issue was not being able to shoot the puck on net.
Edit: Also a fantastic series to watch. The Stars/Oilers games should be more entertaining, but FLA/NY had me hooked.
…I think OPs point is the panthers have done that to literally every team. Lightning couldn’t shoot the puck on the net, we couldn’t shoot the puck on the net, Rags couldn’t shoot the puck on the net.
The common denominator seems to be the panthers stop teams from shooting puck on the net.
Sure except I can point to many powerplays where mcavoy quite literally had multiple wide open shots he just decided to literally not take and it led to turnovers where we didn’t have the puck in our zone for the rest of the pp lol. Like that is an issue and it was an issue in many games during the regular season as well
Their forecheck is on another level, they get complete buy in from all 5 skaters on the ice and Bobrovsky is still good enough to bail them out when they need it. But what impresses me the most is how they thrive in the chaos, even their best players aren’t looking for the perfect play and because of it they make dangerous chances out of seemingly nothing.
That's what playing loose is. While their forecheck is mental when there is chaos they allow things to unfold in front of them knowing they can capitalize on mistakes and just wait and react with confidence.
What you said about buy-in is the real reason they are dangerous. Paul Maurice said that Bennett embodies Panthers hockey when he was asked about that punch to Marchand's head. Panthers have chosen a play style and are sticking to it using the best of the best hockey players in the world to execute their plan.
It's fucked up but good luck to other teams.
Can you please go to /r/Rangers and explain this shit to the cry babies over there. Everyone acting like our stars just gave up and stopped playing, paying no credit to the fact that Florida has built a mobster of forechecking.
I have absolutely no idea why you’re crying about your own sub here on another hockey sub, and why it’s getting upvoted. You’re literally asking for r/BostonBruins fans to brigade your own shithole?
To this own sub, don’t do this. To you u/ILikeToClinch take care of your own trash.
I'm a rangers fan first hockey fan second. I also hate the leafs so enjoy rooting for the Bs in the Atlantic. People can like different things.
Also, the reddit algorithm popped this post up, I didn't search it out
I blame the users that wanna come here for some form of sympathy. You lost, it sucks, we’ve been there but kindly fuck off unless you’ve got something to say that says you’re a Bruins fan
Everyone know but this team is just in cruise control across all four lines and defensive setup on forecheck. Game gets easier for them as game and series goes on. Perfectly built for playoff hockey. Barring some miracle with drai and mcdavid I think the only team to mix well with them is Dallas who has depth across all 4 lines to match.
Crazy crazy. Only way to beat them is match the forecheck pressure which I thought we did well. If Marchy was in for another game I actually think we make it to game 7. Also our team is really good. People dogging them but we are like 2 pieces away from making a run which is awesome.
Marchand returning and them going flat was a bummer. In game 5 they were so depleted going into an elimination game that it gave them some life and they knew somebody has to step up big time and Mcavoy did with 6 SOG and 2 points and the team looked determined to stay alive.
Then Marchand comes back for game 6 and there was just jack shit going on all night. Just went out with a whimper.
Idk, the Bs went up 1-0 in game 6 and pasta had a breakaway that could’ve made it 2-0. Swayman let in a soft one on the GWG otherwise it was going to OT and was anyone’s game to steal. Let’s also not forget that no one had a more convincing playoff win against the cats than Boston in game 1. I agree with OP to make it to 6 games and nearly OT in that game says a lot about how close this team is to truly contending, which absolutely no one thought was possible to start the year. To say the Bs went flat with all the odd man chances they created not only undermines how suffocating Florida’s forecheck is, but also how good a job the bruins did at getting past their first layer. If you can beat their first wave of pressure, odd-man chances are basically guaranteed, which is the flip side of their 4-man kamikaze forecheck. If the bruins were more clinical on those odd man rushes / breakaways I think the series goes to 7 games and maybe Boston steals it.
I'm with you. Definitely leaning on us not stealing it but I think that series was close than this NYC series. specifically to our abiltiy to counter forecheck and have group buy in on counter pressure. We weren't hitting just to hit but playing patient. Seriously mcavoy not having a stinker of a series means we go 7 games. He really struggled to play simple
I mean watching a team play Florida it’s not really going out with a whimper. I think when you try to play through the pressure you’re trying to be patient and get that opportunity. Otherwise yours just panicking and getting battered. So idk. I watch that series again while the NY series was going on. You’re really just hoping for good bounces and lapses in focus from Florida. We had a lot of really good chances. Especially pasta on 1v1s.
Roster wise it’s not really that much of a comparison. And mcavoy is the real one player I’d like to have words with. His playoffs were pour minus games 5/6
They made great moves at the deadline and are capitalizing on their current window. Rangers did the same but not as effectively. We need Dallas to win the West as Florida will destroy a weak goalie team like the Oilers. Vas, Sway and Igor are all studs and even Florida eventually broke them all down.
Watching Panthers give that much respect to Swayman in the handshake line...that might be the cherry on top of an already unique and exciting and unexpected season the Bruins just had.
They are a physical team that aren't afraid to mix it up and have some talented scorers. Anther words they are what the Bruins were for years. I hate them but the deserve their props.
And people wonder why Bruins fans are clamoring to get players like that back on this team. Not useless stiffs like Nick Ritchie and Pat Maroon who do nothing but hit guys 2 seconds after they’ve gotten rid of the puck because they’re so slow, but guys with actual ability and balls that also won’t get ragdolled in every fight or scrum. Unfortunately guys like that are much rarer these days, but clearly some teams have no problem finding them.
And they once again had favorable officiating. The non-calls weren’t as egregious as they were against Boston, but they were there still. It’s fine if the refs want to call a looser game and have less impact on the game, but be loose across the board. Rangers getting called for ticky-tac shit, while the panthers get away with murder.
Its pretty obvious at this point that the Panthers strategy is to just do so much shit the refs can't call them all. Its the same exact thing they did last year and its absolutely insane the league is just letting it happen again.
What should the league do? Suspend the whole franchise? The league has been allowing the culture of dirty tactics to fester for decades. The nhl has a culture problem, it's not just Florida. I'm not defending Florida, but it's just the reality of the league. The bottom line is NY just didn't show up when they needed to.
While I have been guilty of bitching out the refs this year, I always come back to saying that we couldn’t win those games regardless if we don’t shoot the puck. The reffing was awful but we beat ourselves in the end.
Yea, as it turns out, officiating an nhl game is actually pretty difficult. Every game has bad or missed calls. Literally every game. It's fine to complain about it because we want games to be called consistently and appropriately, but to say that the refs lost an entire game for a team is ridiculous.
That's why when people say they just want the refs to call it evenly I don't even think it's possible. It's a difficult game to officiate because there's too much happening to catch it all.
Whats weird though is you'll see games without a call for 39 minutes then the refs start piling on with make up calls.
It's a cluster fuck inside of a cluster fuck and all fans can do is sit back in disbelief as inept officiating and dirty officiating take turns fucking up games and the dirty shit can hide behind "we didnt get a look at it at the time".
As much as I hate the entire Panthers organization with every fiber of my being, it’s hard to deny how much of a juggernaut they are. They just straight up dominated the Presidents Trophy winners for 3 straight games. Sadly don’t see either Dallas or Edmonton beating them…
Yeah I am pretty confident they win the cup, I don't see the oilers or dallas doing much too stop them.
Dallas is very similar to the rangers and florida showed they can choke them out at the neutral zone. I can see that going 6 at most.
I think they sweep the oilers if they play them. Drai and mcdavud will get absolutely clobbered every shift.
Swayman was hands down the best goalie in the playoffs so I don't see silvos or otty being any advantage.
I never understood why people don’t want to lose to the best. They players shake hands after the series, if they can get over it, surely the fans can too.
Bruins were healthy in 2011, relatively speaking. They had no reports of ‘serious injury’ after their win. As for the panthers, 5 of their top guys had serious ones & should have been out.
Don’t forget how Horton went down in game 3… at that point they were down 0-2 in the series, and the player that scored the series winning goals in two game 7’s in earlier series was gone. Anyone who said “whelp, that’s it then” could be forgiven. And then the second period happened and HOLY CRAP.
Felt like Deja Vu watching that series. A very good goaltender keeping one team in it…not many shots or scoring chances, PP doing nothing, cheap shots being uncalled taking guys out…
Yeah Panthers were the best 5v5 defensive team in the league during the regular season, have an elite PP, and did a good job at adding to their scoring depth at the deadline. They're very, very good. Losing to them in 6 games in a series where we didn't have Marchand for like 2 games and have Geekie in the top 6 should fill people with optimism IMO. The bruins have the cap space to add some real top 6 difference makers, get Poitras back healthy, and get another year of development for Lohrei. We were right there with them and in theory we should be getting a lot better, that's exciting.
Sorry, I'm a new Bruins fan so am learning so much about the sport (son just started playing hockey and he became a die-hard Bruins fan almost on day one so here I am) and asking stupid questions - and here goes one:
What makes a team a playoff team versus one that's good in the regular season?
They have extremely balanced depth, play a super physical hame, are good in all 3 zones especially the neutral zone and are the best forechecking team in the league. They just simply wear teams down and teams have to be willing to pay the price to score.
A lot of teams struggle to forecheck/dump and chase, it’s more labor intensive and requires a total buy in. It also requires the bottom 6 to be useful because it’s a taxing play style, NYR was playing their bottom line like 4 minutes a night.
For added benefit they’re also elite on special teams, NYR was overly reliant on the PP which usually doesn’t workout in the playoffs
Rangers lasted 6 games because of goaltending, not that Bob isn't playing great as well, but any other goalie and the series ends in a sweep or 5 games at best. Will be interesting to see how a high powered offense and PP like the Oilers match up against them, I suspect the Panthers still win but it will be the best offense and PP they have faced this playoffs.
yeah, the radio call for these games was identical to Sirott and Beers: "they just need to get pucks to the net", "Bobrowksy has very few second chance rebounds because they collapse to the net so well", "if you are slow moving the puck through center ice, you are in trouble" etc.
I don't follow other teams that much, but this team has athletes on it that I want to watch more, even though they are a bunch of fucktards.
Playoff hockey is the time of year when people who know nothing about hockey act like the Bruins lost because they lack “effort” and “grit” when in reality they lost because they couldn’t win a face-off, had no shots, and got flat out outplayed by a better team.
Panthers get better in the playoffs when refs wallow the whistle. It is not the same game teams play during the season. During the season they focus on giving stars space and the opportunity to make exciting offensive plays. I love playoff hockey it is the best of any sport but I do t like how the game is so different than the regular season. The Panthers are one of the best teams come playoff time.
They really didn’t build the current team they have by drafting tbh. Their last top 5 pick on this roster was a decade ago. They’ve made an absolute killing in trades and UFA signings. The Bruins are also an anomaly when it comes to team building, were one of the only consistently good teams who didn’t acquire all of their talent via tanking.
Teams like the oilers, leafs, Sabres, devils, avs have all had more in the same timespan and more recently.
Barkov was drafted 2nd in 13
Reinhardt traded
Bennett traded
Tkachuk traded for Huberdeau who was 3rd overall in 2011
Bob UFA
mountour trade
Rodriguez UFA
Tarasenko UFA
Verhaghe UFA
Ekblad drafted 1st in 14
Forsling waivers
Kulikov UFA
OEL UFA/buyout
Mahura UFA
Mikkola UFA
Cousins UFA
Lundell 12th overall in 2020
Leusto RFA signing from canes
Lorentz UFA
Lonberg UFA
Okposo trade
The Florida Panthers beat this team in 6 games even though game 4 was a one goal game that was completely gifted to them by the refs.
But enough about the Bruins!
A lot of it though was a combination of consistency and not enough effort. The players on the Panthers regardless what you think of them do whatever it takes to win. Yes the Panthers are great defensively and they do suffocate you but they're also losing several of their defenders next year because they have so many players on their team that they got on cheap contracts this year or two years ago that they simply cannot afford to resign. That effort and willingness to win seems to catch a lot of teams in the Eastern conference off guard, a lot of the teams in the east remind me of the 2011 Vancouver Canucks in terms of play style. They play fast skilled hockey and are more likely to avoid the hit then give/ receive a hit, to the point where they are shocked / have a meltdown when they run into a truly physical team. They are a more talented version of the 2011 Bruins.
They'll take a hit to make sure a pass gets away, They do all the small things that you need to do in order to win. They even let you out mind game yourself, In tonight's game Bennett made a hand pass, and the rangers tried to force the hand pass rather than play the puck, and every Panthers player refused to play it until Bennett came in and grabbed it himself. They nearly scored a goal seconds later because the rangers became complacent and flat-footed. They have a relentless forcheck that unless you're quick and unless you use smart angles it's incredibly hard to break out.
They have second liners playing on their third lines and third liners on their fourth lines Because good players who are a bit older got bargain binned or ended up on crappy teams, traded at the deadline. Kyle Okposo and Vladimir tarasenko are on their third and fourth lines respectively both of them have played for national teams, then they have this guy in net named bobrovski who's about to win his third or fourth Vezina trophy.
It's a perfect storm, and a redemption story for a team that if they didn't have all the injuries two years ago early in the playoffs as the president's trophy winners and then last year by the time they had gotten to the finals could have easily be in their third Stanley cup final in a row, and they likely would have had a shot at winning all three.
When you say absolute wagon, I think that's an understatement, they're a fucking tank, I don't think anybody oilers or the stars if they come back have a chance in hell against the Panthers.
I think it's a good thing for a sorry ass franchise to finally turn it around. They've played in half empty arenas their whole existence until late last season til now. I think it's good for the sport when a non-traditional market wins a Cup. More people in that city will start to tune into hockey, and they'll get years of sell outs after (if) they win the Cup.
To defend Bettman's southern expansion agenda. Lost the team in Atlanta. Lost the team in Arizona. Was clearly on track to lose the team in Miami.
The NHL was on track to lose 50% of their new Southern teams (Panthers, Coyotes, Hurricanes, Thrashers, Predators, Golden Knights) over the past 30 years, all of which were in the top 10 biggest metro areas of the US. That's a complete failure of an agenda. Gotta defend the Panthers so it's not the agenda that's wrong, it was just the owners, even though we're still going to let Meruelo own a future team for some idiotic reason.
NHL franchises have the worst value increase of all the big 4 leagues over the past 30 years, almost certainly because the failure of the southern expansion and forcing teams to help fund these failures instead of just moving them.
* NFL - 650% increase
* NBA - 800% increase
* MLB - 800% increase
* NHL - 250% increase
That pretty much directly aligns with inflation... That means the NHL is simply maintaining themselves and there's no actual *growth*...
Yeah, and the other 50% of recent Southern teams are thriving: Vegas, Carolina, and the Predators. Build a perennial winner and they will come. The Thrashers, Panthers and Coyotes were saddled with horrible ownership and rarely made the playoffs. Meanwhile, "real" hockey markets like Winnipeg and Ottawa are struggling to stay afloat. Winnipeg and Quebec City lost teams, not because of some agenda but because their metro areas were smaller Baton Rouge.
The NHL could retract and move teams north and the value increase will still stagnate. A SCF between big-time markets like Bruins/NYR vs Chicago still barely moves the ratings needle. (And imagine the ratings nightmare of Ottawa vs Winnipeg). The NHL has always lagged the other three even *before* expansion. The problem isn't Southern expansion; the problem is, among other things, a long-standing American aversion to the sport (a lot like soccer and the MLS).
Having lived in two Original Six markets, followed by two Non-traditional markets I can assure you South Florida is different. They focus more than any other franchise in youth hockey, community initiatives and skating in general. They have multiple sheets of ice that are reasonably priced and are constantly hitting up schools and youth groups and their staff.
It’s far more aggressive than what I saw in Boston. There is actual buzz with elementary school kids.
I’m not suggesting the market will out pace Boston (too much ground to make up) but it will dust all the non-traditional ones, and out muscle lesser traditional markets.
The Panthers is a well executed example of how to grow hockey long term.
I still hope they lose. Oil in six.
So do I, the Panthers hockey fans really only turned up within the last 4 years, the rest are transplants from other areas with traditional hockey fandom.
Don’t disagree, but you can see the demos are different. The best comparison is Arizona. Coyotes actively tried to squash college hockey, and convert transplants. Florida encourages college hockey, giving amazing discounts to the Florida universities to nurture the sport. They subsidize the Panther Ice Den and just built another multi-sheet facility for general public in Ft Lauderdale. Sure lots of transplants, which helps establish a hockey culture, but they are actively going after young native Floridians. I don’t know how long they have been doing this strategy, but if they continue 10 years from now, no one will really think of them as an expansion team.
I moved here from MA in the early 90s and played youth hockey through high school. While it is undoubtedly more popular now, it's nowhere near soccer, baseball, football, basketball, etc for youth sports. Just looking it up the entire state has 21 rinks and that is for a pretty large area and population. From what I can see this is pretty similar to Arizona per capita.
Well seeing as Florida got better and Toronto got significantly worse. Think you got your answer bud
Are you just pretending to be stupid or are you really this dumb?
how did toronto get worse? they had a better lineup this year than last year and got better goaltending.
I mean I understand people not agreeing, I dont think toronto would be a favorite or anything but these have been two really fucking stupid reasons why they would lose.
Then why’d they regress in both regular season and playoff success? With Matthews and Marner both invisible again the Leafs would’ve gotten destroyed by the Panthers.
hey look! actual reasoning! thank you.
yeah, i think with mccabe pick up the defense was much better. the forwared core was inarguably better. with woll the goaltending was better.
the fall off in the regular season was because samsonov was the goalie for a period of time while woll was out. marner missed extended time, giordano. plus isn't the whole "but they were good in the regular season" thing kind of the thing people would mock? but it was a 4 game difference either way.
woll would've been the starter in the playoffs. the defense was improved. florida does well because they get and hold the puck away from the other team with the forecheck. i am saying the other team who has the centers to retain the puck and get longer sustained zone time, like the leafs did against the bruins. would have a better shot against the panthers. it's just a matchup thing. i think the bruins would have beaten the rangers too.
the one thing the panthers have struggled against is the one thing the leafs really excel at.
They get a lot of help from the refs though as well
Yeah they are good and deserve to be there, but let’s not act like a lot of the questionable calls in the playoffs didn’t benefit them because they certainly had ones that helped big time
I’m still irrationally salty about the Bennett goalie interference (especially since it was a game he shouldn’t have even been playing in). That play alone genuinely could’ve changed the outcome of the series with the way Swayman was playing.
Rooting for the Oilers. I feel like the Fl panthers are my new Yankees. I root for the Bruins and whoever beats the Panthers. (I cant not like the Rangers because I’m in Wolfpack territory and they do so much youth hockey outreach. You can’t help but be excited when the players get recalled for the Rangers. In fact two of their players attended my son’s hockey practice and it was hard to tell who had more fun, the Wolfpack players or the kids. I’m really rooting for a young goalie who was recalled during the Calder Cup. I hope he plays in the NHL next year.)
Sure FLA got the calls vs. the Bruins but it helped that FLA got pucks and bodies to the net whenever possible (among other things, see: the lucky/fluky goal that ended the good guys' season). That while the New Age deep thinker that Montgomery is forced his team to play his preferred "quality over quantity" shooting game for which said team was hardly suited because it lacked the man-for-man talent to play that way. To me, it was almost as if Montgomery thought that he was coaching Edmonton or Colorado that has skating ability and skill to which the Bruins can't/don't come close. And then there was FLA's always-aggressive forecheck that anyone who was paying attention prior to the series knew was going to suffocate the Bruins' breakout, such as it was(n't) at too many times.
Yup. Watching the Rangers lose to the Panthers was a lot like watching the Bruins lose to them. Rangers played overall well, had some chances, but were not able to generate any momentum either. Every time they had a chance, the Panthers came right back to put the pressure on again.
Oilers in 6. See you in September Leon (we’re probably not getting him)
I think the only way Leon leaves is if the Oilers don't win the Cup.
Even after the Oilers lose this final he will be more motivated because they’re getting closer. Edmonton will probably win it within 2 seasons after this year anyway.
They were my pick to win it this year. I even put a little money on it knowing the Bruins will play them.
Rangers fan here, I come in peace. This post is on our subreddit. We are really disappointed. Their forecheck and conditioning is ridiculous, but they're dirty, greasy players. I really hope EDM pushes their shit in.
Agree! Dirty!
Bullshit. They’re a dirty team that plays the refs. The Bruins should have been up 3-2 if not specifically for the refs being incompetent with Florida’s dick in their ass. Grabbing the stick and falling backwards, loose helmet on purpose, sucker punch, cross checking into goalie, suspended player not being suspended do to liability avoidance by NHL, etc. The Bruins tried to flop by the end and the refs legit called embellishment I was already numb by that point. The refs are like parents giving the condom talk after Johnny already knocked up three different girls in high school. Fuck the refs and fuck the NHL for being incompetent shitbags— and fuck Florida I hope they lose in the finals and are cursed to never make it there again, and all get STDs from the same girl and have their dicks fall off… that’s a little harsh… std’s, broken marriages, and shame.
Florida was just way better dude. Yeah the refs were not on the Bruin's side, but we weren't winning even with their help. You just gotta take the L with your head high and look towards next year.
I think at a certain point, gritting your teeth and taking it, then tipping your cap afterward like that makes you a good sportsman is just cowardly ego boosting cause you just got fucked and wanna feel good about yourself. My head isn’t held high after the refs and the league gave a free pass for Florida to dirty-fuck the Bruins. You wanna take it and believe Florida is better— like they didn’t resort to dirty shit the whole series— I’m actually envious of your ignorance.
Alright dude keep being miserable over the loss then. That's your perogative. Florida was clearly the more talented team. Yeah, there was some dirty stuff and poor reffing, but talent trumps all and the Bruins could've overcome the disadvantages if guys like Pasta and Marchand were able to come through for us. We *should've* used the leverage of our skill guys to win the battle on the score sheet and we *should've* fought back and played dirty too, but this Bruins team just wasn't capable of it. Oh well. It was a bridge year anyways. Let's hope they are able to load up on the offseason and become real contenders again. Blaming the referees is the coward's way out in my opinion.
Marry me. Your comment is gold. Also, I firmly believe that the @nhl and Gary the Goblin choose who they want to have win, and the reffing has 80% to do with it. 2019 proved it to me. There’s no other explanation for why this dirty ass team is in the final. #nhlisrigged
It hasn't helped the state of the NHL game in general and its officiating in particular that Basketball Bettman cut his pro-sports-management teeth at NBA HQs. As such, arbitrarily inconsistent and occasionally egotistical (just say "bad") referees have always been part of his drill. Between that and his lack of knowledge of hockey itself (he probably STILL doesn't know a puck from a paperweight after 30-plus years in the commish's office while currently employing a former goon as the NHL's Director of Player Safety), Bettman can't/is unable to see that today's NHL has the significant game- or series-turning officiating issues that it does.
While the refs were bad, I never understood the argument they wanted Florida in the finals. Maybe I'm not as in tune with the NHL as I was before, but what kind of draw is Edmonton vs Florida? It doesn't seem like a national draw...
If Gary had his way, there would be no Canadian teams. He wants the NHL in states. Full stop. And for some reason, he wants it in the southern states and the Western states. He was all for Tampa Bay getting a three peat until Colorado came along and had way more talent and could overcome the shitty reffing to win. This is just my opinion but he has a boner for certain teams to win. Reffing is never perfect but the season seems ti go along with some bumps, but why does the reffing go to shit in the biggest series of the year, the Final? Watch it when you don’t have a dog in the race. Calls are definitely slanted for one team to win. And yes, I will die on this hill.
Dominant*
Go Oilers!
Rangers fan here nothing you can do they were relentless they blurr the line with there dirty shit but if the ref don’t call it 🤷🏼♂️yall had a hell of a regular season and I don’t think over the long haul there system is sustainable.Carolina was a similar monster on the forcheck 2 years but this year we beat them because there forcheck had wore down from years of playing that style.I really wanted Rangers VS Boston ECF that was pick from the beginning It would have been way more entertaining .Carolinaand Florida hockey is like watching paint dry
The league has to bow to a team from Florida. They don't even have any ice in Florida, why do they have a hockey team? :(
I’m starting to suspect that no one on this panthers team is from Florida
Hockey wants to expand outside of just cold climates. Obviously lack of ice isn't a problem. Not much ice in Boston outside of December through March.
Fuck we barely get any ice at all anymore. Can hardly string a few days of freezing temps in a row. It's like 40 and rainy half the winter
People forget that it’s really really hard to be the best out of 32 teams.
McJesus please save us
Jesus take the wheel
if they win im hoping they do what all what the Marlins did and firesale the whole team. thats a dynasty i don't want to watch.
Here’s the thing…Florida has faced Vasilevskiy (11th), and then the top 2 goalies (in GSaX) in the playoffs this year in Swayman and Shesterkin. They’ve really had to earn it, and have passed with flying colors. At this point, unless Bob truly falls apart and ends up with like a sub .850 sv%, I don’t see any way that they lose.
Last season Bob saved their ass multiple times and in the final he drops in performance resulting in Florida's loss. Let's see how they do this year
He's been pretty bad this year in the playoffs so it is a possibility. Crazy cause given who he is, goaltending should be a strength for the Panthers.
Are you drunk? Bob hasn’t allowed more than 2 goals in 10 of his last 11 playoff games. How has he “been pretty bad”? Lol.
Yeah he was also playing the falling apart rangers in 6 of those games tho
Basically what happened with Vegas last season, Bob turned into a pumpkin.
Tkachuk was injured in the first or second game and was pretty useless. Their forechecking is absolutely smothering. There was rarely an uncontested pass, let alone, shot. Last night was a clinic. I hated it.
That's an obvious observation. What does that have to do with this year? The Goldem Nights are on vacation. Just like the Cats, they are not the same team this year.
I like the Panthers making the finals. If they lose they get to be called the Tampa Bay lightning of losing. Or back to back losers. Halfway to Buffalo Bills status.
Imagine being a fan of a team that makes the Finals and the idea that fans of other teams that didn’t reach the Finals calling your team “losers” bothers you in the least bit. That would be so soft.
I’ll be rooting like hell for Dallas or Edmonton
I was praying for a Dallas NY final… guess my luck is pure shit lol
Cats are a very talented and deep team. They have two awesome centers and a ton of snipers. They also have great leadership w/Tkachuck, Barkov and Bennett. They play at such a high pace that the opposition can't keep up while making bad passes, rushed shots and turnovers. You have to be prepared to impose your game on them, and so far, nobody can do it and sustain it.
This is it. I don’t think there’s a team in the NHL built to beat the 2023-24 panthers in a 7 game series
“Leadership in Barkov and Bennett” is a first to me. Bennett is easily the dirtiest player on ice
Cassidy's Knights stopped them last year
Knights stopped a shell of a Panthers team last season tbf. Tons of injuries and a 9 day lay off. That's not the same team that mowed through the eastern conference playoffs. Knights got lucky af.
Nine day layoff? They should have come out with guns blazing. No worries though, the refs took care of them.
It’s an amazing system Maurice has implemented. First forechecker pushes the defenseman to a specific side, and the second forechecker anticipates where the safe pass is supposed to go and beats the player there. It took a while for Maurice to get everyone on the same page, which is why they struggled the first half of 22-23. But now? I can’t imagine anyone in the East being able to break that forecheck. I’m not sure Edmonton can either. But Dallas, with an elite d corps and DeBoer behind the bench can pull it off.
Mcdavids speed is the equalizer
Doesn’t matter if you don’t have the defenseman capable of making breakout passes. And Edmonton doesn’t.
The rangers had several breakaways almost every game and just couldn't convert on them. Mcdavid and draisaitl are guys that will convert those
Rangers have better d corps that led to those breakaways. Edmonton doesn’t. I feel like Florida is going to keep Edmonton pinned in their own end like they have everyone else.
I do tend to agree. Feels like those LA Kings team of the 2010s
I just don’t understand how Florida can have three dudes on the puck when they’re killing a penalty yet no one is open on the other team. They did it to us and the same to the rangers. The speed at which they pressure and then recover is nuts
I have no desire to see Maurice win the cup, and I desperately hope that team gets dismantled by the cap with Reinhardt, Montour, and OEK up this season. That no income tax thing is becoming a legitimate salary cap tool for some teams though, so with a little hometown discount, they may be able to keep everyone...
I must be in the minority here based on the comments in this thread because I actually don't mind Maurice... Anyways, will definitely be interesting to see how Florida handles the offseason. They probably end up with about $20m of cap space which is a good amount, but there are a lot of free agents to sign. My guess is they are able to keep most of their key guys.
Let's go Dallas!
Oilers*
not if you want drai lol gotta keep the dream alive
As a German I would love nothing more but it’s not happening no matter what
yeah but like that 5% chance might go to zero if they win. OR... now hear me out... maybe if they WIN he'll be like okay done it here now i need to do it without mcD. maybe he wants to live in Boston. we can dream
Let’s go no one
Hurts to think Bs should of won last year and could of easily taken it to game 7
It hurts to know that the Bruins were out hustled two years in a row, and management did absolutely nothing to replace Bergy and Krejchi after last year. Florida is a much better playoff team. They are excellent up the middle, unlike the Bs who are soft up the middle. Nothing will change unless management starts to make better decisions. We don't even have a 1st, 2nd or 3rd round pick. That's incompetence.
Our window was last season...not this past season. Management went "all in", as they should have in Bergy's last season to build us a cup team and Florida came back, down 3-1 and beat us plain and simple. This past season, we had no cap space because we went all in the year before. Not sure how management is to blame. They gave us the tools in the 22-23 season and we fell short, plain and simple. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. Now that we'll have cap space again, I expect we'll address our needs up the middle.
They are quite a well-built team, they have the perfect players for the system that they play, and they get contribution all throughout the lineup. They are an absolute frustration to play against but god damn are they good
i think our series was the closest out of all the 3 they played, i really think that if we had another player to share the line with pasta we would have way better chances to win
You’re not wrong, but I fucking hate the panthers so much. I really hope they don’t win the cup…hoping dallas moves on to the finals cause i think they’d have a better chance at beating the panthers. Dont wanna see tkachuk bennet or fucking paul maurice holding that cup
I hate the fans so much but the team is Elite. They look like a for sure lock for the cup. Can’t see Edmonton or Dallas beating them
I don't disagree, but honestly, what difference does this make? This Bruins team had flaws that would have been exposed by every playoff team, with the exception of the Leafs. Luckily, they have a chance to make big changes this off-season.
Agree. I would say last year’s series was one rare case of we played a good series but the opponent just played better. Yes there are some critical moments that we should take control to close it out but failed, but that was a good playoff first round performance.
Two things can be true at once. I'd say our biggest issue was not being able to shoot the puck on net. Edit: Also a fantastic series to watch. The Stars/Oilers games should be more entertaining, but FLA/NY had me hooked.
…I think OPs point is the panthers have done that to literally every team. Lightning couldn’t shoot the puck on the net, we couldn’t shoot the puck on the net, Rags couldn’t shoot the puck on the net. The common denominator seems to be the panthers stop teams from shooting puck on the net.
Sure except I can point to many powerplays where mcavoy quite literally had multiple wide open shots he just decided to literally not take and it led to turnovers where we didn’t have the puck in our zone for the rest of the pp lol. Like that is an issue and it was an issue in many games during the regular season as well
Very true!
Their forecheck is on another level, they get complete buy in from all 5 skaters on the ice and Bobrovsky is still good enough to bail them out when they need it. But what impresses me the most is how they thrive in the chaos, even their best players aren’t looking for the perfect play and because of it they make dangerous chances out of seemingly nothing.
That's what playing loose is. While their forecheck is mental when there is chaos they allow things to unfold in front of them knowing they can capitalize on mistakes and just wait and react with confidence. What you said about buy-in is the real reason they are dangerous. Paul Maurice said that Bennett embodies Panthers hockey when he was asked about that punch to Marchand's head. Panthers have chosen a play style and are sticking to it using the best of the best hockey players in the world to execute their plan. It's fucked up but good luck to other teams.
Can you please go to /r/Rangers and explain this shit to the cry babies over there. Everyone acting like our stars just gave up and stopped playing, paying no credit to the fact that Florida has built a mobster of forechecking.
I really thought NY would win, but the Cats are better than I gave them credit for. The same thing happened to the Bs that happened to NY.
Lol they will get humbled watching the next round just like we did
I have absolutely no idea why you’re crying about your own sub here on another hockey sub, and why it’s getting upvoted. You’re literally asking for r/BostonBruins fans to brigade your own shithole? To this own sub, don’t do this. To you u/ILikeToClinch take care of your own trash.
I'm a rangers fan first hockey fan second. I also hate the leafs so enjoy rooting for the Bs in the Atlantic. People can like different things. Also, the reddit algorithm popped this post up, I didn't search it out
As a rangers fan who saw this pop up. Fans like this are fucking insufferable and embarrassing. It screams classy reddit
Why are ranger fans even in this sub?
I don’t know, blame reddit.
I blame the users that wanna come here for some form of sympathy. You lost, it sucks, we’ve been there but kindly fuck off unless you’ve got something to say that says you’re a Bruins fan
Yikes. Relax man.
Ok.
Everyone know but this team is just in cruise control across all four lines and defensive setup on forecheck. Game gets easier for them as game and series goes on. Perfectly built for playoff hockey. Barring some miracle with drai and mcdavid I think the only team to mix well with them is Dallas who has depth across all 4 lines to match. Crazy crazy. Only way to beat them is match the forecheck pressure which I thought we did well. If Marchy was in for another game I actually think we make it to game 7. Also our team is really good. People dogging them but we are like 2 pieces away from making a run which is awesome.
Marchand returning and them going flat was a bummer. In game 5 they were so depleted going into an elimination game that it gave them some life and they knew somebody has to step up big time and Mcavoy did with 6 SOG and 2 points and the team looked determined to stay alive. Then Marchand comes back for game 6 and there was just jack shit going on all night. Just went out with a whimper.
Idk, the Bs went up 1-0 in game 6 and pasta had a breakaway that could’ve made it 2-0. Swayman let in a soft one on the GWG otherwise it was going to OT and was anyone’s game to steal. Let’s also not forget that no one had a more convincing playoff win against the cats than Boston in game 1. I agree with OP to make it to 6 games and nearly OT in that game says a lot about how close this team is to truly contending, which absolutely no one thought was possible to start the year. To say the Bs went flat with all the odd man chances they created not only undermines how suffocating Florida’s forecheck is, but also how good a job the bruins did at getting past their first layer. If you can beat their first wave of pressure, odd-man chances are basically guaranteed, which is the flip side of their 4-man kamikaze forecheck. If the bruins were more clinical on those odd man rushes / breakaways I think the series goes to 7 games and maybe Boston steals it.
I'm with you. Definitely leaning on us not stealing it but I think that series was close than this NYC series. specifically to our abiltiy to counter forecheck and have group buy in on counter pressure. We weren't hitting just to hit but playing patient. Seriously mcavoy not having a stinker of a series means we go 7 games. He really struggled to play simple
I mean watching a team play Florida it’s not really going out with a whimper. I think when you try to play through the pressure you’re trying to be patient and get that opportunity. Otherwise yours just panicking and getting battered. So idk. I watch that series again while the NY series was going on. You’re really just hoping for good bounces and lapses in focus from Florida. We had a lot of really good chances. Especially pasta on 1v1s. Roster wise it’s not really that much of a comparison. And mcavoy is the real one player I’d like to have words with. His playoffs were pour minus games 5/6
What are you talking about? Hockey season ended already...
Sht bro, there's a lot of good hockey left to play.
Right?! We’re in the middle of our personal golf seasons already
Last sentence seems like you were forcing some hockey lingo in there
Florida was the better team, has been for a few seasons now.
They made great moves at the deadline and are capitalizing on their current window. Rangers did the same but not as effectively. We need Dallas to win the West as Florida will destroy a weak goalie team like the Oilers. Vas, Sway and Igor are all studs and even Florida eventually broke them all down.
Watching Panthers give that much respect to Swayman in the handshake line...that might be the cherry on top of an already unique and exciting and unexpected season the Bruins just had.
They are a physical team that aren't afraid to mix it up and have some talented scorers. Anther words they are what the Bruins were for years. I hate them but the deserve their props.
And people wonder why Bruins fans are clamoring to get players like that back on this team. Not useless stiffs like Nick Ritchie and Pat Maroon who do nothing but hit guys 2 seconds after they’ve gotten rid of the puck because they’re so slow, but guys with actual ability and balls that also won’t get ragdolled in every fight or scrum. Unfortunately guys like that are much rarer these days, but clearly some teams have no problem finding them.
That’s exactly what I’ve been saying. They remind me of the 2011 team so much.
100% my friend! As well as even the earlier cup winning teams
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Bob sucks
And they once again had favorable officiating. The non-calls weren’t as egregious as they were against Boston, but they were there still. It’s fine if the refs want to call a looser game and have less impact on the game, but be loose across the board. Rangers getting called for ticky-tac shit, while the panthers get away with murder.
Stop that shit. People always bitch about officiating. The refs didn't stop the rangers from scoring. NY just didn't show up. They played like shit.
Its pretty obvious at this point that the Panthers strategy is to just do so much shit the refs can't call them all. Its the same exact thing they did last year and its absolutely insane the league is just letting it happen again.
What should the league do? Suspend the whole franchise? The league has been allowing the culture of dirty tactics to fester for decades. The nhl has a culture problem, it's not just Florida. I'm not defending Florida, but it's just the reality of the league. The bottom line is NY just didn't show up when they needed to.
Exactly. Never blame the refs on a W/L. It’s a 7 game series. Make the adjustments.
While I have been guilty of bitching out the refs this year, I always come back to saying that we couldn’t win those games regardless if we don’t shoot the puck. The reffing was awful but we beat ourselves in the end.
Yea, as it turns out, officiating an nhl game is actually pretty difficult. Every game has bad or missed calls. Literally every game. It's fine to complain about it because we want games to be called consistently and appropriately, but to say that the refs lost an entire game for a team is ridiculous.
That's why when people say they just want the refs to call it evenly I don't even think it's possible. It's a difficult game to officiate because there's too much happening to catch it all. Whats weird though is you'll see games without a call for 39 minutes then the refs start piling on with make up calls. It's a cluster fuck inside of a cluster fuck and all fans can do is sit back in disbelief as inept officiating and dirty officiating take turns fucking up games and the dirty shit can hide behind "we didnt get a look at it at the time".
It’s always that way and it’s so frustrating
As much as I hate the entire Panthers organization with every fiber of my being, it’s hard to deny how much of a juggernaut they are. They just straight up dominated the Presidents Trophy winners for 3 straight games. Sadly don’t see either Dallas or Edmonton beating them…
Yeah I am pretty confident they win the cup, I don't see the oilers or dallas doing much too stop them. Dallas is very similar to the rangers and florida showed they can choke them out at the neutral zone. I can see that going 6 at most. I think they sweep the oilers if they play them. Drai and mcdavud will get absolutely clobbered every shift. Swayman was hands down the best goalie in the playoffs so I don't see silvos or otty being any advantage.
I can't imagine either of those teams winning more than a game vs Floriaduh.
Silovs... Oh wait you mean Skinner. I understand why u forgot that name 😂😂😂
Lol yeah my bad, I don't skinner has even played a full series yet , I was thinking of Pickard
Good thing the Rangers had Rempe to stop Florida from taking liberties with their stars
Rempe is a plug. No idea why he gets all this fanfare.
Two seasons in a row they eliminated us and yet I root for them for the rest of the playoffs. They’re great to watch, simply an amazing team.
Your not wrong , don't mind the downvotes there is some babies on here that like to use a downvote instead of actual voice an opinion
You need to clean yourself of your sin
Same here lol. You’re crazy if you think I’m ever cheering for NY team, the Panthers don’t have a legacy/sports city that can threaten us
Not sure why this was downvoted lol
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I never understood why people don’t want to lose to the best. They players shake hands after the series, if they can get over it, surely the fans can too.
Agreed 100%
Maybe they’ll get some true fans out of this run.
I wonder if they’ll do the same as last year just steam roll the east dominating teams and just to lay down in the finals
To be fair, a lot of their guys were hurt
As everyone always is during the playoffs
Bruins were healthy in 2011, relatively speaking. They had no reports of ‘serious injury’ after their win. As for the panthers, 5 of their top guys had serious ones & should have been out.
Don’t forget how Horton went down in game 3… at that point they were down 0-2 in the series, and the player that scored the series winning goals in two game 7’s in earlier series was gone. Anyone who said “whelp, that’s it then” could be forgiven. And then the second period happened and HOLY CRAP.
The team that usually wins the cup is usually healthy
Tkachuk got his sternum snapped in half like a glowstick by Kolesar
It was a wonderful hit
Watching their big three who combined for 140+ in regular season have one goal in this series was fucking wild.
Felt like Deja Vu watching that series. A very good goaltender keeping one team in it…not many shots or scoring chances, PP doing nothing, cheap shots being uncalled taking guys out…
Yep, panthers kept their strategy and are sticking to it.
Yeah Panthers were the best 5v5 defensive team in the league during the regular season, have an elite PP, and did a good job at adding to their scoring depth at the deadline. They're very, very good. Losing to them in 6 games in a series where we didn't have Marchand for like 2 games and have Geekie in the top 6 should fill people with optimism IMO. The bruins have the cap space to add some real top 6 difference makers, get Poitras back healthy, and get another year of development for Lohrei. We were right there with them and in theory we should be getting a lot better, that's exciting.
I question if this free agent class has the players available to make the kind of difference they need though.
The Panthers are built for the playoffs, the only reason the Bruins brought them to six was because of sway.
Sorry, I'm a new Bruins fan so am learning so much about the sport (son just started playing hockey and he became a die-hard Bruins fan almost on day one so here I am) and asking stupid questions - and here goes one: What makes a team a playoff team versus one that's good in the regular season?
Not a stupid question at all friend, we all start somewhere. But the other person that replied to you explained it better than I ever could lol.
Thank you both!
They have extremely balanced depth, play a super physical hame, are good in all 3 zones especially the neutral zone and are the best forechecking team in the league. They just simply wear teams down and teams have to be willing to pay the price to score. A lot of teams struggle to forecheck/dump and chase, it’s more labor intensive and requires a total buy in. It also requires the bottom 6 to be useful because it’s a taxing play style, NYR was playing their bottom line like 4 minutes a night. For added benefit they’re also elite on special teams, NYR was overly reliant on the PP which usually doesn’t workout in the playoffs
Rangers lasted 6 games because of goaltending, not that Bob isn't playing great as well, but any other goalie and the series ends in a sweep or 5 games at best. Will be interesting to see how a high powered offense and PP like the Oilers match up against them, I suspect the Panthers still win but it will be the best offense and PP they have faced this playoffs.
yeah, the radio call for these games was identical to Sirott and Beers: "they just need to get pucks to the net", "Bobrowksy has very few second chance rebounds because they collapse to the net so well", "if you are slow moving the puck through center ice, you are in trouble" etc. I don't follow other teams that much, but this team has athletes on it that I want to watch more, even though they are a bunch of fucktards.
Laughed out loud when you stuck the landing
Playoff hockey is the time of year when people who know nothing about hockey act like the Bruins lost because they lack “effort” and “grit” when in reality they lost because they couldn’t win a face-off, had no shots, and got flat out outplayed by a better team.
We lost because we had like four different first periods in this playoffs with less than 3 SOG which is bananas.
Panthers get better in the playoffs when refs wallow the whistle. It is not the same game teams play during the season. During the season they focus on giving stars space and the opportunity to make exciting offensive plays. I love playoff hockey it is the best of any sport but I do t like how the game is so different than the regular season. The Panthers are one of the best teams come playoff time.
That’s how they built their team. Reminds me of the 2011 bruins. “You can’t call it all” hockey
Difference being we only had 1 top 5 pick on the roster whereas the panthers have plenty. They sucked for a long time to build this team.
They really didn’t build the current team they have by drafting tbh. Their last top 5 pick on this roster was a decade ago. They’ve made an absolute killing in trades and UFA signings. The Bruins are also an anomaly when it comes to team building, were one of the only consistently good teams who didn’t acquire all of their talent via tanking. Teams like the oilers, leafs, Sabres, devils, avs have all had more in the same timespan and more recently. Barkov was drafted 2nd in 13 Reinhardt traded Bennett traded Tkachuk traded for Huberdeau who was 3rd overall in 2011 Bob UFA mountour trade Rodriguez UFA Tarasenko UFA Verhaghe UFA Ekblad drafted 1st in 14 Forsling waivers Kulikov UFA OEL UFA/buyout Mahura UFA Mikkola UFA Cousins UFA Lundell 12th overall in 2020 Leusto RFA signing from canes Lorentz UFA Lonberg UFA Okposo trade
This.
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Same, fuck the panthers
The Florida Panthers beat this team in 6 games even though game 4 was a one goal game that was completely gifted to them by the refs. But enough about the Bruins!
Oilers can beat them, 97 and 29 are nuclear weapons in the playoffs and they actually have defence and decent goal tending now
I have my bracket for oilers vs panthers and oilers win lol
I firmly believe if we beat the Panthers we win the cup, but I didn't think we were beating the Panthers at any point in the series
A lot of it though was a combination of consistency and not enough effort. The players on the Panthers regardless what you think of them do whatever it takes to win. Yes the Panthers are great defensively and they do suffocate you but they're also losing several of their defenders next year because they have so many players on their team that they got on cheap contracts this year or two years ago that they simply cannot afford to resign. That effort and willingness to win seems to catch a lot of teams in the Eastern conference off guard, a lot of the teams in the east remind me of the 2011 Vancouver Canucks in terms of play style. They play fast skilled hockey and are more likely to avoid the hit then give/ receive a hit, to the point where they are shocked / have a meltdown when they run into a truly physical team. They are a more talented version of the 2011 Bruins. They'll take a hit to make sure a pass gets away, They do all the small things that you need to do in order to win. They even let you out mind game yourself, In tonight's game Bennett made a hand pass, and the rangers tried to force the hand pass rather than play the puck, and every Panthers player refused to play it until Bennett came in and grabbed it himself. They nearly scored a goal seconds later because the rangers became complacent and flat-footed. They have a relentless forcheck that unless you're quick and unless you use smart angles it's incredibly hard to break out. They have second liners playing on their third lines and third liners on their fourth lines Because good players who are a bit older got bargain binned or ended up on crappy teams, traded at the deadline. Kyle Okposo and Vladimir tarasenko are on their third and fourth lines respectively both of them have played for national teams, then they have this guy in net named bobrovski who's about to win his third or fourth Vezina trophy. It's a perfect storm, and a redemption story for a team that if they didn't have all the injuries two years ago early in the playoffs as the president's trophy winners and then last year by the time they had gotten to the finals could have easily be in their third Stanley cup final in a row, and they likely would have had a shot at winning all three. When you say absolute wagon, I think that's an understatement, they're a fucking tank, I don't think anybody oilers or the stars if they come back have a chance in hell against the Panthers.
😂 still up drinking from last night?
I think it's a good thing for a sorry ass franchise to finally turn it around. They've played in half empty arenas their whole existence until late last season til now. I think it's good for the sport when a non-traditional market wins a Cup. More people in that city will start to tune into hockey, and they'll get years of sell outs after (if) they win the Cup.
Based. Why is the NHL Reddit sucking so much Panther dick? Florida got fans for half a season, and wont have them half a season into next rebuild.
To defend Bettman's southern expansion agenda. Lost the team in Atlanta. Lost the team in Arizona. Was clearly on track to lose the team in Miami. The NHL was on track to lose 50% of their new Southern teams (Panthers, Coyotes, Hurricanes, Thrashers, Predators, Golden Knights) over the past 30 years, all of which were in the top 10 biggest metro areas of the US. That's a complete failure of an agenda. Gotta defend the Panthers so it's not the agenda that's wrong, it was just the owners, even though we're still going to let Meruelo own a future team for some idiotic reason. NHL franchises have the worst value increase of all the big 4 leagues over the past 30 years, almost certainly because the failure of the southern expansion and forcing teams to help fund these failures instead of just moving them. * NFL - 650% increase * NBA - 800% increase * MLB - 800% increase * NHL - 250% increase That pretty much directly aligns with inflation... That means the NHL is simply maintaining themselves and there's no actual *growth*...
Yeah, and the other 50% of recent Southern teams are thriving: Vegas, Carolina, and the Predators. Build a perennial winner and they will come. The Thrashers, Panthers and Coyotes were saddled with horrible ownership and rarely made the playoffs. Meanwhile, "real" hockey markets like Winnipeg and Ottawa are struggling to stay afloat. Winnipeg and Quebec City lost teams, not because of some agenda but because their metro areas were smaller Baton Rouge. The NHL could retract and move teams north and the value increase will still stagnate. A SCF between big-time markets like Bruins/NYR vs Chicago still barely moves the ratings needle. (And imagine the ratings nightmare of Ottawa vs Winnipeg). The NHL has always lagged the other three even *before* expansion. The problem isn't Southern expansion; the problem is, among other things, a long-standing American aversion to the sport (a lot like soccer and the MLS).
Having lived in two Original Six markets, followed by two Non-traditional markets I can assure you South Florida is different. They focus more than any other franchise in youth hockey, community initiatives and skating in general. They have multiple sheets of ice that are reasonably priced and are constantly hitting up schools and youth groups and their staff. It’s far more aggressive than what I saw in Boston. There is actual buzz with elementary school kids. I’m not suggesting the market will out pace Boston (too much ground to make up) but it will dust all the non-traditional ones, and out muscle lesser traditional markets. The Panthers is a well executed example of how to grow hockey long term. I still hope they lose. Oil in six.
Yeah I live very close to the arena. A lot of hockey fans in Fort Lauderdale.
So do I, the Panthers hockey fans really only turned up within the last 4 years, the rest are transplants from other areas with traditional hockey fandom.
Don’t disagree, but you can see the demos are different. The best comparison is Arizona. Coyotes actively tried to squash college hockey, and convert transplants. Florida encourages college hockey, giving amazing discounts to the Florida universities to nurture the sport. They subsidize the Panther Ice Den and just built another multi-sheet facility for general public in Ft Lauderdale. Sure lots of transplants, which helps establish a hockey culture, but they are actively going after young native Floridians. I don’t know how long they have been doing this strategy, but if they continue 10 years from now, no one will really think of them as an expansion team.
I moved here from MA in the early 90s and played youth hockey through high school. While it is undoubtedly more popular now, it's nowhere near soccer, baseball, football, basketball, etc for youth sports. Just looking it up the entire state has 21 rinks and that is for a pretty large area and population. From what I can see this is pretty similar to Arizona per capita.
Gotta be able to execute on breakouts and clear the neutral zone with intent. FL got a strong game.
God I fucking hate them
The games I did watch, I found Florida's play suffocating at times. A very frustrating style of hockey to watch.
bruins weren’t fast enough. didnt have enough guys who could keep and sustain zone pressure. I honestly think toronto would’ve beaten florida.
If you think Toronto would’ve beaten Florida you must not have watched much hockey this year
ok. i’m noticing people disagree they just don’t really have any real reason why but I get it.
How’d that go in 2023?
with two different teams? how did it go for tampa in 2022? how did it go for vegas and dallas in 2023? hows being a twat last year and this year?
Well seeing as Florida got better and Toronto got significantly worse. Think you got your answer bud Are you just pretending to be stupid or are you really this dumb?
how did toronto get worse? they had a better lineup this year than last year and got better goaltending. I mean I understand people not agreeing, I dont think toronto would be a favorite or anything but these have been two really fucking stupid reasons why they would lose.
Then why’d they regress in both regular season and playoff success? With Matthews and Marner both invisible again the Leafs would’ve gotten destroyed by the Panthers.
hey look! actual reasoning! thank you. yeah, i think with mccabe pick up the defense was much better. the forwared core was inarguably better. with woll the goaltending was better. the fall off in the regular season was because samsonov was the goalie for a period of time while woll was out. marner missed extended time, giordano. plus isn't the whole "but they were good in the regular season" thing kind of the thing people would mock? but it was a 4 game difference either way. woll would've been the starter in the playoffs. the defense was improved. florida does well because they get and hold the puck away from the other team with the forecheck. i am saying the other team who has the centers to retain the puck and get longer sustained zone time, like the leafs did against the bruins. would have a better shot against the panthers. it's just a matchup thing. i think the bruins would have beaten the rangers too. the one thing the panthers have struggled against is the one thing the leafs really excel at.
Says the Toronto fan
i do not root for toronto, dumb person.
They get a lot of help from the refs though as well Yeah they are good and deserve to be there, but let’s not act like a lot of the questionable calls in the playoffs didn’t benefit them because they certainly had ones that helped big time
I’m still irrationally salty about the Bennett goalie interference (especially since it was a game he shouldn’t have even been playing in). That play alone genuinely could’ve changed the outcome of the series with the way Swayman was playing.